Go to Music and
Club Scene
Exploring Baltimore at Night
By Eric BraceWashington Post Staff Writer
Oct. 25, 1996
You might as well start at the top, literally, which in Baltimore is a place that looks like a shabby hotel bar where traveling salesmen down scotches and eyeball the waitresses. That's not surprising, because it is partly just that. What sends this place to the top of the list is its location, which also happens to be its name, 13th Floor at the Belvedere (1 E. Chase, at North Charles Street, 410/347-0888). The Belvedere is a slightly faded grand hotel built in 1902 on a hill in the center of town. It's on the National Register of Historic Places, with a lobby full of shiny brass and marble. Shiny people too, many nights, in gowns and formal suits hanging out in the ground floor restaurant and bar.
But skip all that and head to the elevators. Have you ever seen a button for the 13th Floor? I hadn't and it is very weird. Punch it (with a trembling finger) and float to the top. You walk out right into the bar, with its low lighting hiding the bleak carpeting and airport lounge furniture. Take two steps forward, however, and it all fades away as the seven-foot windows along the north and south walls reveal the sparkling skyline of Baltimore. To the south is the Washington Monument, the Bromo Seltzer tower and the rest of downtown. To the north, there's the railroad tracks leading into the beautiful Penn Station, floodlit for your enjoyment. It's worth the elevator ride just to take a gander.
In one corner is a dance floor and bandstand where folks shag and boogie to live music Wednesday through Saturday (no cover charge!). The bands are your usual bluesy rock bands from the region (J Street Jumpers, Crawdaddies, etc., though the "alternative" Baltimore group Love Riot is throwing a Halloween party there), playing perfect music to chase a beer, a bourbon or both.
Just around the corner from the Belvedere is the real star in Baltimore's nightlife crown, The Brewer's Art (1106 N. Charles St., 410/547-9310). "The Art," as denizens call it, opened barely a month ago and is already a solid success. The turn-of-the-century edifice was built as a sumptuous private residence, with 18-foot ceilings, chandeliers, and fireplaces in each room. There's an excellent (and very reasonably priced) restaurant on the ground floor that teams up its foods with a world class assortment of imported and domestic beers -- Grimbergen Abbey Triple, North Coast Red Seal Ale, National Bohemian (Natty Boh! Yes!) -- and equally assorted wines. They're just about to start brewing their own beers on premises as well, so ask your waiter if they're up and running.
If you're driven straight to drink, bypass the restaurant and enter the Brewer's Art through the basement door. You'll be in the best bar I've found in ages. Dark and warm, with low brick ceilings, arched doorways into hidden nooks, and lots of great beers on tap, the Art's underground spot welcomes all types without judgment, late into the night.
If you keep going north on Charles, just past Penn Station, there's a row of clubs that makes for scarce parking, but one watering hole is worth a parking search: The Club Charles (1724 N. Charles St., 410/727-8815). Around for nearly 50 years, it's signaled only by the "Cocktails" and martini glass neon in the window. They'll buzz you in the door (bad neighborhood, let's be honest) and the red glow will sweep you away.
It's a narrow, deep room, one wall of which is covered with a heroic WPA mural (very red) taken from a New York theater years ago. Below it the leather banquettes (red) are packed nightly with night-crawling Baltimoreans (they say director John Waters frequents the joint). Behind the bar, the staff serves up drinks and Slim Jims, while the jukebox (winner of various best-in-town awards) plays a great mix, from Artie Shaw to Fugazi. And in a couple of weeks, they'll open a cafe next door called Zodiac that'll take care of your late-night munchies.
Adjacent to Club Charles is The Depot, a loud, young bar with techno DJs and nothing special to offer, and 1722, a dance club with underground leanings. Across the street is the blue neoned Club Choices, an upscale and hip place for drinks and dancing.
For inspiration overhead, mosey to the Mount Royal Tavern (1204 W. Mount Royal St., 410/669-6686). The tavern, which is next to the Maryland Institute, College of Art, is frequented by students wearing black leather and piercings, as well as by neighborhood regulars. Not much to it, at first glance. In fact it's a dive. But look up and be stunned by the work of 1990 Institute graduate Joe Helms. It's the ceiling of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel! Right over your head, God is reaching for Adam's finger. An amazing work completed two years ago, the reproduction has acquired a nice nicotine patina. Worth the price of a tepid draft.
