“Friends In Low Places” Baltimore excerpt from PEOPLE LIKE US: SOCIAL CLASS IN AMERICA (2001)

In America, is the elephant in the room that nobody says exists, but it's hard to ignore in , whose charms have been given national exposure via the of Barry Levinson and John Waters. This excerpt from Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker's award-winning documentary People Like Us: Social Class In America presents two Charm City hallmarks – big hair (we are, after all, “The Hairdo Capital of the World” according to John Waters) and “dive” bars – and asks whether Baltimore's eccentricities are being celebrated or mocked for value.

First we see Kelly Conway (pictured above) don her bio-dome sized wig as she heads off to MC the annual Festival in Hampden. Kelly, a real “hon” (back before they became a registered trademark), was one of the first Honfest Hon winners (she even baked cannoli to seal the deal!) and has long been a local media fixture, appearing on (THE CORNER, ATOMIC TV and WJZ-TV's “SOAPDISH”), as well as in films by Todd Rohal, Josh Slates and John Waters' PECKER and A DIRTY SHAME.  Then we see slumming Yuppies amuse themselves on a neighborhood “dive bar crawl” through East Baltimore. (, 8 minutes)

Watch “Friends in Low Places“:

“(Mad) Man About (Gentrified) Town” Tom Warner adds a “yeah” and a “right” to the intense sociological debate about class in America.

This entry was posted in 2000s, Baltimorons, Entertainment, Festivals, Films, Hampden, Kitsch, Neighborhoods, Nightlife, Nightspots, Roadside Attractions, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

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