File sealedDecode page 1 to open it.
Baltimore, MarylandHBO · 2002–2008 · 60 episodes
The Wire
PAGE99jump the 5 → 11
Five seasons with an ear to one city. Break the crew’s pager code, tune the scanner, then go and see Baltimore for yourself.
Intercept 01 · the pager
Jump the 5.
The crew paged numbers in a keypad code: swap each digit for the one across the 5, and swap 5 and 0. Each page here is a real Baltimore address. Break it.
Intercepts on the code
Page 1 of 5: 059. Key the digit across the 5 for each one.
Lord Baltimore Hotel
Lord Baltimore Hotel
Charles Center, Downtown · Rooms from $80.75 · valet $50 a night
A 700-room downtown hotel opened on 30 December 1928, a short walk from City Hall, the Sidebar and Werner’s. Not a filming location. Pictured: City Hall.
Check roomsIntercept 02 · the scanner
Five seasons,
five channels.
Each season turned the same ear on a different part of the city. Tune in.
CH1 · SEASON 1 · 13 EPISODES · DEALERS AND POLICE
The drug dealers and police officers.
Intercepts on the seasons
218 E Lexington St
The Sidebar (Kavanagh’s)
The Sidebar was often in The Wire as Kavanagh’s, the cop bar, just as the real Sidebar was a cheap happy-hour spot for lawyers and city employees. It is named for its closeness to the Baltimore City courthouse.
A bar and punk venue by the courthouse. It has closed for long stretches since 2021: check it is open before you go.
Intercepts
Address withheld
The pit
The courtyard at the McCulloh Homes housing project, where D’Angelo Barksdale ran the low-level dealing from an orange sofa, sits just off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
People live here. It is named, not pinned: do not go looking for the sofa.
Intercepts
Season two
Down to
the water.
Point Breeze, Port of Baltimore
Seagirt Marine Terminal
The Port of Baltimore’s Seagirt Marine Terminal starred in season two, as Frank Sobotka fights to get the harbour channel dredged. Season two turned to the stevedores and the shipping industry.
A secure working terminal: no visitors. See the cranes from the water or across the harbour.
Intercepts
Locust Point
Silo Point (the grain pier)
The old Locust Point grain pier, which Sobotka pushes to reopen, became the Silo Point luxury condominiums a year after the show wrapped.
Private flats now: see the tower from the street.
Intercepts
Viator · Ad / affiliate
Harbour and city tours in Baltimore
Baltimore
Live marketplace results for The Wire and harbour tours in Baltimore. No dedicated Wire tour is running as of October 2026: check each itinerary.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursIntercept 03 · do not follow
The famous corners
are people’s homes.
The pit and Hamsterdam are the places fans ask about first. One is a housing project where people live; the other is empty lots in a living neighbourhood. This page names them and pins neither.
File · The pit
McCulloh Homes, off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
The courtyard at the McCulloh Homes housing project, where D’Angelo Barksdale ran the low-level dealing from an orange sofa, sits just off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
People live here. It is named, not pinned: do not go looking for the sofa.
Intercepts
File · Hamsterdam
A residential neighbourhood
Hamsterdam was the legal drug zone Major “Bunny” Colvin created in season three; by 2011 its buildings had been torn down, leaving empty lots and a fire hydrant.
Gone: empty lots in a neighbourhood where people live. Nothing to see.
Intercepts
Downtown
After the shift.
Four stops downtown and up Charles Street: where the detail drank, ate, shopped and got it wrong.
The city courthouse on Calvert Street, 2015, a block from the Sidebar. Smash the Iron Cage · CC BY-SA 4.0 01 · The cop bar
The Sidebar (Kavanagh’s)
218 E Lexington St
The Sidebar was often in The Wire as Kavanagh’s, the cop bar, just as the real Sidebar was a cheap happy-hour spot for lawyers and city employees. It is named for its closeness to the Baltimore City courthouse.
A bar and punk venue by the courthouse. It has closed for long stretches since 2021: check it is open before you go.
Intercepts
The Vickers Building on Redwood Street, home of Werner’s, for the Historic American Buildings Survey. James W. Rosenthal, Historic American Buildings Survey · Public domain 02 · The diner
Werner’s Diner & Pub
231 E Redwood St
Werner’s first opened in 1950 and has been featured in The Wire and House of Cards. In 2025 William Sterling of Saturday Morning Cafe took it over.
A downtown diner under a new operator since late 2025: check the hours before you go.
Intercepts
The reopening of Lexington Market, January 2023. Maryland GovPics · CC BY 2.0 03 · The crab cakes
Lexington Market (Faidley’s)
Eutaw St at Lexington St
Faidley’s crab cakes at Lexington Market are among the hundreds of local references in the show that only Baltimoreans could fully read. The market opens Monday to Wednesday 6am–5pm, Thursday and Friday 6am–6pm and Saturday 7am–6pm; stall hours may differ.
