Movies
The Wire: Filming Locations in Baltimore
The Wire was set and filmed in Baltimore: the Ritz Cabaret in Fells Point, East Baltimore's Middle East, Locust Point, Greenmount West and Camden Yards all appear on screen.
The HBO series by David Simon ran for five seasons from 2002 to 2008. This route follows five places from the first-season pilot to the school storyline of season 4. Most pins are neighborhoods, not single doors.
Timeline & locations
What do the location labels mean?
- Exact
- The pin marks the actual place where it happened or was filmed.
- Approximate
- The right area — a town, park or district — but not a precise spot.
In the pilot, "The Target", Wee-Bey drives D'Angelo Barksdale to Orlando's strip club, a front for the Barksdale Organization. The scenes set at Orlando's were filmed at the Ritz Cabaret in Fells Point, while much of the rest of the episode was shot in West Baltimore. The pin marks the Fells Point waterfront neighborhood, not the club's door.
Location precision: The pin marks the Fells Point neighborhood; the Ritz Cabaret's exact address is not pinned.
Sources
- The Wire
- Locator:
- Episodes
- The Wire
Season 1 follows a police detail investigating the Barksdale drug family, and the Middle East neighborhood near Johns Hopkins Hospital was one of the show's filming locations. The area has changed since: many buildings were leveled to make way for the expansion of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Location precision: The source names the whole neighborhood as a filming location, not a specific street.
Sources
- Middle East, Baltimore
- Locator:
- Intro
- The Wire
- Locator:
- Episodes
- Middle East, Baltimore
Season 2 moves to the port. In the premiere "Ebb Tide", stevedores union secretary-treasurer Frank Sobotka meets fellow union leader Nat Coxson at Locust Point. The peninsula in South Baltimore was featured in the season, which introduced a new group of characters working around the Port of Baltimore.
Location precision: The pin marks the Locust Point neighborhood, not a particular pier.
Sources
- Locust Point, Baltimore
- Locator:
- Intro
- Ebb Tide (The Wire)
- Locator:
- Plot
- The Wire
- Locator:
- Episodes
- Locust Point, Baltimore
Season 4 concentrates on the school system. The former Mildred Monroe Elementary School in Greenmount West stood in for the show's Primary School 32 and now houses a Montessori charter school. A graphic designer's letterpress occupies the building known on screen as Bubbles' garage.
Location precision: The pin marks the Greenmount West neighborhood; the school and garage addresses are not pinned.
Sources
- Greenmount West, Baltimore
- Locator:
- Intro
- The Wire
- Locator:
- Episodes
- Greenmount West, Baltimore
Detectives Jimmy McNulty and Bunk Moreland take their sons to a game while talking over a case. Part of that episode was filmed during a real Orioles game at the ballpark in Baltimore.
Sources
- Oriole Park at Camden Yards
- Locator:
- In popular culture
- Oriole Park at Camden Yards