The Favorite Old Baltimore Establishment Post

EDIT: I wanna hear your Old Baltimore Establishment stories! Let everyone know about the good ol’ days, anything crazy or interesting. Email me at evan@citythatbreeds.com

What with all this Bill’s Lighthouse Inn business lately, I’ve been trying to keep a mental stock of bars that are left in Baltimore that truly have that special Old Baltimore Establishment quality: The wood panels, the trough urinals, the exceeding amount of mirrors and the presence of buckets of MGD that aren’t there for kitsch factor. Not to mention, ridiculously cheap booze as the place has been bought and paid for for the last 30+ years, so the owners don’t care about making a ton of money…

And it’s not as if Baltimore doesn’t have a bajillion of these places, but some of them are just a little forgettable, a little hostile to non-regulars, and more than likely should be left alone – let the pensioners and the old timers have their PBR and a cigarette, I say. HOWEVER, there are some of these places that are just too awesome to pass up; the opportunity to play a round of pool for $0.50 or pop a few quarters into a totally legal video poker machine while having a conversation with some locals about how yuppies suck is something every not-of-the-industrial-working-class-background-Baltimorean should do on the regular.

So let’s do this readers, let’s start listing your favorite Old Baltimore Establishments and why you love them!

Places like Fells Point’s BAR, where seeing another human other than owner Carol is a rarity (which is strange considering how close it is to Max’s). Or Canton’s own Silks, where getting in is about as hard as leaving once you do, as you’ll be busy admiring owner Kevin’s vast collection of business cards in a trashbag.

My personal favorite? American Harry’s:

I got turned on to American Harry’s (623 South Luzerne Ave, Canton) a few years ago and was instantly grabbed by it. Linoleum floor? Check. Wood panels? Check. Block Glass? Oh yeah. Not to mention the tiny closet bathroom, $1.50 drafts, video poker and fried-food-only menu that your parents or your parent’s parents probably thought was totally run of the mill, but nowadays seems agonizingly nostalgic to someone like myself, having navigated the newer set of bars with entirely too many flat panel TVs and $6.50 microbrews. Every time I’m in the area I stop by Harry’s and say hello, enjoy the plaque featuring Bill Clinton’s visit while campaigning for president, and think about the old days I never saw.

How’s about youse?

UPDATE – READER FAVORITES!

Swallow at the Hollow (5921 York Road) – Remember this place specifically because it’s in close proximity to where a restaurant that my grandparents had their 50th wedding anniversary dinner, I believe the name was Thompson’s or something like that… definitely fits the bill.

down the hatch (locust point)
the sports cafe (canton)
long johns (remington)