Back in the neighborhoods, this is still the city of Babe Ruth and H.L. Mencken, Edgar Allan Poe and John Wilkes Booth–a place of bricks, front stoops, weeds and soot famous for a colorful baseball team, its intrepid stand against the British in the War of 1812 and its attempt to kill Abraham Lincoln when he passed through on his way to his inaugural in 1861.
In the row house districts, the city isn`t much changed from that depicted in the crusty Mencken`s nostalgic essay, ”Baltimore in the Eighties”–meaning the 1880s–except that the windows now have screens. Cynthia Young, a Baltimore native who fled to the sophistication of nearby Washington, recalls that it wasn`t long ago when Baltimoreans would look askance at people speaking a foreign language. It was a sure sign they weren`t from Baltimore.
But now, along its twisting expanse of historic waterfront and in its glittery new city center, Baltimore has undergone a spectacular and profound change. It has become one of the most exciting and popular tourist attractions on the Eastern Seaboard. Sophisticated Washingtonians; effete Philadelphians; and slick, world weary New Yorkers can be seen there regularly.
Those who would sneer at the hordes making their pilgrimage to the Washington Monument can be found at Baltimore`s Babe Ruth House and its world famous–in trolley circles–Streetcar Museum.
The epicenter of this sweeping transformation is the city`s Inner Harbor
–a cul de sac in the upper reaches of Chesapeake Bay whose waters wash up against the heart of Baltimore and float every imaginable craft from motor yacht and cruise ship to skipjack and 18th Century frigate.
Begun in 1965 and carried forth by Baltimore`s visionary Mayor William Schaefer, recently elected governor of Maryland, the Inner Harbor now attracts 21.5 million visitors a year in a city with a population of 787,000. Initially opposed by many local businessmen who feared it would divert a dwindling clientel from existing downtown establishments already in decline, the Inner Harbor development spawned all manner of new office buildings, hotels and stores and created one of the most vital and enjoyable urban centers in America. (Baltimore real estate tax revenues have increased by $15 million a year just because of it.)
It easily eclipses Boston`s Quincy Market and New York`s South Street and puts Chicago`s high-rise and warehouse-dominated area near Navy Pier to shame. Expansive and spacious, it never feels crowded. But the Inner Harbor is a place where there are always people–at the first light of dawn, at high noon, at romantic sunset and late at night when the city`s many congenial bars and restaurants are closing.
The Inner Harbor has three sides–north, west and south–and the best view of it is from the south side`s Federal Hill, looking across the busy waters to the gleaming new high rises of the city center.
During the Civil War, a Union Army fort sat atop this square hill, bristling with cannon intended to keep the pro-Confederate border city obedient (the Maryland state song still incorporates the phrase, ”Northern scum”). Not many cannon remain, but the sweep of the vista from the hilltop park is still as breathtaking.
Whatever the weather, people spend hours here just watching the water traffic below. Chesapeake Bay did freeze over in the winter of 1976-1977, but is almost always clear, and the harbor is stage to a constant performance by gliding sail and chugging motor craft, not to speak of clacking paddle and pedal boats.
The rest of the harbor`s south shore is taken up by a 158-boat marina, a large marine store, a Rusty Scupper restaurant with wonderful views, an industrial museum and a combination playing field, ampitheater and sculpture garden intended as a playground for children.
Motor trolleys following their own track around the three sides of the harbor provide excellent point to point transportation, though the wide promenade at water`s edge makes this one of the most interesting and pleasant places to walk in the country.
Though the western side of the harbor is mostly wharf, it includes the Baltimore common, an antique carousel, the Inner Harbor carillon, the McCormick Tea Room and an excellent science center and planetarium. Adjoining the western shore are McKeldin Square and its lovely fountain, the city convention center and civic center and historic Otterbein Church. Walkways climb from the west shore promenade and extend along raised platforms over the boulevard and deep into the city, allowing visitors to walk from their hotels to the water unimpeded.
The excursion boats Port Welcome and Lady Baltimore–with restaurants, bars and entertainment on board–dock on the west shore, as do the shuttle boats to Fort McHenry (where the Star Spangled Banner flew during the famous battle witnessed by Francis Scott Key) and two excursion tall ships, Clipper City and Eagle. Another tall ship, the recently built schooner Lady Maryland, is also berthed along this wharf and there`s a big public dock where visiting ships tie up.
At the northwest corner of the harbor, extending south and east in two wings, is the bustling Harborplace development–two long buildings with terraces, awnings and brightly decorated windows. Filled with shops and restaurants, Harborplace is the commercial hub of the harbor and as popular with Baltimoreans as it is with tourists.
Moored just in front of the east wing of Harborplace is the stately U.S.S. frigate Constellation. Launched in 1797 as one of the original six frigates commissioned by Congress for the then fledgling U.S. fleet, the Constellation saw proud service in the War of 1812 and the Civil War (when she last fired her guns) and is now the oldest ship in the U.S. Navy.
Though some work is still underway, she has been handsomely restored and her decks are open to the public. Standing on the gun deck beside one of the Constellation`s enormous cannon, one gets a vivid idea of what life on these old men of war tall ships must have been like (for one thing, it helped if you were short).
The Constellation has its own little museum and souvenier shop on the dock, and almost everybody comes away with something.
