Bad hair days are crummy enough, but what about bad hair months? Or bad hair decades? (Okay, in the ’80s, we all had a bad hair decade). That’s why it’s so important to have a good hairstylist. “A bad haircut can just be devastating!” laughs (the always perfectly coifed) psychotherapist Meadowlark Washington, now a devoted client of DK Salon. “Who hasn’t been traumatized by a bad haircut?”Well, no one. (Except maybe Michael Jordan.) Conversely, is there any quicker way to make a woman’s day than to compliment her hair? Of course, finding a good hairstylist is just half the battle. You also want a salon that hits all the right notes—whether it be a charmingly low-key boutique or a bustling hair factory. So we scoured the region, searching for the salons that offer the tops in service, atmosphere, and—above all else—quality. Because we believe it is everyone’s right to look in the mirror, pause admiringly, and say, “Hello, gorgeous!”

Mane Events

Big salons that serve up “the works”!

About Faces Day Spa & Salon, The Shops at Kenilworth, 410-828-8666, www.aboutfacesdayspa.com

Don’t let the location fool you. With its mocha and vanilla Neo-classical décor, Greek columns, and cushy furniture, About Faces is a finely tuned beauty machine that just happens to be housed in a mall. There’s a mammoth retail boutique in the front with all the top-of-the-line hair products imaginable, plus a bevy of invigorating bath potions and custom makeup. In the next room, the hair stations buzz with activity as a whopping 30 stylists (clad in chic all-black uniforms) mill about. About Faces’ artistic team can perform any miracle including extensions, Bio-Ionic Hair Straightening, formal hairstyling, perms, curl relaxers, and more. There is a separate color room and several nail spa areas complete with luxurious black leather recliners. Next, step into the darkened corridors of the “Spa” which offers massage, hydrotherapy, seaweed body masques, et al and even has its own concierge. You’ll experience the wafting scent of essential oils and aromatherapy candles and the soft purring of noise machines, all designed to keep guests in a dream-like state. (Be sure to check 0ut About Faces’ second location next to the Maryland Athletic Club in Timonium. 410-560-6600.)

Morgan Gerard Salon & Spa, 101 Annapolis Street, 410-263-1812

Morgan Gerard, named for salon owners Todd Morgan August and Michael Gerard Curry, is known as the chi chi salon in Annapolis. “It’s a good reputation to have,” Curry says, “but we don’t want anyone to feel intimidated. Everyone is welcome.” Renowned for its beauty treatments (you can take your pick from body therapies, massages, and makeup consultations) and consummate skill with hair, Morgan Gerard is a great place to visit if you want to be pampered. Clients flock from far and wide to put their locks into the hands of one of the salon’s 16 stylists. The salon’s philosophy of hair? It’s not about being a slave to trends, it’s about finding the right look for each individual client. Morgan Gerard accommodates tons of clients simultaneously, a necessity because of the salon’s popularity. Clearly, the word has gotten out about this first-rate, full-spa experience.

Paul’s Salon & Day Spa, 1809 Reisterstown Road, Suite 116, 410-602-0888, www.paulsss.com

Just walk into Paul’s Salon & Day Spa and you’ll feel the tension melt away. That, of course, is no accident. Owner Paul Skotarczak, a former monk, has studied the art of Zen and he strives to achieve a perfect balance between inner and outer beauty. From the trickling waterfall sculpture that greets you at the door, to the salon’s overall cream-and-gold-hued design, Paul’s was carefully designed to be a sensory sanctuary. One of the largest spas in the county—and one of the few salons authorized to sell the celebrated Kerastase line of hair products—Paul’s features the usual menu of hair and color services plus a full range of spa offerings, including Darphin face and body treatments, stone massages, foot reflexology, and the unbelievably luxurious “Vichy” showers. And through it all, there is the infectiously cheerful Paul, the sort of pied piper of salon service.

“Paul is fun,” says former NBC executive Amy Baker. “He’s always got great stories to tell, but he’s never gossipy. And people always tell me they love my hair—which for me is amazing!”

Robert Andrew: The Salon & Spa, 1328 Main Chapel Way, Gambrills, 410-721-3533, www.robertandrew.com

Yes, Gambrills, Maryland is a little bit off the Baltimore magazine radar (it’s between Laurel and Annapolis), but we couldn’t resist extolling the virtues of this luxurious, state-of-the-art salon and day spa. Designed to look like a Tuscan street—complete with a large fountain, beautiful murals, aged tile, cobalt blue “sky” accents, a grand staircase, and faux balconies—the 22,000 square-foot salon (the largest in the mid-Atlantic region) is simply breathtaking. Since opening in July of 2002, many Baltimore women have discovered Robert Andrew, both as a special-occasion getaway and even as their regular salon and spa. Robert Andrew has won many national and regional awards (Salon Magazine named it one of the top 200 salons in the country). It’s almost needless to say that a salon this big offers the works: From hair care, to bridal services, to massage, body treatment, and hydrotherapy. Yes, they’re a little pricey, but hey, you’re worth it.

Salon by Debbie Day Spa, 8740 Belair Road, Perry Hall, 410-256-3400

It’s not that Debbie Nazelrod—a 25-year veteran of the salon industry—necessarily wanted to expand the salon she opened in a Perry Hall strip mall three years ago. It’s more like she had to. “Within three months, it was clear that we needed more space,” she says. So she set up a separate day spa in the store two doors down. But customer demand was so great, laments Debbie, “within three months, we were out of space there, too!” The only solution? To open yet another salon, a few miles away on The Avenue at White Marsh. That salon is scheduled to open later this month. Of course, it’s easy to see why customers have come to rely on the creative Debbie and her enthusiastic staff. The hair studio has a funky, quirky, jungle-woman theme, with wicker and leopard-spotted chairs and tiger-striped smocks for the stylists. They do all the traditional services, and a few new ones, too—including the Rusk thermal straightening technique (similar to the Japanese straightening—see sidebar). Two doors down, Debbie really lets her imagination run wild. Each separate treatment room is named for a tropical island (St. Lucia, Key West, San Juan, etc.) and is decorated accordingly. St. Croix, for example, has a mural on the wall that overlooks the ocean. The Vichy shower room is called—what else?—”Rain Forest.” All rooms have candles, heated beds, muted music, and swooping ceiling curtains, to give it that island getaway feel. “I just want to give my customers that warm, wonderful, fuzzy feeling,” says Debbie.

Zibazz Hair Studio, 9199 Reisterstown Road, Owings Mills, 410-356-2234

While Mt. Washington may be the Mecca of fine salons in the city, the Reisterstown Road corridor just north of Pikesville seems to have cornered the well-coifed county set. And Zibazz Hair Studio, tucked amidst business offices and restaurants in the Valley Village Professional Building, is one of the area’s mainstays. “I work with women,” says personal trainer Nancy Asch. “We talk about hair and makeup. And Zibazz is where women are going.” It’s no wonder. Zibazz offers all the major services, along with waxing, facials, manicures, pedicures, makeup, and skin care in the adjoining Studio of Make-up, owned by makeup artist Karen Weiner. “Karen is first-class,” says longtime client Dorothy Rosenberg. “She’s genuine and wonderful. She does a truly great job.” Considering its size (there are 10 full-time, independent stylists) Zibazz remains tranquil. The blonde wood floors, muted cream walls, and streaming natural light soothes; the private stations, made up of wall-to-ceiling mirrors and wide mahogany cabinets, guarantee that not everyone can see your foil-filled hair or hear the private convo between you and your stylist. Zibazz is currently undergoing a cosmetic facelift—we’ve been assured that the makeover will be finished by press time—but even when surrounded by construction, there is a lot to love about Zibazz.

Cutting Edge

Fashion forward salons for folks who
follow trends

Bella! of Canton, 2809 Boston Street, 410-327-7872

Sassy! That’s the word that comes to mind when describing this funky little hair shop with its sunny disposition and waterfront view. Located in a prime spot in Tindeco Wharf in Canton, Bella! is quickly making a name for itself among those “in the know.” This three-person salon (plus one manicurist) is headed by owner Kristen Chandler, in-house hottie Jonas Grimm (who apprenticed under legendary New York stylist, Garren), and the very hip Lisa Jones-Butz (who you might have seen on Fox 45 doing morning makeovers). At Bella!, you can expect high quality hair care featuring Wella and Actyva products, cutting-edge hair cuts with all the trimmings, plus nail care. Bella has also been perfecting their Bio Ionic Japanese Hair Straightening technique.

“I go to Lisa Jones-Butz,” reports news anchor Sally Thorner, who adds that fans used to be very critical of her hair. Now she gets raves. “The kind of call I get now is: ‘who does your hair?'” she says happily. Other clients rave about Jonas’s ability to give heavenly head massages and bone-straight blow-outs. “All I can say is, ‘Oh my God!'” gushes school teacher Kathy Jakubiak, a loyal client who braves the 40-minute drive from Fallston to Canton to go to Jonas. Wow, those must be some head massages.

Glow Salon Day Spa Café, 2603 Housley Road, Annapolis, 410-571-6601, www.glowsalon.com

Part hipster club, part spa, part coffee house, Glow Salon has really brought a touch of L.A. cool to Annapolis. “Fashion evolves and so do we!” exclaims Cristina Sevin, perhaps explaining how she—along with husband PT and partners Steven and Kelly Fisher—has turned Glow into an Annapolis hotspot. This full service salon—now celebrating its third year—has a dreamy spa, painted hot pink and purple (where you can indulge in “Neo Nirvana” aromatherapy treatments, hot stone massage, or “Lemon Drop” pedicures), an in-house board certified plastic surgeon who will Botox you back to life, and hairstylists who can do magic with dreadlocks (mostly popular with the college crowd), Japanese hair straightening, and hair extensions (along with other, more traditional services). A really cool boutique offers up the latest in products like Bumble & Bumble, Kerastase, and John Sahag. Another temptation are the luscious lotions by Get Fresh and makeup by Dollface. “We wanted to have our clients feel like they were someplace exciting and energetic, more urban than suburban,” says Sevin. Mission accomplished.

Kumbyah, 824 W. 36th Street, 410-235-3663

Being able to spot a great hair trend before everyone else (remember the Aniston?) is an excellent trait to have in a stylist. And Sue Ebert, owner of Kumbyah, has been styling ahead-of-the-curve hipsters for nearly 20 years. Ebert describes her two-year-old salon, located in the now hotter-than-ever Hampden, as “funky eclectic” and the space is kitschy, with its animal prints, beaded curtains, and playful décor. Marvin Gaye plays on the radio and the smell of candles envelops you as you walk in the door. The four-chair salon also has a charming sideroom filled with vintage clothes, jewelry, artwork, and bric-a-brac for sale. But Ebert and her other stylist, Jenn Nasuta, are serious hair pros. Kumbyah carries the newest products lines (including the exciting Ouidad curly-hair line) and offers many of the services of larger spas in a much smaller space. They even have massages in a back room that’s adorned with billowy white fabric, star-shaped lanterns, and ruby-colored walls. Ebert, who has also been recognized for her excellent work on bridal headpieces and updos, says her clients “come here to decompress.” They adore Kumbyah, she continues, “because it is a haven away from mass production where clients truly get one-on-one attention.”

Nappy By Nature, 213 W. Read Street, 410-669-1675

When it comes to “natural” haircare for African-Americans, the leader of the pack is Nappy By Nature. This funky bohemian-style shop with its swirly yellow stucco walls, burnt orange accents, and natural wood floors makes its home in a two-story brownstone in Mt. Vernon. Catering to the growing trend in “natural” haircare by African-Americans, the salon offers everything from corn rows, Nubian twists, Bantu knots, to “locs” (their term for dreadlocks). Services include a myriad of styling methods, loc maintenance, and treatments geared to maintaining unprocessed hair.

“I never look at someone’s work and do the same thing,” explains expert braider Cory Petitt. “You always want to flip it and make it your own.” He should know, he’s been hired as the master corn row man for HBO’s The Wire and braided Lynn Whittfield’s hair on Head of State, the Chris Rock movie which filmed here last summer. The crowd is largely urban, but not exclusively so. “We get the Fresh Fields, Trader Joe’s type of clientele too,” says stylist Amira. “We cater to all ethnicities.” Look for owner Troy Hendricks to open a brand-new, enlarged space in the coming months called Afrodisiacs.

Uno Salon & Spa, Greenspring Station, 10751 Falls Road, 410-821-9080

You could say that Unal “Uno” Tuluoglu, owner of both the new Uno salon in Greenspring and the original space in Pikesville, is quite the lady’s man. No, not that kind of lady’s man. This Turkish native with his long dark locks and thick accent, simply has a way with women’s hair. “I work by feeling the hair,” he explains. His new digs boast a cool receptionist area with a glass façade and edgy display units filled with Bed Head, Alterna, and Rusk product lines. One interior wall is painted a tangy terra-cotta shade against blond wooden floors, with trendy black leather stools and rosewood stations, accented in stainless steel. Arched windows allow for an airy environment. There’s a full range of color services using Schwarzkopf, plus the Shinbi Japanese Hair Straightening system, and hair extensions. On top of their hair service, Uno offers European facials and anti-oxidant treatments. Dolling up may not be cheap, but at least at Uno, it’s served with a sexy accent.

Intimate Escapes

Great salons in small packages

Atelier, 600 Wyndhurst Avenue, 410-464-9500

Off the beaten path, in leafy Roland Park, is Atelier salon and spa. Here, there is nothing loud or trendy: Atelier’s soft mauvey decor and quiet atmosphere create a little barrier between you and the hustle and bustle of nearby downtown. Atelier is a place to unwind and pamper yourself. Laurie Glassner, VP of Louis Mazor Inc, has been going to stylist Theresa Chagouris for at least 10 years and she says the new age vibe suits her perfectly. “When I go in, I like the haircut, without the pretension,” she explains. Atelier recently expanded into the adjoining office space and their soothing new spa rooms—dimly lit and minimalistic—are consistent with the salon’s overall aesthetic. Choose from a variety of massages, body treatments, facials, waxing, or hair helpers (ask about their Moroccan conditioning treatment) before getting trimmed by a member of the expert staff.

Edward Amato Salon, 5722 Falls Road, 410-323-2222

Edward Amato exclusively carries the full line of Aveda products and the salon reflects Aveda’s aesthetic of “connecting beauty, environment, and well-being.” Upon entering the space, you can’t help but succumb to its serene vibe. Taupe stucco walls and ivy-kissed windows set off the enormous hanging mirrors that designate the stylist’s stations in the downstairs studio. Upstairs, there are additional rooms for cuts and color and nooks for facials and massages. There are seven stylists on staff and the salon is (blessedly!) open seven days a week. Edward Amato caters to both stylish 20-somethings and ladies-who-lunch. The secret, according to co-owner Laura Sweeney, is word of mouth. “We’ve never done ads, really. Our stylists’ work speaks for itself.” Indeed, as we left we overheard a first-time customer gushing about her new cut. “I didn’t know what I wanted when I came in, but I am so happy with the result. I’m coming back. And I’m bringing my sister.” High praise, indeed.

Hair Alexander, 1621 Sulgrave Avenue, 410-542-6768

Known as chemical relaxation experts, Hair Alexander prides itself in its quick and professional service. The small “boutique” salon with its black and white checkered floor, mellow jazz tunes, and classic ambience has been around for 15 years. The dynamic husband and wife duo of Jeffrey and Mia Alexander, both licensed senior cosmetologists, are the sole proprietors and stylists. Their novel approach of tag-teaming allows for “a little more control as to how we schedule and that’s based on the cooperation of our clientele,” explains Jeffrey. Women in the African-American community have notoriously had to deal with excessive stays at the salon (average 5-6 hours). Thankfully, the wait here averages a mere two hours for a relaxer, set, and cut.

“Do I love Hair Alexander?” says Tanya Black, managing editor at WJZ television. “That’s an understatement. I love and adore them!”

Both Jeffrey and Mia perform sodium hydroxide relaxers, color processes, style and cut. There are no nail services or facials, just good old fashioned haircare. Maybe that’s why they do it so well.

Indulgence, 6245 Falls Road, 410-321-1711

The Indulgence hair salon fills the first floor of an unassuming two-story white house off of Falls Road. Owner and stylist Natercia Jackson likes her clients to feel “at ease” when they step into her salon—and it shows. The space is tranquil and meditative—you’ll notice the crystals and candles as soon as you step in the door. In operation since 1987, Indulgence caters to a chic professional clientele with services that run the gamut from highlights and relaxing to manicures, makeup, and tanning. It’s comfortable but pretty, with hardwood floors, floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and stone accents. There are seven full-time stylists and all attend regular in-house seminars to stay on top of color and cut trends. You can also pick up a beautiful bauble (jewelry cases surround the reception area and feature works by local artists) or visit the upstairs Stars Esthetics Spa, a full-service business (with enticing packages titled “Brilliance” and “Lustrous”) if you really need an escape.

James Bryan Salon & Spa, 8012 Bellona Avenue, Ruxton, 410-828-7111

Did you catch yourself admiring Kendel Ehrlich’s hair and makeup at her husband’s inauguration? You might be surprised to find out where she got her sleek look. Not some large, chi chi salon in Annapolis or D.C., but the quiet, tucked away James Bryan Salon in Ruxton.

“We are the best kept secret in Maryland!” says co-owner Tricia Bernstein of the full-service salon that she and her partner, James B. Machniak, opened three years ago. The partners always perceived their salon as an antidote to the large, cold, modern salons that gained prominence in the ’80s. “We wanted it to be warm, not sterile,” explains Bernstein. As a result, James Bryan has a gold-hued, earthy feel, with faux-fresco walls and galvanized copper floors (all hand-painted by local artist Scott Steward). They offer all the usual hair services—Machniak trained with Bumble & Bumble in New York—plus manicures, pedicures, wig styling, and makeup. And since Bernstein is a paramedical esthetician (her background is in plastic surgery), the salon is equipped to do all sorts of advanced chemical peels and facials. “We’re all about personal service at this salon,” says Bernstein. “We want our customers to be completely satisfied.”

The Salon At Mays Chapel, 12232 Tullamore Road, Timonium, 410-628-4247

A nice change of pace from some of the colder, harder-edged salons around town, The Salon at Mays Chapel- is best described as country chic. A vintage-looking American flag hangs proudly above the front entrance, while an antique church bench stands guard in the waiting area. An assortment of antique dressers serve as styling stations and women get their nails done over long antique sewing tables. Hip lines like Alterna, Big Sexy, Graham Webb, and Biolage are displayed in chippy architectural remnants or large antique armoires. Eleven stylists, two estheticians, and one cosmetologist offer up the works: highlights, nails, skincare, waxing, and even massages.

“We have a Northern Baltimore County clientele,” says stylist Michelle Sheridan-Brunner, who co-owns the salon with husband Michael Brunner. Case in point, Katie O’Malley—who grew up in Baltimore County—is a longtime customer. “I’ve been going there for about six years,” O’Malley says. “I like to look natural. Michelle has a good sense of the type of hair she’s dealing with. She’s really good with color.” Other high-profile patrons include Debbie and Matt Stover, Baltimore County Police Sgt. Vickie Warehime, and news anchor Sally Thorner, who comes for Fanny’s facials. What can we say? This quaint little salon packs a mean punch.

Signature Hair Design, 10132 Baltimore National Pike, Ellicott City, 410-750-2200

Owners Skip and Bobbie Siperko wanted their upscale Howard County salon to “be big enough to provide all of the typical salon services, but not feel like a factory.” They’ve succeeded. Their pretty little studio— which offers everything from facials to waxing and massage—is pristine and calming, with grey-hued walls, freestanding wrought-iron mirrors, and subtle floral arrangements. “It’s classy but comfortable,” sums up Bobbie. The 14 stylists at Signature may be some of the best-trained in the area. A few days before our visit, renowned hair guru Louis Alvarez (who has clipped mega-stars like Jennifer Lopez) held a seminar at Signature and Skip tells us that his staff regularly trains at the Redken School in New York. Like many salons, Signature counts color work as their specialty, and—if it’s any indication—many of the stylists sport fantastically-hued (and styled) locks. “You live and die by your reputation in this business,” Skip explains. From the looks of it, this little oasis is thriving.

Hall of Fame

The most beloved salons in the region—and with good reason!

Chas, 735 S. Hanover Street, 410-625-2427

What is it with these one-named hair dudes? Chas. Corbin. Uno. Engelbert. (Okay, we made that last one up.) Whatever the case, it takes a big personality to pull off one-name fame and Chas is definitely up to the challenge. For over 30 years, he’s been working his magic on Baltimore coifs, and he’s developed a fiercely loyal following. “I just love the way he moves around the chair and steps back and admires his work,” says Sharon Bass, the wife of WJZ anchor Marty Bass. “He makes you feel really special. For that hour, you are solely his.” Chas has always been something of a revolutionary when it comes to hair—he was among the first to coax men away from barber shops and into salons—and his 12-year-old, full-service Federal Hill salon is no exception. Although Chas has done the big, trendy, urban-style salon, his latest location is cozy, homey, and friendly—but still chic. Just like Chas, himself.

Corbin Salon at the Colonnade, 4 W. University Parkway, 410-662-8700

Corbin Salon has the sleek minimalistic look of a posh New York boutique hotel. “I like cleanliness,” says Corbin. “Clutter creates a barrier between you and the client.” Instead, there is spare pale grey space with lots of natural light, giant oval mirrors suspended above oval stainless steel stations, and sleek black leather chairs against a stainless steel wall. The only “organic” touches are large ball-shaped topiaries placed here and there. Clients can expect all the top-of-the line services, plus the new Yuko Japanese hair straightening method and amenities like Bumble & Bumble products, vanilla-infused water for sipping, and music to mellow out to by Buddha Bar. A celebrity stylist in his own right, Corbin has coifed the heads of such glitterati as the Food Network’s Sandra Pinkney, artist Martha Macks, and philanthropist Suzi Cordish, to name a few. He was chosen by E!’s Fashion Emergency as the local makeover king. He’s even on a first name basis with Oprah! (What do they discuss? How overrated last names are?). But people come to Corbin for his touch, his charisma, and his expert training at the prestigious Vidal Sassoon school in London. “I call him Corbin the Great! He’s the best!” raves Sandy Hillman, a partner at Trahan, Burden & Charles. “You walk out looking fabulous!” beams Allison Parker, a VP at The Cordish Company. What else is there?

