Nightlife

Baltimore’s nightlife has always thrived, but it seems the choice of things to do has exploded in the last few years. Ten years ago, you might have had difficulty finding late-night revelry on a Wednesday night, but all that has changed. Cruise Cross Street in Federal Hill or Broadway in Fell’s Point on any given evening, and you’re bound to find bars, coffee shops, and music clubs filled with neighborhood friends. Flip through the latest edition of the City Paper, and you’ll see pages and pages of concerts, theater performances, happy hours, and DJ sessions.

Such nationally recognized recording artists as Lake Trout and the Kelley Bell Band land here when they’re not touring, and they frequently grace our music venues. Traversing Pratt and Lombard Streets on a Friday or Saturday night can be a traffic- and pedestrian-clogged hassle. But these crowds translate into packed clubs and restaurants, adding to the resurgence of Downtown nightlife. Power Plant Live! offers a number of nightclubs and restaurants in one square block. There are free outdoor concerts in the summer with popular national acts.

There is a wealth of jazz in the area, as one might expect of Billie Holiday’s hometown. The city has also evolved a strong DJ culture, and the number of clubs featuring turntables attests to the talent that exists in our quarters. These DJs have a strong pipeline to the clubs in D.C., and you’ll frequently find talent from the famous 18th Street Lounge and the ESL recording label spinning here. Baltimore even merited its own sound designation; when flipping through the record stacks in places like New York City, you may run across a heading called “Baltimore breaks.”

Beyond the clubs and the bars, we have a strong allegiance to literature, and you’ll find national chains and local literary spots stay open late. In this chapter you’ll find a variety of offerings, ranging from the ideal dive bar to the high-end dance club. Most of these places exist in the city, although we have listed a few suburban hot spots. You can assume that all of the major hotels Downtown have some sort of adjacent bar for imbibing, so those have not been listed here. Neither have the chain clubs, like the Hard Rock Café, since those offer the same standard fare in every city.

Parking in Downtown basically comes in two varieties—on the street or in garages. Inner Harbor garages can run a couple of dollars an hour to $12 for the night. Outside of Downtown, most nightspots offer on-site parking, or spaces are available on nearby streets.