Some come to the city

From: Zippy Larson <zippytours@gmail.com>

Subject: Some come to the city

Date: April 11, 2019 at 8:49:42 PM EDT

This morning I led and narrated a walking tour of Locust Point for the winners of the Center Stage auction. I donate a couple tours each year and the highest bidder wins.

This group is from Westminster. The winner, Betty, invited a group of her friends and her daughter, who lives and works downtown. Betty was last year's winner, and I do put a deadline on the prize, which had come and gone. She asked me to extend it since her husband was ill which kept her from using the tour she had won within the allotted time.  No problem, for someone so nice, I did extend the date for her to claim her prize.

This lovely lady insisted on taking us all out to lunch after the morning tour of Locust Point and, as you might guess, I chose the restaurant.

Or rather,

I chose the chef, so we did not order from the menu. Instead, I had alerted the chef, who came out to meet everyone and discuss what we like to eat. Need I say how much fun it is to forget about the standard menu and just talk about what he suggests was freshest in the kitchen and pair that up with what we like, and devise a dish for each of us.  We just sat and gabbed and then the cooked to order dishes were brought to us.    Yummy! Yummy! Yummy!

Ask me if we cleaned our plates!

Zippy

and did we feel special...

Winner: Best Tours of BALTIMORE by Baltimore Magazine - 1989

Winner: Best Tour Guide in BALTIMORE by CITY PAPER - 2005

zippytours@gmail.com

    410 - 522 - 7334

Fwd: "Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party"

From: Zippy Larson <zippytours@gmail.com>

Subject: "Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party"

Date: July 23, 2016 at 11:19:39 PM EDT

To: Zippy Larson <zippytours@gmail.com>

I invite you to watch this movie.

"Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party" review.

 

just heard a talk by Patrick Sutton

From: Zippy Larson <zippytours@gmail.com>

Subject: just heard a talk by Patrick Sutton

Date: November 1, 2018 at 9:37:32 PM EDT

To: Zippy Larson <zippytours@gmail.com>

He designed the Sag Pen, Kevin Plank's hotel, named by Conde Nast as the best hotel in the world. He spoke at Ivy bookshop in Mt. Washington. He is promoting a book.  I got there early and had some private time to talk to him before his talk. He asked me a couple questions about the history of the building and referred to me during his talk. He did not know the name we old natives of the city call the building.

He told me where he lives in Fell's Point. I did not know he lives in Baltimore.

His talk was quite good, he described the origins of his interest in interior design, showed photos from his childhood and of his fashion model Mother, a gorgeous woman, and his Dad. 

Excpet for the ahs and ums (every good speaker should eliminate those), I was glad I went to hear him and meet him. He will remember me!

Zippy

Winner: Best Tours of BALTIMORE by Baltimore Magazine - 1989

Winner: Best Tour Guide in BALTIMORE by CITY PAPER - 2005

zippytours@gmail.com

    410 - 522 - 7334

 

Tall tales at Sagamore Pendry

Let's begin with tall tales about Fell's Point, where fish stories, sweet talk and whoppers have a life of their own. Here's a myth about the area:

The new Pendry Hotel that just opened last week is on the site where Baltimore welcomed the second highest number of immigrants to the USA.  They ended their ocean journey and stepped on American soil at Fell's Point, Baltimore City.  Their Welcome to America sign was "Thames Street," in the building known by Baltimore natives as the Rec Center.

The uniformed Pendry employee who told me those tall tales was standing outside the fancy new hotel, and eager to share the building's history. When I asked for the source of his knowledge, he said, " The Preservation Society across the street sent someone to teach the hotel's employees."

Well now, what to do?  It was clear that anything I said to him would go over like a lead balloon. If he's been taught by someone the hotel chose, then:
(1) I am upset that they didn't chose me to teach local history and
(2) I want to know which person at the Fell's Point Visitors Center is mis-informed?

So I went home and thought about it, and next day, I went to the hotel and hung around until I saw the Director of Guest Services  at Pendry, who said that he does not know how that employee got his information. No one has come to the hotel to teach local history. 