DK Salon, 6080 Falls Road, 410-377-4300

Say it: “DK Salon.” OK, now, again: “DK Salon.” Get used to it. This is the mantra that fell from the lips of many of our city’s most fabulous when asked who they trust to perfect their color, cuts, and blowouts. “They do the best blowouts in Baltimore,” gushes Ruxton resident Nathalie Beatty. Located in the quiet Lake Falls Village shopping center, a stone’s throw past the hair epicenter that is Mt. Washington, DK Salon provides a sanctuary for big wig TV personalities and politicos who, in the words of co-owner Koula Savvakis, “want their private time.” But rest assured that, celeb or not, the staff at DK knows how to give all of their patrons the star treatment. Wine, cookies, and other tasty treats are offered immediately upon arrival. They do their best to cater to professional men and women’s schedules, opening extra early on Mondays (6:30 am) and have even opened up the salon on days off for special patrons. DK offers up the standard list of trendy salon fare—nails, waxing, massage, and facials of numerous persuasions—but Savvakis insists that their claim to fame is cut and color. She and her sister Denise Klicos (co-owner, stylist, and salon namesake) send their stylists to the Sassoon Salon in NY. And, with apologies to Sassoon: At DK Salon, if you don’t look beautiful, they don’t look beautiful!

Giuseppe’s Hair Studio, 2616 Taylor Avenue, 410-665-4490, www.giuseppeshairstudio.com

Some salons are so intimidating, you feel like you need to get a haircut before your appointment. Not so with Giuseppe’s Hair Studio. Since 1981, Italian born owner Giuseppe Castellano has strived to offer a welcoming, laid back respite for its loyal customers. The comfy pinky-beige décor is unintimidating and the talented staff—many of whom have worked at Giuseppe’s for over a decade—is friendly and accessible. Giuseppe’s offers all the basics plus excellent facials, bridal services, and great nail services by Pasqua.

“Success in this service relies on repeated visits to establish a relationship of expectations combined with reality,” says stylist Dean Krapf. As well as being a stylist at Giuseppe’s for 20 years, Dean is also an established hair and makeup artist for print and television. Some of his celebrity encounters include cutting Benjamin Bratt’s locks, dolling up supermodel Molly Simms, and styling ER’s Michael Michelle. But you don’t have to be a celebrity to get the full treatment at Giuseppe’s. It’s kinda like home, but with more amenities.

La Clinica Salon & Day Spa, 1624 York Road, Lutherville, 410-828-7464

In every sense of the phrase, La Clinica is a family affair. Start with the owners: the ageless Joan Zulanch and her daughter, Jayne Gary. Then, extend that to the staff, many of whom have worked at the salon for over 20 years. Add to that, La Clinica’s loyal customers, who just keep coming back again and again. It’s no wonder the salon is so successful. Who wouldn’t want to be embraced by this nurturing clan? “I just enjoy going there and being taken care of!” praises Elaine Pevenstein, a special assistant to Governor Ehrlich. “I can’t say enough about the people—they are warm and professional.” La Clinica takes its beauty seriously: The estheticians wear white, almost clinical smocks, the spa rooms are lit and decorated with discretion, and the salon’s literature reminds you to turn off your cell phone before entering the premises (you go, girls!). After focusing almost exclusively on electrolysis and skin care, La Clinica has expanded its services to include hair, nails, waxing, and massage. Six years ago, they bought out the adjacent hair salon and today, they are completely remodeling it with hardwood floors, back-to-back stations, decorative glass panels, and halogen lights (the work is slated to be finished by the end of the month). “It’s going to look gorgeous!” gushes Gary. Then she pauses, reflecting on the expense and effort: “It better.”

Patrick’s Hair Design, 9194 Red Branch Road, Columbia, 410-730-1700

We’re definitely noticing a trend toward smaller boutique salons. And if that’s your thing, Patrick’s is not for you. This place is big, contemporary, bustling—in a word, a scene (the receptionist even has a microphone to help direct traffic). But don’t let the size fool you. The folks at Patrick’s are here to pamper you—whether it be with a cut and color, bridal styling, or any of the various spa services they offer, including aroma therapy, body wraps, and manicures. Patrick’s has a reputation for attracting the best stylists and the most discerning clientele. After 20 years in the business, when it comes to Columbia hair salons, there’s Patrick’s, and then there’s everybody else.

Studio 1612, 1612 Kelly Avenue and 1501 Sulgrave Avenue, 410-664-3800/410-664-3010

You could say we’re showing favoritism by picking the salon that almost of half the women of Baltimore magazine go to. But then again, it’s our job to assess the best that Baltimore has to offer—and we choose Studio 1612. Why? In a word: quality. Spend a few minutes at either of Studio 1612’s two Mt. Washington locations, and you’ll see a parade of fabulous hair cuts, sported by some of Baltimore’s most chic and style-conscious women. Studio 1612 can do it all—from streamline conservative to wild and funky to drop-dead glamour. Simply put, this is one talented team of stylists, starting with the delightful owners, Karen Bialozynski and Judy Weidel, extending to the rest of the staff (in-house favorites are Joanne, Lesley, and Marcus), and capped off by the peerless Gabrielle Hart (check out her work on our cover girl). Of course, we’re not the only ones who sing Studio 1612’s praises. “I frequently change hair styles,” says Susan Snyder, the VP of Diversions, a cultural arts and travel group. “And no matter what I want to do, they’re able to do it!”

Honorable Mentions

Denise Christenson Design, 410-327-1300: Come hang with hair diva Denise Christenson, who has opened this welcoming boutique salon in Fells Point.

The Escape Day Spa, 410-602-1108: The well-heeled Pikesville crowd frequents Escape for the newest trends (like Japanese hair straightening), fabulous color, a facial, and some light shopping (jewelry, Mano Swartz minks, and bags) before picking up dinner at nearby Sutton Place Gourmet.

Sima’s, 410-276-7462: Owner Sima Frazier has been dubbed the “curly hair expert” by those who flock to her tiny Canton shop.

Starz Stage Salon, 410-318-8333: Don’t let the modest digs on Reisterstown Road fool you, co-owner Kalixto, a.k.a. Kal, is often hired to transform the locks of high-profile African-American women like rapper Lil’ Mo or TV personality Sade Baderinwa.

The Next Wave

by Pascale Lemaire

Ever wonder how celebrities like Chelsea Clinton and Nicole Kidman tame their wiry manes? We first heard about the revolutionary Japanese hair straightening process last summer. At the time, it was mostly available at high-end salons in New York and L.A. like Frédéric Fekkai. But today, this chemical straightener—an intensive thermal treatment which will render your hair silky, pin straight, and super shiny for up to eight months—has taken Baltimore by storm (and is available at most full-service salons). It’s a dream come true for women who have struggled with unmanageable curls. But the process does not come without drawbacks. For starters, the price: Get ready to plunk down between $400 and $800 depending on your hair’s length and condition.

Also, the process is lengthy. You should expect it to take anywhere from four to six hours. The hair is first washed of all products, dried, then washed again with a pre-treatment. “You’re breaking bonds”, explains Kristen Chandler, owner of Bella! Salon. Next the thermal solution is applied and will stay in the hair about 30 minutes, depending on hair texture. A good stylist will check the hair by knotting it to see if the hair will slip out. This helps to determine the how straight the hair has become. Then it’s back to washing and then drying and finishing off piece by piece, adding heat with a flat iron. But it’s not over yet! There’s still another round of neutralizer, more washing, and blow drying. After all the waiting and primping, you
should look like a movie star with swishy, shiny, silky-straight hair.

But for some women, the end of the process is the beginning of the nightmare.

“If your hair is not in great shape,
stay away!” moans a Glyndon woman who chooses to remain anonymous. After having the procedure done at a local salon, her hair fell out and she ended up having to cut it off.

“You should always get a consultation before undertaking this,” agrees Uno Tuluoglu, who has been using the Liscio system by Shinbi International at his eponymous salon for a year. Virgin hair—no sodium hydroxide chemicals, no bleaching, no color—is the ideal candidate. But good luck finding a contemporary woman who has
never had a chemical process done. Still, even if your hair has been chemically treated, that doesn’t mean you can’t get it straightened. It is crucial to trust your stylist and to make sure the salon has a reputable track record and practical experience under its belt.

The most prevalent brands on the market are Bio Ionic, Liscio by Shinbi International, Yuko System Repair, and Rusk’s Thermal Str8. All stylists must be trained (usually taking a two day education class) and accredited before being able to do the procedure.

Once the process is done, it is wise to “protect your investment,” advises Corbin, owner of Corbin Salon at the Colonnade. Clients must be diligent about following directions like no washing of your hair for 48 to 72 hours afterwards. Also, it’s imperative to use the proper high grade conditioners and products recommended in order to make your straightening last.

Despite a few horror stories, many women are thrilled with the results.

“The texture of my hair is different,” raves Mary Carole Curran (Joe’s daughter and Katie O’Malley’s sister), who recently had the Rusk treatment done at The Salon at Mays Chapel. “I almost feel like I have my son’s hair on my head. And he’s 6 years old!”

Shop Boys

By Curt Iseli

Has the salon backlash begun? Just when it was totally safe for a guy to go to a beauty salon (and even admit to it!), more and more of today’s younger generation are seeking out the somewhat antiquated haven of barbershops. The red-white-and-blue-striped poles have never stopped spinning, so why the sudden resurgence in their popularity?

A visit to Baynesville Barber Shop in Parkville (colloquially known as “Stan’s”) offers some answers. It’s a far cry from the impersonal racks of fashion magazines and styling products at some salons. Instead, you will be greeted by the laid-back familiarity and bonhomie that seems indigenous to any neighborhood clip joint. From the pleasantly worn leather art deco chairs to the musky smell of the barber soap, these shops have a comforting timelessness about them that makes anyone with a sense of humor or, at the very least, a grasp of the local weather feel right at home.

“Give me two hours to swap some stories and a big heavy old barber chair,” comments 24-year-old shop customer Dustin Jones, an internet technology engineer. “There’s nothing like the feel and smell of a
real barbershop.”

But the chatter isn’t the only thing drawing the new group of loyalists through the shop doors. For some it is simply a matter of style. Across town at Tom’s Barber Shop in Highlandtown, barber John Kalbskopf offers his insight as he snaps an apron around the neck of a second-generation customer.

“In the seventies, you had the long hair and the bobs,” Kalbskopf explains. “[Barber] shops got by on the flattops and the regulars until the trend went back to short hair. That’s when we get new customers—when the trend is short hair.”

And it’s that same cycle that has the bells above shop doors ringing today. The mousse and blow dryers of the ’80s gave way to the assembly line cutteries of the ’90s until guys realized they were paying $25 for a stranger to give them a cut equivalent—or often inferior—to the $8 “Men’s Regular” at the corner shop.

“The last three or four years, we’ve had more young folks coming in,” comments Sal DiVenti, owner of Sal’s Barber Shop in Cockeysville. “They’re getting away from the Hair Cutteries and stopping in the shops instead.”

And so the cycle continues. There will always be a place for unisex salons and $40 bottles of men’s styling gel, to be sure. But as long as there is weather to discuss and a good joke to be told, those striped poles will keep on spinning.

Here are five recommended barbershops in the Baltimore region:

Tom’s Barber Shop, 410-675-2107, 404 S. Conkling Street

Baynesville Barber Shop (a.k.a. Stan’s)

410-321-1342, 1644 East Joppa Road, Towson

Sal’s Barber Shop, 410-666-1822, 84 Cranbrook Road

Albert’s Barber Shop, 410-276-5660, 4005 Eastern Avenue

Hillendale Barber Shop, 410-285-8083

6857 Loch Raven Boulevard

Hair Do’s and Dont’s

We asked stylists to spill the beans on proper salon etiquette. Here’s what they said.

DO

Show a photograph of the haircut you want

“People think stylists hate that,” says Gabrielle Hart of Studio 1612. “But we don’t. It gives us some idea of what you find attractive.”

Know your hair history

“Do you swim? Do you use well water? Are you on medication? When was your last perm?” These are all questions that need to be addressed, according to Denise Christenson of her eponymous salon.

Come on time

Your stylist may be juggling several clients at once. “The timing in a salon is critical,” says Christenson.

Tell your stylist how much time you have to spend on your hair every day

“If you only have 5 minutes, don’t get a style that takes 45 minutes!” says Christenson.

Give your stylist a chance

“Some people expect immediate nirvana!” says Dean Krapf of Giuseppe’s Hair Studio. “But there’s a possibility that it’s already there. You just need to let the relationship develop.”

Ask about the salon’s
apprentice program

So maybe you can’t pay top dollar.

A lot of salons, like Studio 1612 and Columbia’s George of New York, have a young staff of trainees who give quality cuts at a substantial discount.

DON’T

Wear a turtleneck

Duh! “It gets in the way!” says Christenson.

Talk on your cell phone the whole time

“That drives me friggin’ crazy!” says Christenson.

Ask for a radical change that you’re simply not ready for

“If you have dark hair and you ask to go blonde, prepare to be shocked!” says Hart. “I often suggest gradually easing into something more drastic.”

Ask for the last appointment
on Saturday

“Believe me, you don’t want that appointment,” laughs Christenson.

Use home bleach-out kits

“You know those women you see walking around with yellow hair?” says Hart ominously. “Home bleach kits.”

According to U.S. Census data, the average American moves about 11 times in his or her life, a statistic that confirms what many of us know from experience: Thanks to moves necessitated by jobs, schools, and relationships, “home,” is more of an ephemeral concept than a physical place these days. But that’s not true for everyone, including the Baltimoreans on the following pages, each of whom is part of a family that has kept its homestead for 100 years or more. In Baltimore City, such domestic dynasties are recognized via the Baltimore Heritage Centennial Homes Program, which will celebrate 10 families this month with a reception at City Hall. Though there is no corresponding program in Baltimore County, there are certainly many qualifying families, and we talked to one Catonsville woman who lives in the same house her grandfather built in the waning years of the 19th century.

Here’s to those who have stayed.

Constantine Rist wanted his family out of the city. Like many first-generation Americans, the German immigrant sought the American dream, and, in 1905, that meant moving from congested, industrial Baltimore to a newly constructed farmhouse on a dead-end lane in Overlea. Though this portion of Overlea would be annexed by the city in 1919, in 1905 it was still a garden suburb. In the three-bedroom house, Constantine and his wife, Mary, raised four children, plus two grandchildren after their oldest son, George, and his wife, Georgia, died of tuberculosis. In 1940, their second-oldest son, Charles, married Norma Schwarz of nearby Hamilton, a union that would eventually produce five children. In 1955, after the deaths of both Mary and Constantine, Norma and Charles moved into the house. Norma, pictured center, seated, remembers the transition as a smooth one, since they had been living

“The kids go out and play, and, as long as you showed up at 5 o’clock for dinner, nobody really worried too much.”

only about five blocks away in a duplex. “[The duplex had] a small yard, so this was much better for the kids.” says Norma, who, at 94, still reigns as the family matriarch. So while Charles worked—first for a local business called Black & Decker and then for the Baltimore City police department—Norma tended house. The children, including John, now 66, played outside with neighborhood kids. “Times have changed since then,” admits John, pictured left of his mother, standing. “There was a kind of thing where the kids go out and play, and, as long as you showed up at 5 o’clock for dinner, nobody really worried too much about it.”

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No one’s exactly sure when the flat-roofed house perched high above the narrow Waverly street was built. As far as the Smith family is concerned, it has always just been there. In all, seven generations of the clan have lived in it, starting in the 1870s and continuing today with Joshua Smith, on steps in plaid shirt, his wife, Katrina, behind Josh, and their three children Joshua II, Kassidey, and Kristiana, front row, from left. “Everybody lived here, pretty much, at one time or another,” says Joshua’s father, Franklin, who is part of the family’s fifth generation, along with his sisters Arleen, JoAnn, Patsy, and Regina. Franklin, on porch, far left,

“With Memorial Stadium nearby, the Smith family, ‘Never had to watch the game to know what was going on.’”

and his sisters grew up in the house, and they all fondly remember dips in their in-ground swimming pool and the roar of the crowd during O’s games at nearby Memorial Stadium. “We never had to watch the game to know what was going on,” recalls JoAnn, seated on steps in yellow tank top. Franklin inherited the house in the early ’90s from his parents, Pat and Betty, who moved to the county after winning $4.25 million in the Maryland Lottery. “They bought the ticket in Ocean City when they were visiting my sister, Arleen, down there,” relays JoAnn. Joshua bought the house in 2008 and plans to leave it to his kids. The house’s oldest living former inhabitants, Bill and Mary Ellen Coggins, standing and seated at top of the porch steps, lived in the house for a few years after their 1949 wedding before moving across the street and then, eventually, out to Bel Air, where they still reside. Asked if he misses the neighborhood, Bill, who turns 90 this month, offers a simple and sincere, “Oh yeah.”

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Though the two-and-a-half-story row home has been in her family since 1891, Jane Buccheri freely admits she was largely indifferent to it until it became hers. “This is a terrible thing to say,” says Jane, a retired Department of Defense worker, “but my sister, who is three-and-a-half years older remembers being in this house as a kid—I don’t.” Jane has lots of memories of the house now, of course, having owned it since 1978, but she’s as surprised as anyone that she ended up with it. “It went through what I call the family chain of command,’” she cracks. The house entered the family in 1891 when her maternal grandfather, Walter O’Crean, bought it. Walter was one of many Irish immigrants in the neighborhood and, like most, he found work with the B&O Railroad for a time before launching his own manufacturing company, specializing in boilers. (Walter Anglicized the family’s surname to Crane early on, though it’s unclear why.) After his first wife died, Walter remarried and, between both marriages, fathered nine children,

“My sister, who is three-and-a-half years older, remembers being in this house as a kid—I don’t.”

the youngest of whom, Elizabeth, was Jane’s mother. Walter died when Elizabeth was only 13, forcing her to quit school and find work at the B&O. She married Sylvester Buccheri in 1939 and together they raised four children in nearby Irvington, and then Glen Burnie. Once Jane’s grandmother’s health began to decline, she came to live with the family in Glen Burnie, leaving the house with renters. After her death in 1958, the house went to Jane’s uncle, then Jane’s aunt, then Jane’s older sister, Marianna. Knowing Jane was looking for a place in the city, Marianna suggested Jane take it, and the rest is family history. Though Jane traveled extensively for her job, she never got the itch to leave Baltimore permanently. “It’s always nice to come home,” she says.

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Brothers Roland and Arthur Moskal have their maternal grandmother, Maggie Williams, to thank for the family home. She purchased the then-new Canton row house in early 1904 for $540, and paid it off within 18 months. There hasn’t been a mortgage on it since. Sometime after 1905, Maggie met Michael Kafer and they had two daughters, the youngest of whom, Doris, would become Arthur’s and Roland’s mother. Because Maggie died when Doris was only 7, Doris’s older sister, Edna, became like a second mother to the young girl, and the sisters remained close, their respective families sharing the home until 1960. In 1946, Doris married Joseph Moskal, a merchant marine from the neighborhood, and they had sons Arthur, right, and Roland, left, in quick succession. To hear Arthur and Roland tell it, growing up in 1950s Canton was exactly like you’d imagine: They played curb ball up the street, made beer runs to the National Bohemian

The Moskals’ grandmother purchased the house in 1904 for $540 and paid it off within 18 months.

brewery for the adults, and called to their neighbors over the back fence. In the ’60s, Roland, in particular, got caught up in the counterculture, playing in a hard-rock band, and, by his own admission, spending much of his time in altered states. Eventually, though, he became a Baltimore City schoolteacher, retiring in 2007. All throughout, he remained in the house, sharing it with his parents until his mother died in 1984, and his father entered a nursing home in 1988. Arthur moved out at 20, in part to escape butting heads with his strong-willed mother. He is retired from banking and now lives at the beach in Delaware. With no close kin left, Roland and Arthur are acutely aware they are the end of the line, but they are sanguine about it. They say they’re not in any hurry to sell, but home values in the gentrifying ’hood are increasingly favorable. Thank goodness for Grandma Maggie.

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Denise Eileen Washington is the third generation to inhabit her family’s cozy cottage on the outskirts of downtown Catonsville. Her grandfather, William Washington, a Kentuckian born just after the Civil War, built the house circa 1897. In it, he and his wife, Mary Jane Muir Washington, raised their nine children, the youngest of whom, Rufus, was Denise’s father. While working as a clerk at the Social Security Administration in Woodlawn, Rufus reconnected with a young secretary he’d known growing up—Arey Jenson of Ellicott City. They soon married and had daughter Denise in 1958. Though an only child, Denise says she never felt

“My uncles and my aunts were here at least once a day. . . . family was always around.”

lonely, partly because she loved to read and could therefore always entertain herself, and partly because the house was always so busy. Only one of her father’s siblings moved out of state, and four of them lived within walking distance. “My uncles and my aunts were here at least once a day. [One of] my aunts lived across the street, so she was in and out. Family was always around,” she says. Her mother’s death from cancer in 1968 was a brutal shock, but was somewhat ameliorated by the live-in presence of her maternal grandmother, who handled all domestic duties. “My grandmother ironed everything that didn’t run away and hide,” Denise says with a fond laugh. “When she died [one week shy of her 98th birthday], I was telling my dad, ‘Well, you can forget about the ironed boxer shorts and pajamas because I don’t do that.’” After high school, Denise began a 27-year career with the FBI, mostly spent redacting Freedom of Information documents. Her father died in 1998 leaving her the sole inhabitant of the house, which she now shares with her rescue dog Simba. “I’m not wedded here, and I would go somewhere else,” she admits, “but I’ve never found any [other] place that I wanted to be.”

