the beachcomber bar, at liberty and fayette, circa 1945

my southern brutha swanky asked me last week if i knew anything about this bar that operated in b-more in the 1940's. check out this swell menu that was on ebay ~ the graphics and the drink selections are particularly great.

based on the location it was probably a nice little stumble for the sailors that it looked like it was marketing to.

the illustrated drinks kill me: virgin's delight... bali buster... siesta... the panama hattie... sailor's delight... cannibal cocktail...

i interwebbed around but found nothing about it. did any of all ya'lls' grandpas drink there? maybe he met your grandma there. i found the above photo [probably not at the beachcomber, but of the era and in this city] at the maryland historical society online photos. hey sailor!

addendum:

double dogged contributed this:

"Baltimore City Directories. It appears in the 1942 directory as being located on 110 N. Liberty St. Home of the Zombie, Native Drinks, Rhumba Music, Bigger Stars, 3 shows 7 and 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. No Cover Charge Frank Hollander Mgr. " very cool!

angelo's - slice of pizza as big as your head

there's been talk about who has the world's largest slice of pizza, and i dunno if i can back up saying that this place has the biggest.

but at angelo's at 3600 keswick road in hampden, for $3.24 you can get a single slice that will easily fill you up as much as ordering a whole pizza at any other place.

check out the city paper for scale - the crust is easily 18" wide. and de crust is the crux of the matter, it's wonderful and thin - you may wish to jazz your slice up with spices or peppers to give it extra zing, but i highly recommend that if you are in this town, to try a world's largest slice at least once. you'll be glad you did.

nerd me 1985

i love it - the "i thought i was cool" group on flickr...

words cannot describe how much you need to d-lode this album

unbelievably horrible greatness, courtesy of blog of 999 dances.

please to download and put on your listening device.

an occasion to honour ireland's greatest export evar

if you don't know who this is, seamus on you.

okay, maybe guinness and jameson's are number 2 and number 3.

if you don't agree maureen o'hara is #1 i might punch you in the nose, boyo!

my name is pretz. and i am fonky.

so i had the distinct pleasure to tastify this particular asiatic comestible. it is one of a series of japanese savory food stick units named pretz, and this particular version was battle CORN... er, corn.

and CORN it WAS! this tasted cornier than corn. wha? i dunno if there was some secret samurai squid msg or something in there, but it was freaking cornalicious! i had never and i probably never will taste as corny a taste of corn as i did when i ate the ol corn pretz. they don't even call it maize.

and of course you being a smart guy/gal can appreciate the sluggoness of the kid on the front. can't you?

erm. well, i would suggest if you aver get a hankerin' for some pretz, go for the corn ~ forget the tomato or pizza or raw horseflesh or whatever flavour.

and oh yeah, peep their "im mr japanese duran duran" site...

set the record straight on the baltimore colts

i'm not saying i'm football fan g.i. #1, but i do make a stand for the history books being straight, and for local history particularly.

so why doncha go to http://www.coltsheritage.com/ and sign the petition for the colts of the johnny unitas era to be listed in the pro football hall of fame as the BALTIMORE colts and not the INDIANAPOLIS colts?

saying unitas played for the indianapolis colts is like saying that old bay is made in new york city. NEW YORK CITY???!

i <3 spamalot

i give it two albatrosses up.

best of all, the actor who pays sir robin resembles eddie izzard, and the actor who plays patsy is mostly like baldrick from blackadder.

ni!

p.s. the hippodrome is beautiful, even if it has no hippoes in it.

youtube posting sickness produces major boogie[van]s!

you can search all time magazines back to 1923

omg maybe i'm a mega-nerd, but i just found out that if you goto the website for time magazine, you can go to the search box in the upper center and search their archives all the way back to 1923.

imagine - it's like you have a stack of all these primary sources, every single edition, and you can googlize it!

i mean, i love old magazines, they give you a perspective that you don't get from herstory books.

witness:

baltimore

Feb. 29, 1988 "Belles in Baltimore HAIRSPRAY"

Aug. 24, 1981 "He Digs Downtown" / Rouse

Jul. 22, 1974 "Chaos in Charm City"

Apr. 11, 1960 "The Sun's Orbit"

Oct. 25, 1948 Letters / Bromo Seltzer

h.l. mencken

Aug. 16, 1948 "The Right to Know"

Nov. 19, 1945 "Saloon Editor"

Apr. 17, 1933 "Prosit!" / End of Prohibition

Oct. 27, 1924 "Practical Mencken"

national bohemian

Apr. 26, 1954 "Bat, Beer & Camera"

maybe i'm the only one who enjoys this. but you gotta love the mencken quote regarding baltimore from 1945: "i need peace. i live in a remote slum surrounded by lintheads, okies and anthropoids ... far from where the respectable profiteers live."

and at the repeal of prohibition 12 years earlier, getting his first beer:

"pretty good." he pronounced. "not bad at all. fill it again."

ghost of elvis voting in papua new guinea

don't say i was never civic minded, 'cilla.

j$'s name resource for baltimore roller girls and burlesque stars

don't know why, but some of these popped into my head. feel free to use at will. or if you have any other ideas, let me know and i'll add them to the list

downey aushin

anna runnel

blair rowed

drew dillpark

nat'ly boh

sara beef

crystal gayle force

i can't really explain why certain ideas or icons pop into my head, but for whatever reason i've recently been thinking about crystal gayle.

i didn't know until googling that she was loretta lynn's younger sister, and it's funny coz i never considered her a county music star. perhaps the song "don't it make my brown eyes blue" fuzzing out the am radio sometime late 1970 / early 80s made an impact on me, but i'd say mostly when i think of her i think of long, straight hair.

crystal gayle is like the boss ninja of long straight hair. seeing her on our color tv in the 70's, i seem to recall it went WAYYY past her tushie... more like calf length.

having had straight hair of shoulder length back in my day, i know what trouble hair can be. i can't say the last time it was i saw a woman with long hair past her posterior.

but there's somethin' about it. mmm... crystal gayle hair.

coast to coast like donny most

did you know that if you get on route 50 in ocean city and start driving west you'll end up in sacramento?

i hear it works the other way too.