Furiine
February 3rd, 2007, 01:59 AM
On New Year's Eve, I rode around Glen Burnie, an inner suburb in northern Anne Arundel County and pinned about 5 miles south of Baltimore city limits. For those of you unfamiliar with Glen Burnie, where shall I begin LOL. History! Always a good start... Glen Burnie was christened around the War of 1812 as a farm community. In the post World War II period, Glen Burnie sprouted as a "Levittown" of sorts and is composed of thousands of homes built on slabs. This would essentially establish it as an inner suburb, as many of the homes are several decades old and with few new communities. Many of the homes are bungalows and ranch houses.
What's in Glen Burnie? Not much, though it is a relatively important transportation hub, which, however, has had little impact on the local economy. Baltimore-Washington International Airport is located just to the west of "downtown", basically just pawn shops and auto service shops and a couple offices, and the Amtrak station is at the airport as well. The Cromwell Station of the Baltimore Light Rail is also located here. Here is a map of this place.
http://www.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&q=&z=14&ll=39.16281,-76.622601&spn=0.044721,0.050468&om=1
Much of the populace is composed of former Baltimoreans who fled the city for greener fields. Unfortunately, the many problems those same people sought to escape have only returned with a vengeance. There is a persistently troubling crime rate, as the suburb has had several homicides, shootings, and robberies over the years. In general, this place has built up a reputation for poverty (almost on par with urban poverty), low income service jobs, car dealerships, decadence, the arson of bars, and withering struggling schools. For example, I remember passing one house that was rundown, where the front awning was battered and the door was all caged up. I didn't think anyone lived there, until I saw one man trying to warm up by burning wood in a trash can in the backyard. That yard also had piles of tires and other litter. Happy New Year's, right? It's pretty unfortunate. It's rough around the edges, though there are plenty of good people there, though this does not ignore that it has social and economic problems that successfully counter the suburban stereotypes (none of which are going to be shown in this gallery.) This place has improved on some accounts. The academic gap between blacks and whites is slowly being chipped away. Glen Burnie is also regionally "famous" for its, hmmm, "kitsch" tendencies. I'll mostly be focusing on the quirky side of this place rather than architecture or the aforementioned social issues.. All of these pictures are on the eastern side, not that it's significantly different than the other parts, it's just where it's located. I'm sure you'll find it amusing.
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/6097/dscn1758rc9.jpg
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/8168/dscn1759jr7.jpg
http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/8522/dscn1761hg1.jpg
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/2140/dscn1765sf1.jpg
Just about every other house had one of these snow globes..
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/767/dscn1770xv9.jpg
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/9774/dscn1766hu2.jpg
http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/4500/dscn1771th3.jpg
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/5764/dscn1773tk2.jpg
http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/8587/dscn1775yd0.jpg
http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/9942/dscn1777np5.jpg
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/6629/dscn1778dy1.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/9641/dscn17801eo2.jpg
http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/4544/truckrr5.jpg
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/6200/dscn1769om9.jpg
What's in Glen Burnie? Not much, though it is a relatively important transportation hub, which, however, has had little impact on the local economy. Baltimore-Washington International Airport is located just to the west of "downtown", basically just pawn shops and auto service shops and a couple offices, and the Amtrak station is at the airport as well. The Cromwell Station of the Baltimore Light Rail is also located here. Here is a map of this place.
http://www.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&q=&z=14&ll=39.16281,-76.622601&spn=0.044721,0.050468&om=1
Much of the populace is composed of former Baltimoreans who fled the city for greener fields. Unfortunately, the many problems those same people sought to escape have only returned with a vengeance. There is a persistently troubling crime rate, as the suburb has had several homicides, shootings, and robberies over the years. In general, this place has built up a reputation for poverty (almost on par with urban poverty), low income service jobs, car dealerships, decadence, the arson of bars, and withering struggling schools. For example, I remember passing one house that was rundown, where the front awning was battered and the door was all caged up. I didn't think anyone lived there, until I saw one man trying to warm up by burning wood in a trash can in the backyard. That yard also had piles of tires and other litter. Happy New Year's, right? It's pretty unfortunate. It's rough around the edges, though there are plenty of good people there, though this does not ignore that it has social and economic problems that successfully counter the suburban stereotypes (none of which are going to be shown in this gallery.) This place has improved on some accounts. The academic gap between blacks and whites is slowly being chipped away. Glen Burnie is also regionally "famous" for its, hmmm, "kitsch" tendencies. I'll mostly be focusing on the quirky side of this place rather than architecture or the aforementioned social issues.. All of these pictures are on the eastern side, not that it's significantly different than the other parts, it's just where it's located. I'm sure you'll find it amusing.
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/6097/dscn1758rc9.jpg
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/8168/dscn1759jr7.jpg
http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/8522/dscn1761hg1.jpg
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/2140/dscn1765sf1.jpg
Just about every other house had one of these snow globes..
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/767/dscn1770xv9.jpg
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/9774/dscn1766hu2.jpg
http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/4500/dscn1771th3.jpg
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/5764/dscn1773tk2.jpg
http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/8587/dscn1775yd0.jpg
http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/9942/dscn1777np5.jpg
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/6629/dscn1778dy1.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/9641/dscn17801eo2.jpg
http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/4544/truckrr5.jpg
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/6200/dscn1769om9.jpg