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Gather Baltimore

What they do: Collect unsold food from farmers’ markets, farms, and other sources for redistribution to local meal programs, faith communities, and others in need.

How to help: Volunteers always needed to help “glean” (aka collect) foodstuffs; donate to its Give Corps campaign to purchase freezers and refrigerators for its Remington warehouse, which will help increase capacity.

Contact: Visit in person at the JFX farmers’ market and Oliver Farm Stand (1400 N. Bond St.) every Sunday; gatherbaltimore.org.

Health Care for the Homeless

What they do: Provide health-related services, education, and advocacy to reduce the incidence and burdens of homelessness.

How to help: Donate online or by mail at Health Care for the Homeless, 421 Fallsway, Baltimore, MD, 21202; attend its annual fundraiser The HCH Chocolate Affair on February 15, 2014.

Contact: hchmd.org.

Maryland Food Bank

What they do: With three locations statewide, the Maryland Food Bank coordinates the procurement and distribution of food donations from manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and government agencies to organizations providing free food to the state’s hungry.

How to help: Donate money via website; virtual food drive via website allows donors to purchase in bulk the most-needed items; bring canned donations to Ravens Food & Funds Drive at M&T Bank Stadium on November 24; bring canned donations to or make a monetary donation at the register at participating Giant food stores through November; throughout November and December at participating Safeway locations buy pre-packaged bags of food to be delivered to those in need; donate food in person Mon.-Fri., 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at 2200 Halethorpe Farms Road, Baltimore, MD 21227; warehouse volunteers always needed to help sort and pack donations in 3-hour shifts Mon.-Sat. and Wed. evenings.

Contact: 410-737-8282 or mdfoodbank.org.

Jobs Housing Recovery

What they do: This all-male nonprofit offers a continuum of care that encompasses food and shelter, skills and job training, and substance-abuse treatment and counseling.

How to help: Always in need of warm clothing, including hats, scarves, men’s boots, coats, and jackets; volunteers needed to help with daily food service, holiday decorating, and activities; donations accepted through Paypal at jhrbaltimore.org.

Contact: 410-522-2232

Fuel Fund of Maryland

What they do: Provide resources to vulnerable Maryland families for heat and home utility needs.

How to help: Monetary donations can be submitted online through its website, via your monthly BGE bill, or via check at Fuel Fund of Maryland Inc.,
P.O. Box 62266, Baltimore, MD, 21264-2266. Also accepts gifts of stock.

Contact: 410-235-9080, fuelfundmaryland.org

Marian House

What they do: Waverly-based nonprofit offers high-quality rehabilitative services and housing to homeless women and their children.

How to help: Donations accepted through marianhouse.org or in person at 949 Gorsuch Ave., Baltimore, MD, 21218

Contact: Offers tours of the facility the first Friday of every month; for more information, call 410-467-4246 and ask to speak with advancement assistant Tamar Klein.

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Overwhelmed and need help deciding where to begin? Do a search onvolunteermatch.org. Enter your preferences (location, subject matter, age, etc.) into the website and receive a list of area organizations looking for volunteers just like you!

There are many good and noble causes out there. But beware, all nonprofits aren’t created equal. To help you decide where to put your time, money, and effort, use Charity Navigator, an independent American nonprofit corporation that evaluates charities in the United States based on financial health, transparency, and accountability.charitynavigator.org.

Giving Tuesday is a new national campaign to promote charitable activities at the start of the holiday season. It’s designated for the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday—this year, December 3. More information atgivingtuesday.org.

Two-dozen curious environmentalists, taking a bike tour of something described as the Harris Creek Watershed, stop pedaling, and pull up in front of the Patterson Park branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Their tires come to a rest over several large, metal stormwater grates. They’ve already toured Real Food Farm on the grounds of Lake Clifton High School, where they were told the watershed’s headwaters begin. They’ve toured Duncan Street’s Miracle Farm, built on a vacant block in East Baltimore. They’ve ridden south past the Baltimore Recycling Center, Collington Square Park, the Reggie Lewis Memorial Basketball Courts, and bustling but trash-strewn Frank C. Bocek Park.

However, there’s been no sign—visible or otherwise—of Harris Creek. Not until a whiff of putrid air emanating from the aforementioned storm grates smacks Joy Goodie, atop her bike, square in the nostrils.

“Oh, it smells bad,” blurts Goodie, turning her head just before the stench hits everyone else, including her husband and two kids. “It’s repugnant.”

“That’s Harris Creek,” deadpans Leanna Wetmore, program coordinator with Banner Neighborhoods and a tour volunteer with organizer Ben Peterson. Wetmore notes the creek now runs entirely beneath the city, long ago co-opted into the massive underground storm-water system. “The water’s visible if you look down there,” Wetmore adds as a few brave souls take a peek. “When there’s a really big storm, the drains back up and flood this whole area. It can move cars parked here.”

Hard to imagine today, but Maryland Historical Society paintings from the late 1800s actually show boats sailing on the creek through Patterson Park to Canton and the harbor.

Peterson explains to the group—still slightly stunned by the odorous discovery of Harris Creek—that the city’s century-old sewage pipes (some made of wood) run parallel to equally antiquated stormwater pipes. When the outdated sewage lines inevitably bust, raw waste flows into the stormwater lines, entering the harbor untreated. And when thundershowers just as inevitably overwhelm the stormwater system, trash and chemical pollutants from streets, rooftops, and pavement get whisked downstream.

Of course, it’s not just buried Harris Creek that is regularly debased, but the Jones Falls, Gwynns Falls, Middle Branch and Patapsco River, among other harbor tributaries. At the tour’s end, where Harris Creek empties into the harbor, not far from Canton’s Waterfront Park, where residents once swam and crabbed and local clergy dunked their flock in full-immersion baptisms, frustrated activist Raymond Bahr calls healing the harbor, “mission impossible.”

And, yet, three years ago, the Waterfront Partnership—along with a mix of nonprofits, business leaders, city officials, and harbor advocates—set a public goal, in consultation with environmental scientists: Make the harbor swimmable and fishable by 2020.

“Just think, to not only stand at the edge of the harbor but to dangle your feet in the water and jump in,” Waterfront Partnership President Laurie Schwartz suggested when the Healthy Harbor initiative and “swimmable, fishable” goal was announced in 2009. “Downtown Chicago has a beach . . . why can’t we?” It’s a good question, but only last year the Maryland Department of the Environment shot down an effort by the Baltimore Rowing Club to host a triathlon.

At the same time, other cities have reclaimed their iconic waterways, at least to an extent. The Boston Harbor is now referred to as a “jewel” by the EPA decades after The Standells mocked the city’s harbor in their 1966 hit “Dirty Water” and the first George Bush blamed Michael Dukakis for dumping “500 million gallons of barely treated sewage” daily into the harbor during the 1988 presidential campaign. Striped bass and shellfish can be caught in Boston Harbor today, and recreational swimming has returned as well. New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., all hold annual swimming events in the tested waters of the Hudson, the Schuylkill, and the Potomac.

By coincidence, the morning following the Harris Creek tour, the Waterfront Partnership released the most comprehensive report ever on the harbor’s water quality. The grade: C-. Those who compiled the report, however, admit the harbor was scored on a large curve. The C- indicated that the harbor’s overall water quality was acceptable only 40 percent of the time; a score of 50 would’ve been considered a mid-range “C,” indicating that water quality met acceptable standards on half of the days.

“As it was, in our system, the grade was just percentage points above a D+,” says Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper Tina Meyers, who assisted in compiling the report card. “If you used high-school grades, it would be F’s all the way from zero to 60 percent.”

The study measured nitrogen, phosphorus levels, chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen, and water clarity—sunlight being necessary for healthy underwater plants and organisms—at 28 locations from the Inner Harbor and Fort McHenry to South Baltimore’s Middle Branch area. Or, all water west of the Harbor Tunnel.

The study did not quantify levels of trash, which doesn’t have comparable standards—except that you know it when you see it. “Litter wasn’t tested. If it was, it would receive a failing grade,” says Adam Lindquist, the Waterfront Partnership’s Healthy Harbor coordinator.

Lindquist doesn’t dismiss the 2020 “swimmable, fishable” goal, but acknowledges the pace of efforts needs to be stepped up. “It’s an aggressive goal, but you need to set goals and then gather data to measure progress.”

District 1 Councilman James Kraft, the City Council’s strongest environmental advocate, isn’t quite ready to dismiss the 2020 target, either. He emphasizes, however, “We need to do something really bold. These grades are important, but we have a long, long way to go.”

At the June release of the Healthy Harbor report, Kraft highlighted two bills he’s sponsoring or co-sponsoring to help clean up the harbor. One is a ban on polystyrene—the ubiquitous carryout foam containers and cups that all too often end up floating in the city’s waterways. The other proposal is a 10-cent fee on plastic bags from retailers, convenience stores, and supermarkets. He hopes each passes, but the polystyrene vote was postponed shortly before Baltimore went to press.

Both Kraft and Councilman Brandon Scott note the positive impact a bag fee in D.C. has had on the Anacostia River. Scott believes the measure would change consumer behavior and tweeted that getting Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and her administration “to agree to use it [revenue from the bill] for green initiatives is key” to the legislation’s overall success.

“Sometimes in Baltimore, we’re guilty of living in a vacuum. There are things we see working in other cities, but we keep doing things the way we’ve done them forever,” Scott says. “For Baltimore to move into the 21st century, to become a sustainable city, we have to change that mindset.

“We have more plastic bags in the streams than fish,” Scott adds. “If you go to Herring Run Park, all you see is plastic bags.”

Beyond plastic bags and foam cups and containers, Kraft dreams of one day opening Harris Creek up again near Canton’s Lakewood Street. More significantly, he’d really like to see the Jones Falls opened up from the Penn Station area down to the Inner Harbor, where it’s buried under concrete. It’s a process known as “daylighting” and has been done with the Saw Mill River, for example, buried for some 90 years in downtown Yonkers. Partly, it’s an effort to improve aesthetics and return natural landscape to the city, but it would also eliminate pavement and, potentially, runoff. Kraft says it would help Baltimoreans become more conscious of their environment and its value.

“We need to daylight some of these streams we have in Baltimore and take up the concrete,” he says. “We need to study it and make it work. When Sheila [Dixon] was mayor, she talked about wanting to do it with the Jones Falls.”

In the immediate future, Kraft and others say improving stormwater management, starting with a greater cooperation from Department of Public Works, remains the single biggest factor in improving harbor water quality. Kraft says the DPW needs to hand out 5,000 trashcans in under-served areas and do a better job of sweeping streets. At the same time, he adds, as much impervious surface as possible needs to be replaced with parks, trees, and green roofs. Rain gardens and rain barrels can also be used to offset runoff. High-tech materials, such as pervious concrete, can replace traditional parking surfaces as well. The Maryland Science Center, for example, is planning on tearing up its lot in favor of a pervious surface.

It’s exactly the stormwater crises, affecting much of the Chesapeake Bay, that the so-called “rain tax,” passed by the General Assembly, is designed to address. Ten jurisdictions, including Baltimore City and Baltimore, Howard, Anne Arundel, Carroll, and Harford counties, had to establish a stormwater fee structure—generally based on square-footage—by July 1 to fund infrastructure improvements.

“Bacteria [from fecal matter] is actually not the main problem,” says Kraft, who drives a Prius and proudly points to the fact that his Canton waterfront district received the highest mark, a C+, in the Healthy Harbor report. “It’s polluted stormwater that’s making it unhabitable for life, that causes the dead zones and the fish kills.”

That said, sewage spills remain a tremendous problem for Baltimore, and, in fact, the city is under a 2002 EPA consent decree to address “continuing hazards posed by hundreds of illegal wastewater discharges of raw sewage. . . .” The agreement requires the city to complete an extensive sewer upgrade by 2016, a timeline city officials are negotiating to push back several years. Kraft says that the city, despite increasing sewage fees, lacks the funds to complete the overhaul, with an original cost projection of $1 billion, on time. But the work will eventually get done, he says.

“One of the good things is this is not just the ‘greenies’ tilting at windmills, it’s everyone, it’s a unified front,” Kraft says, referring to what he views, finally, as a citywide commitment for cleaning up the harbor. “That’s including leaders in the business community who want this to get done because they see a clean harbor as an economic engine for tourism, for attracting businesses, and for attracting employees.”

Meyers, the harbor’s waterkeeper, goes on the water every Wednesday at 7 a.m. on a 16-foot, Honda C-Dory, gathering samples at precise GPS locations, from beneath the Domino Sugars sign to newly added spots at Bear Creek in Dundalk and Curtis Bay. She’s employed by Blue Water Baltimore, which grew out of five local clean-water organizations in 2010. Also, starting this year, she’s leading teams that track water quality in the Jones Falls and Gwynns Falls.

Meyers studied environmental science and biology at the University of Rochester and has a law degree from SUNY University at Buffalo School of Law. Previously, she worked as an attorney at the University of Maryland School of Law’s Environmental Law Clinic. She says her affinity for the water developed growing up in Buffalo, near Lake Erie, where her father still has a boat. While she wears protective gloves when she dips her hands in the harbor, she remains optimistic about its future. She notes, for example, that even if most of the sewage upgrades, per EPA decree, aren’t finished until 2019, that still fits inside the 2020 timeline.

“I’d say the goal is ‘fishable, swimmable by 2020’ with an asterisk,” Meyers says. “Swimming may not be possible, but boating and working on the water can be made safer from a health standpoint. I’d like it to be safe for someone to drop a line in the water, to fish and crab. At the same time, they should probably release their catch because of the PCBs [polychlorinated biphenyls] and mercury in the sediment—these aren’t just environmental issues, but public-health issues for everyone.

“Sewage, stormwater, trash, toxins—we have all these problems,” Meyers says. “The good news is they are absolutely solvable. I wouldn’t be doing this if I thought otherwise.”

If nothing else, Kraft says, perhaps only half-joking, “These boys I see who are [illegally] crabbing, it’ll be less likely they will be glowing in the dark after they eat their crabs.”

Pickles are popping up all over the city as many area chefs and food purveyors turn out their own delicious versions. For Spike Gjerde of Woodberry Kitchen, pickling is a way of life. He pickles and preserves summer’s produce to provide local ingredients year-round at his restaurant. He even pickles broccoli stems, which many other restaurants toss in the trash, he says. When Clementine’s Winston Blick pickles at his restaurant, he thinks of his grandmother’s home cooking. Jason Gallant, owner of In a Pickle, aims for old-fashioned charm, selling his pickles from large, brine-filled barrels at the Baltimore Farmers’ Market & Bazaar and at D.C.’s Eastern Market. And these cooks aren’t just making traditional dill or sweet pickles— they’re pickling a variety of items, including eggs, beets, pumpkins, and rhubarb. The basic ingredients of pickling brine are water, salt, sugar, and vinegar (see recipe). The brine is then poured over raw foods and sealed in a container, which can then be heated, stored in the refrigerator, or vacuum-sealed.

Whatever method is used, pickling fits right into the “craft-food” movement of focusing on locally sourced and prepared foods. We talked to several local preservers about their mission.

Clementine

At the Hamilton restaurant, chef/co-owner Winston Blick makes a lot of food in house—from pâtés to marmalades. Pickles are a specialty, particularly bread-and-butter pickles (based on his grandmother’s recipe) and a beet-and-onion-infused pickled egg. He uses his pickled products as part of the restaurant’s charcuterie plate and even as a garnish for martinis.

“Pickling works well for our vision and overall theme— traditional foods using modern techniques.”

To make his pickles, Blick pours hot brine over thinly sliced cucumbers and seals the contents in a container. He doesn’t preserve these pickles long term because of the high volume he uses during the week. “I’ll also take something seasonal, such as ramps, and pickle it to make it last longer,” he says.

Blick feels strongly about the nostalgia of pickles. “Pickling is a craft,” he says. “And when customers see someone using their hands to make their food, it’s cool. But for me, pickling reminds me of something I enjoyed as a kid.”

Of Love & Regret

Chef Keith Curley has been pickling since the Brewers Hill restaurant opened a little over a year ago. “Pickling works well for our vision and overall theme—traditional foods using modern techniques,” he says.

He uses a quick pickling method, soaking vegetables in brine overnight so the flavors can infuse. Afterward, he vacuum-packs each batch of pickles.

In the early summer, Curley pickles asparagus, cauliflower, peppers, baby carrots, celery, and radishes. He likes to present them on his charcuterie plate. He also makes bourbon-infused pickles and pairs them with Binkert’s sausages and pâté toasts. “Pickles cut through the richness of many of my dishes,” he says. “They add contrast and brightness to the plate. And they’re also just fun to snack on.”

Curley also has pickling plans for the restaurant’s rooftop garden, where he grows peppers and other vegetables. “The more we source our own vegetables here, the more important it is to not waste anything,” he says. “For me, pickling is a beautiful way to extend their life.”

Woodberry Kitchen

The jars of pickled vegetables and other preserved foods lining the walls at Woodberry Kitchen are not meant for decoration. Canning and preserving are the backbone of chef/owner Spike Gjerde’s Clipper Mill restaurant.

Each year, Woodberry Kitchen organizes a “Preservation Workshop,” where employees watch canning demonstrations and receive detailed information about Maryland crop harvests, the history of canning and preserving, and more.

Pickling helps the restaurant stay local year-round, whether it’s preserving Maryland-grown summer cherries or garlic scapes (the curling tops of garlic plants), Gjerde says.

“Pickles contribute flavor and texture for sure,” he adds. “But for us, they play a greater purpose, which is to allow us to offer our guests these vegetables in the off-season and to help us ensure our commitment to offering locally sourced products.”

The Fork & Wrench

Executive chef Cyrus Keefer currently features pickled vegetables on his charcuterie tray. “If we have something rich on the plate, you need something pickled to cut the fat,” he says. “We want a little tanginess from the vinegar in the brine.” Keefer uses vegetables the restaurant grows in nearby plots and from local farms for pickling. He’s also planning to can various produce for year-round use.

He is especially interested in introducing Asian flavors to pickling, such as fennel pickled in the style of kimchee (fermented Korean vegetables), paired with an Italian dish. “No one has been doing this really,” says Keefer. “It’s kind of a different take on the farm-to-table movement.”

In a Pickle

Jason Gallant’s stand In a Pickle is a fan favorite at farmers’ markets in Baltimore and D.C. For him, pickles represent the best of the past. “In the old days, New York’s lower East Side was full of pickle-mongers,” he says. “One place, Gus’s Pickles, had big barrels of pickles in their store. Customers would reach in with their bare hands to grab pickles. That’s why we sell our pickles from wooden barrels—we want to reflect those times.”

While kosher dills are Gallant’s most in-demand pickle, he also sells sweet wasabi pickle chips, Old Bay pickles, half sours, hot-and-spicy pickle chips, and more. “I’ve also made small, test batches of wackier varieties like pickled pineapple and pickled beets,” he says. His “pickle pops,” or pickles on a stick, are also a hit with children and adults of all ages.

Gallant wants to keep his business small, rather than expanding to a storefront. “Farmers’ markets require fewer resources,” he says. “Some joke and call us gypsies. We’re there one minute, and gone the next.”

“I love seeing what other people and restaurants are doing with pickles. I’m the guy who wants to try them all!”

Tanner’s Comestibles

Evan Tanner wears many hats: He’s a bartender at Johnny Rad’s, a drummer in the local band War on Women, and founder of Tanner’s Comestibles. He’s also a self-confessed “pickle nerd.” “I’ve always loved pickles, every kind,” he says.

In 2011, he developed his own brine recipe after much experimentation. He was already pickling by fermenting vegetables when he took the process a step farther. “I started with a home-canning kit,” he says. “Things evolved from there.”

His varieties include habañero bread-and-butter pickles (his most popular) and lemongrass garlic-dill pickles. The jars can be found at stores like The Wine Source in Hampden, Fleet Street Market in Fells Point, and Grand Cru in Belvedere Square. He’s also awaiting FDA registration for his Caribbean jerk-spiced pickled okra and pickled ginger lemongrass edamame.

Tanner is excited about the explosion of the pickling scene in Baltimore. “I love seeing what other people and restaurants are doing with pickles,” he says. “I’m the guy who wants to try them all!”

Sure, the current job market remains frustrating for many recent college graduates, but the long-term benefits of earning a college degree are clear: Over the course of a lifetime, college graduates can expect to earn almost twice as much as those with high-school diplomas. And in today’s increasingly digitized, engineered, and information-based global economy, the importance of a college degree—and advanced degree—continues to grow. Successful engineering, computer science, and nursing majors, for example, are in demand, yet many well-paying positions go unfilled because they’re aren’t enough qualified candidates. However, with college costs rising dramatically and a greater share of the financial burden borne by students themselves, choosing the right college becomes ever more critical. With all this in mind, we researched 13 local colleges and universities, digging for relevant data and interviewing school officials, current students, and recent graduates, to create our “insider’s guide” for students and parents considering local schools for the next step up the education ladder.

Coppin State University – Baltimore

Founded: 1900 President: Reginald S. AveryEnrollment: 3,300 undergraduates Tuition and fees: $5,732 Room and board: $8,549 Housing:50% of freshmen live on campus Student body:24% male/76% female Diversity: black: 87%; white: 2%; non-resident alien: 4%; unknown: 5% SAT average: reading and math combined: 850Acceptance rate: 53% Student-to-faculty ratio:16:1 Freshman retention rate: 64% Graduation rate: 4-year: 5%; 6-year: 15% Most-popular majors:psychology, criminal justice, nursing Most-popular grad programs: family nurse practitioner, rehabilitation and counseling, human service administration.

On Campus: Coppin State University is most widely known for its Helene Fuld School of Nursing. The school was also the first University of Maryland System school to go completely wireless. This fall, Coppin will break ground on its new science and technology building and offer the only bachelor’s degree in the state in health-information management.

