Blog 6

Over the weekend, a friend of mine had an Effective Writing assignment where she had to read an article about a place in Baltimore in the early 1990's, then visit that place today and compare and contrast. Having nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon, I went along for the ride to Federal Hill.

On the roughly fifteen minute taxi ride to Federal Hill, I erad the article my friend had brought with her, to learn about the Federal Hill ten years ago. The article titled, "Annals' of Place" by Tony Hiss described Federal Hill as a "huge mass of red clay, now covered with grass." The article went on to say that Federal Hill was mostly comprised of bars and lower-income housing. However, the Federal Hill I saw seemed to be thriving.

While there still were numerous bars, all which seemed to be pretty active at 2 o'clock on a Saturday, there were other places of business. The taxi let us off at the Cross Street Market, which seemed to be the hub of the town. The Cross Street Market was a chaotic indoor market with vendors selling every kind of food and produce imaginable. According to a personal interview my friend conducted with a woman that worked at a Real Estate shop in Federal Hill, the Cross Street Market is an integral part of the community. While some of the vendors have changed, the character of the market has not.

What I liked the most about Federal Hill were the one of a kind boutiques mixed in with the bars, liquor stores and gourmet restaurants. Many of the boutiques featured homemade jewelry and vintage clothing that I have yet to see around Baltimore. One of the boutique owners we talked to said her store had only been open for three years, and in the next year, there were five more store openings to come. She explained this was all part of the town's plan to revitalize the neighborhood and to steer away from the fact that Federal Hill used to be very run down and poor. It was obvious that the town was also trying to make Federal Hill appeal to all types of people. I noticed that almost every nationality was represented in restaurants, from Thai to Szechwan. There was even a little spa located around the corner from the Cross Street Market, which according to a shop owner, would never have been able to stay open in the early 1990's.

Overall, the people of Federal Hil were very welcoming and proud of their town. While in the real estate shop, the woman that worked there told us to stop into Ken Zo's Yogi Magic Mart next door because he had lived in Federal Hill longer than she had. When my friends and I walked into the shop, we were in awe at the thousands of eclectic gag gifts and magic supplies that filled the store. Then we met Ken, the owner of the store, who was in the middle of renevating the space next door, to turn into a magic lounge. He informed us that patrons could sit at the plush leather couches and sip cocktails, while his son, another magician who had been featured on the Tonight Show and in Time Magazine, would perform stunts right before their eyes. He willingly gave us a tour of the half finished lounge without even learning why we were there. This is the kind of hospitality that is new to Federal Hill, which used to be home to burglary and criminal activity before it was cleaned up.

After Ken Zo's Yogi Magic Mart, my friends got the idea to have their palms read at Tonya's Psychic Den, which is how I found myself sitting in a tinyupstairs apartment that reeked of dogs. I'm not a very open-minded person, so while my two friends had their lives read out to them by Tonya, who honestly didn't look much older than 19, I sat on the couch in her living room next to an old man I assumed was her grandfather. It was strange being in the home of someone I did not know, in a city I was only beginning to fully understand. On the walls of Tonya's living room, there were posters of Tarot cards, showing fortune and good luck. I thought this alluded to the time when the inhabitants of Federal Hill needed a psychic to tell them when things were going to start looking up. This didn't seem the case today.

Our final tour of Federal Hill ended at the actual hill, which gave us a breathtaking view of the inner harbor. The hill had become a park, bringing in families, dog walkers, and every person inbetween. It was a nice place to relax after a long day of walking aimlessly down streets.

My trip to Federal Hill was a nice change from the normal excursions I make to places like the Towson Mall, or Fells Point. It was also interesting to see the positive changes the community members had made, and also to see how it had stayed the same.