Spike & Charlie's (1225 Cathedral St., 410/752-8144) is where the great jazz club Ethel's used to be. It's no longer a nightclub, but the food is superb, and the wine list was named one of the finest in the world last year by Wine Spectator magazine. The comfortable wooden horseshoe of a bar stays open late most weekends and nights when the world class Baltimore Symphony plays. (The Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall is right across the street.)
The only spot in downtown regularly booking jazz is Buddies Pub and Jazz Club (313 N. Charles St., 410/332-4200), but the musicians are jammed in a corner, and the decor is like a combination fern bar and Hot Shoppes. It might get crowded, but it's never cozy. Possibly worth a stop for the Oxford Brewing Co. beers on tap.
Since we mention jazz, we should say that it's in short supply in Baltimore, which is sad, considering it's the birthplace of Billie Holiday and Cab Calloway. The only consistently good live jazz in town isn't really downtown at all. Hear it at The New Haven Lounge (1552 Havenwood Rd., 410/366-7416), at the northern end of the city. It's in the Northwood Shopping Center right beside the Hechinger and the Burlington Coat Factory store. Nothing glamorous, the lounge has been known to get huge names (Joshua Redman, Marcus Roberts), but also gives the hot locals a chance to be heard.
Back downtown, across the street from Buddies, is Mick O'Shea's (328 N. Charles St., 410/539-7504), the Irish bar in town. It took over the spot from McGinn's a year ago, and is generally packed. The wall behind the bar is taken up by huge mahogany shelving, with mirrors and columns, giving the place a real pub feel, augmented by the Guinness flowing into pint glasses and the live Irish music on weekends.
There's lots of live rock 'n' roll in Baltimore, most of it played by mediocre cover bands, but there's a smattering of interesting clubs that book original music. Club Midnite (2549 N. Howard St., 410/243-3535) is mainly a retro dance club on weekends but during the week it often books bands from the "indie" end of the rock spectrum and sometimes pulls in a hot touring act. It's a cheesy joint in a marginal neighborhood, so make sure the music's worth the trip before zooming up there.
Memory Lane (1433 W. Hamburg St., 410/837-5070) is a blast. If you wonder whether or not the kids are alright, this is the place to go. It's hard to find if you're not a native, down among warehouses and truck depots, so take a map. The sign out front says "Memory Lane, 50's & 60's," revealing the club's previous life as an oldies joint, but don't expect Sha-Na-Na's harmonies to float past. This place is punk rock for the '90s. The walls are plastered with show posters: Vitamade, Meatjack, Speedealer, band names that rock loud and fast. On stage recently, Land Speed Record did its best to pummel the obviously jaded crowd with noise. The vibe is very close to that of the old d.c. space. Minimal, decaying, with a nice fin-de-siecle edge of melancholy.
Then there's Hammerjacks (1101 S. Howard St., 410/752-3302), the best known Baltimore club, and one of the biggest rock clubs on the East Coast. Though periodically reinventing itself (it's booking more local acts, and has opened Louie Louie's, a spinoff dance club), Hammerjacks is best when it sticks to what it knows: big concerts by big acts. If you haven't ever been there, it's worth a trip to marvel at the square footage. If you have been there, you don't need to go back unless someone you really love is playing there.
Cafe Tattoo (4825 Belair Rd., 410/325-7427) is a little out of the way, northeast of downtown, but the music is live, the chili is great, the beer choices are myriad and the owners can give you a tattoo in their upstairs parlor. Really good jazz guitarist Carl Filipiak plays every Tuesday. Also off the main drag is The Dead Eye Saloon (2600 Insulator Dr., 410/539-7784). Right on the water, next to the Hanover Street bridge on Route 2 going south, this dark and low-key spot is a favorite among musicians and books live rock and blues.
Also south of downtown, the Federal Hill neighborhood has a lot of life when the sun goes down. The 8 X 10 Club (10 E. Cross St., 410/625-2000) has live music most every night, booking well-known national acts like Marshall Crenshaw and Roomful of Blues, and local rock and reggae. It's always wanted to be a nice place, and the space itself (two rowhouses with the center wall knocked out) is great for a club, but it's gotten pretty run down, to the point where you wish they'd just bring in the Portajohns and close down the perennially busted bathrooms. Still, some of the shows make it worth the drive.
