Just east of Highlandtown, the bustle of downtown becomes irrelevant.
Maybe it's the vitality of the grapevines adorning arbors in the paved alleys and the prevalence of blue and white flags hanging over porches. Maybe it's the restaurant walls decorated with photographs from Ikaria and Paros. Maybe it's the sense of familiarity among the men speaking Greek and playing cards in a small Eastern Avenue coffee shop.
Wherever you look, authentic pieces of Greece are proudly nestled throughout Baltimore's Greektown.
"Little tomato plants, little pepper plants, the flowers from their home," said Xenos Kohilas, whose older brother Theodossios opened Ikaros, the first Greek restaurant in the area, in 1969. "You see, the back yards look like the ones in Greece."
The Southeast Baltimore neighborhood has been recognized lately as an affordable alternative to more expensive Canton and Fells Point.
The average price of a house sold in Greektown last year was $56,399. The averages were $185,920 in Canton and $211,630 in Fells Point, according to Live Baltimore.
Greektown prices have averaged $64,029 since the beginning of this year.
"I think it's the next up-and-coming community," said John Gavrilis, executive director of Greektown Community Development Corp.
The development group, which was formed in 1998, has developed a plan for revitalizing the community. It is focusing on improvements including business development and crime prevention.
Greektown was settled during the early 20th century by mostly working-class, European immigrants, among them Irish, Italians, Poles and Ukrainians. The establishment of the Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church during the 1950s made the neighborhood a natural spot for Greek families, whose numbers grew rapidly through the 1960s and into the 1970s.
Originally known as "the Hill," the area was not officially named until the late 1980s, when the community petitioned the city to be recognized as Greektown, the area's unofficial designation for decades. It still is an attraction for young couples who want to raise their children with the influence of Greek culture.
Two- and three-bedroom rowhouses are common, with Formstone and brick facades and second-floor bay windows. Some homes have the white marble steps traditional to Baltimore, stained glass over the front doors and hand-carved woodwork inside.
