Hi, Hon! Rediscovering Baltimore: Hampden

September 24, 10:18 AMDC Ireland & UK Travel ExaminerLaura Harrison McBride

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Symbol of the Baltimore Hon Phenomenon

Many areas of Baltimore claim the origin of the Hon phenomenon, Hampden among them. (Other contenders are Fells Point and Essex in Baltimore County, and probably a few more.) However, only Hampden has Café Hon and several other attractions that give credence to its Hon-founder claim.

If you are not familiar with the Hon phenomenon, it is based partly on the Baltimore habit of calling virtually everyone “Hon” rather than “Sweetie” or “Dude” or “Hey, You.” There is some advantage to this: it is unisex.  EVERYONE can be a Hon.

There are other hallmarks of Hon-ness, too, including cat’s eyeglasses frames, “big hair” and a particular form of fashion sense one might call "glam-working-class-bowling-shirt-tight-jeans-glitter" style.

If you want to get up close and personal with Hon-ness, a trip to Hon Fest is in order. But it has already passed for 2008, back in June. So, your next best bet is a trip down “the avenue,” which is to say, 36^th Street in Baltimore. (Watch this space around November, when the famous 36^th Street Christmas lights phenomenon will be profiled.)

A day in "Hon Country"

The first stop on 36^th Street should be Café Hon, naturally. Go for breakfast. Hope that the waitress with attitude is there.  Several years ago, she told me that her boss was making her take a vacation because she was getting too surly. She’s terrific, exactly the waitress one needs in a breakfast joint.  Who wants perky with cornflakes? And she gets the food to the table quick and hot. The address is 1005 36^th Street, but you won’t need it. Just drive down the street and look for a building with huge pink flamingoes on the façade. (In Baltimore, don’t call it a façade if you want to pass for local; they pronounce it fakade.)

Another favorite stop is Hometown Girl (1001 36^th Street). You can buy miniature versions of the Baltimore emblem pink flamingo there, in many materials from plastic to ceramic. I’ve snagged other Baltimorean goodies including a hand-blown glass Christmas ornament in the form of a raven wearing Baltimore Ravens colors, to—yes, of course—the same deal in a Christmas ornament Baltimore Oriole. Want cat’s eye reading glasses or sunglasses?  They’ll probably have some.  Plus local recipe cookbooks. And all sorts of kitschy stuff that’s a perfect memento of a trip to Baltimore. But there’s also useful stuff, like sets of old-timey sundae glasses in pastel frosted glass, tea towels with crab motifs and so on.

Next, take a walk down one of the side streets. Postage-stamp lawns separate row houses from the sidewalk and curbside trees. Look at the front doors; you couldn’t get a washing machine through them. Old Baltimore builders saved a few pennies by installing 30-inch wide doors instead of the more usual 33- or 36-inch doors. You’ll also see a mix of houses. Some look like they always looked, with webbing lawn chairs on tatty porches; others are gentrified models with Zen-inspired front gardens and international style outdoor living suites on the porch.  Fascinating.  All of it.  Worth some photos.

Global fare in a working-class burg

If you’re ready for lunch, Suzie’s Soba is unique. In a narrow storefront at 1009. W. 36^th Street, if offers noodles from owner Suzie Hong’s native Korea, but noodles from all over Asia as well. 

My favorite Suzie’s dish is the same one favored by Baltimore food critic, Michelle Gienow.  She writes, in City Paper, of the dried wild spinach over cha soba:

“It’s based on buckwheat noodles made with green tea, giving the entire dish a delicate, dusky perfume, with the slightest hint of sweetness. For contrast, the soba is topped with ‘rare Korean mountain spinach’ …(and)… offers an earthy, almost woodsy, flavor, not unlike really good shiitake mushrooms.”

Just reading her words makes my mouth water.  And speaking of water…you’ll think you’re under the sea at Suzie’s, with sea-green walls strewn with coral and sparkly things forming your environment. The only think that won’t feel all wet is your wallet; entrées like my favorite are generally under ten dollars.

A trip to Hampden—to Hon Country—is an easy day-trip for Washingtonians. And its hometown charm is certainly a change from the halls of power, malls of monuments, and buzz of humanity awaiting the next big global crisis. In Hampden, Hon, no matter how global the appearance, you’ll find the laid-back tempo of a small town and the wisecracking presentation of a solidly, happily working class America.  It's nostalgia at its best, updated.