Moored farther east along the harbor`s east side is the skipjack (a low, fast sailing craft designed for Chesapeake Bay) Minnie V and the harbor tour boat Patriot. There are also a small boat rental and a charter boat pier. At the far eastern end (one crosses the little intersecting inlets and channels over picturesque footbridges) is a maritime museum featuring an ocean-going lightship Chesapeake and the World War II submarine Torsk.
Three buildings dominate the north shore. The highest is the Baltimore World Trade Center office building. Its Top of the World observation deck provides a view extending far out into the bay. Just east of it is the now world famous Baltimore National Aquarium (it wrested the ”national” title away from Washington`s aquarium because it was so superior). More than 5,000 sea creatures are contained in this high-rise zoo/museum. Its most memorable features are its top floor tropical rain forest–a little bit of the Amazon transported to downtown Baltimore–and its five-story high marine display tank in which you descend a spiral ramp while hammerhead sharks, manta rays and other huge creatures swim around you.
To the east of the aquarium is the Power Plant, a huge, grotesque turn-of-the-century structure that used to burn coal to generate electrical power for the city`s streetcars but has since been taken over by Six Flags of California as a family entertainment center. A bit high-priced when it opened last year, it has since been made more affordable.
In warm weather, outdoor concerts are held at the Pier Six Concert Pavilion adjoining the water, and there`s almost always a jazz band playing in the summer over by Harborplace, often performing from a boat.
There`s a wonderfully varied wealth of places to visit in the city back from the Inner Harbor, of course. The restaurant fare around the waterfront naturally tends to seafood, but more diverse appetites can be splendidly tended to in the ethnic neighborhoods of Baltimore. Just east of the harbor is Little Italy and Corned Beef Row–whose names speak culinarily for themselves. Farther to the east are Ukrainian, Polish and Greek neighborhoods with wonderful restaurants, and Hausner`s on Eastern Avenue, probably the best German restaurant in a city with a substantial German population.
At 844 E. Pratt St. not far from Little Italy is the Flag House and 1812 Museum. The 1793 home of Mary Pickersgill, who made the 30- by 40-foot Fort McHenry flag, contains remembrances of the War of 1812. If you want to buy an American flag, this a great place to do it.
To the north of the harbor on Baltimore Street between South and Gay Streets is the colorful and infamous The Block–the officially tolerated sin strip that nowadays is something of a seamy shadow of its once notorious self. To the north of The Block at 225 Holiday St. is the Peale Museum, containing priceless paintings by early American portraitist Rembrandt Peale and his family as well as photographs of early Baltimore.
On the north side of downtown at St. Paul and Monument Streets is the nation`s first monument to George Washington–considerably more frilly than the stately obelisk in Washington. Up at 2200 St. Paul St. is the Lovely Lane Museum, containing artifacts and memorabilia of the history of American Methodism and located in the Lovely Lane Methodist Church, an architectual treasure designed by the famous Stanford White in 1884.
On the northwest corner of Biddle and Guildford Streets is a grimy gray row-house apartment house notable as the Baltimore residence of Wallis Warfield Simpson Windsor and her mother before she met her prince chaming, the briefly reigning Edward VIII. There`s no museum or public access, but it shows clearly why she must have thought Buckingham Palace a much greener pasture.
The Streetcar Museum is at 1901 Falls Rd. on the far north side. In addition to its walk around exhibits, it has an antique streetcar you can ride along a mile of reconstructed track.
At Eutaw and Lombard Streets just west of downtown is the famous Bromo Seltzer Tower. Its clock bears the letters B-r-o-m-o-S-e-l-t-z-e-r instead of numbers.
At 216 Emory St. just to the southwest is the Babe Ruth House and Museum, birthplace of the Sultan of Swat and home now to many of his personal momentos.
Nearby at 1524 Hollins St. adjoining Union Square is the home of the legendary sage, wit and author H.L. Mencken. Now open to the public, it was his residence for 68 years and contains many of his possessions.
The tiny residence of Edgar Allan Poe at 203 N. Amity St. is not recommended for anything but a quick drive by, though it contains some worthy exhibits of his unhappy life there from 1832 to 1835. It`s just too bad a neighborhood now.
Much recommended, however, is a visit to the Westminster Church and Burying Ground at Fayette and Greene Streets, where Poe, his wife and aunt are buried side by side. As old and spooky a cemetery as any that ever appeared in Poe`s macabre tales, it contains a number of other historic graves, too, but Poe`s monument is the most prominent. To this day, people place fresh flowers on it.
Wherever one goes in Baltimore, one always returns to the harbor, where a sunset experienced from Federal Hill or a window table at the Rusty Scupper constitutes one of the great delights of American urban life.
A visitor from Chicago, however, must go away chagrined. With a quarter its population, Baltimore has put the Second City to shame. Chicago, despite its rich history as a major Great Lakes port, has preserved its lakefront but put it to little use, especially in the downtown area.
Why can`t Fort Dearborn be reconstructed? Why can`t there be old sailing ships in Monroe Street Harbor or at the mouth of the Chicago River? Why aren`t there shops and terrace restaurants and beautiful promenades? And why on earth can`t something to be done with the wonderful municipal treasure that is Navy Pier?
If grubby old Baltimore can make a jewel of itself, it seems absurd that a supposedly greater metropolis can`t do the same.