Part 2 of this story is that I would like to teach our history to the hotel's employees.

Full disclosure:  I was born and raised in Baltimore City and studied local history at the University of Baltimore with 2 of the finest professors of Baltimore history who ever walked these streets. It was my idea in 1982 to lead walks through Baltimore neighborhoods, and I was the first leader to take tour groups outside the bubble, site of the usual tourist attractions. I was leading historic walks in Fell's Point before a water taxi docked there.
Local history is my passion.
I have 35 years experience studying Baltimore history, leading tours, and in 1989 Baltimore Magazine chose me BEST TOUR GUIDE in the city.

Here is some accurate data on the hotel: (1) It was never a site for immigrant arrivals.  In 1914, the year the Rec Center opened, immigration to the USA slowed to a crawl due to the start of World War 2.

(2)  The original building includes a huge ballroom.  Who would design a building for immigration that included a ballroom?  Were the immigrants ballroom dancers?

(3)  Immigration is handled by the Federal government.  Why would a city bear construction costs for a building for the federal government? Was Baltimore City rolling in money it did not need?  I doubt it.

Here's some of the Baltimore immigrant story:
The immigrants who came to Baltimore got off ships in Locust Point, on the other side of the river from Fell's Point, where the ships docked close to the B&O Railroad piers. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad had an agreement with the North German LLoyd shipping line out of Bremen, Germany. Immigrants bought tickets for the ship and the train, which took them west without even setting foot on Baltimore soil. 

Those who settled in Locust Point took a local ferry across the Patapsco to the foot of Broadway to shop at the markets. Unlike the sole market building selling mostly fast food that remains on Broadway and Aliceanna today, 19th century markets sold freshly grown food and freshly-slaughtered animals from local farms east of the city.

The Recreation Center was built for a dual purpose.  In 1914, kids played up on the second floor, out on the pier in good weather and inside in winter.  Their mothers were likely working at the cannery buildings close by, their fathers as mates on tug boats or stevedores loading and unloading cargos.  The first floor of the Rec Center gave access to the pier at the far end, near deeper water.  As ships grew larger, they required deeper drafts in the early 20th century, before deeper dredging of the harbor. In 1914 it was likely that horses and wagons were still on the streets and they turned off Thames and went down under the building to the end of the pier to load and un-load goods.

More tall tales abound in Fell's Point, like the one about Edgar A. Poe at the Horse You Came In On, and the one about Wallis Warfield Simpson staying at the Waterfront Hotel.   Take them all with a grain of salt until you can find a Historian with a capital H, like me, who knows what really happened in Fell's Point.
Zippy Larson

Winner: Best Tours of BALTIMORE by Baltimore Magazine - 1989Winner: Best Tour Guide in BALTIMORE by CITY PAPER - 2005

zippytours@gmail.com

    410 - 522 - 7334

.
.

On Butcher's Hill

New-comers who discover the grand old houses on Butcher's Hill may be curious about this Baltimore City neighborhood.

It's definitely on a hill, and looks down on the river below, and the houses are tall and wide and grand, compared to the tiny houses on blocks close to the water.

I

Its site for butchers came about when the city's Eastern border left the hill outside the city limits.  It was on the old Philadelphia Road that led to the farms that fanned out east of the city.  The destination for market wagons that traveled the road loaded with fresh foods was at the foot of Broadway, below the hill.  Housewives who insisted on buying freshly slaughtered meat, could tell when animals were killed the night before on farms, and they insisted on fresh-killed meat, so the farmers needed a slaughtering location close to the market.
II
Since the city prohibited the killing of animals inside the city limits,  the hill's location was Excellent:

1. It was close to the market and on the route the farmers traveled into the city.

2. Skilled German butchers who settled in Baltimore brought with them implements made in Germany, the finest chef's knives

3. In particular, Lamley Alley, known for years as Blood Alley, that slanted downward, carried blood away from the hill. So butchers set up shop there.

