This little country mouse finally made it to the big city of Baltimore. The Broadway play “Wicked” is visiting in Baltimore at the France-Merrick Performance Theatre, warmly known as the Hippodrome. Arriving a bit early, we decided to walk around the block and try to capture some of the sights this metropolis offers.

Baltimore is an old city, with many buildings steeped in history. It is the largest city in Maryland, and the 24th largest city in the United States. Well located on the Chesapeake Bay, this city was founded in 1729 and was a major seaport for immigrants and commerce. But this was to be a short walk as the streets are a little rough.

Across the street from the Hippodrome is the Mirage Night Club which shows that Baltimore is a young and vivacious town. Although the Mirage recently received notorious news as 10 Baltimore Ravens Football players were in the club one night in October when a double shooting occurred outside on the street. Evidently eight people were shot in downtown Baltimore that night, and the two that were shot outside of the Mirage were waiting in line to enter the club.

This building was originally a bank building and was called Mansion Baltimore.

Standing high above the downtown area stands the Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Tower. Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places , this tower was built in 1911 and modeled from the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. The tower now offers studios for visual and literary artists.

Baltimore is one of those American towns that still uses cable cars for mass transit. Utilizing electric cables and railways on cobblestone streets one can move in modern times with old technology.

There is a Baltimore Cable Car Museum which is considered to be a hidden treasure in the city. Think I’ll add it to my winter field trip list and see what it’s all about. As running a Cable Car was my Grandfather’s trade.

Looping back towards the Hippodrome, we passed several old buildings that are so interesting. With elaborate stonework on the exterior, many questions arose as to the history of these buildings.

And at last we return to the Hippodrome. Only after having five different people ask if we had 45 cents to give them. Seems it’s the standard line for asking for money. The funniest one? A man in a fancy 1970’s three-piece suit saying that he was broke as he just got out of an all-day session in court fighting a charge and got off. For that story, I had to give him some money, it really was rather creative.

The Hippodrome Theatre, was built in 1914 for Vaudeville. Famous names have performed at the Hippodrome, including Frank Sinatra in his first performance with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra. Fully restored after 1990, the France-Merrick Performance center now includes three buildings on Eutaw street creating a large entertainment complex.

After rewalking this block for this post, the amount of history in such a short circuit is astounding ! I can only imagine how many more historical treasures each block of Baltimore offers. But when walking the streets, do be cautious. Now back to the country says this little mouse.