Coppin added new educational and recreational programs in 2010 with the opening of its 246,000-square-foot sports complex. The new Physical Education Complex is designed to support Health and Human Performance academic programs, varsity and recreational sports, and the school’s community-outreach efforts. The $136-million project includes a 4,100-seat basketball arena, NCAA regulation pool, softball and soccer fields, fitness center, auxiliary gym, dance studio, racquetball and tennis courts, faculty and staff offices, laboratories, and state-of-the-art classrooms.

Nickname: Eagles School colors: old gold and reflex blue Organizations: 31, including Love You Like A Sister, Student Volunteer Corps, nine sororities and fraternities Sporting life (non-varsity): flag football, basketball, volleyballVarsity: known for basketball; competes in NCAA Division I Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Culture:Department of Natural Science’s Ernest Just/Percy Julian Lecture Science Series Favorite class:makeup application for the performing arts On-campus hangout: Austin Grill Off-campus hangout: Mondawmin Mall Cheap eats: J & G Jamaican American Carryout Can’t-miss party:February’s Homecoming Step Show Freshman tip:Take advantage of new rec facilities and activities.Alums: Stephanie Ready, first female coach in men’s professional basketball; Bishop L. Robinson, first African-American police commissioner of Baltimore City; Verda Welcome, first African-American woman in the U.S. elected to a state senate.

Goucher College – Towson

Founded: 1885 President: Sanford J. UngarEnrollment:1,446 undergraduates Tuition and fees: $37,072 Room and board: $10,864Housing: 86% of all students live in college-affiliated housing Student body: 33% male/67% female Diversity: white: 63%; black: 10%; Hispanic: 6%; Asian: 4%; international: 2%; Native American: 1%; unknown: 14% SAT average: reading and math combined: 1139 Acceptance rate: 73% Student-to-faculty ratio: 9:1 Freshman retention rate:81% Graduation rate: 4-year: 62%; 6-year: 70%Most popular majors: psychology, communications, business management Most popular grad programs:education, teaching, post-baccalaureate pre-medical.

On Campus: The bucolic 287-acre campus tucked just inside the Beltway nurtures experimentation, often leading to interesting post-graduate endeavors. (To wit: The Baltimore Rock Opera Society is the brainchild of Goucher grads.) The college’s artistic and literary disciplines are stellar, with the Creative Writing Program drawing particular attention for its high-profile faculty, including husband and wife scribes Madison Smartt Bell and Elizabeth Spires. The dance program is another standout. Goucher president Sanford “Sandy” Ungar has also pushed the college to embrace a global perspective, instituting the nation’s first study-abroad requirement.

A flurry of building activity in recent years has given Goucher the facilities to match its ambitious programs. Most notable is the recently opened $48-million Athenaeum, which houses classrooms, an art gallery, radio station, cafe, library facilities, and meeting and exercise spaces.

Nickname: Gophers School colors: blue and goldOrganizations: more than 60, including Student Government Association; Red Hot Blue, a cappella group raises money for AIDS/HIV nonprofits; Humans vs. Zombies Sporting life (non-varsity):ultimate Frisbee, flag football, racquetball Varsity:19 sports, including equestrian; competes in NCAA Division III Landmark Conference Culture:President’s Office Speaker Series brings politicians, scientists, and media luminaries to campus to speak about current events Favorite class: Any foreign-language class that offers inter-semester trips to the mother country On-campus hangout:residential quad Off-campus hangout: Loch Raven Reservoir Cheap eats: Towson Diner Can’t miss party: spring’s Get Into Goucher, aka GIGFreshman tip: Leave your car at home and utilize campus Zipcars Alums: Sally Brice-O’Hara, vice admiral and vice commandant, United States Coast Guard; Emily Newell Blair, League of Women Voters founder; Laura Amy Schlitz, author and Newbery Medal Winner.

The Johns Hopkins University – Baltimore

Founded: 1876 President: Ronald J. DanielsEnrollment: 5,066 undergraduates Tuition and fees: $43,930 Room and board: $13,390Housing: 99% of freshmen live on campusStudent body: 53% male/47% female Diversity:white: 52%; black: 5%; Asian: 20%; Hispanic: 9%; non-resident alien: 9%; two or more races, non-Hispanic: 4%; unknown: 2% SAT: 25th/75th percentiles: reading: 640/740; math: 670/770; writing: 650/750 Acceptance rate: 18% Student-to-faculty ratio: 13:1 Freshman retention rate:96% Graduation rate:4-year: 85%; 6-year: 92% Most-popular majors: biomedical engineering, public health studies, international studies; Most-popular grad programs: computer science, electrical engineering, physics.

On Campus: Consistently ranked among the very best national universities, Hopkins opens the four-story Brody Learning Commons this fall. The new building will be a light-filled, completely wireless hub, connecting to the school’s Milton S. Eisenhower Library on all levels. It will feature interactive media rooms, a 100-seat reading area, an atrium, 75-seat cafe, and will increase the library’s seating capacity by one-third—with 500 additional new seats. The building will also house the Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts, a new laboratory, and instruction space for the Department of Preservation and Conservation.

The university’s Whiting School of Engineering broke ground in the spring for Malone Hall, a state-of-the-art, 69,000-square-foot research center. Scheduled to open in the summer of 2014, Malone Hall will serve as the focal point for Hopkins’s individualized health initiative, bringing together researchers from the engineering, medicine, nursing, and public health schools to develop the best medical treatments for individual patients.

Nickname: Blue Jays School colors: Columbia blue and black Organizations: 370, including 22 fraternities and sororities, Center for Social Concern, Hopkins Organization for Programming Sporting life (intramural): flag football, wallyball, 3-on-3 basketball Varsity: national men’s and women’s lacrosse programs; other varsity teams compete at NCAA Division III level Culture: Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium Favorite class: Acting classes taught by John Astin (The Addams Family)On-campus hangout: “The Beach,” grassy area in front of library Off-campus hangout: all over Charles Village Cheap eats: Carma’s Cafe Can’t miss party: Three-Day Spring Fair Freshman tip:studying in the Hutzler Reading Room (the Hut), Gilman Hall Alums: Russell Baker, writer; Rachel Carson, ecologist and author; Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the United States.

Loyola University Maryland – Baltimore

Founded: 1852 President: Rev. Brian F. Linnane, S.J. Enrollment: 3,863 undergraduates Tuition and fees: $42,426 Room and board: $9,116Housing: 98% of freshmen live on campusStudent body: 39% male/61% female Diversity:white: 81.85%; black: 4.19%; Asian: 2.9%; Hispanic: 6.78%. other: 4.28% SAT: 25th/75th percentiles: reading: 540/640; math: 560/650 Acceptance rate:63% Student-to-faculty ratio: 13:1 Freshman retention rate: 89% Graduation rate:4-year: 79%; 6-year: 83% Most-popular majors: business, communication, biology Most-popular grad programs: business administration, pastoral counseling/spiritual care, school counseling, clinical psychology.

On Campus: Formerly Loyola College in Maryland, the school was officially renamed in 2009. School president and Jesuit priest Brian Linnane’s goal is to make Loyola the nation’s “leading, Catholic, comprehensive university.” The Ridley Athletic Complex, a $64-million soccer and lacrosse stadium, was completed two years ago. A $12-million addition to the Donnelly Science Center, completed last August, features, among other things, a microscopy center and a robotics laboratory. New minors in forensic studies and African and African-American Studies have recently been added. In addition to academics, roughly 60 percent of the school’s undergraduate body participates in service work through the on-campus Center for Community Service and Justice. Nearly 65 percent of students study abroad through one of Loyola’s sponsored programs or an accepted unaffiliated program. One highlight from last year: The men’s lacrosse team won the NCAA Division I lacrosse championship.

Nickname: Greyhounds School colors: green and gray Organizations: More than 150, including OPTIONS (social alternatives to drinking), Student Government Association, Relay for Life Sporting life (non-varsity): flag football, basketball, volleyball Varsity: Men’s lacrosse won NCAA Division I title last year; most varsity teams compete in NCAA Division I Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Culture: The Modern Masters Reading Series brings national and international writers to campus. Favorite class: Intro to Dance, where students choreograph end-of-semester performances On-campus hangout: Humanities Building porch Off-campus hangout: Roland Park Bagel Cheap eats: Chipotle Can’t-miss party: Loyolapalooza Freshman tip: Student Center’s third-floor Reading Room remains open late.Alums: Tom Clancy, novelist; Jim McKay, former host of Wide World of Sports; Frank Cashen, former New York Mets general manager.

Maryland Institute College of Art – Baltimore

Founded: 1826 President: Fred Lazarus IVEnrollment: 1,865 undergraduates Tuition and fees: $39,340 Room and board: $10,880Housing: 94% of freshmen live in college-affiliated housing Student body: 28% male/72% femaleDiversity: white: 55%; black: 5%; Asian: 12%; Hispanic: 4%; non-resident alien: 8%; unknown: 9%; multi-race: 8%; Native American: 0.3% SAT average: reading: 602; math: 571; writing: 592Acceptance rate: 54% Student-to-faculty ratio:10:1 Freshman retention rate: 85% Graduation rate:4-year: 65%; 6-year: 71% Most-popular majors: illustration, graphic design, painting Most-popular grad programs: business of art and design, studio art, graphic design.

On Campus: One of the leading art colleges in the country, the construction (scheduled to be completed by fall 2013) of Commons II, a new residence hall, will increase the capacity of the freshman-residential complex from approximately 350 to 590 students. In addition to the construction of the new building, renovations to the existing complex will include an expanded entrance lobby and co-curricular programming spaces for students. There are three new undergraduate concentrations: game arts, sound art, and sustainability and social practice. The MICA Graduate Studio Center at 131 W. North Ave. is in its final stages of construction and will re-open this fall. The century-old former JoS. A. Bank factory has served as a home for grad students for 12 years, and the renovation will make the building—with newly expanded galleries, cafe, and academic activity—an integral part of the Station North Arts & Entertainment District.

Organizations: More than 50, including Urban Gaming Club, Black Student Union, Students of Sustainability Sporting life (non-varsity): indoor soccer, volleyball, ultimate Frisbee Varsity: no varsity teams Culture: spring fashion shows and MFA Thesis Exhibition are among the highlights Favorite class: Puppets and Prosthetics On-campus hangout: Café Doris Off-campus hangout: The Windup Space Cheap eats:Pizza at Two Boots Can’t-miss party: Halloween costume party Freshman tip: Buddha statue is a quiet gathering spot. Alums: Jeff Koons, sculptor; Michael Owen, Love Project muralist; Gaia, street artist.

McDaniel College – Westminster

Founded: 1867 President: Roger N. Casey Enrollment: 1,600 undergraduates Tuition and fees: $35,800 Room and board: $8,010 Housing: 95% of freshmen live on campus Student body: 48% male/52% female Diversity: white: 73%; black: 13%; Asian: 4%; Hispanic: 7%; Native American: 1%; Unknown: 2% SAT averages: reading: 553; math: 553 Acceptance rate: 74% Student-to-faculty ratio: 12:1 Freshman retention rate:84% Graduation rate: 4-year: 70%; 6-year: 73% Most popular majors:psychology, exercise science and physical education, biology Most-popular grad programs: curriculum and instruction, counselor education, BEST Initial Teacher Certification.

On Campus: Technology has been a focus of President Roger Casey, who is active on both Twitter and Facebook, since assuming leadership at McDaniel two years ago. He created the new position of director of digital communications and social media. As part of a pilot program in the fall of 2011, 15 first-year students received an iPad2 for use in a three-course curriculum.

This fall, McDaniel launches a new master’s degree in public administration and a graduate certificate in romance writing established with a grant by the Nora Roberts Foundation—both offered entirely online. McDaniel also has received approval to offer a new major in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies.

Earlier this year, the school broke ground on an $8-million stadium project, and the college is also in the process of renovating Hoover Library, which will include academic learning spaces.

Nickname: Green Terror School colors: green and gold Organizations: more than 100, including Asian Community Coalition, Canine Companions for Independence, eight fraternities and sororities Sporting life (non-varsity): flag football, golf, kickballVarsity: 24 teams compete in NCAA Division III Centennial Conference Culture:Common Ground on the Hill, celebrating 18 years Favorite class: South Park and Contemporary Issues On-campus hangout: Casey’s Corner coffee shop Off-campus hangout: Birdie’s Cafe Cheap eats: Harry’s Main Street Grille Can’t-miss party: Annual Spring Fling Freshman tip: Don’t miss tailgating before football team takes field to original Star Wars theme Alums: Thomas Roberts, MSNBC anchor; Greg Street, “World of Warcraft” game designer; Frank Kratovil Jr., Maryland congressman

Morgan State University – Baltimore

Founded: 1867 President: David Wilson Enrollment: 6,711 undergraduates Tuition and fees: $7,012 Room and board: $8,878 Housing: 25% of all students live on-campus Student body: 42% male/58% female Diversity: white: 3%; black: 85%; Hispanic: 3%; multi-racial: 3%; other: 6% SAT average: reading and math combined: 909 Acceptance rate: 56% Student-to-faculty ratio: 12:1 Freshman retention rate: 73% Graduation rate:4-year: 13%; 6-year: 30% Most-popular majors: business, electrical engineering, nursing Most-popular grad programs: social work, engineering, urban educational leadership

On Campus: Morgan State University is one of the few historically black institutions offering a comprehensive range of academic programs in business, engineering, education, architecture, social work, and hospitality management, including 14 doctoral degree programs. This fall, the school will open the Center for the Built Environment and Infrastructure Studies, a 125,000-square-foot, $67-million facility housing the research and academic programs in architecture and planning, transportation and urban infrastructure studies, and civil engineering. Morgan ranks second among all campuses in Maryland and among the top 25 campuses nationwide in the number of doctorates awarded to African-Americans. Morgan will launch two new master’s programs beginning this fall in hospitality management and professional accountancy. University students led the fight for civil rights in Baltimore, and Morgan hosts annual Black History Month and Women’s History Month lecture series, bringing notable African-American activists, writers, and entertainers to campus.

Nickname: Bears School colors: blue and orange Organizations: 77, including S.M.O.O.T.H. (Strong Men Overcoming Obstacles Through Hard Work), National Council of Negro Women, nine fraternities and sororities Sporting life (non-varsity):basketball, tennis, softball Varsity: 14 teams compete in the NCAA Division I Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Culture: The Morgan State University Choir ranks among top university choral ensembles in the country. Favorite class: History of Morgan StateOn-campus hangout: McKeldin Center Cyber Cafe Off-campus hangout: Inner Harbor via Collegetown shuttle Cheap eats: Sunny’s Subs Can’t-miss party: Sigma Sweat Party Freshman tip: Avoid “Bridgeology 101,” (Hanging out on Coldspring Lane Bridge). Alums: Robert Mack Bell, chief judge Maryland Court of Appeals; Monique Angela Imes, Academy Award-winning actress; William C. Rhoden, The New York Times columnist.

Notre Dame of Maryland University – Baltimore

Founded: 1873 President: James F. Conneely Enrollment: 1,290 undergraduatesTuition and fees: $29,850 Room and board: $10,150 Housing: 53% of all students live in college-affiliated housing Student body: 5% male/95% female Diversity: white: 67%; black: 22%; Asian: 4%; Hispanic: 2%; unknown: 3% SAT average: reading: 533; and math: 509 Acceptance rate: 55% Student-to-faculty ratio: 12:1 Freshman retention rate:75% Graduation rate:4-year: 49%; 6-year: 61% Most-popular majors: nursing, business administration, education Most-popular grad programs: education, nursing, pharmacy

On Campus: Earlier this year, the Notre Dame of Maryland University Board of Trustees chose James F. Conneely, as the new school president. Conneely is the first man and only the second lay person in the school’s 117-year history to serve as Notre Dame’s president. Conneely succeedes Mary Pat Seurkamp, who retired after a 15-year tenure.

This fall, Notre Dame breaks ground on a new 38,000-square-foot academic building for the School of Nursing and School of Education. Designed to meet LEED certification in keeping with the university’s commitment toward sustainability, the facility will feature a lobby, student hub, gallery, and study space, as well as clinical laboratories and medical simulation labs.

Nickname: Gators School colors: royal blue and white Organizations: 32; including Omega Phi Alpha, a community-service sorority, Student Activities Board, Student Environmental Organization Sporting life (non-varsity): pick-up volleyball, soccer, and softball Varsity: Notre Dame fields eight NCAA Division III women’s teams Culture:Gormley Gallery displays the works of local and national artists Favorite class: Homer to Star Wars: The Epic Tradition in Western Literature On-campus hangout: Gator Lair Off-campus hangout: The Avenue in Hampden Cheap eats: Evergreen cafe Can’t-miss party: Winter ball Freshman tip: Do homework and meet new friends at Gator Alley. Alums: Dr. Susan Love, breast cancer surgeon; Mary Corey, The Baltimore Sun director of content; Eileen O’Neill, group president at Discovery and TLC networks.

Stevenson University – Owings Mills and Greenspring Valley

Founded: 1947 President: Kevin J. Manning Enrollment: 3,575 undergraduatesTuition and fees: $23,636 Room and board: $11,422 Housing: 43% of freshmen live on campus Student body: 33% male/67% female Diversity: white: 66% black: 19%; Asian: 3%; Hispanic: 2%; unknown: 9% Acceptance rate: 63% Freshman retention rate: 79% Graduation rate: 4-year: 45%; 6-year: 62% Student-faculty ratio: 16:1 SAT average:reading: 492; math: 499; writing: 488 Most-popular majors: health professions, business, visual and performing arts Most-popular grad programs: forensic studies, nursing leadership, business and technology management

On Campus: Stevenson, formerly known as Villa Julie College, has been boosting male enrollment and overall enrollment—up each of the past 14 years. Last fall, Stevenson purchased the former 28-acre site of Shire Pharmaceuticals for $10.5 million. The newly acquired property includes two buildings totaling 168,000 square feet, serving as the new location for much of the university’s School of the Sciences and School of Design. Earlier this year, Stevenson announced new master’s programs in cyber forensics and health-care management and a newly approved bachelor’s degree in fashion merchandising. Additionally, the school recently added a varsity football program, playing in a new $12-million field on campus—also home to its lacrosse, field hockey, and varsity soccer teams. The women’s varsity ice-hockey squad, the NCAA’s southern-most women’s team, begins play this year.

Nickname: Mustangs School colors: green and white Organizations: 48, including Phi Sigma Sigma, a service group of college women; Phi Beta Lambda, a fraternity of future business leaders; Wilderness and Ecology Club Sporting life (non-varsity):ultimate Frisbee, basketball, volleyball Varsity: 22 teams compete at NCAA Division III level, mostly in the Capital Athletic Conference Culture: Stevenson’s Baltimore Speakers Series in 2012-2013 opens with Bill Clinton Favorite class: Science & Science Fiction—Where Films Get It Right and Wrong Freshman tip: Don’t schedule Owings Mills and Greenspring campus classes back-to-back. On campus hangout: Jazzman’s CafeOff-campus hangout: NY Pizza Co. & Italian Bistro Cheap eats: The Flying Avocado Can’t Miss: Mustang Fest Alums: Martha Scanlan Klima, former Maryland delegate; Chris Tsakalos, part owner H&S Bakeries; Marc Bunting, owner of Alpine Bagel Co. and professional race car driver

Towson University – Towson

Founded: 1866 President: Maravene Loeschke Enrollment: 15,590 undergraduatesTuition and fees: $7,906 Room and board: $9,942 Housing: 85% of freshmen live on campus Student body: 40% male/60% female Diversity: white: 67%; black: 12%; Asian: 4%; Hispanic: 3%; unknown: 10% SAT average: reading: 540; math: 547; writing: 546Acceptance rate: 57% Student-to-faculty ratio:17:1 Freshman retention rate: 83%Graduation rate:4-year: 43%; 6-year: 73% Most-popular majors: business administration, education, social sciences Most-popular grad programs: information technology, human resource development, teaching.

On Campus: Founded as Maryland’s first teacher’s college, Towson still produces more teachers than any other university in the state. However, with 64 undergraduate majors and 45 graduate programs, the school’s mission and size—it’s the second-largest university in the state—continues to grow.

Last fall, the first new academic building on campus in more than 30 years, the 293,00-square-foot College of Liberal Arts Building, was constructed. In the spring of 2013, a new 5,200-seat multi-use arena facility, complete with state-of-the-art video screens and entertainment suites, will open.

The school’s “Towson Unplugged” wireless system remains one of the largest wireless networks in the Baltimore metro area, spanning the university’s 328 acres and campus residence halls. Parkville-native Maravene Loeschke, an alumna and former Towson professor, took over as president this year after previously leading Pennsylvania’s Mansfield University.

Nickname: Tigers School colors: black, gold, and white Organizations: 240, including Sports Club Council, 29 fraternities and sororities, Black Student Union Sporting life (non-varsity): soccer, basketball, beach volleyball Varsity: 20 teams compete at NCAA Division I level, mostly in the Colonial Athletic Conference Culture: 400 performances, exhibits, films, and lectures annually at campus Center for the Arts, other venues Favorite class: The “Colbert” course, aka Popular Culture and Politics: Comedy, Entertainment, Celebrity, and Democracy On-campus hangout: “The Beach” outside Cook Library Off-campus hangout: Recher Theatre, Towson Diner Cheap eats:Towson Hot Bagels Can’t miss party: Tigerfest Freshman tip: Go to Burdick [the gym]. Freshman 15 is real! Alums: Catherine Curran O’Malley, associate judge, First District Court of Maryland, First Lady of Maryland; Brian Stelter, The New York Times journalist/blogger; Charles S. Dutton, actor.