III

Germans who chose to settle in Baltimore City prospered quickly, mainly because they were literate, skilled at a trade that was needed, and had been middle and upper class in the old country.  So they lived on the hill in grand 3 story homes with full dug-out basements, parlors, huge dining rooms, grand fireplaces, front steps made of marble that led into wide double entrances and formal hallways. The Germans who chose Baltimore as a destination were also bankers, grocers, and builders. And they had the largest park in the city for their playground, for maids to walk prams, children to play, couples to spoon and families to picnic.  That many of the Germans were Jewish, accounts for the houses of worship that still stand in the neighborhood. 

So many Germans, both Christian and Jews, settled in 19th century Baltimore that the city council meetings were recorded in German, there was a German Street, and the closest church to City Hall is Zion, whose services are still in German today.  It was not until 1914, when the first world war started against Germany, that the city changed its City Council meetings to English. 


Winner: Best Tours of BALTIMORE by Baltimore Magazine - 1989

Winner: Best Tour Guide in BALTIMORE by CITY PAPER - 2005

zippytours@gmail.com

    410 - 522 - 7334

 

Brexit and what came before

What an eye-opening series of classes we attended at the private club at the US Naval Academy on Friday!  When and if I am in a situation where Brexit is discussed, I will surely have a leg up.  I learned a whole lot about Europe, and it's history, an area of the world I was not keen on, but know a bunch about now!  There were 2 classes before lunch and two after, taught by 4 professors from the Academy, 2 were men and 2, women.  There ought to be a master's degree or even a doctorate for seniors like me who keep on taking courses at this level, don't cha think??

When class was over, a private bus hired for our group met us outside the Naval Academy club, whisked us off the grounds to where my friend Kathy's driver, Mohamed, was waiting in his SUV.  We both said how delightful it was not to have to go into the garage and find our car and then play DODGE 'Em with the 5PM traffic to get home to Baltimore.  Mohamed drove me to my door, helped me out of the SUV,  I thanked him and Kathy, and then they waited until I was safely inside.

 

If you have the Johns Hopkins University ODYSSEY brochure, you will see the classes we attended. 

PS.  It's Spring Break at the Naval Academy so we missed seeing many midshipmen.  We hadn't been to Annapolis in years and loved the cleanliness of the streets and the stunning architecture.

Zippy

Winner: Best Tours of BALTIMORE by Baltimore Magazine - 1989

Winner: Best Tour Guide in BALTIMORE by CITY PAPER - 2005

zippytours@gmail.com

    410 - 522 - 7334

 

Just a day in the city

Ah, the ACC show is over for another year.  My best friend from the show is Miss Fitts, who went out to breakfast with me yesterday.  I picked her up at her hotel (I won't publicize which hotel since it is one I do not view in a positive light), and we dined on bagels with lox and cream cheese at the Polish market. It's a happening place where all sorts of people come by to chat with and learn from.

When a couple uniformed males walked by us, they caught my eye because I had not ever seen such uniforms before. I stopped one young man and he stayed to chat with us.  His badge read what I thought was SWAK. You recall that that was Sealed With A Kiss, a long time ago. 

So I learned that SWAT is Special Weapons and Target (I think that's right).  He lives up in Westminister, in Carroll County because he likes space around him, and works in the city. When I asked why he got into such tough scary work, he said his dad was a police officer. Miss Fitts asked if his work includes breaking down doors, (like on tv) and he said yes.  We talked about drugs in the city and then he had to go meet his fellow officers.  What a handsome fellow he is:  straight of posture, respectful, well-spoken, gorgeous blue eyes, no unkempt facial hair, and a meticulous uniform, with a gun along his right thigh.  City life for you.  Zip

PS  Do note that I did not contrast his behavior with the Millennials', this time, today, in this email.  I was tempted, and resisted

Winner: Best Tours of BALTIMORE by Baltimore Magazine - 1989

Winner: Best Tour Guide in BALTIMORE by CITY PAPER - 2005

zippytours@gmail.com

    410 - 522 - 7334