You’ll find a younger, more local crowd at The 13th Floor. The bar sits atop the 1903 Beaux Arts landmark Belvedere Hotel, now an apartment condominium but once host to such legends as Mark Twain and Sarah Bernhardt. Three reasons to take the elevator to The 13th Floor: chocolate martinis, live music on the weekends, and views of downtown Baltimore (1 E. Chase St., 410.347.0888).
GETTING AROUND Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) is 10 miles south of the city. Taxi fares to downtown hotels are about $22; the airport SuperShuttle is $18. The MTA light-rail system leaves the airport every 30 minutes, stops at the Convention Center (a 30-minute ride), and costs $1.60.
For more information, contact the Baltimore Area Convention & Visitors Association at 877.BALTIMORE or online at www.baltimore.org. — Judith Knuth writes about travel and design from her home in Milwaukee.
Finding Bawlmer Baltimore prizes its blue-collar image, its quirkiness, its character. It flaunts its local architectural oddity, Formstone, a cement-based overlay that covers porous brick the way aluminum siding hides clapboard. It clings to its taste for “Natty Bo” (National Bohemian beer), once locally brewed, and still a favorite despite now being produced outside the city. It delights in the image of the “hon,” a local gal with a distinctive fashion sense — beehive hairdo and rhinestone encrusted glasses — and a heart of gold.
Musicians, novelists, and film-makers — some Baltimoreans by birth, some by choice — seem smitten with this proud old city. From singer Gram Parsons’ melancholy “Streets of Baltimore” to novelist Anne Tyler’s Accidental Tourist, chronicles of the dreams and secrets of endearing, eccentric Baltimoreans pervade pop culture.
Moviemaker John Waters’ gritty and giddy flicks, such as Hairspray, celebrate working-class “Bawlmer,” and academy-award-winning director Barry Levinson casts an affectionate eye on the city in Tin Men, Avalon, and Liberty Heights.
Fans of Levinson’s 1982 classic, Diner, can claim a booth at the chrome-and-Formica Hollywood Diner, the hangout where the movie’s post-adolescent heroes debated the meaning of life (400 E. Saratoga St., 410.962.5379).
With their beehive hairdos and cat’s-eye glasses, the wait staff at Café Hon look like they’ve just stepped off the set of a John Waters movie. When they ask, “What’ll ya have, hon?” answering “Meat loaf” will get you the ultimate in comfort food (1002 W. 36th St., 410.243.1230).
CITY OF FIRSTS Baltimore boosters dubbed their town “Charm City” in the 1970s and the name stuck. Now there’s another nickname they’re eager to promote: “City of Firsts.” The long list includes the first YMCA and the first candy factory to produce licorice.
The first sugar refinery was established here in 1796. Its legacy is the Domino Sugar sign that looms over the waterfront. Considered the largest neon sign on the East Coast, the big yellow rectangle is the size of a regulation basketball court. America’s first umbrella factory came along in 1828 — its motto: “Born in Baltimore, raised everywhere.”