baltimoresun.com - Jacques Kelly

Penn Station neighborhood remains full of surprises

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

I often find myself walking through the neighborhoods around Penn Station where Artscape is being staged this weekend. After years of not much happening, these blocks now seem to change before my eyes, even if so many of the buildings seem underused or boarded up. It's a curious part of Baltimore that often keeps its secrets to itself. Discovering what goes on here has proved a lot of fun.

Once, Baltimore summers seemed to go on forever

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

A Baltimore summer seemed to last forever when I was a child.

Breathing new life into old buildings

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

M y curiosity led me to walk a few blocks from my front door and ask just what was happening at the old Federal Land Bank building on St. Paul Street. This elegant 1923 limestone structure, vacant for years, was obviously being thoroughly renovated, but there was no posted notice giving details or a completion date. I knew of no media hype about it, either.

In Baltimore, the shock of (a lack of) recognition

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

H ow can this be? This isn't supposed to look like this.

Where are the traditional foods of summers past?

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

M y mouth waters for traditional Baltimore summer cooking, a commodity that seems to grow more elusive. Then, on a recent trip to Rehoboth Beach, Del., came a revelation: remarkable coleslaw.

Attorney rode equine case to victory

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

A ttorney and arts activist Donald Rothman, who died this week, spent hours in the courtroom, but no case swallowed more of his time than a decade-long lawsuit surrounding a race horse named Saggy. This legal drama had more turns than a racetrack's oval contours.

Farmers' markets: a growth industry

Sat, 6 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

D enied my rhubarb fix the previous week (all sold out), I toured three Baltimore farmers' markets in 84 hours to land this elusive vegetable. The rhubarb season is short and neatly overlaps with soft-crab time. Its devotees are apparently few but aggressive.

Penn Station upgrade would be welcome boost for neighborhood

Sat, 30 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

T he news that Pennsylvania Station's unused upper floors will be renovated and used as a hotel ran through my head as I passed Baltimore's main railroad depot. On a gloomy Friday morning, it looked like a big gray ship marooned in the mothball fleet. The place needs a good paint job. Its window sashes are sagging. The window glass appears filthy.

The nuts-and-bolts stores that make a neighborhood

Sat, 23 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

I n a crumbling old city where so many houses look as if they could use a coat of paint, the arrival of a new neighborhood hardware store is a cause for rejoicing. So when I was walking up Old York Road a few weeks ago and spotted a nuts-and-bolts inventory being moved into a building fronting Homestead Street, I felt as if old Waverly had turned a corner.

Preakness isn't Baltimore's only May tradition

Sat, 16 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

B y Preakness Saturday, every last Christmas tree pine needle has to be out of my house. I also have to cut my first rose of the season. It's also the day when the winter rugs must disappear down into my cellar.