University of Baltimore – Baltimore

Founded: 1925 President: Robert L. Bogomolny Enrollment: 3,257 undergraduatesTuition and fees: $8,664 Room and board: UB does not provide housing Housing:84% increase in students living in midtown in recent years Student body: 42% male/58% female Diversity: white: 46%; black: 35%; Asian: 4%; international: 2.5%; Hispanic: 2%; unknown: 8% SAT average: verbal: 501; math: 480; writing: 484Acceptance rate: 58% Student-faculty ratio: 20:1 Freshman retention: 86%Graduation rate:N/A Most-popular majors: business administration, criminal justice, simulation and digital entertainment Most-popular grad programs: business, public administration, publications design.

On Campus: For three decades, UB was as an upper division-only institution, plus its graduate and law schools. The University System of Maryland school began accepting freshmen and sophomores in fall 2007 and has been functioning as a four-year university since. Three years ago, The Fitzgerald at UB Midtown luxury apartment complex was built on university-owned property and now serves as home to community members and students—as well as the school’s Barnes & Noble bookstore. This fall, The Varsity at the University of Baltimore, an 11-story, privatized student-housing project opens as more students move to housing within walking distance of the campus. The UB campus has grown significantly in the last few years, expanding its campus facilities by 150,000 square feet, with another 322,000 square feet, including a new law center, under construction.

Nickname: Bees Colors: blue and green Organizations: 67, including Digital Designer Guild, Black Law Student Association, Criminal Justice Association Sporting life (non-varsity): flag football, disc golf, billiards Varsity: No varsity teams Culture: Spotlight UB series features music, art, theatre, dance Favorite class: pop culture minor offers “zombies” course On-campus hangout: Student Center Starbucks Off-campus hangout: Charles Street cafes, restaurants, late-night pizza shops Cheap eats: Oriole Pizza Can’t-miss party: Annual block party Freshman tip: Catch the BeeBall Classic, the annual student-faculty hoops match Alums: William Donald Schaefer, former Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor; Peter Angelos, Baltimore Orioles’ chairman of the board and CEO; Tom Condon, NFL agent.

University of Maryland Baltimore County – Catonsville

Founded: 1966 President: Freeman A. Hrabowski III Enrollment: 10,573 undergraduates Tuition and fees: $9,467 Room and board: $10,142 Housing: 72% of freshman live on campus Student body: 54% male/46% female Diversity: white: 48.6%; black: 16%; Asian: 21%; Hispanic: 5%; non-resident alien: 4%; two or more races, non-Hispanic: 3%; unknown: 2% SAT: 25th/75th Percentile: reading: 540/640; math: 570/670; writing: 530/630 Acceptance rate: 61% Student-to-faculty ratio: 20:1Freshman retention rate: 85% Graduation rate:4-year: 37%; 6-year: 57% Most-popular majors: social sciences, computer science, biological sciences Most-popular grad programs: education, information systems, computer science, electrical engineering.

On Campus: Known as a commuter school a decade ago, UMBC has raised its status in recent years. President Freeman A. Hrabowski III and the school were profiled on 60 Minutes last year and U.S. News & World Report named UMBC top “up-and-coming” national university for a third consecutive year. Scheduled to open this fall, UMBC’s new Performing Arts and Humanities Building (PAHB), located on 4.8 acres, will provide state-of-the-art facilities. The building will enhance UMBC’s teaching, research, and public outreach, and increase the visibility of the arts and humanities as major academic components on campus. The PAHB will be home to the departments of ancient studies, dance, English, music, philosophy, and theater, as well as the James T. and Virginia M. Dresher Center for the Humanities, the Humanities Scholars Program, and the Linehan Artist Scholars Program.

Nickname: Retrievers School colors: black and gold Organizations: 231, including 26 fraternities and sororities., Game Developer’s Club, Swing Dance Club Sporting life (non-varsity): co-ed flag football, indoor soccer, dodgeball Varsity: 19 teams compete in NCAA Division I America East Conference Culture: Center for Art Design and Visual Culture Favorite class: Social Psychology and Belief in the Paranormal On-campus hangout: The Commons game room Off-campus hangout: Habibah Cafe Cheap eats: Sorrento of Arbutus Can’t miss party: Spring Quadmania Freshman tip: Wear UMBC clothing to bookstore on Fridays for discount Alums: Jon S. Cardin, state delegate; Duff Goldman, Ace of Cakes owner; Kathleen Turner, actress.

University of Maryland, College Park – College Park

Founded: 1856 President: Wallace D. Loh Enrollment: 26,826 undergraduatesTuition and fees: $8,908 Room and board: $9,893 Housing: 93% of freshmen live in college housing Student body: 53% male/47% female Diversity: white: 56%; black: 12%; Asian: 15%; Hispanic: 8%; unknown: 3% SAT: 25th/75th percentile scores: reading: 580/680; math: 610/720 Acceptance rate: 44% Student-to-faculty ratio: 18:1Freshman retention rate: 94% Graduation rate:4-year: 65%; 6-year: 82% Most-popular majors: criminology, economics, accounting Most-popular grad programs: business and management, public policy, electrical engineering

On Campus: The University of Maryland College Park serves as the state’s selective flagship university, and new infrastructure projects include Oakland Hall, the first residence hall to open since 1982. The new student dorm features semi-suites, consisting of mostly two, two-person bedrooms connected by a shared bathroom. The building is environmentally sustainable and includes a large lobby, indoor bike storage, lounge, laundry facilities on every floor, study rooms, and a 24-hour service desk. Coinciding with the opening of Oakland Hall was the completion of the 251 North dining hall, a renovated, all-you-can-eat diner. In January 2010, the university opened the new $30-million home for the school’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. In May 2010, ground was broken on a $128-million, 158,068-square-foot Physical Science Complex, which will include 18 prep labs, 27 laser and condensed-matters labs, eight bio-physics labs, and 12 conference rooms. It’s scheduled for completion next summer.

Nickname: Terrapins School colors: red, white, black and gold Organizations: 842, including 52 fraternities and sororities, Black Student Union, Student GovernmentSporting life (non-varsity): flag football, basketball, soccer Varsity: 20 varsity teams, most compete in NCAA Division I Atlantic Coast Conference Culture: 318,000-square-foot Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center houses six performance venues Favorite class: History of Rock ‘n’ Roll, 1950-2000 On-campus hangout: “McKeldin Mall,” grassy area at McKeldin Library Off-campus hangout: Plato’s Diner Cheap eats:Marathon Deli Can’t- miss party: Saturday football tailgates Freshman tip: Find your classes before the first day—this is a huge campus. Alums: Jim Henson, Muppets creator; Kevin Plank, Under Armour founder; Sergey Brin, Google co-founder.

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Getting To Graduation:

College presidents monitor graduation rates. Politicians talk about boosting graduate rates. So, should parents and students care about graduation rates? Yes. Of 4.3 million full-time freshmen entering college in the fall of 2004, roughly half had not reached graduation through 2010, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education study.

Obviously there are enormous costs—requiring loans, part-time jobs, and college savings—incurred to pay for two or four extra semesters of tuition and associated expenses, like housing and books. But what about the nearly 40 percent who never receive a diploma?

“For those who don’t graduate, it becomes a very costly waste of time and money,” says Donna Hamilton, associate provost and dean for undergraduate studies at the University of Maryland College Park, which graduates 65 percent of freshmen in four years and 82 percent in six years. “There are a lot of good reasons to go to college, but our mission is to award degrees. Four years is the gold standard. That should be the expectation.”

What holds students up?

A million things, Hamilton says. Sometimes it’s financial (a parent unexpectedly losing a job), homesickness or depression, or it’s social, failing to plug into campus life. Or it could be academic, failing to take advantage of campus resources for assistance. Working too many hours at an off-campus job often interferes with academic progress as well.

Often, it’s simply a failure to plot a course to graduation with an adviser and stick to it.

Changing majors, studying abroad, and internships may delay matriculation, but those are not necessarily bad things, Hamilton notes. But there are general rules students and parents can follow to ensure timely matriculation. Working a campus job tends to be better, for instance, than working off-campus. (An on-campus boss is more likely to understand a student needs time off during finals.) And anything more than a 20-hours-a-week job is considered too much for a full-time student.

Students also need to find a campus community. Join a club or two, in other words.

Parents shouldn’t force majors on students. Eventually, they’ll switch anyhow and likely lose time toward a degree, Hamilton says. If a freshman can’t decide on a major, Hamilton suggests narrowing the possibilities down to three options and having an adviser chart a course that will allow a student to look at all three without losing time toward graduation.

Required courses can fill up quickly, so students also need to work with advisers on getting required classes completed in order. Getting to know the faculty helps, Hamilton adds. They’re able to help select courses and garner internships (which lead to real jobs). Also, students struggling with emotional or psychological issues should seek assistance immediately as colleges generally offer free counseling to full-time students.

The bottom line, says Hamilton, is that students ultimately need to take responsibility for getting to graduation day. “At some point, they’ve got to decide, ‘I want a degree and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get there.’”

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Around The State

Other four-year, bachelor-degree-awarding colleges and universities in Maryland.

Bowie State University – Bowie

Founded: 1865 Enrollment:5,600 About:Maryland’s oldest historically black institution of higher learning and one of the oldest in the country, Bowie State is a diverse university with 23 majors, 35 master’s programs, doctoral, and advanced certification courses.

Frostburg State University – Frostburg

Founded: 1898 Enrollment:5,429 About:Frostburg is the only 4-year University System of Maryland school west of the Baltimore-Washington corridor.

Hood College – Frederick

Founded: 1893 Enrollment:1,485 About:A longtime women’s liberal-arts school located in Frederick, Hood became a fully co-education institution a decade ago.

Mount St. Mary’s University – Emmitsburg

Founded: 1808 Enrollment:1,676 About:The country’s second-oldest Catholic university, Mount St. Mary’s rural campus offers more than 40 majors, minors, concentrations, interdisciplinary and special programs.

Salisbury University – Salisbury

Founded: 1925 Enrollment:8,000 About:Salisbury offers more than 40 undergraduate degrees in it’s Fulton School of Liberal Arts, Henson School of Science & Technology, Perdue School of Business, and Seidel School of Education & Professional Studies.

Sojourner-Douglass College – Baltimore

Founded: 1972 Enrollment:1,100 About:The downtown school offers 18 bachelor degree programs and several graduate programs.

St. John’s College – Annapolis

Founded: 1696 Enrollment:450 About:St. John’s College’s undergraduate program features an all-required course curriculum based on the great books of Western philosophy, theology, political science, physics, math, and history.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland – St. Mary’s City

Founded: 1840 Enrollment:1,992 About:St. Mary’s College of Maryland is a public, state-supported, liberal-arts honor school, offering 22 undergraduate degree programs, including a student designed option.

United States Naval Academy – Annapolis

Founded: 1845 Enrollment:4,603 About:The U.S. Navy’s undergraduate college develops students into naval officers, whose tuition is fully funded in exchange for active-duty service upon graduation.

University of Maryland Eastern Shore – Princess Anne

Founded: 1886 Enrollment:3,862 About:A historically black institution, UMES offers 34 undergraduate-degree programs, 14 graduate programs, and seven doctoral tracks.

Washington College – Chestertown

Founded: 1782 Enrollment:1,450 About: Located on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, an hour and a half from Baltimore and Washington, D.C., Washington College, one of the 10 oldest in the nation, offers more than 40 majors and academic programs.

Mark Schmidt, who keeps a pair of binoculars on his file cabinet, jokes that he has “the best view of the harbor in the city.”

On a recent afternoon, his sunny water’s-edge office offers the perfect vantage point. But the 22-year Port of Baltimore veteran isn’t admiring tall ships or checking for pretty girls aboard the water taxis. As manager of the Seagirt Marine Terminal, he’s focused on seven 110-foot cranes—and the dozens of truck drivers and longshoremen swarming around them—that are simultaneously loading three massive container ships eventually headed for China, the Middle East, and South America.

“The best view, except for the noise,” says Schmidt, with a smile, as he glances over to an Evergreen Line ship scheduled for 1,355 “moves”—container loads and discharges—during its 13 hours in port. “And maybe the heat”—July and August temperatures reach toward 110 degrees off the concrete here.

“That’s the ‘spreader,'” says Schmidt, pointing to a crane’s monstrous steel claw as it plucks a 40-foot container from a flatbed.

Trucks line up three deep as crane operators, seated in sky-high cabs with joysticks in the armrests, lift and lower one giant metal box after another. Aboard the ships, the length of three football fields, longshoremen lash the outgoing cargo to the deck and make sure each corner “shoe” of the containers, stacked four high, is locked into place.

The energetic Schmidt seems the ultimate problem-solver as he fields constant calls from longshoremen and drivers. (“Is it okay to ‘boom down’ the crane for repairs?;” “Can I drive my truck in?;” “Is the new construction guy on the visitor’s list?”)

But the height of his career may be just unfolding: being a key player in the construction of the new 50-foot-deep berth—one of just two on the East Coast—designed to accommodate the super-sized ships expected to arrive via the expanded Panama Canal in 2014.

But that project is just one of the reasons that the trading world is starting to sit up and take notice of a massive facility that most Baltimoreans are barely aware of.

It wasn’t that long ago—your grandfather remembers—that Baltimoreans understood that their port was the region’s most important economic hub. They even made a local TV series about it in the ’50s, The Port that Built a City. (Okay, granted, with only three fuzzy, black-and-white channels, your choices were The Ed Sullivan Show and I Love Lucy.)

But somewhere along the way, the relevancy of the port seemed to wane in the public consciousness. Maybe smoke got in our eyes from heavy industries like cars and steel and spices, or maybe it was the smell of ether from a rising health-care scene.

But if you thought the port went the way of the rotary telephone, think again. Gradually, then suddenly, it’s regained its status as an economic juggernaut. And if six degrees of separation works (it’s probably closer to four in Smalltimore), then you’re likely connected to someone who works there: There are 40,000 people at work directly or indirectly because of the port.

Rebounding since its decline in the 1980s, when Baltimore began losing business to other ports, notably Norfolk and New York, the port saw a 15-percent increase last year in cargo handled, the largest increase of any major U.S. port.

Baltimore also now ranks as the top U.S. importer/exporter of automobiles. In 2011, Baltimore also ranked first—among all 360 U.S. ports—for handling farm and construction equipment, imported forest products, imported sugar, imported gypsum, and imported iron ore, according to the Maryland Port Administration (MPA). And the port ranked second nationally for exported coal, imported salt, and imported aluminum. But it’s not just about cargo: Even the cruise business is booming, setting sail with a quarter-million passengers last year, a Baltimore record.

If, however, there’s one symbol of the broad public and private efforts to ensure the 300-year-old Port of Baltimore thrives for a fourth century, it was the sight of four massive 1,700-ton cranes—manufactured in Shanghai and 40 stories when fully erected—ducking beneath the Francis Scott Key Bridge in mid-June on their way to the new Seagirt berth.

“The Seagirt private-public partnership was the first of its kind; two major financial publications named it the logistics project of the year,” MPA executive director James White says. “We couldn’t have done it without a commitment to the long-term success of the port. We want to maintain the business we have, and, at the same time, grow the port.”

Seemingly, all of Baltimore’s oldest institutions trace their roots to the port. It was Jamestown’s Capt. John Smith who led the first European expedition into the upper Chesapeake Bay, mapping the harbor’s Patapsco River basin, among other local waterways, in 1608. Ninety-eight years later, the Maryland Colonial Assembly named Locust Point the official entry port for the tobacco trade with England—predating the incorporation of Baltimore City by two decades.

In 1730, English Quaker and carpenter William Fell purchased a marshy piece of land on the shores of the Patapsco. The deep water there soon provided anchorage for shipping vessels and, later, Fells Point became a shipbuilding hub, notable for its renowned Baltimore clippers.

“Shipping out tobacco, wheat flour, in the 1700s, that was the beginning,” says Helen Delich Bentley, a former Maryland congresswoman, former chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission, and co-author of The Great Port of Baltimore: Its First 300 Years, 1706 to 2006.

If you took a time machine back 150 years, you’d recognize some of the names during roll call at the monthly Moose club meeting:

They’re the fat cats who got rich on the port, including Johns Hopkins and George Peabody, who were traders, as well as William Walters of The Walters Art Museum family, notes Bentley. The McDonogh School was established by John McDonogh, who was in the shipping business, Patterson Park bears the name of William Patterson, who’d started shipping wheat to England, and Enoch Pratt—who left his money to build the library system—was a trader, too. And our ethnic neighborhoods, like Little Italy, were built by immigrants arriving at the port, the second busiest U.S. entry point at one time after Ellis Island.

A number of port businesses from those early days remain ongoing enterprises, notes Bentley, who started as a port reporter for The Baltimore Sun during World War II and also hosted The Port That Built a City, beginning in 1950.

Domino Sugar, for example, opened its Baltimore harbor refinery in 1922. Proving business is still sweet, it received its largest shipment of raw sugar ever of 95 million pounds—taking two weeks to unload—earlier this spring.

Founded in 1889, McCormick & Company built its “House of McCormick” at the harbor in 1921. In 1927, W. G. N. Rukert, a tough, charismatic entrepreneur known as “Cap Rukert,” convinced McCormick to sell him Jackson’s Wharf.

A stevedoring and warehousing company, Rukert Terminals now handles metals, ores, alloys, and other dry bulk and cargo. In a good year, Rukert’s handles 1.5 million tons of cargo. And during winter storms, thank Rukert for making sure you don’t slide off the road and find yourself in a snow drift: More than 600 trucks per day pull tons of salt from Rukert’s warehouses for delivery to icy roads.

Percy Cox, a labor foreman with the International Longshoremen’s Association 333, started working in 1963 when there were two longshoreman locals—a black one and a white one.

“This is a hustling job, always has been,” says Cox, an African-American. He recalls standing in line in West Baltimore in those days, hoping to be picked for a day’s job. “Back then, if you didn’t work hard, when you’d go down to the union hall, they’d tell you not to come back.

“There’s always been ups and downs here,” he continues. “Some weeks, you’d check in with your badge and then turn right around and check out with your badge, not moving a thing.”

Kenneth Powell, another longtime ILA member, has ridden the same roller coaster. He says the early ’90s were the worst personally, when the port looked like it might never fully rebound. “I was starving to death,” Powell says. “I had to get a part-time job at the post office.”

Today, however, with “ro-ro” volume—roll-on, roll-off cargo like cars, trucks, tractors, and front loaders—at record levels, Cox and Powell are plenty busy. “Right now, you could work everyday if you have seniority,” Cox says.

But it was not that long ago that another series of factors threatened the port’s future as one of the city and state’s leading economic engines. Management-labor issues, as well as a poor labor reputation at the time, combined to take a further toll on the port’s business.

As the city struggled with the loss of its manufacturing base, particularly on the southeast side of town at places like Bethlehem Steel, General Motors, and Martin Aircraft, hopes dimmed for the port as a source of good-paying blue-collar jobs.

“Baltimore’s [port] reputation in those days was that it wouldn’t work in the rain,” Bentley says, alluding to the critical cost of delays—companies pay thousands of dollars per hour in fuel, docking fees, and wages to operate their ships.

“In 1988, Gov. [William Donald] Schaefer got so agitated [about labor difficulties] that he was ready to shut down the port and turn it over to developers.” Port, business, and labor officials finally agreed to sit down. “We began mediation on Nov. 22 of that year and we ran every day—except for Christmas—until Jan. 8, 1989. Since then, there’s been no labor strife.”

New labor agreements didn’t change the course of the port overnight, but set the stage for a business model in the mid-1990s that’s driving the port’s current success.

“We looked at our geographic advantage [8 million people in the Baltimore-Washington area and the nearest Atlantic port to the Midwest], and looked to a more diversified operation,” says port director White. “We’re closest to the automobile manufacturers, the farm-equipment manufacturers, like Caterpillar, Case, and John Deere, and started to develop that market. We had to make decisions about taking down dilapidated warehouses or rehabilitating them. But at the same time, we needed to keep an eye on the container business. We knew we had a great facility at Seagirt.”

At about 10 a.m. on a recent Friday at the Dundalk site, NYK line Port Capt. Scott Senko reports ILA workers have driven 350 cars aboard in the past three hours. If that sounds like a low-tech way to load ships, it is.

But low-tech is good news, in this case: Automobile, farm, and construction-equipment operations are especially significant because they translate into jobs. And the Dundalk Marine Terminal, a former airfield, includes acres needed for the storage of thousands of vehicles, another sector where we’ve gained a clear advantage over other ports.

Over 24 hours, more than 1,900 cars—many Toyota Avalons and Sequoias built at Midwestern plants heading for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait ports—squeeze onto the ship, a floating, 12-deck parking garage with ramps, orange cones, and a 12-mph speed limit, capable of stowing up to 3,500 vehicles. Ceiling heights beneath the deck adjust for farm and construction equipment. During loading, an enormous—and loud—ventilation system sucks carbon monoxide out while blowing fresh air in.

Bob Cooke, who came down to the port for a summer job after graduating from Mount Saint Joseph 33 years ago, plays a Noah-like role on Dundalk’s steamy, sun-baked lot, checking his “bible,” as he calls his manifest, for how many cars, make and model, to send onboard as he coordinates traffic.

“The number of cars we load on a ship in a single day would’ve taken three weeks in the past,” he says, referring to old “hoist” operations. He says his wife worries about melanoma, but he can’t imagine life at a cubicle desk. “I like being outside—I’d be like an animal stuck in an office,” he says. “When I’m off, I like to fish and hunt. It’s just who I am.”

Winter at the port can be a trip, too. “It’s been so cold with those things [ventilation fans] sucking the snow in,” port captain Senko says. “Inside the ship, it doesn’t melt—we’ve had drifts in here.”

It’s another world at the Port of Baltimore since the bad old days of a recalcitrant union and the ineffective management of the 1980s.

Senko and Doug Wolfe, general manager for Ceres Marine Terminals, a private stevedore company unloading Senko’s company’s vessel, highlight the port and union’s concentration on performance, and monthly meetings that bring together port, business, and labor leaders to address safety, quality, and efficiency concerns.

Wolfe says Baltimore’s moving times are among the nation’s best. But the port’s turnaround did not all pop at once, White acknowledges.