Monday to Wednesday 6am–5pm, Thursday and Friday 6am–6pm, Saturday 7am–6pm; stalls keep their own hours.
Intercepts
The entrance of Penn Station. Sarah Stierch · CC BY 4.0 04 · The station
Penn Station
1500 N Charles St
Penn Station is in the “Margin of Error” episode, where Herc stops Marlo, thinking he is meeting a drug courier, and gets it wrong.
A working station: walk in under the arches.
Intercepts
The City DeskBaltimore · Season five
The newsroom was a set.
The real one is police offices now.
501 N Calvert St
The Sun’s newsroom was at 501 N. Calvert St. from 1950 to 2018. David Simon worked at The Sun for 13 years as a police reporter before taking a buyout in 1995. The show’s newsroom was recreated on a soundstage, because shooting in the real one proved too expensive and logistically difficult. The building is now home to the police department’s Central District offices.
Police offices now: look from Calvert Street and keep going.
Intercepts
Before The Wire, the pier
The Recreation Pier · 1715 Thames St, Fells Point
The pier was the Baltimore police headquarters in Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–1999). It sat empty until the Sagamore Pendry opened in 2017.
A hotel since 2017: walk the pier, or go in for a drink.
Intercepts
The museum that showed the show
Baltimore Museum of Industry · Key Highway, South Baltimore
The museum’s exhibit “Local Scenes on the Silver Screen: featuring The Wire” opened with a panel before a few hundred people on 30 April 2008. In 2009 an event at the museum marked the exhibit’s close. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 9am to 4pm; adult tickets are $15.
Tuesday to Sunday 9am–4pm; adults $15.
Intercepts
Pendry Hotels
Sagamore Pendry Baltimore
1715 Thames St, Fells Point
The Recreation Pier in Fells Point, Homicide’s police headquarters, turned into a hotel in 2017. Not a Wire filming location.
Check rooms
The Ivy Hotel
The Ivy Hotel
205 E Biddle St, Mount Vernon
Seventeen rooms in an 1889 Mount Vernon mansion built for the banker John Gilman, a few blocks from the old Sun building. Not a filming location. Pictured: downtown from Federal Hill.
Check roomsRoll 02 · the people
As themselves.
Photographed while the show was being made, or just after it ended.
Peabody Awards · 2004
January 2007
February 2008
Harvard · 2010
M&T Bank Stadium
The stadium
whistled for Omar.
In September 2021 the Ravens played Omar’s whistle in the stadium as a tribute to Michael K. Williams. David Simon said he heard the sound of Omar whistling “Farmer In The Dell” from the stadium.
Open on game and event days.
Intercepts
-30-
The last of the 60 episodes is called “-30-”. It went out on 9 March 2008.
Intercepts
Where it is now
11 places you can visit, in three parts of the city. The pit and Hamsterdam are named on this page and pinned nowhere; the Seagirt terminal and Silo Point are seen from outside.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. See it from Holliday Street and War Memorial Plaza opposite; the building is a working seat of government.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A bar and punk venue by the courthouse. It has closed for long stretches since 2021: check it is open before you go.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A downtown diner under a new operator since late 2025: check the hours before you go.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Monday to Wednesday 6am–5pm, Thursday and Friday 6am–6pm, Saturday 7am–6pm; stalls keep their own hours.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Police offices now: look from Calvert Street and keep going.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working station: walk in under the arches.
Baltimore City Hall, 2015. Smash the Iron Cage · CC BY-SA 4.0 100 Holliday St
Baltimore City Hall
Each of the series’ five seasons highlighted a different aspect of Baltimore, and politics was one of them.
See it from Holliday Street and War Memorial Plaza opposite; the building is a working seat of government.
Intercepts
The city courthouse on Calvert Street, 2015, a block from the Sidebar. Smash the Iron Cage · CC BY-SA 4.0 218 E Lexington St
The Sidebar (Kavanagh’s)
The Sidebar was often in The Wire as Kavanagh’s, the cop bar, just as the real Sidebar was a cheap happy-hour spot for lawyers and city employees.
A bar and punk venue by the courthouse. It has closed for long stretches since 2021: check it is open before you go.
Intercepts
The Vickers Building on Redwood Street, home of Werner’s, for the Historic American Buildings Survey. James W. Rosenthal, Historic American Buildings Survey · Public domain 231 E Redwood St
Werner’s Diner & Pub
Werner’s first opened in 1950 and has been featured in The Wire and House of Cards.
A downtown diner under a new operator since late 2025: check the hours before you go.
Intercepts
The reopening of Lexington Market, January 2023. Maryland GovPics · CC BY 2.0 Eutaw St at Lexington St
Lexington Market (Faidley’s)
Faidley’s crab cakes at Lexington Market are among the hundreds of local references in the show that only Baltimoreans could fully read.
