>In short, Baltimore is a really depressing and ugly city - one of the least
>desirable places to live in the US
No accounting for taste:
>"I would never want to live anywhere but Baltimore. You can look far
>and wide, but you'll never discover a stranger city with such
>extreme style. It's as if every eccentric in the South decided to
>move North, ran out of gas in Baltimore, and decided to stay." And
>so John Waters, one of Baltimore's best-known sons, describes his
>beloved city...."any town that gave you [world-renowned atheist]
>Madalyn Murray O'Hair and Spiro Agnew has to have something going
>for it," Waters writes in his book Shock Value. "Baltimore madness
>is highly original. Some of the local eccentrics impress me More
>than any celebrity I've ever met and fascinate me so much that I
>resist getting to know them for fear I'll discover they aren't as
>happy as they appear."
>Every filmmaker has his muse, and For Waters it's obviously
>Maryland's largest city. "If I'm thinking about a film, I go out on
>the streets of Baltimore for a little inspiration. One memorable day
>I was doing costume research by sitting on some white marble steps
>and watching strangers' shoes as they passed by. As I concentrated
>on an amazing authentic pair of white go-go boots coming my way, I
>looked up and saw a harried motorist toss from his car window,
>directly into my face, all the soiled carryout wrappings from a
>Chinese dinner for six. As I wiped the soy sauce from my hair and
>reflected on what a great scene this would make, I realized I was a
>very lucky man to be able to live in Baltimore and experience
>firsthand all those beautiful moments of truth."
>
>Waters refers to his beloved Baltimore as the "hairdo capital of the
>world" and suggests the best "hairdon't" area is Eastern Avenue in
>the eastern part of the city, where "you can usually see women
>struggling to fit their huge heads into their cars as the wind blows
>old newspapers and garbage up against them."
>
>Debbie Dorsay, who has worked as location scout on four of Waters's
>films, explains: "John likes to shoot a whole film in one
>neighborhood, using real locations. He wrote a lot of A Dirty Shame
>sitting in his car on Pinewood Avenue in Hamilton. Locales are his
>big Inspiration."
>
>Take yourself on a homemade tour of Waters's Baltimore by checking
>out the pivotal sites listed at right.
>[...]
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2004_August_17/ai_n6175608