Baltimore Sun reporter Peter Hermann doesn’t exactly crack the case, but he does provide a bit more insight and analysis than you usually find in such a story. Read it here.
Tag: Baltimore
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Gambling machines seized from bar
At many many bars in Baltimore, there are video gambling games. Video poker games. Not video games. Not Ms. Pac Man or Galaga. These are not something you would play for fun. You play for money. They’re gambling games. If you’re a regular, the bartender will pay you out if you win.
Police raided some at a bar I was in a few times.
The story is here.
I don’t get it. I don’t like gambling in bars, because it tends to make the drunks grouchy. Nobody is more grouchy than a drunk who is losing money gambling. But this is the same state where Keno is legal. And many of these bars couldn’t survive without the added income. Everybody knows these games are for gambling. So what? I’d hate for a corner bar to be closed and shut and boarded because the state wants to keep it’s gambling monopoly.
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Guns 1. Criminals 0.
Robbery try at repair shop leaves man dead, police say
August 30, 2008
Baltimore SunThe owner of a Northwest Baltimore auto repair shop fatally shot a man during an attempted robbery of his business yesterday evening, city police said.
Police spokesman Sterling Clifford said this was the second time that Joseph Goldman has shot someone trying to rob his business. Clifford said he did not know when the first incident occurred or whether the person died. Goldman declined to comment through a woman who answered his cell phone last night. In the most recent incident, two men entered Joe’s Garage about 6:30 p.m. and showed a handgun, said Officer Troy Harris, a department spokesman. The owner grabbed his own handgun and fired shots at the men, hitting one. The injured man was taken to Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police did not release his name last night. The second man fled; police were searching for him, Harris said.
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Formstone!
I love whatever makes a city unique. In Baltimore, that includes painted screen, marble stoops, and Formstone When I arrived in Baltimore, I said, “what is this stuff?” Well. It’s Formstone. Turns out there’s Formstone (or cheap imitations) in Queens and Brooklyn, too. But there’s a lot of Formstone in Baltimore.Baltimore brick is a very pretty red but isn’t very strong (poor Baltimore). So people hammer it out to break into buildings. And it’s porous. So people paint it. Along came Formstone. Put it on and it’s maintenance free. Think of aluminum siding, but cooler. And there’s actual hand-made artistry in Formstone.
I got good, as a drove around East Baltimore on slow nights, of picking out Formstone from Formstone imitators. Accept no substitutes, I say.
I just watched this great half-hour documentary, “Little Castles: A Formstone Phenomenon.” Anybody interested in Baltimore of Formstone or Baltimore accents should buy it. And yes, of course John Waters is in it!
The only place selling is selling it as non-copyrighted material. That means no money is going to the film makers, Lillian Bowers and Skizz Cyzyk. But maybe if there’s more demand, Formstone Filmswill start selling it.
I learned from it. And I already knew more about Formstone than most young Baltimoreans and99.99% of the world. You get to see Formstone going up, and coming off.
I was told that Formstone was hand formed. I didn’t believe it. I thought it was a mold. But it is made by hand. I was also told it was real stone. But it isn’t. It’s concrete.
Here’s a little trailer I made of the documentary. If you like it, try and support Formstone Films, though it’s not exactly clear how you can do that. I hope the makers don’t mind me posting this without permission. But this documentary deserves publicity.
I also lived in “Hollandtown.” That’s Highlandtown, by the way, with a Baltimore accent.
Also, when you watch it, ask yourself what year you think this was filmed. It’s far more recent than you think. That’s the beauty of working-class Baltimore. It’s like a time warp. It’s still like this!
Here’s the Baltimore City Paper’s review.
The older women in the film make me think of my wonderful landlady, Miss Mary. Too bad our house had vinyl siding and not Formstone.
Also, as a cop I tried hard to pry one of the “Genuine Formstone” plaques off a vacant as a souvenir. I couldn’t. Those things were built to last.
I want to finish my basement in Formstone. Too bad they don’t make it anymore.
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Murders down in Eastern
Buried in a small story in the Sun: “Nineteen people have been killed in the Eastern District this year, half as many as at this point last year.”
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Oh Nos!
Rabid kitten discovered in North Baltimore
A stray kitten that wandered into a North Baltimore backyard this month had rabies, the first city cat or dog found to have the disease in more than 20 years, officials said yesterday.
Two people who tried to help the kitten are receiving medical treatment. Others who are concerned that they or their pets may have had contact with the kitten are asked to call the Bureau of Animal Control.
The whole story is here.
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There used to be city here
It’s sad to think about cities being abandonded. I hate to make the Eastern District stand for everything that’s bad. It’s bad in East Baltimore. But it’s also bad in St. Louis, East St Louis, Detroit, Gary, Camden, Newark, the west side of Chicago. The list goes on and on.
Just two generation ago, this area was packed full with homes and families and people. Streets. Sewers. Water. Electricity. A roof over our head. Everything you need. Then the jobs left. Now, because of drugs, the war on drugs, and crime, it’s literally abandoned.
If (like me) you’re fascinated with urban decay, you should check out the work of photographer Camilo Jose Vergara. And some of later work shows before and after pictures of the re-habitation of Harlem. Good stuff.
And if you like Baltimore rowhouses, I recommend The Baltimore Rowhouse. It’s not all decay. It’s stained glass and marble stoops and Formstone! They may all look the same to outsiders, but you can pretty easily tell what part of Baltimore you’re in just by the look of the rowhomes.
Above is a street, not an alley. Baltimore has a lot of narrow streets. I call them alley streets. But they’re streets, with houses fronting them. Here the whole block just happens to be torn down.
This looks like west on E. North Ave. Can somebody please tell me what’s up with people who roll themselves and their wheelchairs around with their legs? I associate it with the ghetto. And I just don’t get it.
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More Eastern Pictures
Thanks to Konrad for taking (and bringing me!) these.
There aren’t too many streets with pretty trees. Alas, the trees don’t stop bullets. But the streets with trees tend to be less abandoned.
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The Eastern Today
Here are pictures from the Eastern District today.
I keep thinking that the Eastern hasn’t changed since I left. But of course it has. On one hand, Hopkins took over a bunch of it. On the other, I’m sure it’s even more abandoned than ever. The population dropped 30% between 1990 and 2000. There’s no reason to think that trend hasn’t continued up to 2008. That’s a lot of empty buildings and vacant lots.