“Back in 1996, we said we wanted to be number one in automobiles, and that didn’t happen until last year. But that was the turning point, 1996.” Similarly, a concerted effort was eventually made to go after cruise business.

“In 1996, we probably had a dozen cruises leaving the port, that’s it,” White says. This year, it’s 100. “We knew we had a great market and we asked them [the cruise lines] what they needed. We didn’t have our cruise terminal then—we had an ad-hoc warehouse at Dundalk. We had to get people away from the cargo, and relocated our cruise terminal to South Locust Point and did more dredging. Now, we had a new asset to sell and we stayed after it. We went to the cruise lines and said, ‘We’re going to build a facility—help us build it.’ We thought they’d want the Taj Mahal, but no, they wanted something bare bones, very functional.”

The cruise lines, White learned, just want passengers to board quickly, without hassle, so they can get cracking spending their money on the ships.

It looks like clear sailing for now, but the port will always have to look over its shoulder to stay competitive with ports such as Philadelphia, Wilmington, and even Fort Lauderdale.

The New York Harbor and the Port of Miami are moving forward with their 50-foot berth plans (though the Big Apple has some low-bridge issues); Charleston and Savannah, among others, are studying the viability of similar efforts. Baltimore and Norfolk’s early advantage receiving Panamax ships won’t last forever.

But more vexing is a unique Baltimore disability that relates to getting the mega ships’ 14,000 TEUs (that’s Twenty-foot Equivalent Units to you landlubbers, the size of a single cargo container) onto local freight trains. The reason is a bottleneck dating to the 1895 construction of the Howard Street Tunnel: It’s not tall enough for today’s freight trains, which double-stack containers. For that reason, says Ports America Chesapeake president and CEO Mark Montgomery, 99 percent of containers moving at the port come and go by truck instead of rail—something that needs to change.

But, hey, this is America, so just fix it, right? Well, not so fast. If you remember the hour-long nightmare on the Jones Falls Expressway every day for a month last spring, when the city closed lanes to patch up the highway’s soft underbelly, then get out your abacus and calculate this: The cost of that highway repair was $2 million. To address the Howard Street Tunnel problem, a job that would mean tearing up light-rail wiring above the tunnel and city sewers below, multiply that times 500, not just in money, but in time, traffic jams, and general aggravation. That’s right, $1 billion, at a minimum.

CSX owns the Howard Street Tunnel and, with the MPA and state, is now proposing a transfer station, which would allow adding a second cargo container atop freight trains after they pass beneath Howard Street. Once completed, it would link to the $850 million National Gateway project, a public-private partnership that will create a double-stack rail corridor between Mid-Atlantic ports and the Midwest.

But construction of a transfer station in Elkridge, Jessup, or other suburban sites appears stalled. In April, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake pressed CSX to seek an appropriate Baltimore City site, saying the project’s delay was “threatening one of Baltimore’s strongest pillars of economic growth and job creation.”

Other issues on the horizon include upcoming union contract negotiations and finding money and land for ongoing maintenance dredging. And when it comes to harbor-floor mud laced with a century of heavy metals and other pollutants, there’s a NIMBY attitude toward having it dumped anywhere near a residential area. Environmentalists, in any case, fear that where ever it is dumped, it will leach into the bay.

Coke Point, near the former Bethlehem Steel plant at Sparrows Point, has been proposed as a site to replace the recently closed Hart-Miller Island dredging depository at the mouth of the Middle River. Potentially, 25-30 years down the road, a Coke Point dredging facility could convert to another marine terminal, but a Maryland Department of the Environment report calls the 2,300-acre Sparrows Point steelmaking area “perhaps the most complex environmental clean-up site in the Chesapeake Watershed.”

While people like Ports America Chesapeake’s Montgomery are convinced that the $105 million Seagirt construction project to accommodate the huge Panamax ships is coming at a perfect time, there are some who doubt the Panama connection will be an instant panacea.

Hofstra University shipping expert Jean-Paul Rodrigue says it remains to be seen if ports like Baltimore can gain a substantial bump in container business from the rush to build 50-foot-deep berths.

“The Panamax ships may come or they may not, it’s too early to tell,” Rodrigue says, adding that the mega-ships passing through the canal may decide to unload at Panama’s Port of Colon, or a number of other Caribbean ports, transferring their cargo to smaller ships for travel up the Atlantic. Rodrigue sees some, but limited, potential for Baltimore.

But Montgomery sees a huge upside at Seagirt, and growth in cargo that might include new distribution centers not only in the city, but also in Harford and Cecil Counties. Baltimore County sees potential, too: A Sparrows Point Partnership committee to study port-related opportunities was announced by Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamentez in June.

Right now, Montgomery says, Baltimore is grabbing just 650,000 TEUs out of 3.1 million TEUs of cargo bound for Maryland on an annual basis—meaning after they’re unloaded elsewhere and sent by truck or rail. He agrees with the mayor that the key is CSX. “We could grab the bulk of the Maryland freight with big-ship economics,” Montgomery says. “We need to finalize a suitable site for the intermodal transfer facility and go get this business.

“We can grow organically, without doing too much, three percent a year,” Montgomery says of the port. “But as a citizen of Maryland, and also because it’s my job, I want us to do better. These are real jobs.”

Port Authority

Jobs: 40,040 jobs in Maryland are generated by port activity. 14,630 of those represent direct employment generated by cargo and vessel activities at the port, including railroads, trucking companies, terminal operators, cargo handling, manufacturing, towing, pilots, ocean carriers, and agents.

14,470 are what the MPA calls “induced jobs,” or those supported by the local purchases of goods and services by direct employees. These jobs—including sales clerks, mechanics, teachers, and government employees—would be lost in the short term if the direct jobs were lost.

10,940 are indirect jobs, or those supported by the business purchases of the employers who create the direct jobs. These include those who provide office supplies and equipment, utilities, communications, repairs, and legal and financial services.

In addition, 68,300 other jobs in Maryland are directly related to activities at the port, including those at manufacturing firms, distributers, coal mines, and automobile dealers who ship through Baltimore.

Broader Economic Impact:The most recent numbers, from 2010, show the Port of Baltimore was responsible for $3 billion in personal wage and salary income, generated $1.7 billion in business revenues, $1 billion in local purchases, and $304 million in state, county, and municipal tax revenues.

Anita Allen was about five years old when her big brother, Alton, a student at Baltimore City College, came home in his marching-band uniform.

“I remember him wearing that big top hat and playing the saxophone, and I thought that was just so cool,” she says. A few years later, when Alton became the first of Allen’s 15 siblings to graduate from college, she thought, “I need to go to that high school.”

But although Anita Allen was among the best students in Northern Parkway Junior High School, and lived on Gorsuch Avenue, just a few blocks from City, attending Baltimore’s most prestigious high school was not an option. Since its founding in 1839, Baltimore City College, known as “the Castle on the Hill,” had always been an all-boys school.

And then, suddenly, it wasn’t.

The school closed in 1977 for a year of renovations, and the students moved to district headquarters on North Avenue. It re-opened in the fall of 1978 (even though renovations weren’t quite complete) as “the New Baltimore City College,” a co-educational high school. The girls and boys in the freshman class would have the school to themselves.

“Once they opened up the doors for females, I knew that was my opportunity and I had to get in,” says Allen, née Hill, who left her junior high school (which, like most at the time, went through 9th grade) a year early to join Baltimore City College’s class of 1982.

This month, Allen joins her fellow class of ’82 members to celebrate their 30th reunion. The class is notable both for being the first to include women, and for its stellar achievements, particularly among the women.

Veronica Jones-Freeman, the class president and the first female member of City’s Hall of Fame, is a finance manager for McCormick Company and has been the treasurer of the trustees of the Baltimore City College scholarship funds for more than a decade. Maria Price Detherage is the director of strategic programs for the Department of Health and Human Services. Deneen Fassett is a United States Postmaster in Baltimore County. Allen herself studies technology and is now a manager at Shield Consulting Solutions. Doctors, lawyers, and university administrators are all also among the class’s graduates.

From the first days of freshman year, it was clear that the women of the class of 1982 were uniquely ambitious, in everything from academics and extra-curricular activities to sports. Top achievers in middle schools and junior high schools throughout the city, they finally got the chance to shine at Baltimore’s most prestigious public historic high school—and they were determined to take advantage of it.

“From our moment of entry, we felt like this was an opportunity,” says Allen, who inspired a younger sister and brother to attend City, along with her daughter, Monet, who graduated in 2007, and her son, Phillip Allen III, who just finished his sophomore year there. “We knew that anything the women of our class did, it would be a historic moment.”

Neil Bernstein graduated from City in 1954, and has been active in the alumni association ever since. He first met the class of ’82 in the fall of 1978, when they were spending their freshman year in the basement of Eastern High School, the all-girls school near City, while the renovations were being completed.

To mark its 25th reunion the following year, the class of ’54 decided to give several $100 prizes to the top academic performers in the class of ’82, and Bernstein came to announce them to the students at an assembly.

“When I met those ladies and gentlemen, it was so refreshing to see how much they wanted to be there,” says Bernstein, who has served as president of the alumni association. “They came into a new environment, it was a co-ed school for the first time, they were in that basement, and yet they were excited.”

The move to make City co-ed came after a period when the future of the school was in doubt. There was a feeling that City had slipped in stature in the ’60s and early ’70s. The school board discussed making City a neighborhood school or shutting it down.

“The school system wanted the building taken down,” says Bernstein. “Allegedly, [Mayor] William Donald Schaefer and [Governor] Marvin Mandel, both City alumni, said ‘You ain’t gonna do that.'”

In addition to concerns about the quality of education, there was a national trend of integrating single-sex schools. A school board task force ultimately recommended that the school be shut down for renovations and re-opened as a co-ed magnet school.

“If they’d re-opened the school with inmates from Devil’s Island, I’d have been deliriously happy,” says Bernstein. “The fact that this wonderful school, which motivates people to incredible achievement, could be re-opened, I didn’t care who would be going there, as long as they were qualified to be college-preparatory students in a magnet school. The fact that it was co-educational didn’t make a difference to me.”

Bernstein helped convince alumni—some of whom were adamantly opposed to the change—to continue supporting their alma mater.

“The feeling was, if Western can stay all-girls, how come City can’t remain all-boys?” he recalls. “I said, ‘Here’s what we got: no school or some school with women. What’s your choice?’ We were just happy to get the school open with kids that wanted to be there.”

Over the years, Bernstein has watched with great pride as the class of ’82 proved to be one of the school’s most successful.

“I don’t know whether we put something in the water or what, but the ladies in that class—the gentlemen, too, but particularly the ladies—seemed to respond to what City College is all about,” he says. “Whenever I hear about a woman graduate doing something special, I say ‘Must be class of ’82.'”

In 1977, Deneen Fassett was an ambitious middle-school student who had planned to go to either Poly or Dunbar, until she heard that City was going co-ed.

“School was the priority in my house,” says Fassett, who grew up in Northwest Baltimore and took two buses to get to City. “When City announced that it would be co-ed, my mind was settled. The selling point was that we would be the first graduating class of ‘the new City,’ where girls would be allowed.”

Steve Williams, another class of ’82 grad and the current president of the Baltimore City College Alumni Association, says the school’s decision to go co-ed was pivotal to him as well. “That was one of the selling points: You can go to the Castle on the Hill, but now there’s going to be females,” he says. “New and improved, guys.”

Like a lot of aspiring athletes that went to City, Williams was also lured by the opportunity to participate in one of America’s great high-school football rivalries: the annual City-Poly game, which was played, usually on Thanksgiving, at Memorial Stadium until 1999. (It’s now played at M&T Bank Stadium.)

Williams keeps up a good-natured war of words with Baltimore Polytechnic Institute alumni. He refers to Poly as “that other school on Falls Road,” explaining with a smile, “I don’t curse, so I don’t use that other word.”

Unfortunately for its football squad, when the class of 1982 entered City, there were no upperclassmen, so they were forced to field teams with students from just a single class, taking on older, bigger, and more experienced opponents.

“We took our lumps,” says Williams, who was City’s starting quarterback for four years, and was also point guard on the basketball team and a pitcher for the baseball team. For all four of Williams’s years at City, Poly defeated them in the annual game. “It was tough, but we hung in there,” he says.

Even in sports, the girls of City outperformed the boys. The brand-new girl’s volleyball team faced the same challenges as the boys teams and, yet, it went undefeated for four straight years, winning four citywide titles. “We were proud,” says Anita Allen, who played on the team and was voted “most athletic” and “most versatile” in her senior year.

Class of ’82 grad David Johnson was also lured by the football program. “It sounded really cool to be able to play in a professional football venue on Thanksgiving day,” he says.

Spending freshman year in the basement of Eastern, among the girls attending the neighborhood school, proved to be as demanding as any contest on the gridiron. “They were some rough young ladies—big and tall, and I don’t think they were all that happy that we were there,” says Johnson. “We were the nerdy kids.”

But soon enough, the students moved into the newly renovated building. “It was like going to a brand new school,” says Fassett. “That was the best.”

Every subsequent year, a younger class joined the school, but the class of ’82 was always the oldest, the perennial “seniors.” Johnson, who is now academic director of web media and technology at University of Maryland, University College, thinks their status helped them mature, and taught them how to handle great responsibility.

“We grew up a little faster and made our own way,” he says. “We forged our own identity, and we were always looked up to.”

When the school re-opened in 1978, it also started with an almost entirely new faculty. Susan Legg had been teaching English in the Baltimore City Public Schools for a few years when she joined City that year.

“We were excited to be there,” says Legg, who still works at City as director of testing. “It was like a new school, new faculty—only one teacher was held over from the previous faculty—and it was an intellectually stimulating environment.”

Legg recalls the criticism of City before it closed down, in particular that it had “gotten away from its standards.” But, like Neil Bernstein, she was relieved to find that the new students were motivated to learn.

“They were good students,” she says. “They took a risk and came into something totally new. For most of them, it paid off.”

Class of ’82 grads say their unique situations—being the first co-ed class, the first in the renovated building, the oldest class for four years—helped them form and maintain a lasting bond. “We’re like a family, more than a class,” says Johnson.

Steve Williams joined the military after graduation and connected with alums around the globe, even while in Iraq.

“I saw the class ring from a distance in the chow hall—it was unmistakable,” says Williams, who retired from the military several years ago and now works in the human resources department of The Johns Hopkins University. “We got to talking the next day, remembering the school.”

To this day, Anita Allen distinctly remembers going up the tower at City to write her name on the wall that all City graduates sign, knowing that she would be among the first women to be entered there.

“You could see all of Baltimore from up there,” she says. “That was truly awesome.”

In the City

July 4: Visionary Pets on Parade: Dress your pet up, and come out for a fun filled pet-centric event. Activities include costume contests (most patriotic, most visionary, owner and pet look-alikes), pet musical chairs, a pet parade, and a most talented (and most not talented) competition. H20 and baggies included! 800 Key Hwy. 9:30 a.m. Free. 410-244-1900. avam.org.

July 4: The Glorious Fourth!…An Old Fashioned Fourth of July at Fort McHenry:Fort McHenry offers fife-and-drum music, cannon firing, a musket salute for 18 states, period dancing and games, and a public reading of the Declaration of Independence. 2400 E. Fort Avenue. 12-4:30 p.m. 410-962-4290. nps.gov/fomc.

July 4: Ports America Chesapeake Fourth of July Celebration: Baltimore’s premiere Fourth of July celebration includes music by country band Mason Vixon and the U.S. Naval Academy Electric Brigade, as well as an appearance by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake who will officially kick off the Independence Day celebration preceding the firework show! Inner Harbor. 4-10 p.m. Free. 410-752-8632. bop.org.

July 4: Top of the World Fourth of July Celebration: Take a sky-high view of the fireworks from Baltimore’s World Trade Center. Enjoy sliders, hot dogs, barbecue chicken and corn on the cob with open bar (beer and wine). 401 E. Pratt Street. 7-10 p.m. $30-75. 410-837-8439. viewbaltimore.org.

July 4: USS Constellation Museum’s Independence Day Deck Party Picnic: Overlook the Inner Harbor high above the crowds and enjoy a wonderful view of the fireworks. Look forward to plenty of backyard barbeque as well as an assortment of delicious local brew. Live music, special tours, cannon firings. Inner Harbor. 7-10 p.m. Free-$65. 410-539-1797. historicships.org. July 4: Baltimore Spirit Cruises: Experience the fireworks from the bay on a luxurious dining vessel! Featuring a buffet, interactive DJ, entertainment, and dancing. 561 Light Street. 7 p.m. $99.90. 866-312-2469.spiritcruisesbaltimore.com.

July 4: July 4th at The Baltimore Museum of Industry: Besides a great view of the fireworks, expect museum tours and other activities. Pack a snack or buy food in the pavilion. 1415 Key Highway. 6-10 p.m. $40-60 (per car). 410-727-4808 ext. 105.bmi.org.

July 4: Pier Party at the National Aquarium:Enjoy a great view of the fireworks and live entertainment. Bring a picnic basket or purchase snacks at the party. There is ample, unreserved seating. Entry into the aquarium will be permitted from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Children under 16 must be accompanied by a paying adult. 7-10 p.m. (admission to aquarium: 7-8:30) $15-40. 410-727-3474. aqua.org.

In the County

July 4: 32nd Annual Kingsville Independence Parade: Since 1980, the Kingsville Parade has been an exclusively volunteer-run effort to commemorate our nation’s independence. Features pre-parade music and other festivities. Parade starts at the Fire Company and proceeds on Bradshaw Road to Jerusalem Road, ending at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. 11601 Bellvue Ave. 9:30 a.m. 410-592-7385. kingsvilleparade.org.

July 4: Towson 4th of July Parade: Follow the parade on Bosley and Burke Avenues. 10:30 a.m. 410-832-2190. towsonparade.org.

July 3-5: Star-Spangled Spectacular: Join the BSO at Oregon Ridge Park for an independence day extravaganza featuring Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever and more, choreographed to an amazing fireworks display! Plus hear the BSO’s Oh, Say Can You Sing contest winner perform the national anthem. Oregon Ridge Park, Cockeysville. 8 p.m. $9-18. 410-783-4000. bsomusic.org.

July 4: The Dundalk Heritage Fair Parade and Fireworks: This year’s 78th annual Dundalk Heritage Fair Parade’s theme is “Welcome Home Our Troops.” The fair’s mission is to support and reinforce the tremendous patriotism of the Greater Dundalk Community. North Point Government Center. 8:15 a.m. Fireworks begin at 9:15 p.m. Free-$5. 410-284-4022. dundalkheritagefair.org.

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Eats on the Fourth

RUSTY SCUPPER The harbor-side restaurant celebrates with an all-you-can-eat crab feast, featuring a buffet of jumbo crabs, steamed shrimp, hot dogs, hamburgers, fried chicken, barbecue ribs, corn on the cob, a variety of salads, assorted desserts, watermelon, and more. Diners with reservations will have their table for five hours and be able to watch the fireworks display. Regular dinner service is also available in the main dining room. Buffet: $89.95, adults; $35, kids 10 and under; tax and gratuity not included. 402 Key Hwy., 410-727-3678.

TEN TEN Enjoy a three-course, prix-fixe menu, featuring dishes like grilled watermelon, pan-roasted pork porterhouse, and a grilled banana split, indoors or on the restaurant’s outdoor patio. 4-9:45 p.m. $40; $55 with beer pairings. 1010 Fleet St., 410-244-6867.

THE WINE MARKET The Locust Point spot offers a $30 prix-fixe menu or à la carte options, including a watermelon margarita snow cone for adults. After dinner, chairs will be set up on the parking lot for the fireworks. Opens at 4 p.m. 921 E. Fort Ave., 410-244-6166.

WIT & WISDOM, A TAVERN BY MICHAEL MINA With prime views of Baltimore’s fireworks display, the restaurant offers a pig roast, hot-dog cart, grilled corn, barbecued brownies, a selection of beverages, and more. The event also features a Bruce Springsteen cover band and activities for kids, including face painting, temporary tattoos, and balloons. 5:30-9:30 p.m. $75, adults; $20, kids under 15. Four Seasons Baltimore, 200 International Dr., 410-576-5800.

NOTE: This is our 2012 Top Dentists feature. Our 2013 Top Dentists list is here.

It’s that time again, when we unveil the results of our annual Top Dentists survey, offering a handy resource to readers who want to do you-know-what: find a talented dentist they actually like. And, no, we didn’t throw dental picks at a dartboard to arrive at our list: We surveyed more than 2,000 dentists in Baltimore and the five surrounding counties over the course of several months to find out where they would send a member of their own family. Since most dentistry is local, we then divided the winners by location.* What else do you want to know about your D.D.S.? Well, when we did our survey of top physicians in November, we explored the hobbies and charitable causes that the M.D.s pursued in their spare time. The dentists, of course, were left wondering, “Hey, what are we, chopped liver?” So we did something similar for them, discovering off-hours callings that range from the noble to the nutty.

here’s a ton of events for all ages on tap in Baltimore for the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. Here’s a roundup:

Wednesday, June 13

Head for the harbor to see a massive fleet of 13 towering tall ships, with their uniformed sailors lined up on the yardarms, arrive in Baltimore. Add the modern warships visiting town and there’ll be close to 40 in all, and the biggest include such majestic vessels as the Cisne Branco, a 250-foot-long, full-rigged tall ship of Brazil; the Dewaruci, a 191-foot barquentine crewed by Indonesian Navy cadets; the Cuauhtémoc, a 270-foot tall ship from Mexico; the Colombian Navy’s four-masted (23 sails), 257-foot-long Gloria; the Guayas, a 257-foot long tall ship of Ecuador; and our very own USCG Barque Eagle, the 290-foot globetrotting ambassador and sail training ship of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (Baltimore’s Curtis Bay Coast Guard Yard did the most recent refit of her), as well of lots of smaller ships like The Pride of Baltimore II and the Lady Maryland. The tall ships will be joined by modern warships from several countries and will be docked at the Inner Harbor, Fells Point, and Locust Point. Tours are available, but anyone touring a modern naval vessel will need to go through security similar to that at the airport, so leave your jack knife and ammo belt at home. Go to http://StarSpangled200.com/ for details about the participating ships.