Monday to Wednesday 6am–5pm, Thursday and Friday 6am–6pm, Saturday 7am–6pm; stalls keep their own hours.
Intercepts
The Baltimore Sun building on Calvert Street, 2012. Groupuscule · CC BY-SA 3.0 501 N Calvert St
The old Baltimore Sun building
The Sun’s newsroom was at 501 N. Calvert St. from 1950 to 2018.
Police offices now: look from Calvert Street and keep going.
Intercepts
The entrance of Penn Station. Sarah Stierch · CC BY 4.0 1500 N Charles St
Penn Station
Penn Station is in the “Margin of Error” episode, where Herc stops Marlo, thinking he is meeting a drug courier, and gets it wrong.
A working station: walk in under the arches.
Intercepts
Stay
Three nights downtown.
The old Homicide pier in Fells Point, a 1928 hotel by City Hall, and an 1889 mansion in Mount Vernon. None is a filming location.
Pendry Hotels
Sagamore Pendry Baltimore
1715 Thames St, Fells Point
The Recreation Pier in Fells Point, Homicide’s police headquarters, turned into a hotel in 2017. Not a Wire filming location.
Check roomsLord Baltimore Hotel
Lord Baltimore Hotel
Charles Center, Downtown · Rooms from $80.75 · valet $50 a night
A 700-room downtown hotel opened on 30 December 1928, a short walk from City Hall, the Sidebar and Werner’s. Not a filming location. Pictured: City Hall.
Check roomsThe Ivy Hotel
The Ivy Hotel
205 E Biddle St, Mount Vernon
Seventeen rooms in an 1889 Mount Vernon mansion built for the banker John Gilman, a few blocks from the old Sun building. Not a filming location. Pictured: downtown from Federal Hill.
Check roomsWalk it
On foot, with a local.
No Wire tour is running, so walk the city with Baltimore Heritage, or compare the marketplace.
Viator · Ad / affiliate
Harbour and city tours in Baltimore
Baltimore
Live marketplace results for The Wire and harbour tours in Baltimore. No dedicated Wire tour is running as of October 2026: check each itinerary.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
Nothing dated.
No screenings or reunions are announced in Baltimore.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Take it home
The books and the music.
David Simon’s two books, the inside story, the companion, and the soundtrack albums.
Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
David Simon
David Simon’s year on the killing streets of Baltimore, first published in 1991.
Find the book
Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate
The Corner
David Simon and Edward Burns
A year on one West Baltimore corner, by the show’s two creators.
Find the book
Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate
All the Pieces Matter
Jonathan Abrams
The inside story of The Wire.
Find the book
Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate
The Wire: Truth Be Told
Rafael Alvarez
A companion book to the series.
Find the book
eBay · Ad / affiliate
The Wire: …and All the Pieces Matter
Various Artists · CD, 2008
Five years of music from the show, with “Way Down in the Hole” by both the Blind Boys of Alabama and Tom Waits.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copy
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eBay · Ad / affiliate
Beyond Hamsterdam
Various Artists · CD, 2008
Baltimore tracks from The Wire.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
The log
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
13 of 13 places · 13 of 13 Moments
Baltimore City Hall
100 Holliday St
Out of The Wire business
After the second season, the mayor told Simon the city wanted out, and threatened to refuse filming permits.
The Sidebar (Kavanagh’s)
218 E Lexington St
Kavanagh’s
The Sidebar plays Kavanagh’s, the cop bar.
Werner’s Diner & Pub
231 E Redwood St
Werner’s
The diner is featured in the show.
Lexington Market (Faidley’s)
Eutaw St at Lexington St
Faidley’s crab cakes
Faidley’s crab cakes are one of the show’s local references.
The old Baltimore Sun building
501 N Calvert St
The newsroom
The Sun’s newsroom is recreated on a soundstage for the last season.
Penn Station
1500 N Charles St
Margin of Error
Herc stops Marlo at the station, thinking he is meeting a drug courier.
Baltimore Museum of Industry
Key Highway, South Baltimore
The exhibit
A museum exhibit about the show opens with a panel.
M&T Bank Stadium
South Baltimore, by Camden Yards
Omar’s whistle
The Ravens play Omar’s whistle for Michael K. Williams.
The Recreation Pier
1715 Thames St, Fells Point
Homicide headquarters
The pier is police headquarters in Homicide: Life on the Street.
Seagirt Marine Terminal
Point Breeze, Port of Baltimore
The channel
Seagirt stars in season two as Sobotka fights to get the channel dredged.
Silo Point (the grain pier)
Locust Point
The grain pier
Sobotka pushes to reopen the grain pier.
The pit
McCulloh Homes, off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
The pit
D’Angelo runs the dealing from an orange sofa in the courtyard.
Hamsterdam
A residential neighbourhood
Hamsterdam
Colvin creates a legal drug zone.