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.

Jimmy’s is a magnet for actors and athletes at 801 South Broadway in Fells Point. On the Sunday we were there, an actor from The Wire, Nathan Corbett came in and sat down next to me at the counter. Nathan played a car thief in the celebrated HBO’s series’ fourth season.

NATHAN CORBETT

“I didn’t have a big part,” Nathan said. “I didn’t get killed off.”

Jimmy’s owner, Nick Filipidis rattled off a list of well known people who have eaten there, I caught Muhamand Ali’s and Bill Cosby’s names. He also mentioned former Orioles Jim Palmer and Rick Dempsey, and actors Andre Braugher and Ned Beatty.

Nick is related to Jim Filipidis, the co-owner of the Honey Bee Diner in Glen Burnie we visited recently. Nick’s and Jim’s fathers were brothers.

Jimmy Filipidis opened Jimmy’s Restaurant in 1946. Nick and his son, Jimmy, took over the restaurant in 1981.

Nick Filipidia says the most popular meal served at Jimmy’s is breakfast.

DORIS KIRKWOOD WITH DAUGHTERS KAREN SMITH AND MELODY KELLY

So, I ordered the French toast for $3.89 (I could also order an extra slice of French toast for $1.60) and a side of sausage for $1.95. The French toast was light, sweet with a hint of vanilla. Maple syrup – which was also not bad — was in a tall, plastic container. The sausage was warm, crunchy and lightly seasoned.

My companion ordered the rib eye steak and cheese sub for $5.79. An important component, the bread, was fresh and there was ample cheese which he described as “messy, the way a sub should be!” Large slices of Maryland tomatoes and fresh potato chips were served with the meal.

Sitting next to us on their initial visit to Jimmy’s was Doris Kirkwood and her two daughters, Karen Smith and Melody Kelly.

The threesome make it a point to get together frequently and Karen told me she was the one who suggested Jimmy’s.

“Everyone in my office talks about this place, so we had to come see it for ourselves,” said Karen, who works at Traveler’s Insurance Company in Hunt Valley, almost 30 miles north of Jimmy’s in Fells Point. Karen had the crab cake platter for $17.99. She was delighted with the large lumps of crabmeat, the well blended spices and she told me she could definitely taste Old Bay seasoning and parsley. Karen added that she was glad the Jimmy’s crab cake had omitted the mustard.

“The side salads are even good!” Karen said. “Macaroni and potato salad, they are a little spicy, tasty!”

Karen’s mom had the Greek chicken wrap for $8.35. “The onions, tomato and feta cheese in the wrap have a little punch to them,” she said. “It’s different. Not at all what I expected. Not bad!”

Melody’s chicken rice soup, $1.75 was “tasty and creamy. It’s just what I wanted, really good!”

Jimmy’s owner, Nick Filipidis sat at the end of his counter while the never ending line of customers waiting for tables were seated. It was a busy day at Jimmy’s, which is open daily from 5 AM to 7 PM.

The best part about his job, Nick says, is the people. “We just lost a customer, 72 years old. He came in here every morning, read the newspaper and had his breakfast. He lived around the corner and he’d been coming here for as long as I can remember.”

Nick added that he sent a donation and a Mass card to the family. “I’m not Catholic,” he said, “So I had another customer who is get one for me.”

Nick told me that WJZ TV, the CBS affiliate in Baltimore broadcasts a morning show, “Manic Mondays” each week at Jimmy’s. The show started about a decade ago when one of WJZ’s personalities called him and suggested they broadcast from Jimmy’s. For the first month, the WJZ crew aired the show from a different location each Monday. The idea was to ask people on the street to sing songs about Monday.

“About a month after the Monday shows started, WJZ called me back and asked if they could broadcast only from here each Monday,” Nick said. “We’ve had four and five piece bands set up here at 5 AM when we open. We’ve busy at that hour ever since.”

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CARYN COYLE IS AN ADOPTED BALTIMOREAN. ASIDE FROM ANYTHING CHOCOLATE, HER FAVORITE FOODS ARE CHESAPEAKE BAY CRAB, SILVER QUEEN CORN, AND MARYLAND TOMATOES. SHE CAN BE EMAILED HERE.

PHOTOS BY CARYN COYLE

It’s a small thing, but I’ll take some of the credit for it. While working on another part of this site, I stumbled upon rare footage of the Buddy Deane Show – the inspiration for John Waters’ Hairspray. Video so rare that it’s practically nonexistent.

An afternoon dance show broadcast on WJZ from 1957 to 1964, the Buddy Deane Show was at one time the top locally produced program in the country. It was taken off the air near the peak of its popularity because the station, owned by Westinghouse, did not want to integrate the show.

Like many television programs at the time, the Buddy Deane Show was broadcast live and not recorded. Clips of the show are so rare that when Barry Levinson asked WJZ for footage to use in Diner, he was told that none existed. There wasn’t even a single Buddy Deane Show clip among the millions of videos at Youtube. None – anywhere.

In December 2003, Maryland Public Television produced The Buddy Deane Scrapbook: Shake, Rattle & Roll, which featured several clips from the show. On MPT’s web site to promote the program, the station provided rather understated links to three short segments in a format that is not particularly accessible or user-friendly by 2008 standards.

MPT was offering the DVD of the Buddy Deane special as a premium for membership, but it was clear they weren’t actively promoting either the page or the DVD, as the page looked dated and forgotten.

I contacted MPT and was put in touch with Peter Shea, MPT’s associate producer for on-air fundraising, and basically said, “Hey man, how about posting those videos to Youtube so more people can see them?” Shea wrote back and basically said, “That’s not a bad idea, I’ll put them on the MPT page at Youtube.”

So there they are, the only video of the Buddy Deane Show anywhere on the web.