Up the block is Sisson's (36 E. Cross St., 410/539-2093), one of the mid-Atlantic's first brew pubs. It offers good bistro fare with nice seafood specials, and it gets really crowded, but the beers made on site are worth being wedged in among strangers. Around the corner is Regi's (1002 Light St., 410/539-7344), a restaurant with a nicely stocked bar that stays open late. They've got cigars for sale, a fine wine list and wine tastings the first Wednesday of every month. (For a crash course in Federal Hill bars, go to Bethesda-based Lindy Promotions' "Federal Hill Fall Crawl." Fifteen bars will offer reduced price drafts Nov. 2 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. It's $10; call 800/422-7295.)
Of all the neighborhood holes-in-the-wall in Federal Hill (Lush's, Turners, Tio Loco's Cantina, Bird in Hand Tavern) the best is Mum's (1132 S. Hanover St., 410/547-7415). It has a better jukebox than even Club Charles and is a surprisingly easy mix of hip and blue collar regulars.
Maybe that's what Baltimore has that Washington lacks: that blue collar bar thing. Without an industrial base, Washington developed a dishwater-dull downtown of offices that disgorged their occupants at the end of the day, to head home to their quiet residential neighborhoods absent of any nightlife.
In Baltimore, people drank to forget the fact that they'd worked their behinds off all day, so bars sprouted like mushrooms. With that city's economy shifting away from industry and into services, its bar and club scene is changing too. But most spots have retained that neighborhood feeling that seems missing from so many of Washington's bars and clubs.
And after all, since we're Baltimore's neighbors, maybe we all ought to stop by for a visit.
Fells Point: A Different Kind of Harbor Place
Tugboat Ann's, EJ Buggs Saloon, Greene Turtle, Duda's Tavern, Thames Tavern, Leadbetters, Miss Irene's, Piccolo's, Max's on Broadway, Wharf Rat Bar, Chio's Bar, Fells Point Cafe, Moby's, Rodo's Bar, Admiral's Cup, Wee Peter's Pub, Mike's Pub, Barristers Pub, the Seafarer.
It feels like there are more bars than cobblestones in Fells Point, the old waterfront neighborhood east of the Inner Harbor, just past Little Italy. Dozens of booze joints line the streets of its roughly 10 square blocks, most offering nothing more than a stool on which to belly up, and maybe a pool table.
Fells Point is a drinker's paradise. Have your fill, move next door, and drink some more. This makes for some ugly scenes in this nice locale, drunk college kids and drunk bums being the most common. And at night, the huge number of bars means tough parking, so be sure you really want to wrestle with the Fells Point crowds before heading down there.
But if you insist on going to walk around, try something novel: Ignore the places with liquor licenses and hang out in the coffee shops, which stay open late and are the most comfortable spots to relax in Fells Point.
The Daily Grind (1726 Thames St., 410/558-0399) is very cool, with art on the wall, cobblestones on the floor and lots of caffeinated choices. Richard Belzer sometimes stops in for java between takes of "Homicide: Life on the Street," which films scenes in the neighborhood. Keep your eyes open for the stars. Funk's Democratic Coffee Spot (1818 Eastern Ave., 410/276-3865) is small and smells great, and most nights features multiculti performances: jazz, readings, hip-hop poetry, singer-songwriters with acoustic guitars. Jabali (737 S. Bond St., 410/276-1737) is a tiny space taken up mostly by couches. It serves coffee, etc., and has an impressive display of cigars and cigar paraphernalia for sale as well (and "Free Advice" for the asking, according to the sign in the window). Adrian's Bookstore Cafe (714 S. Broadway, 410/732-1048) is just what it sounds like, with frequent readings and live music, while Mocha Byte (629 S. Broadway, 410/276-9778) is a cybercafe with six computers to get you on the Net.
For a switch from caffeine to alcohol, you might as well go to Bar (Lancaster and S. Regester streets). The name gets right to the point, doesn't it? The sign out front simply reads "B-A-R" in vertical black letters on a white background. It's a narrow room going straight back from the front door, with a bar along one wall, stools along the other and a pool table at the far back. Its layout is practically identical to half of Fells Point's watering holes. There's not much to them, but they'll pour you a drink and leave you alone.
