Page 6 - Visit Baltimore - 2019/2020 LGBTQ Visitors Guide

LGBTQ HERITAGE
Only in Baltmore
BALTIMORE IS KNOWN FOR ITS CELEBRATED DINING SCENE, WORLD-CLASS CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS AND OFFBEAT ICONS LIKE HOMETOWN FILMMAKER JOHN WATERS.
To get to know our LGBTQ community, venture past the Inner Harbor and into the city’s many other distinct neighborhoods, many of which feature notable cultural sites and gay-owned businesses that charm everyone who visits. Here are a few suggestions to get started:
No trip to Baltimore is complete without a pop culture pilgrimage to Hampden, where John Waters filmed scenes for many of his movies, including “Pink Flamingos” and “Pecker.” If you visit in June during the neighborhood’s annual Honfest — a street fair celebrating the bold ’60s fashions of Baltimore’s working-class women – you’ll feel like you stepped right onto the set of Waters’ cult classic “Hairspray.”
Hampden
Walters Art Museum
MOUNT VERNON
Be sure to add Mount Vernon to your itinerary. Centered around the nation’s first Washington Monument, this National Landmark Historic District hosted the inaugural Baltimore Pride celebration in 1975 and continues as
a cultural hub today with institutions like the Walters Art Museum and Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where the world-renowned Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs.
For drinks and dancing, head to Grand Central, a fixture on the LGBTQ
nightclub scene for more than 25 years.
HAMPDEN
Painted Ladies
CHARLES VILLAGE
The LGBTQ community also has rich history in
Charles Village, where many social activists and organizations
called home in the 1970s and ’80s.
The northeastern neighborhood is now best known as home
to the Baltimore Museum of Art and
a rainbow of colorfully decorated Victorian
rowhomes known as the Painted Ladies.
LGBTQ Sightseeing
GERTRUDE STEIN’S HOME
215 E. Biddle St.
Literary legend Gertrude Stein, author of one of the earliest coming-out stories, lived here while studying medicine at Johns Hopkins University.
LEON’S OF BALTIMORE
870 Park Ave.
Operated as a gay bar since 1957, Leon’s is the oldest of its type in the city. The watering hole also served as a speakeasy during the Prohibition years.
DIVINE MURAL
106 E. Preston St.
Street artist Gaia recently painted this three-story tribute to Baltimore-born drag queen Divine on the side of a Mount Vernon rowhome.
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Baltimore LGBTQ Visitors Guide 2019-20
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JASON VARNEY