Remington October 2021

B. Willow Among Top Ten Plant Shops

 October 20, 2021. Our own B. Willow made Baltimore Magazine's Top Ten of the Most Delightful Plant Shops. As we all know, owner Liz Vayda has made an impact on our neighborhood with her amazing ventures, including potting workshops and plants instruction in schools, fundraising efforts for plant conservation, and supporting local vendors with sidewalk pop-ups. There is a variety of tropical, succulents, desert plants, air plants, and cacti.  Beware of those cacti!  I bought several and they grew bigly!  The shop also delivers with one of the cutest vans around and offers virtual plant consultations. 220 W. 27th St., Remington. 

Source: (Accessed 10/20/21) https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/homegarden/baltimore-plant-shops-for-houseplants-delightful-greenery/

Baltimore RunFest

October 9, 2021.  Oh, I love the Baltimore Marathon when it is called the Baltimore Marathon and not the Runfest or whatever.  I call it the Remington Road Rage Run.  Sure I could be standing on the corner of Wyman Park Drive and Remington Avenue cheering on the runners, but I prefer sitting on my porch watching the traffic jam.  It's inevitable that I will see some burly truckers in their semis banging their heads on steering wheels and wondering why they chose this route.  Or people in their compact cars attempting U-turns while wedged between fellow travelers.  Alley traffic suddenly doubles and every year I keep reminding myself to set up a coffee stand in my backyard, but, like the people in the cars, I forget about the event until it's race day.

Remington September 2021

Greedy Reads Makes Top Indie Bookstore List

September 13, 2021. Our Greedy Reads  garners a spot on the USA Today list of "30 cool indie bookstores across the country that you'll want to check out."

Greedy Reads, Remington

Founder Julia Fleischaker opened her independent bookstore after working in the publishing industry for nearly 20 years.  The Fells Point location did so well she decided to take a chance and open one in our semi-literate neighborhood.  A bold move considering many people, including myself have moved to ebooks or bought hard copies online at discount prices.  But Greedy Reads books are carefully curated and the wide variety of titles make it hard to resist dropping in to grab an eye-catching title displayed in the huge show window.  Then, of course, you have to peruse all the games, puzzles, tote bags, and t-shirts.  I rarely escape with a charge under $50.

The shop on 320 West 29th Street was originally the location of the old Continental Oil Building.  (See my Remington Renaissance blog for more details about the old building.)  JHU occupies the top floor (and about every other building around Greater Remington).  

Greedy Reads is the only Maryland bookstore to make the list, so, kudos to Julia and condolences to Atomic Books.

Source (accessed 9/20/2021):  Gabby DeBenedictishttps://patch.com/maryland/baltimore/baltimores-greedy-reads-makes-list-best-indie-bookstores.  

Photo by me.

Remington August 2021

 

Ottobar Serious about Covid Mandate

August 20, 2021.  Tecla Tesnau, owner of The Ottobar on N. Howard Street is serious about preventing the unvaccinated from invading her venue.  After the mask mandate was rolled back in July, she felt The Ottobar was really back in business.  Except, as we all found out, July was ground zero for another uptick in Covid cases as the Delta infiltrated the US.  Four of her staff had breakthrough cases and she immediately shut the establishment, again.  It was during this shutdown that she was determined to keep her staff and patrons safe and, regardless of whatever the CDC, state, or city was recommending.  Now,  part of the entry ticket requires a picture or an actual vaccination card or a timestamped negative test result performed within 72 hours before you are allowed to enter.  Yay, Tecla!  I saw this one coming.

There have been some drawbacks as extra staff and security had to be hired to check IDs and cards, but the bands and staff fully support her decision and she says that 90% of the feedback she hears is supportive.  Like all of us, she hopes the pandemic is waning and is waiting to see some "normalcy" next month.  In the meantime, you don't show proof, you don't see show.

Source (Accessed 8/20/21): Amanda Yeager, Baltimore Business Journal, www.bizjournals.com/balti
more/news/2021/08/19/ottobar-vaccine-requirement-policy-baltimore.html

Remington September 2019

On-Again, Off-Again The Dizz Closes

September 4, 2019.  The "on-again, off-again" closing of The Dizz appears to be on again.

The Dizz closed today because, according to the Basta post on The Dizz Facebook page, "the numbers do not support keeping open any longer.” The decision to close The Dizz was apparently made abruptly.

An August 30 post on its Facebook page announced “that breakfast service will resume next weekend, Saturday & Sunday, September 7th & 8th. Hope we see you there!” And a post on September 2, proclaimed, “Hey folks! We’re laboring on Labor Day and might be one of the very few places in Remington that’s open. Come by and see us!"  Maybe if they had cut back on plant maintenance and garish holiday lights, they could have made it to the end of the year.

Michael Levine (of course) is the sales agent.  His post on Remington Nextdoor Neighbor states the asking price of $550,000.  A sharp decrease from last year when the asking price was $875,000.  I think that particular sale included the building next door, home to Lynn's Hairdressers.  Tom Basta is selling all his Remington properties (not verified, but the sale signs are up all around the block).

Pop-up at Parts & Labor



September 5, 2019.  Mera Kitchen Collective is hosting the latest "tire shop pop-up" at the now-defunct Parts & Labor restaurant on 2600 N. Howard Street. Sofra Rebelde: Mera Kitchen x Cocina Lunchadoras will be serving their renowned Mexican street fare from 5pm-10pm.  Recently Cocina Lunchadoras owner, Rosalyn Vera, received a death threat for displaying an anti-Trump poster at her 235 S. Broadway restaurant.





National Chocolate Milkshake Day


September 10, 2019.   The Paper Moon Diner will be featuring chocolate milkshakes in honor of this innocuous occasion on September 12.





Sisson Street Park Upkeep

September 21, 2019.  JHU students will once again descend upon our neighborhood to lend support to the community effort to revitalize the old Sanitary Laundry lot at 2600 Sisson Street.  The President's Day of Service has been instrumental in turning the abandoned lot into a community park.  Bill Cunningham and Molly McCallagh are to be credited, also.



BRD Expanding

September 23, 2019.  BRD will land in Federal Hill next month. The R. House staple will open its second location on October 7 inside the Wheelhouse apartment development on Cross Street. The 1,700-square-foot space will have seating for about 40 people and an expanded menu.

BRD, an acronym for "baked, roasted and deep-fried," has had a stall inside the R. House food hall in Remington since 2016. The eatery is known for sandwiches like the Bmore BRD, a fried chicken sandwich with dill pickles, BRD sauce, and Old Bay, as well as chicken wings with flavors like sweet Thai chili and Jamaican jerk.

Source: Amanda Yeager, BBJ, 9/23/19