Thursday, June 14 (Flag Day)

10 a.m.-4 p.m. Flag Day celebration at the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House , 844 E. Pratt St., 410-837-1793, info@flaghouse.org.

10:30-noon. Navy Ceremonial Band concert and welcome ceremony at the Inner Harbor Amphitheater. Starspangled200.com.

11 a.m.-6 p.m. Free Public Ship Tours in Inner Harbor and Fells Point, Sailabration Villages open, check sailbaltimore.org for details.

1 p.m.-5 p.m. Free public ship tours in North Locust Point, checkhttp://StarSpangled200.com/ for details.

Friday, June 15

11 a.m.-6 p.m. Free public ship tours in Inner Harbor and Fells Point. Sailabration Villages open, check http://StarSpangled200.com/ for details.

1 p.m.-5 p.m. Free public ship tours in North Locust Point, checkhttp://StarSpangled200.com/ for details.

Saturday, June 16

10 a.m.-5 p.m. Star-Spangled Festival and Aircraft Display at Martin State Airport, Eastern Ave, Middle River. The main attraction will be the six FA-18 Hornets, flown by the U.S. Navy¹s Aerobatic Demonstration team, the Blue Angels, and the C-130 (Fat Albert) flown by the Marine Corps. When the Blues land after the air show, pilots will be signing autographs. There also will be other FA-18s, a E-2C Hawkeye, a T-45C Goshawk, a T-6B Texan, a T-34C Mentor, a P-3C Orion, MH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter, TH-57 Sea Ranger helicopter, and a MH-60 Seahawk helicopter. The Maryland Air National Guard will have one of their A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft on display as will the Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum. Aircraft will begin departing Martin for the show in the early afternoon.

11 a.m.-6 p.m. Free public ship tours in Inner Harbor and Fells Point. Sailabration Villages open, check http://StarSpangled200.com/ for details.

1 p.m.-5 p.m. Free public ship tours in North Locust Point. Sailabration Villages open, check http://StarSpangled200.com/ for details.

Afternoon TBD. Star-Spangled Air Show over Baltimore, featuring the Blue Angels. Best viewing location is Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine.

6-10 p.m. Celebration of the American Flag with concerts and fireworks at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine.

Sunday, June 17

10 a.m.-5 p.m. Star-Spangled Festival and Aircraft Display, Martin State Airport. See Saturday description above.

11 a.m.-6 p.m. Free public ship tours in Inner Harbor and Fells Point. Sailabration Villages open, check http://StarSpangled200.com/ for details.

1 p.m.-5 p.m. Free public ship tours in North Locust Point. Sailabration Villages open, check http://StarSpangled200.com/ for details.

Afternoon TBD. Star-Spangled Air Show over Baltimore, featuring the Blue Angels. Best viewing location is Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine.

7-8:30 p.m. Star-Spangled Symphony by the BSO featuring the premiere of a new symphonic work, Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Bsomusic.org

Monday, June 18 (Actual anniversary of the Declaration of War)

Morning TBD. 200th anniversary event.

11 a.m.-6 p.m. Free public ship tours in Inner Harbor and Fells Point. Sailabration Villages open, check http://StarSpangled200.com/ for details.

1 p.m.-5 p.m. Free public ship tours in North Locust Point. Sailabration Villages open, check http://StarSpangled200.com/ for details.

Tuesday, June 19

11 a.m.-1 p.m. Parade of Sail departure.

All weekend

On June 10, the Maryland Historical Society will open a new 1812 exhibition. The museum is at 201 W. Monument St., 410-685-3750. Check mdhs.org for hours, details.

Crystol Moll Gallery, 1030 S. Charles St., is hosting an exhibition of paintings, photographs and prints of Ft. McHenry, Flag House, and tall ships in honor or the War of 1812. May 23-July 7 with a reception June 15. See crystolmollgallery.com for details.

Congressman Roscoe Bartlett doesn’t have an entourage.

Almost every morning, around 6 a.m., the 20-year veteran of the House of Representatives, who will turn 86 in June, drives his Toyota Prius three miles from his Buckeystown, MD, farm to his office in Frederick. He shares the small building, which sits between a Chuck E. Cheese and a Wal-Mart, with a pediatric dentist’s practice.

Once there, he usually situates himself in a cramped conference room, reading a packet of clippings from various newspapers that have been compiled by his staff. He meets with constituents, has conference calls, and drives or carpools down to Washington, D.C., when Congress is in session, but always just for the day—he hasn’t spent the night there since he was first elected in 1992.

“The problem now is that your Congress is 90 percent run by professional staff,” says Bartlett, who wears an oversized navy-blue suit with a House of Representatives pin on his lapel. “Congress people have very little skill set. It’s run by faceless bureaucrats. I don’t need to rely on staff.”

In many ways, Bartlett, the second-oldest serving congressman after Texas’s Ralph Hall (who’s 89), is a throwback to an earlier era of citizen-politicians. He didn’t assume office until five years after he retired from a long and varied career that included stints as an engineer with the U.S. space program, the owner of a construction business, a professor at the University of Maryland and Howard University, and a farmer.

As a Representative, he’s let his conscience be his guide. He holds fast to constitutionalist principles of limited government—he keeps a copy of the Constitution in his breast pocket at all times, and quotes from it frequently—but he also has obsessed over issues far outside mainstream political thought, among them “peak oil,” the controversial idea that the global supply of oil is running out. (He founded Congress’s “Peak Oil Caucus,” which now has nine members, including six Democrats). He, along with Newt Gingrich, also frequently warns about the dangers of electro-magnetic pulse attacks on the U.S., which most experts consider far-fetched, and initiated Congressional hearings on the matter.

In general, Bartlett has not been afraid to buck his party’s line on a wide array of issues: He has consistently opposed the death penalty, the Patriot Act, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and describes himself as “far and away the greenest Republican in Congress,” boasting that he was the first person in Maryland—and the U.S. Congress—to buy a Prius.

“I was green before it was cool to be green,” he says. “My construction company was and is the largest home solar-equipment builder in Frederick County. I built 41 solar-powered homes.”

In 1992, Bartlett won his seat in the solidly Republican 6th district—which then included all of Western Maryland and the rural northern parts of Carroll, Baltimore, and Harford counties—by an eight-percent margin. Bartlett went on to win each of his subsequent nine elections by at least 12 percent. The Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI), which predicts the depth of a district’s party leanings, rated the 6th district “R+12” in the last election, meaning that a generic Republican presidential candidate could expect to win the district by 12 points.

But last October, the state legislature wrecked Bartlett’s cozy Republican district. In a plan proposed by Governor Martin O’Malley’s redistricting panel and passed by the Democratic-majority General Assembly, the 6th district lost its rural, right-leaning sections of Frederick, Carroll, Baltimore, and Harford counties, and instead had a large chunk of Montgomery County, including heavily Democratic D.C. suburbs like Potomac, added to it. Democrats officially say that the re-districting was the result of new census data. But it’s widely accepted that state legislatures gerrymander districts to maximize a favored party’s seats.

“It’s not personal,” Bartlett says, with a shrug, of the redistricting. “They just needed another Democrat seat. The Democrats only control, I think, six states and the District [of Columbia]. Republicans control, I think, four times that. So they had to find pick-up opportunities anywhere they could.”

Bartlett may be philosophical about the motivations behind the redistricting, but he’s not naïve about the challenge he faces in holding onto his seat. Since the redistricting passed, Maryland’s 6th district has been one of the most hotly contested races in the country—Congressional Quarterly has named it one of the top-ten most competitive—and will help determine which party has control over the House of Representatives. Money has poured into the district from both national parties, and Bartlett himself has been thrust into the largely unfamiliar role of steadfast campaigner.

“This year has been drastically different than anything we’ve ever had before,” Bartlett says, slouching behind his conference room table. “I mean, we’ve never really even had a professional campaign before.”

The competitiveness of the district has brought new scrutiny to Bartlett and his office. The mustachioed congressman was briefly the subject of ridicule earlier this year when a staff member took seriously a mock bill sent in by a group calling itself “The American Mustache Institute,” that called for a $250 tax deduction for facial hair grooming. The staff member sent the bill on to the House Ways and Means committee, apparently without Bartlett’s knowledge, leading to guffaws around the political blogosphere and attacks from Bartlett’s opponents. State Delegate Kathy Afzali, who challenged Bartlett in the Republican primary, said the situation showed that Bartlett had lost control of his staff and “is out of touch with voters.”

In the primary, Bartlett beat back several challengers, including state legislator David Brinkley, who claimed the Congressman was responsible for an e-mail late in the campaign that included audio of 911 calls related to domestic disturbances at Brinkley’s house (Bartlett denies any involvement in the e-mails). But things could get uglier—and even more competitive—in the general election, where Bartlett faces the Democratic nominee, businessman John Delaney.

Delaney, who founded financial services company CapitalSource, has poured more than a million dollars of his own money into his campaign, helping him soundly defeat state legislator Rob Garagiola, who was favored by the national Democratic party, in the primary. He’s proven to be a smart campaigner, repeatedly touting his proven record as a job creator—a crucial selling point in an economy-obsessed electorate.

“We need new leadership,” Delaney says, echoing the concerns of many in the district who think that Bartlett has been in Congress too long, and that he’s too old to conceive of innovative solutions to a complex set of new issues. “I’m an advocate for infrastructure investment, national energy policy, things that I think are important in leading us into the next generation, and I think there just haven’t been those voices in Congress.”

For his part, Bartlett isn’t looking to update his policy agenda or alter his tried-and-true methods in the face of a new campaign reality.

“We had a campaign consultant who wanted to program me,” Bartlett says. “I said ‘It’s too late!’ I’ve been here 20 years, I’ve been saying all this stuff, I have all these votes—I am who I am. If I’m not electable, I’m not electable, but I am who I am.”

A week before the primary election, Roscoe Bartlett is strolling down Frederick’s quaint East Street. Lined with antique shops, cafes, and boutiques, the block oozes the kind of small-town charm that has made Frederick a tourist destination for weary Baltimoreans and Washingtonians.

Bartlett, having carpooled with co-chief of staff Sallie Taylor, slowly walks toward a restaurant, stopping to greet a few passers-by who recognize him. “Hey, Roscoe,” one man shouts.

Bartlett and Taylor are headed toward Shab Row Bistro and Wine Bar, one of the more swanky establishments on East Street, where Bartlett will speak at a lunch hosted by a senior citizen group. Just inside the door, there is a table with place cards. One reads, “Congressman Roscoe,” and underneath, his choice of entrée, “Ravioli.” There is no punctuation or last name, making it seem that the congressman is the hero in a spaghetti western, Roscoe Ravioli. He even looks the part, with his pointed mustache and swoop of white hair.

“It seems no one around here ever uses my last name,” he says, showing off the place card to chuckling reporters. “It’s okay. I like ‘Roscoe.’ It’s a unique name.”

Bartlett spends a half-hour circling the room, talking to each table of guests. Most are in Bartlett’s age bracket, and health issues are a frequent topic of discussion. At one table, a woman is wearing an oxygen mask because she has emphysema. The congressman details his brother’s health struggles and offers encouragement. At other tables, he spends most of his time listening intently.

After a brief break to eat, the congressman stands up and offers his loose version of a stump speech, which echoes the themes of fiscal and personal responsibility he’s hammered throughout his political career, mixed with folksy anecdotes, tangents, and a sampling of quotes from the likes of Winston Churchill and Thomas Jefferson.

“Government is too big—it spends way too much, it taxes too much, it regulates too much,” he says. “We have wandered a million miles from the government our founders wanted.” He underlines the point by quoting Jefferson: “The government which governs best is the government which governs least.”

Bartlett grew up in Depression-era rural Kentucky, where he attended a one-room schoolhouse and endured extreme poverty. “It really changed my life,” he says. “I decided my kids would not go through what I went through.”

He says his political evolution closely mirrors the quote, often attributed to Churchill, “If you’re not a liberal when you’re 20, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative when you’re 40, you have no brain.”

“When I was a kid, I looked around and saw problems and thought, somebody needs to fix this—there are people really hurting,” he recalls. “I looked for some entity that was big and powerful, and it was the government.”

But, a precocious kid, Bartlett said he wised up ahead of schedule. “I wasn’t 20 before I figured out that government wasn’t the solution,” he says. “It finally dawned on me that government doesn’t have any money. They just take or borrow the money. All the government needs to do is make sure that we have the environment that our founding fathers envisioned.”

Bartlett went on to become the first member of his family to graduate from college, with a degree in biology and theology, and came to the University of Maryland, where he earned a master’s degree in physiology in 1948 and a Ph.D. in 1952. He married Ellen Bartlett and the couple ultimately had 10 kids, including Joseph Bartlett, who was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates for 11 years. The congressman now has 18 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

In 1961, Bartlett bought his current farm in Buckeystown, and while his career has taken him all over the country, he seems most proud of his work on the farm.

“At one time, I had the largest pure-bred sheep flock on the East Coast,” he boasts, adding that he also had goats and cows, and that, when he was farming full-time, “I personally handled 10,000 bales of hay a year.”

Bartlett’s easy, friendly demeanor and his country background are exactly what have endeared him to the voters in the 6th District for the past 20 years.

“He’s as human as anyone can be,” says Dana Smith, 59, a guest at the Shab Row lunch. “I mean, we’ve seen him in his overalls. You can’t get more real than that.”

And Bartlett’s friendliness extends beyond his constituents. Another way the congressman seems to be of a different era is that he proudly talks about his deep friendships with colleagues on the other side of the aisle. In particular, he’s a close confidante of Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat originally from Baltimore, who has become enemy number one in the eyes of many Republicans. Bartlett calls her “a very committed woman,” and has accompanied her to the last two State of the Union addresses.

“I hate the partisanship,” says Bartlett. “At the end of the day, we want the same things: We want better schools, we want good jobs, we want safe streets, we want a military adequate to defend out country. It’s just that we have very different ideas about how to get there.”

As Bartlett takes questions at his campaign event, it becomes clear that his friendly attitude toward Democrats is not shared by all of his supporters. One worries that after the election, if Obama wins, he’ll order everyone to turn in their guns. Bartlett, a strong defender of the Second Amendment, deflects the question by criticizing gun-control laws.

A woman wonders if tax dollars are going toward the effort to legalize gay marriage. Another supporter suggests that gay people are being given special marriage benefits unavailable to straight people. Bartlett, who is opposed to gay marriage, says it’s primarily a state issue, but claims that, years ago, he first coined the phrase, “It’s Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve,” and suggests that legalizing gay marriage may lead to legalized marriage between people and animals.

Bartlett’s peculiar array of positions have allowed him to be the rare GOP congressman on both the Republican Main Street Partnership, a collection of moderate Republicans, and the Tea Party Caucus. “I’m probably the luckiest person in the Congress,” he says. “I vote my conscience. And that, so far, has been okay with the district.”

But observers say Bartlett’s maverick streak might not work in the new 6th District, especially against an outsider like John Delaney.

“His independence probably would’ve helped him more if Rob Garagiola had ended up winning that race,” says Alex Isenstadt, a blogger at politico.com who’s been closely following the 6th district. “It would’ve been easier for him to portray Garagiola, fairly or not, as a creature of Annapolis. Right now, he’s running against John Delaney, who’s an unknown, and it’s going to be harder to brand him as an insider. He’s a job-creator, someone who made millions of dollars in the business sector. It might be harder for Republicans to run against that.”

Lala Mooney is pacing next to her car outside of Frederick County’s Ballenger Creek Middle School. Today is primary day, and Mooney is here to get out the vote for Bartlett, whose campaign stickers cover her bumpers.

“I hope you’ll vote for my guy!” she shouts at voters, as they enter the school gymnasium, and waves two “Elect Roscoe Bartlett” signs.

Mooney, a Cuban-American from Frederick, is the mother of state GOP chair Alex Mooney, who served in the state legislature for 11 years and briefly considered challenging Bartlett for the nomination, but instead threw his support behind the Congressman. Lala Mooney says the redistricting has upset a lot of people in the district and that it motivated her to volunteer for Bartlett.

“It’s been a big issue,” she says. “It’s really skewered the democratic process, eliminating voices that have traditionally been represented.”

She’s confident that Bartlett will pull out the election in November, but admits that the race will be “competitive.” She says local peoples’ resistance to Obama’s agenda will drive them to the polls to vote for Republicans.

“I know that socialism, the way Obama’s pushing it, isn’t going to work,” she says, adding that two Democrats had already told her today that they plan to cross party lines to vote for Bartlett in November. “Government is not going to solve our problems.”

Deborah Lundahl, a local Republican heading out of the polls after casting her vote, agrees with Mooney that the redistricting has upset a lot of people—“it destroyed a rural district, with rural concerns,” she says—but adds that she voted against Bartlett in the primary. “He promised to run for two terms, then step down,” she says. “The longer he stays, the more he seems like just another politician.”

It’s a feeling that seems to have some resonance in the district. Many expected Bartlett to step down after the redistricting and allow a younger Republican to take up the challenge, but he has soldiered on, seeking his 11th term in office.

“It’s going to be a tough race for him,” says Isenstadt, who thinks Delaney will come out on top in November. “It’s tough for a guy in his mid-80s, who’s been around for as long as he has, to run in a new district, let alone one that’s very Democratic.”

Indeed, most analysts now say the district “leans Democratic” and Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call has listed Bartlett among the 10 most vulnerable members of Congress. “It’s possible that all of the ingredients could come together for Bartlett . . . to pull off a win,” they wrote in March. “But it just doesn’t seem plausible at this point.”

For his part, Bartlett says if he loses in November, it’ll give him more time to spend on the farm, where he still keeps a garden and some cows. “We’re trying very hard to get acquainted with the new members of the district,” Bartlett says. “If it doesn’t happen in time for November, so be it. I am who I am.”

In 1831, 22-year-old Enoch Pratt, a former Boston hardware store clerk, moved to Baltimore, launching a wholesale hardware business at 29 S. Charles Street. Proving a successful merchant, he expanded his business interests to iron and coal, as well as horseshoe and nail manufacturing. A decade and a half later, Pratt built a family home at Monument Street and Park Avenue, walking to work and to Sunday services at the First Unitarian Church, past the location where the 125-year-old Central Library that bears his name stands today.

“Mr. Pratt was a frugal man,” says Wesley Wilson, chief of the Central Library/State Library Resource Center. “He was known to pick up nails from the street as he walked, knowing well the effort that went into making them.”

Frugal, perhaps, but generous and progressive-minded, as well.

In 1882, Pratt presented an endowment of $1,058,333 to the mayor of Baltimore and the City Council for the purpose of building the city’s first—and one of the nation’s first—public libraries.

“My library,” said Pratt, “shall be for all, rich and poor, without distinction of race or color, who, when properly accredited, can take out books if they will handle them carefully and return them.”

The Central Library, then on Mulberry Street, opened January 5, 1886, and the first four branches—including the Canton branch, still in operation—followed within the next three months.

In 1927, by a 3 to 1 margin, Baltimore voters approved a loan for a larger Central Library at its current Cathedral Street location across from the Baltimore Basilica. Building began four years later, and was completed despite the Great Depression.

Overseen by director Joseph Wheeler, the new library’s construction incorporated Pratt’s egalitarian mission, creating a street-level, department store model ahead of its time. In 1943, the library’s outreach effort expanded with the introduction of a horse-drawn book-wagon service. In 1953, children’s films were added.

Today, the Central Library’s reach has expanded exponentially, serving as both Maryland’s state library and a major urban lending institution. It’s a research home for Baltimore writers and filmmakers, from Barry Levinson to David Simon, as well as a center for job seekers. There’s a WiFi cafe, chess tables, and a wealth of material for amateur genealogists. Programming includes everything from GED classes to discussions with best-selling authors.

Of course, nothing is changing faster than the delivery system—or “container,” as Pratt CEO Carla Hayden puts it—of the library’s core product: books. At the forefront of library and information services, the Pratt has long offered e-book downloads, and this fall, will become one of a handful of libraries lending e-book readers.

With all this in mind on the Pratt’s 125th anniversary, Baltimore magazine spent a week behind the scenes at one of the city’s most cherished institutions—visited by 1.7 million people annually—to find out just what it takes to keep such a sprawling and efficient system in place. Short answer? A lot.

The Vault

March 16, 11 a.m.
Hidden Treasures

Behind the locked glass doors where the staff works on the second floor of the Central Library, chief Wesley Wilson turns an enormous combination lock on a bank-style vault—like something from an 1870s-era Western. Pulling the door open, he reveals a trove of literary treasures, many from Baltimore’s famous writers.

There’s a Paris letter from F. Scott Fitzgerald to H. L. Mencken, thanking the “Sage of Baltimore,” for reading the The Great Gatsby. Mencken’s diaries are here, as are several first-edition classics from his personal collection, including James Joyce’s Ulysses. There’s also the original copy of a library-contest-winning rap by Tupac Shakur, plus a CD of Shakur’s “The Eastside Crew,” performed while the aspiring rapper was studying at the nearby Baltimore School for the Arts.

A first edition copy of Virginia’s Woolf’s Monday or Tuesday, sits next to John Updike-signed novels. From the master of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe, there’s a lock each of his and his wife’s hair, as well as a piece of his coffin.

One of the library’s more unique possessions stems from a discovery several years ago in the library itself. It’s a Megillah scroll, telling the story of Esther, completed in 1429 by a Persian scribe.

“It was located in our special collection’s uncatalogued stack, in a false book,” Wilson explains, pulling apart a small square that appears at first to be an actual book binding, but is actually the opening to a space where the scroll was stored. “It was left to us as part of a personal collection from a Baltimore Jewish family.”

