Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Baltimore Memories

(Submitted by Pat R.)


You must have grown up in Baltimore if you remember that:

You could only buy a Volvo from Michaelson Motors on Reisterstown Rd, the best place to become a Chevrolet ownah was at York and Bellona, Charlie Irish's Cheverlet, Johnnys on Harford Rd was the "Walking Mans Friend", Granny Packer was on Blair Road in Oberlee, and "Hey, Hey Fox Chevrolet" was just as annoying then as the car ads these days.

You rode on street cars and busses operated by BTC (Baltimore Transit Company,and remember when their color schemes went from yellow to green to blue.

You can sing the phone number for Hampden Moving and Storage.

You remember Royal Parker yelling at kids jumping on furniture that was notcovered in plastic ..... "what're ya trying to ruin it?"

You think being called "hon" by waitresses, cashiers, bank tellers, and completestrangers is perfectly normal.

You watched local TV shows: Duckpins for Dollars, The Collegians, Pinbusters,Buddy Deane Show, Romper Room, and Hutzler's Theatre.


You also saw Stu Kerr star as Bozo the Clown and Professor Cool for the kids,then host "Dialing for Dollars" for the stay-at-home moms, and later fill-in asthe weather man (complete with cloud and sun magnets) on the 6 o'clock news.

We had milk home-delivered by Green Springs, Sealtest, and Cloverland.....but somehow Cloverland was the only who claimed to be "the dairy with cows". Oh yeah, you can probably sing their jingle "If you don't own a cow call Cloverland now, It's (NOrth 9-2222)

Going for a Sunday drive to get ice cream at Murrays, Sanders (The Dam Place ),or at Cloverland Dairy Farm on Dulaney Valley Rd. If you didn't have a car,there was always a walk to Arundel or High's. Or you could just stay home and wait for the bells of the Good Humor Man --------- Wait a minute!

When somebody gave their phone number prefix (such as MULberry- 6 or ATwater-4, you knew right where they were from.

You've been on Sunday drives through "Droodle" park, and watched the submarineraces at Loch Raven or Lake Montebello.

How about Baltimore 's own Ronnie Dove?

We had a functioning light rail system. The city and adjoining countieswere linked by street cars, which plied the tracks for 104 years before the busses ultimately won on November 3, 1963.
Car drivers, bicycle riders, and pedestrians had to avoid street car tracks longafter the street cars were out of business. It took years to dig up the tracks, and some are still evident on paved-over cobblestone streets. Now we are spending a gazillion dollars trying to re-create the original version of light rail.

You can remember what the harbor looked like before it was THE Inner Harbor .

You remember when there was home delivery of the Morning Sun, The Evening Sun, The Sunday Sun, The News-Post, and The Sunday American. The last two were later the News-American.... and all long before the City Paper made its debut.

You looked forward to Earl Weaver antics over a bad call ...... okay, over any call.

You remember laughing at bawdy jokes and political comments scrawled in whiteshoe polish on the front window of Turkey Joe's Bar in Fells Point.

Eating at Pollack Johnnie's, Lexington Market, Attman's, Bel-Loc Diner, Ciminos,Little Tavern (buy'em by the bag!), White Castle, AJ's Dog House, Horn & Horn,Oriole Cafeteria, White Coffee Pot, Hot Shoppes, Ameche's, Gino's, Read's, Hooper's, Silber's Bakery . . .

You've seen the governor (and other dignitaries) standing in line, in the rain, outside of Haussners, because they never took reservations.

You remember Friendship Airport (then BWI, now Thurgood Marshall International) and Harbor Field (now Dundalk MarineTerminal).

You remember late night "Mister Ray's Hair Weave" commercials.

You found yourself cheering for the guys who added "hon" to the Welcome toBaltimore sign on the BW Parkway , especially after the Mayor got upset and staked out the sign to catch them.

You remember driving over the old Kent Narrows Draw-Bridge that snarled weekendtraffic coming home from the Ocean. You remember 17-mile traffic backups coming back from Ocean City on holiday weekends.

You had plenty of friends who worked at Sparrows Point, and each had an ugly old "point car" to drive to work.

Everybody else (it seemed) worked for GM on Broening Hywy, Western Electric, or National Brewery.

You remember going to see the fabulous Fire Department Christmas Train Garden at the Fire House.

You remember when Fort Holabird was alive and thriving.

You love to see the Domino Sugar sign reflecting across the harbor.

You remember when Social Security moved out of the Candler Building to their newcomplex in Woodlawn.

You remember seeing the Four Seasons perform at Painters Mill or at Club Venus. You saw the Beatles, The Beach Boys, Dave Clark Five, The Rolling Stones, The Monkees, and Peter, Paul & Mary at the Civic Center . You saw Emerson, Lake , and Palmer at the Lyric. You saw Otis Reading, the Four Tops, and the Temptations at Calvert Hall. You didn't save a single program!

More Parks sausages Mom, Please!

You remember the rotating restaurant on top of the Holiday Inn on Light Street .

You've had the monster "Powerhouse" burger at one of four Ameche's Drive-ins.... and long before there was a McDonald's in sight. You could "Meetcha atAmeche's!" at Loch Raven & Taylor, 5800 Reisterstown Rd , 7700 Wise Ave , orRitchie Hywy & 5th in Glen Burnie . All gone!

A few years later you could also have a 15-cent burger at Gino Marchetti's, ordrive through the Circle for a Cheesy-Q. They're gone too!

You know B&O is not body odor.

