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Shot on location during its five-year run on HBO, Baltimore was more than a backdrop and setting for The Wire. From its corners to its classrooms to the corridors of power, the city was the prism through which issues and themes were refracted.

Here follows some of The Wire‘s more iconic locations.



THE PIT



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One of the major venues for the Barksdale crew were the Pit and the Tower, based on the McCollough Homes on the west side and other similar projects such as the Poe Homes and Lexington Terrace. Nearly all of Baltimore’s high-rise housing projects were demolished years ago.

HAMSTERDAM



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Baltimore never actually had “free zones” with open drug markets, as envisioned by Bunny Colvin. The filming location used for the first and largest of the free zones — known as Hamsterdam — was near Broadway and Gay streets. The homes in this area have been demolished and the blocks are now open space. This stretch of Lexington Avenue runs through what was supposedly Hamsterdam.

COLLINGTON SQUARE



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This eastside park, with a commanding view overlooking the Johns Hopkins medical center and the waterfront in the distance, was the location of several meetings during the course of The Wire. The eastside-westside basketball game was played on the court here.

LITTLE JOHNNIE’S



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The dockside S. Clinton Street restaurant where Vonda and the Greek hung out. Marlo met them here a couple of times as well. Interestingly, the location of the Major Crimes Unit building is just down the street.

CITY HALL



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Baltimore’s City Hall and War Memorial Plaza were a backdrop in several episodes. Facing the place, to your back, is the courthouse where Proposition Joe and Stringer Bell met in the rain — the same courthouse steps featured in Barry Levinson’s “…And Justice for All.”

ORLANDO’S



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Orlando’s strip club on South Broadway was the base of operations for Avon Barksdale’s crew during the first seasons of The Wire, until ambition got the better of Orlando. As it was during filming, the location is actually a strip club — the Ritz Cabaret. Stringer Bell’s copy shop is just a few doors down at 510 S. Broadway.

MAJOR CRIMES UNIT



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From this small dockside building on a desolate stretch of South Clinton street, Lt. Daniels, Lester Freamon and other members of the major crimes unit played a never-ending game of cat and mouse with violent drug gangs, mobsters and corrupt public officials.

POLICE HEADQUARTERS



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This quintessential Bauhaus building designed by Mies van der Rohe, used as the location for the Baltimore City police headquarters, was part of the original Charles Center redevelopment project in the early 1960s. A news ticker runs along the building across Baltimore Street.

MARLO’S COURT



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The ambitious and ruthless Marlo Stanfield met in this secluded park near Chase and Bond Streets. Herc lost a surveillance camera here as well.

LANVALE & BARCLAY



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Several locations were used as drug corners during the filming of The Wire. The intersection of Lanvale and Barclay was Bodie’s spot during the fourth season.

THE RIM SOURCE



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At the intersection of North and Gay, the Rim Source, with its windows distinctively outlined with blue neon lights, was one of Marlo’s meeting spots.

JOHN’S RADIO & TV



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Proposition Joe ran a repair shop at 301 S. Highland in Highlandtown, most recently a jewelry repair shop but presently vacant.