The "Other" Corner

HBO it's time to write the check, I give you...The Other Corner.

Perhaps some of you are familiar with Baltimore via Homicide or more recently The Corner and The Wire. First I'll say that as small as B'more actually is I know people who have been portrayed in those joints and people who have acted in them. The places that have been filmed are spots where I used to hang at, know the people who hustle there, and even grew up around. However there are still some things missing, hence my new special.


This store is my view all the live long day. It is the Hub of activities in a universe that is like Seinfeld with junkies. First off, Dudes hustle out of, next to and in the alley behind this store. Cops, undercover and uniformed, get their freebies out of here. Junkies mill around, people trip out and I get to see it all.

The Players -

Hustlers (Limpy, Sweaty, and Pills) - Ahh the intrepid entreprenuers, street pharmacists and dumb asses. Now I have moral issues with the dealing of crack, but more than that I hate stupid criminals. Foremost because my building has cameras placed on it by the Community Saftey commitee, meaning all of their actions are recorded. Second, these dudes are BOLD. I know it's an open air drug market but god damn. From this building I have witnessed over 100 individual deals. I know where the stash is and I know who is the main man, the runner and server. The funny thing is the runner is Limpy (I named him that, around here they call him Crip) who has Cerebral Palsy and one of his legs is messed up. This is the guy that hits the stash and I hear he can run but I can't see him getting out of that little spot quick enough to dodge the cops. Don't let someone try and take him off I'm kicking out the messed up leg myself. At least these guys are equal opportunity employers. The main dude chills in the store most of the day wearing the same types of clothes so you can always spot him. Sweaty actually was a client of mine but he stopped attending before I came on here and I could never get him involved again. This is an all day thing, yesterday they had like 10 junkies on the corner hittin' em off. I should not know this much about their operation but I do.

The Junkies (ever changing cast) Junkies are always sad, funny, nasty, wild and just a sight to see. Since this street is the first you can hit when coming in off I-95 into the city, we get alot of county business. They roll in pick up and get back on the interstate to go home and enjoy their high. The area actually won Best Open Air Drug Market in the City Paper annual Best of Baltimore Issue. Black, white, male, female, clean, dirty, rough, neat, and so on. Every type of junkie comes through here. Just the other day my co-worker let out a squeal because a woman was getting "sick" on the steps next to the store. Limpy was yelling at another junkie to move her from the spot before she made it hot. Not only was this woman sick, looking bad, and barefoot. She was about 6-7 months pregnant. Then there is the Young Buck, this rough looking white guy who may be about my age and is always trying to sell me some shit. One of my clients bought a dope ass laptop from him for $80 last summer. There are also the Hot Dog ladies who deserve their own section.

The Hot Dog Ladies (Cussing you out for over 40 years!) This is a mother/daughter team that get's high, drinks, enrolls in treatment and starts the whole process over again a couple weeks later. They are often cussing out each other or any other random person on the block. The Hot Dog Ladies got their title because of an incident at the annual block party. There is always free food on the grill for the people in the neighborhood. As someone is starting to cook the mother goes off because no one will give her a hot dog (even though they are not done). "I WANT GOD DAMNED HOT DOG! GIVE ME A MOTHERFUCKING HOT DOG.!" The Hot Dog Ladies are always cussing at someone. Once when there was Ice on the ground they were walking and the mother fell...the daughter turned around and asked if she was alright. The mother jumped up yelled, "FUCK NO BITCH" and slapped her in the face.

The Dirty Underwear Consortium (accepting applications currently) The D.U.C. is like a organization connected to the Hot Dog Ladies. This is a group of about 5 or 6 dudes that dig in trash cans and bum change on Martin Luther King Blvd. All of them have beards, scullies and long dirty winter coats. Their leader wears an old Carhart winter jumpsuit with duct tape around the knees. These dudes are normal 60% of the time, but when they hit MLK they all look starved and half crazy. They recently took on a new member. He has the scully and the winter coat but his beard isn't as long and his coat isn't as dirty.

The Dog House This is down the street a couple blocks but it's part of the spice. This is a house that has SEVERAL residents. On warm days the entire residence is emptied out onto the street on chairs, steps and even standing. A majority of them will bum cigarettes from you. One resident is a dirty brown dog with matted hair that sleeps in the middle of the sidewalk, in the gutter and under cars. It's called the Dog House because that is the odor that wafts out of the house during these warm days. it actually smells like 10 dogs live there. The Dog House is located next door to the residence of the Hot Dog Ladies.

Frozen Crack Stand This is a pleasant spot around the way. It's basically a snowball stand, but it's so much more. These snowballs are the shit. I mean like someone who comes from the east side of town to collect our paperwork stopped and had one once. Afterwards she would travel 20 mins. across town and stand in a 20 person line for these joints. I used to crack jokes on people out of my window. "They got you now, you in their pocket." I'm not blowing this out of proportion either. Them joints are good as hell. Enough syrup so you don't end up with a whole lot of ice and no flavor. Straight up the best snowballs in a snowball kind of town. In the summer people stretch down the street in a line for these things. People from offices come and buy 4 and 5 at a time. Half my co-workers are hooked. I'm exercising extreme self control by avoiding them. Plus I hate to walk around with sticky lips and the look of extreme joy in my eyes the shit is that good.


So until I sell the rites to HBO I will be monitoring The Other Corner for even more stories. I have plenty more but I'm at work so until next time, enjoy.