You remember when the Baltimore Civic Center was home to The Baltimore Bullets,The Baltimore Blast, The Baltimore Clippers, rock concerts, car shows, horse shows, civil-service exams, circuses, ice shows, and graduations.

Every kitchen had a can of Old Bay and every Frigidaire a case of Natty Boh.

You remember when Baltimore rated a "Playboy Club", and no, it wasn't on the block.

You and your Mom shopped at Braeger-Gutman's, Hutzler's, Stewart's, HochschildKohn, Robert Hall, The May Company, Hecht's, Peck & Peck, Hamburgers, Epstein's,Woolworth's, SS Kresge, McCrorys, Ben Franklin, Dacks 5 &10, EJ Korvettes, TwoGuys, Cooks, Kaldor, Hechingers, and of course . . . Shocketts on Broadway or Eastern Avenue.

Shopping on The Avenue meant Eastern Avenue in Highlandtown, unless of course you were from the other side of town, then it was 36th St. Shopping on The Boulevard meant Washington Boulevard in Pigtown.

You've cruised Ameche's, the Circle, Champs, and Topps Lot on a week-end evening to see the muscle cars.

You know that an Arabber is really a guy who sells fruit and vegetables from a horse drawn cart.

You remember when the city po-leece cars went from black and white, to blue and white, then to all white with red and blue stripes.

You know live crabs are at their very meanest right before steaming, and that ifone gets you ..... he WILL NOT let go!

You always knew where to find Blaze Starr.

You know where ' Downey Ocean ' is, and remember where the "Irish House" was.

You remember a very green, but not very Irish, Hyman Pressman marching in the St Patrick's Day parades, and Louis L Goldstien with his immortal "God bless youall real good" blessing.

You've remember special deli shopping trips to Stone's Bakery, Jack's CornedBeef, Weiss Deli, and Attman's Deli on Lombard St, right in the heart of the high rise projects.

You remember the Gwynn Oak, Carlin's, and Bay Shore Amusement Parks.

You know where to park for the Preakness.

You don't think that Assawoman Bay is a strange name.

You are an expert crab picker that always volunteers to teach visitors the only
(and best) way to pick a steamed crab. Of course everyone else around you will
interrupt the lesson to show your new student their best way, and confusion will
reign. This will never change!

You had to be ready to yell out your order at Captain Harveys, or risk hearing jeers from all the longshoremen in line.

You had to pull out the BS sign when Robert Irsay declared that he had to move (steal) the Colts from Baltimore .... because the city would not support a team. We didn't get to be the world's largest outdoor insane asylum for nothing. The names of Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, Bill Pellington, Art Donovan, Tom Matte,Alan Ameche, Gino Marchetti, Jim Mutscheler, Lenny Moore, John Mackey, BigDaddy, Jimmy Orr, Bert Jones, Lydell Mitchell, John Dutton, Mike Barnes, JoeEhrman, Fred Cook, and many others are held in reverence to this day! Won't support a team ....... hmmm!!!!

Everybody knows what a 'zink' and 'payment' are, and just how important it is to "warsh them marble stoops."

You yell out "O" during the Star Spangled Banner.

And no matter where you are, you can only laugh when you see signs saying "Maryland Crab Cakes!"

You say ' Blare Road ' for Belair Road .

There was Kirby Scott, Johnny Dark, Jack Edwards on WCAO, Jay Grason and Galen
Fromm on WBAL, Lee Case on WCBM, Mike March, Johnny Walker, and The Flying
Dutchman on WFBR, and Joe Buccheri on a variety of Classic Rock stations ....to
name but a few.

You were confused for a few years after they swapped one-way directions on
Lombard and Pratt Streets.

How about laughing to the Johnny Walker morning show on WFBR, and his risqué
shows at the Barge?

You miss the RCA dog.

You know which bridge they're talking about when someone says, 'The bridge
traffic is backed up.'

You actually admire someone named "Boog"

AND:
You understand most of these, and pass them along to other Balti-morons to enjoy.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the memories!

I'll be sending a link to this to friends, some of whom are even more "mature" than I am.

Anonymous said...

...your front door screen had painted on it a little house, an a swan swimming in a pond.

(you saw the Beatles? Whoa!)

Anonymous said...

Hi all my hons I,like you have the amazing memories of crab? charm city.First let me tell you that I am the great grand daughter of Caroline Hecht. As I search my ancestry on line ,I feel she was the black sheep of the Hecht family,no not by a long shot. My great uncles may have known their business but let us remember from where old Samuel came,walking the streets selling wares off his back but Carrie(Caroline) a free spirit knew adventure.Adventure to the point of going to the carnival and volunteering to climb in the basket letting the man holding the swords hush the crowd with his magic. Applause for the swordsman and a standing ovation for the little jewish woman , my great grandmother ascending from the basket, taking a bow or two. I wouldn't be surprised.

as she grew in all her adventure,or as some called it craziness, she had the nerve to marry a gentile.OOOOUUUUYYYAAAYYY! History has it that she was disowned from the Hecht family wiped clean from the slate. Where is Carrie today,Baltimore researchers??????????? Oh, by the way I paint screens and when I can I consume Tastycakes!!!!!!!!!

Ben said...

Thanks for all the wonderful memories. My dad used to work at the Circle drive in when he was 18(hes 75 now) and I enjoyed the cheesy qs up until the day that the Circle closed down. What about going to the Strand, Carlton, Patterson or Grand theaters to watch a movie? And of course going to the little tavern or white castle to get some burgers