1. Best late-night dance party Paradox1310 Russell St.
Blaqstarr—local hip-hop hero and M.I.A. collaborator—recommends this onetime marble storage facility turned nightclub, where homegrown rap blares alongside house and electro. “People go
wild,”
he exclaims. Bonus: It features an indoor basketball court.
2. Best store to patronize when you want to actually pay for CDs The True Vine1123 W. 36th St.
Their endless vinyl bins, the contents of which range from Depression-era string-band recordings to ’70s German acid pop, are the main draw, but equally cool are the out-of-print rarities, burned onto CD-R and sold cheap. “The best record store we’ve got,” says Geologist, of Baltimore natives Animal Collective.
3. Best venue to see white kids spazz out Floristree 405 W. Franklin St.
This is
the place for scrappy local rock and experimental music—the club operates out of a quasi-legal warehouse space downtown. “It shoulders the live-music scene,” laptop saboteur Dan Deacon raves. Downside: no liquor license. Upside: BYOB.
4. Best crab cake Faidley Seafood400 W. Lexington St.
Here since 1886, Faidley’s uses premium lump crabmeat from Chesapeake Bay to craft its perfect cake. Blaqstarr notes: “Ask for the house cocktail sauce. I keep it on the side to dip and kill it from there.”
5. Best resource to plan your trip Baltimorecrime.blogspot.comThanks to
The Wire, most outsiders know Baltimore as a violent slum; this blog does little to change that. You can use its police-blotter-style entries (“Man shot on the corner of W. Lafayette and N. Payson”) to avoid dangerous areas—or to map out your own windows-up, doors-locked tour of Bodymore, Murdaland.