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Out and about in The Wire city of Baltimore. Admittedly, I feel a bit uneasy – I associate drugs, crime and corruption with the city – David Simon showed me that intensively in five seasons of “The Wire”. But when I arrive, Baltimore surprises me: there’s a nice harbor district full of American tourists, it’s relatively tidy and free hybrid buses drive me through the city center. No sign of “The Wire”.
“Like it or not, Baltimore is like a family with six or eight kids and a problem kid named ‘The Wire’.”
The other children, for city guide Zippy Larson, are all the beautiful corners and areas of the city that you unfortunately don’t see in “The Wire”. In fact, Baltimore has more to offer, so city officials don’t like the constant connection to the TV epic. For the tourism board, David Simon and his work on Baltimore, most notably The Wire, is a red rag. My interview requests for this are rejected. Or as Zippy puts it:
“The eraser can’t be big enough for them to erase ‘The Wire’.”
The 81-year-old lady, who has been offering tours of her hometown since the early 1980s, doesn’t understand this attitude:
“‘The Wire’ is just very interesting for people from all over the world. People write to me or call me: We’re coming to Baltimore, can you show us the locations? I’ll be happy to do it. Then I use that to give them a little something at the same time talk about Baltimore. There’s no law that prevents me from teaching them anything else.”
David Simon and Baltimore
David Simon, the creator of the series, was born in neighboring Washington DC, but moved to Baltimore at the age of 22 and became a journalist for the local newspaper “The Baltimore Sun”. He quickly gets involved with the rough realities of the city: As a police reporter, he has to do every day in the not so nice parts of the city, Baltimore is sinking into the drug war in some corners. He himself remembers:
“Detective Bill Lansey said to me at the time: Dude, someone just had to write down everything in our homicide squad for a year. When we had to go on strike at the newspaper a few years later and I didn’t feel like working in the newsroom anymore, I remembered I listened to the detective’s words. The police commissioner at the time actually put me on homicide – and that’s how the book came about.”
David Simon’s book “Homicide: A Year on Murderous Streets” became the widely acclaimed NBC police series “Homicide: Life on the Street” in the 90s. This series already showed the murderous everyday life in certain areas of Baltimore and was written and filmed here. Simon keeps this principle with “The Wire”: Baltimore, wherever you look.
“It’s a kind of love letter, from a doubting and frustrated lover, but it’s still a declaration of love. I don’t have to advertise the city, it’s not my job, I never wanted that. But the city is important to me and to others .”
David Simon still lives here. And although he constantly insists that he sees Baltimore only as a metaphor for the post-industrial US city in general, he is considered a scoundrel.
“As if someone would hang your dirty laundry out in public, nobody wants to see their dirt stains on such a big stage. That’s why this reaction.”
Tom Rowe is also from Baltimore and is a marketing expert. He also does not understand the behavior of the city.
“First of all, this is a brilliant series. It has introduced Baltimore, which opens up an opportunity to tell the rest of the story, to show the other Baltimore. David Simon and his team have shown an excerpt, now it’s our job , from passionate locals, to tell the rest.”
“The series shows one side of the city, but there’s so much more”
Rowe himself worked at the city’s tourist office for five years. He was and is a fan of “The Wire”. It was already clear to him back then: we shouldn’t fight against the series, we should use it.
“It was an opportunity to exchange: The show shows one side of the city, but there’s so much more! That other side that we all love so much here just didn’t fit in The Wire. That would be it The series didn’t do it justice either.”
Many here believe that the city is missing out on a great opportunity. Other cities are demonstrating how series that have been successfully filmed on location can be used for tourism: Albuquerque, for example, with “Breaking Bad”. Safe: Baltimore has big problems: There are no-go areas that I don’t go to during my stay. As in so many other American cities, the war on drugs continues to be fought there. On other corners, Baltimore appears to me quite differently: districts with small shops, cafés and bars. David Simon himself also thinks that Baltimore doesn’t need to hide:
“Our food is better, our beer is colder and our neighborhoods are worth living in. Our city is much more real than others! We’re happy to welcome anyone who is open to it.”
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