If you want a little more out of your Fells Point drinking establishment there are a few that merit a visit:
John Stevens Ltd. (1800 S. Ann St., 410/327-5561) is a bar/restaurant that is justly known for its spiced shrimp, steamed mussels, lobster rolls and "Bawlmer Rolls" (with crab and avocado). There's a courtyard for warm weather drinking and dining, and two large comfortable bars inside where you can order some of that tasty grub and wash it down with Whitbread or Newcastle ale on tap.
The Full Moon Saloon (1710 Aliceanna St., 410/276-6388) bills itself as "Baltimore's Home of the Blues," which -- because there's no real competition -- may be true. They usually have two acts a night. One plays early, around 6 p.m., and the other takes the stage around 10. The early act is usually a solo guy, like Blue Lou, a one-man-band with guitar, harmonica and tambourine, who makes plenty of noise for the "happy hour" crowd.
You've surely seen that bumper sticker: "Eat Bertha's Mussels." It's referring to the plates of steaming mollusks that Bertha's (734 S. Broadway, 410/327-5795) dishes up. Frankly, tasting them leaves me wondering what the fuss is about, but variations on that sticker created by cutting-and-pasting patrons make for interesting reading while warming your bar stool. "Eat Buster Crabbe." "Eat Serta's Mattress." "Eat Artie's Shaw," and plenty that can't be printed in a family newspaper. The place is boisterous and crowded, hung with maritime junk, musical instruments and cool signs, and you can listen to live Dixieland jazz (and other easy-on-the-ear styles) Tuesday through Thursday.
The Horse You Came In On (1626 Thames St., 410/327-8111) is a sedate place, with folks strumming their acoustic guitars and singing beside the front room's fireplace. Every other Tuesday you can find one of the best bands in the world, the Hula Monsters, playing at the Cat's Eye Pub (1730 Thames St., 410/276-9085). Otherwise, feel guiltless in walking past.
For live rock 'n' roll, there's one good space in Fells Point. No, not Bohager's, a tiresome frat party in an airplane hanger on Eden Street that seems lifted from Ocean City. Bohager's sometimes books decent bands, but I'm talking about Fletcher's (701 S. Bond St., 410/880-8124). The upstairs has been converted into a live music venue, booked by the good folks who schedule the shows at Washington's 9:30 club. This guarantees a good selection of national acts (Jason & the Scorchers, Luna, Velvet Crush) mixed in with cool locals (Glenmont Popes, Trusty, Splitsville). You enter on the Aliceanna Street side of the building, a separate entrance from the downstairs bar. The inside is painted dark blue, not black, but other than that, it nicely captures the feel of the old 9:30 club, the sound system of which now resides there. There's a small bar and some old couches, but no legendary odors ... yet.
And Don't Forget...
Visionshere are a few nightspots in Baltimore that only operate on specific evenings but shouldn't be overlooked. The most intriguing of these is the 14 Karat Cabaret in the basement of the Maryland Art Place (218 W. Saratoga St., 410/962-8565). Every other weekend, either on Friday or Saturday night, the Cabaret offers a boggling array of performances that are more art than commerce and meant to flex your head. Recently Half-Japanese frontman Jad Fair screechingly shredded the Beatles, James Brown and Hank Williams, just him and his completely out-of-tune guitar. Earlier this year Duplex Planet creator David Greenberger read stories and poems from his cool magazine. There are always three or four performers at each cabaret event, competing with the giant surreal Day-Glo clock on the wall.
The Roots Cafe at St. John's Church (27th and St. Paul streets, 410/880-3883) puts on concerts every other Saturday that range from roots rock to klezmer to R&B to polka to jazz. They're sponsored by the Society for the Preservation of American Roots Music that keeps prices low and attitudes high.
The folks who bring you the Friday night Buzz dances at the Capitol Ballroom in Washington put on Fever (1310 Russell St., 410/880-1166) every other Thursday. It's a semi-underground rave and features star DJs from across the country, and sometimes Europe. It's big and loud and goes into the wee hours.
The Baltimore Museum of Art (Art Museum Drive, 410/396-6300) has an extensive fall and winter series of classical, jazz, dance and film. Call to see what's planned before heading up.
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