The Wheel

March 18, 12:30 p.m.
An Answer to Every Question

Surrounded by floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and scattered six-inch thick tomes, four reference librarians sit at desks organized in a square configuration, facing each other. Plugged into computers and phones, the librarians answer questions from Baltimore, the state of Maryland, and, literally, the world—as they come in via telephone, e-mail, chat, and text message.

In the center of the desks, within arm’s reach of each librarian, spins what’s affectionately referred to as “The Wheel.” Completed in 1969, The Wheel, is a welded, seven-foot-tall, circular bookshelf, stacked with 800 reference titles, including The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Facts About the States, The Baseball Timeline, and Larousse Gastronomique, a leading culinary resource first published in 1938.

Queries come from students and academics, and most are part of rigorous research, but people also regularly call for crossword puzzle help, last night’s winning lottery numbers, or an Orioles score.

Other queries are even stranger.

“Someone once asked, ‘Where do people go when they’re dead?’ Another asked, ‘Am I my cat’s mother?'” recalls library professional assistant Maggie Murphy, explaining all questions are taken seriously and provided the most credible answer found. “With the person who asked if they were their cat’s mother, we quoted a biology textbook that stated a cat is the product of two cats, and therefore she couldn’t possibly be the cat’s mother.” Psychologically or socially, Murphy noted, there may be a different answer.

A fresh query arrives asking if Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite, The Planets, included a movement for Pluto—de-planeted several years ago by the International Astronomical Union. Murphy shared with her client that Holst penned the suite between 1914 and 1916, before Pluto received planetary status.

Medical and legal queries are common: But Sonia Alcántara-Antoine, information services manager, cautions that those queries also point to the limited nature of the reference librarian’s role.

“As librarians we can’t give medical or legal advice,” she says. “We can cite medical or legal text, but we can’t interpret. We can’t go there.”

Graphic Jack’s Studio

March 18, 1:30 p.m.
A Window into the Art

“Everybody calls me ‘Graphic Jack,'” says Jack Young, extending a hand to a studio visitor. Behind him in his third-floor domain are life-size cutouts from Boris Karloff’s The Bride of Frankenstein. There’s also a Styrofoam black raven posing on a table, a nearly life-size installation of Rosa Park’s iconic Montgomery bus—complete with functioning headlights—plus mannequins, a gumball machine, an inflatable penguin (a gift from Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk), frames, easels, scissors, and pencils.

Among other things, Young designs and installs the eight-foot-tall mini-billboards that fill the Pratt’s giant windows on Cathedral Street, which preview upcoming events. For example, when Obama campaign manager David Plouffe came in September to discuss his book, The Audacity to Win, Young gave him Shepard Fairey’s iconic two-color Obama poster treatment.

To promote the library’s annual Black & White Party this year, Young combined Cary Grant’s stark image from Hitchcock’s North by Northwest with a James Bond motif—in glamorous black, white, and red.

Whether it’s former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, professional wrestler Chris Jericho, or an author presenting a book about the Haitian crisis, Young starts with research, seeking to develop a compelling image linked to the subject. He sketches concepts, typically on the first random piece of paper he gets his hands on, before moving to the computer.

“The first thing to consider is that people may not know the author, so the question is, visually, how do I let a lot of people know instantly who this person is that’s coming to Baltimore?” Young says. “In terms of text, 14 words is generally the limit. Cathedral Street gets a lot of traffic and it’s got to be read by someone driving by.”

Young also works on graphics for Pratt brochures, in-house exhibits, and library partners, such as the CityLit Project. One memorable work included a super-enlarged—20-foot by 13-foot—bird’s eye view of Baltimore City from a 1869 map. The map was placed on the floor of the library’s main hall and visitors walked and knelt on it, exploring where their home, church, or office stands today.

But it’s the windows the MICA graduate views as his calling.

“We redid the front and side windows about a year ago, and modified the lighting system,” Young says. “I consider the Basilica across the street our competition for people’s attention. These windows really need to pop.”

Plouffe asked for four copies of his oversize poster. Pelosi requested that hers be sent to her after her appearance. Practically everyone does the same.

“I’ve got a lot of work, I’m always running behind, very behind—and I’ve almost fallen off the ladder [installing posters],” Graphic Jack says, “but I love my job.”

Wheeler Auditorium

March 20, 2 p.m.
Highlandtown Girl Returns

“Hi everybody! Hello! Hi! How are you?” Sen. Barbara Mikulski says, bounding into the Central Library’s Wheeler Auditorium. “Hi Charlie! Hi kids!” And, then to a woman, “Are you the lady who e-mailed me?”

Mikulski’s appearance coincides with Women’s History Month. The previous day, the Pratt hosted an International Women’s History Month Literary Festival, with female writers from Trinidad, Iran, India, and the U.S. The Senator is here to give a talk called, “Women of the Senate: Making History, Changing History.”

Mikulski recalls a phone call from a Library of Congress staffer who informed her last summer that, if she won reelection, she’d be the longest serving woman in the history of the Senate. The Library of Congress needed “artifacts” from Mikulski’s career, and naturally, she put them in touch with the Pratt.

“In 1886, Enoch Pratt established the branch at O’Donnell Street and Elwood Avenue—that was my branch as a little girl going to the Sacred Heart of Jesus School,” Mikulski says. “That library card was my ticket, my window to the world.”

“To me, walking down to the Enoch Pratt was a big deal,” the 74-year-old continues, recalling how books transported her to different worlds. “I went to Switzerland and had a girlfriend named Heidi. I had a horse named Black Beauty.

“And Nancy Drew mystery novels,” she adds with a laugh, “helped prepare me for my Homeland Security and FBI oversight committee assignments.”

Landing a U.S. Senator for Women’s History Month is no small feat, but for coordinator of public programs Judy Cooper, it’s par for the course. Since being recruited from the Prince George’s library system 13 years ago, she’s transformed the library into a must-stop venue for writers. The fun ones, too.

Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk made a memorable visit—tossing inflatable autographed penguins to a standing-room crowd. Ben Mezrich, The Social Network author, has been here, too.

On the heels of Barack Obama’s election, Bill Ayers’s visit created a barrage of nasty phone calls and e-mails, as well as a small protest at the library when he and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn, came to discuss their book, Race Course: Against White Supremacy.

“We’ve invited Bill O’Reilly in the past, and we’re trying to get [Republican Senator] Scott Brown,” says Cooper, highlighting the library’s nonpartisan efforts.

Scheduled for April 26, the rapper Prodigy, who recently published a memoir, was expected to pack the place.

“The events are free and we don’t pay most of these authors,” Cooper says. “They want to come here.”

Bindery Department

March 18, 12:30 p.m.
The Secret of Wheat Flour Paste

Upstairs in a quiet room filled with medieval-looking devices, book conservator Martha Edgerton readies a memorabilia scrapbook kept by H. L. Mencken for repair. The spine is torn at the edge and the text block broken, requiring sewing.

Nearby, Baltimore’s 200th Anniversary, 1729-1929, a print and photo collection, rests loose from its broken binder. “It needs a new cover,” Edgerton says. “It’s beyond repair.”

The older books hold up better than newer books, she says. The natural-fiber paper used before the early and mid-1800s, she explains, is almost fabric-like and lasts longer than wood-pulp paper.

“It’s an inferior product that’s used today,” Edgerton says, lifting a compilation of newspapers from the 1830s still close to their original color. “The acid content breaks everything down quicker. These newspapers look better than a Baltimore Sun that’s several days old.”

Book and letterpresses, decades old—and a guillotine-esque machine for slicing boards into book covers—sit on benches as volunteers tend to the careful work of preserving the library’s assets.

There’s newer technology, too: an ultrasonic welder for polyester encapsulation, which protects paper between pieces of chemically inert, clear plastic sheathing—safer than lamination. But the Old World techniques—the antique “Property of the Enoch Pratt Free Library” stamping machine and the homemade wheat-flour recipe for paste—serve as reminders of a timeless art.

“We wouldn’t want to use synthetic glue—it’s permanent,” Edgerton says. “It can’t be undone if the book is damaged in the future. The wheat-flour recipe can be reversed with water if necessary.”

Shipping and Receiving

March 16, 9:30 a.m.
Moving Pages

Loaded by 8 a.m., Enoch Pratt vans are making their way across the state, toting book bins that will eventually arrive in Bethesda, Cumberland, the Eastern Shore, and even the city’s jail. Now, Wendy Allen, the Pratt’s resource delivery manager, and her team begin filling new computerized orders, placing materials in 80 separate bins marked CECL, CARO, AACO, and HARF, among others, for tomorrow’s deliveries.

In Frederick, someone’s requested The Three Little Witches Storybook, which was located in a Harford County branch and sent here to be forwarded to the Frederick branch. A Montgomery County request for mystery/cookbook Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Crime was located in Howard County and also will leave tomorrow. Roughly 66,000 items are shipped monthly through the Pratt—the hub of the state library system.

The logistics seem daunting—the shipping office is broken down into requests from the two-dozen Baltimore City branches, the bookmobile, and the statewide county runs—but there’s a system.

A Pratt truck loaded with books for the Queen Anne’s branch, for example, meets one from the Eastern Shore just over the Bay Bridge each morning, and they exchange payloads. Likewise, a Pratt truck covering Frederick County meets and swaps orders with one from Western Maryland, which then heads to Allegheny, Washington, and Garrett Counties.

On one shelf sits a volume of Michie’s Annotated Code of Maryland, headed to the Baltimore City Detention Center library on East Eager Street.

“It’s not true that [prisoners] only ask for legal books,” says Barbara Collins, a supervisor in the shipping office, on the job for 33 years. “They ask for everything, the same books as everybody else.”

Material Selections

March 18, 9 a.m.
Creating a Virtual Library

In an office down a long, narrow hallway on the second floor, Sarah Kuperman, who works in the collections management department, flips through an industry catalogue of book reviews. She’s looking for potential nonfiction additions for the Pratt system.

Kuperman chooses which, and how many, new $24.95 titles the library needs—and can afford—to stay current. For the past decade, she’s overseen the selection of business, science, and technology books, as well as tomes on philosophy and most of the world’s religions.

The two-inch-thick industry guides help. Kuperman also relies on The New York Times bestseller lists, among other sources. Like everyone, she wishes she had more time to read all the books she selects.

“I try to stay within the amount of money given by my boss,” says Kuperman, who is working with a budget of about $15,000 a year for a specific project. “It’s a whopping sum for a public library. The entire system has a budget of about $2 million a year for new materials.”

At her computer, Kuperman begins sifting through data from Overdrive, the library’s vendor for e-books and downloadable audios. This is where everything is changing, and the rules still evolving.

Audio downloads, available through the Pratt since 2006, have increased 12-fold. And now e-books are transforming publishing—and libraries. On her screen, Kuperman can see which e-books are being downloaded at each branch, and where e-books are on hold.

Technically, publishers could easily offer unlimited downloads of their titles. However, they limit the number of times each purchase of an e-book by the library can be downloaded by borrowers—simulating the number of times each hardcover can be borrowed, for example, in a given year.

At the moment, Kuperman needs to order more downloads of The Weird Sisters, by Eleanor Brown. Currently, the Pratt consortium owns 18 downloadable copies, 14 of which are out, with 36 holds at various institutions.

Contrary to stereotype, older readers have been among the early adopters of this new technology—because of the adjustable font. The most popular e-books from the Pratt reflect an older clientele’s interests: a historical novel by Ken Follett, Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find, and The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler.

Kuperman wishes more people knew about the library’s e-books. She also says “digital” seems like a quaint word today.

“I want to use ‘virtual library,'” she says.

Main Hall

March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day), 10 a.m. to noon
The Footnotes

In a city known for early morning lines outside its methadone clinics, there’s another line that forms every morning—on the sidewalk in front of the Pratt. Close to 50 people gather, waiting to get into the stacks, begin research, borrow a DVD, and use the public computers, including four terminals dedicated to job hunting.

There’s also coffee and free Wi-Fi in the cafe.

Some come early for chess matches with two-foot-tall knights and bishops on the library’s black-and-white-checked floorboard.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day, and Enoch Pratt CEO Carla Hayden takes in the scene in the main hall from upstairs. Three of her staff members, a guitarist, a violinist, and a mandolin player, occasionally known as the Footnotes, are performing Irish music for library visitors. Hayden descends the stairs to pass out cookies.

Hayden, who missed Barack and Michelle Obama’s wedding (they were her neighbors in Chicago’s Hyde Park) to accept the Pratt position in July of 1993, has kept the institution at the forefront of library science for nearly two decades. She won the National Librarian of the Year award in 1995, vocally opposed the Patriot Act’s intrusion into public libraries, and earlier this year, was named a member of both the National Museum and Library Services Board and the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities.

St. Patrick’s Day was as good a day as she can recall at the library.

“We’re sitting in the Edgar Allan Poe Room and I hear music coming from the Central Hall, and its three staff members playing Irish music,” Hayden says. “There’s 30 to 40 chairs down there filled with senior citizens, younger adults, and some African-American kids listening to somebody on our staff playing guitar. There’s a mother with three little girls down in front, and a Hispanic women, who has a child with her—and books.”

“The diversity of the people was amazing,” Hayden continues. “And I thought, ‘That’s what this is about. That’s what this library’s mission has always been about.'”

Events Calendar

Friday April 15

10 a.m.
Exhibition “The War Cameby Train: The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad during the Civil War” opensat the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum. 410-752-2462.

1-4 p.m.
Symposium “Land of the Free? The Fate of Civil Liberties in Baltimore in 1861” at the Maryland Historical Society. 410-685-3750.

Saturday April 16

8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Civil War encampment at Fort McHenry. 410-962-4290.

10 a.m.
Exhibition “Divided Voices, Maryland in the Civil War” opens at the Maryland Historical Society.

11 a.m.
Procession to commemorate the Pratt Street Riot begins from President Street Station and proceeds down Pratt Street to Camden Station. 1-877-Baltimore.

6-9 p.m.
Candlelight tours of Fort McHenry.

Sunday April 17

8 a.m.-3 p.m.
Civil War Encampment at Fort McHenry. Dress Parade at 2 p.m.

ApriL 29-November 12
Mount Clare Museum House presents “Personal Accounts of the Civil War Experience,” an exhibit featuring objects and stories of the people who personally witnessed and participated in the war, including Cavalry brasses, Masonic aprons, flags and letters, and diaries written by the soldiers.
410-837-3262.

On the morning of April 19, 1861, the 6th Massachusetts Infantry arrived at Baltimore’s President Street Station on its way to defend the nation’s capitol in Washington City. Seven days earlier, South Carolina forces had fired on Fort Sumter, moving President Lincoln to call for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion. The soldiers aboard the train, which had left Boston two days earlier, formed the first fully armed regiment to volunteer.

Despite the fact that three different railroads had terminals in Baltimore at the time, there was no through service—a city ordinance prohibited locomotives from passing through the city. Each car had to be uncoupled from the inbound train and pulled by horses down President Street and along the waterfront on Pratt Street to Howard where it was attached to a B&O locomotive at Camden Station for the final stage of its journey to Washington City.

Baltimore had a reputation as a rough town with a lot of sympathy for Southern interests. It was considered such hostile territory for Lincoln that the President had carefully avoided riding through it during daylight hours en route to his inauguration a year before.

As each car carrying the 6th Massachusetts Infantry rolled along Pratt Street, one by one, the citizens of Baltimore became more and more agitated at the spectacle of Northern troops passing through their city to make war on the recently seceded states. A crowd of pro-Southern activists, street gangs from the waterfront, and spectators began to pack both sides of Pratt Street. With names like American Rattlers, Blood Tubs, and Pug Uglies, the gang members were a brutal reminder of Baltimore’s pre-war nickname, “Mob Town.” Yelling at the soldiers soon escalated to the throwing of rocks and bottles.

Finally, gunshots rang out.

Six companies managed to run the gauntlet, but when Company K’s horse-drawn car turned onto Pratt Street, a large anchor was thrown into its path, causing a derailment. While Major Benjamin F. Watson bravely jumped to the ground and tried to get the wheels back on track, the mob focused its anger on the stranded soldiers.

“They were insulting and noisy, and threw at the car bricks, pieces of iron and coal, and…the vilest epithets they could invent for us,” one soldier in the regiment later wrote.

When one of the men had his thumb shot off, the order was given to return fire. Company K abandoned the passenger car just short of Howard Street and marched through the mob to Camden Station, taking their wounded with them. The four companies stranded at President Street Station marched along the railroad tracks in an effort to join the rest of the regiment, and were likewise pelted with paving stones and other objects as well as a deadly spray of gunfire.

George W. Booth, a future member of the First Maryland Infantry CSA—one of six battalions of the Confederate Army made up of Marylanders—described what he observed from the corner of Pratt and Commerce Streets. “A soldier, struck by a stone, fell almost at my feet, and as he fell, dropped his musket, which was immediately seized by a citizen, who raised it to his shoulder and fired into the column,” he wrote. “The rear files faced about and delivered a volley into the crowd, who responded with pistol shots, stones, clubs, and other missiles. A perfect fusillade was kept up between the troops and the enraged mob.”

By the time the last company reached the safety of Camden Station, four soldiers were dead and 36 wounded. At least a dozen civilians were known to have been killed. It was this stirring event that motivated James Ryder Randall to write the poem My Maryland that was later put to music under the title Maryland My Maryland and printed in Baltimore. Banned by federal authorities, it became one of the most popular Southern songs of the war.

In the aftermath of the riot, a mass meeting was held at Monument Square on Calvert Street. Governor Thomas Holliday Hicks addressed the immense crowd of more than a 1,000 that surrounded the War of 1812 monument dedicated to the “Old Defenders” of Fort McHenry and North Point. It was the symbol of the city then as it is today.

“I am a Marylander,” he told them. “I love my state and I love the Union, but I will suffer my right arm to be torn from my body before I will raise it to strike a sister state.”

The clash on the streets of Baltimore that day is considered the first land battle of the Civil War and it would forever after be known as “The Pratt Street Riot.” What happened in Baltimore during the next 30 days would in no small way determine the course of events for Maryland and the nation during the four years of the Civil War.

To appreciate Baltimore’s history, one must understand its geography. For one, there is the obvious advantage of being near the center of the East Coast, with a good harbor 160 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. Also, nestled against the fall line of the Blue Ridge Mountains where the abrupt drop in elevation produces fast-moving bodies of water, it had the Patapsco River and the Jones Falls to provide power to its mills and factories when the Industrial Revolution began. Finally, it had the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad that connected the Ohio Valley with the docks of Baltimore. By 1860, this marriage of industry and transportation combined to make Baltimore the third largest city in the United States and the largest industrial city in the South.

During the presidential election of 1860, the National Democratic Party held no less than three separate conventions in Baltimore City. Each produced its own candidate for president. The divisiveness of the Democrats virtually gave the election to the Republican Party, which had been founded by Northern anti-slavery activists just six years earlier. Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln was far from popular in Maryland, receiving fewer than 2,300 votes statewide.

But, as a border state, Maryland would not rush to join the deep-south states in a secessionist movement. In fact, Baltimore could best be described as a city with a Southern personality and a Northern economy. The Carrolls and Howards and other Old Line families of Revolutionary War fame had their slaves and country estates, but the railroads ran north and west, and that is where most of the business was done.

Added to this was the hyper-immigration from Ireland and Germany during the previous two decades that changed the political landscape of the city by 1861. While the longtime affluent residents of the city lived in an economic fortress around Mt. Vernon Square, newly arrived immigrants flooded the voting wards of the lower class. Generally speaking, the Germans settled on the east side of the city and were somewhat divided over the secession issue. The Irish tended to congregate on the west side around the facilities of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad where unskilled labor was in constant demand. The anathema of the slave-owning class, they would give little support to the secession movement.

In the wake of Fort Sumter, when Lincoln called for troops to head south to put down the rebellion, Virginia, an upper South holdout, responded by passing an act of secession. Now all eyes were on Maryland, the only Southern state located north of Washington City. If Maryland seceded from the Union, the nation’s capital would be located behind enemy lines. Even worse, the only direct rail link between Washington and the North was through Baltimore.

On the day of the Pratt Street Riot, with the dead and wounded still lying on the streets of Baltimore, Mayor George W. Brown and Governor Hicks met to determine a course of action for the city. For the time being, they would side with the rioters.

To prevent further movement of troops through Baltimore, they ordered John Merryman, a lieutenant in the Baltimore County Horse Guards, to burn railroad bridges north of the city. In Mayor Brown’s post-war account of this eventful day, he wrote that the condition of the city ” . . . may best be described as one of armed neutrality.”

The only remaining symbol of federal authority was the U.S. flag flying over Fort McHenry. Staffed by the U.S. Army, the fort now turned its guns to face the city it had been built to defend. Tensions between the soldiers there and the citizens of Baltimore could not be higher.

On the day after the Riot, Baltimore police commissioner John W. Davis met with the commanding officer at Fort McHenry, Captain John C. Robinson. Davis warned the captain of a rumored attack on the fort that night and offered the services of 200 men from the Maryland Guard Battalion as an addition to his defense force. Knowing the pro-Southern leaning of many of its members, Robinson declined the offer with a warning that if any of the guardsmen passed the Catholic chapel on Fort Avenue he would open fire with his cannons.

Commissioner Davis responded to the threat with one of his own: “If you do that, and if a woman or child is killed, there will be nothing left of you but your brass buttons to tell who you were.”

Maryland teetered on the brink of secession and President Lincoln’s worst nightmare had come true. All direct contact between the loyal states and their capital had been severed.

But the battle for Baltimore wasn’t over.

Traveling one day behind the 6th Regiment was a general from Massachusetts named Benjamin F. Butler with another regiment of Bay State volunteers. In a clockwise motion, he moved from the Susquehanna River to Annapolis, where he reopened rail communications between that city and Washington on April 24. Eleven days later, he occupied Relay Station, just west of Baltimore on the main line of the B&O, thus securing the entire length of its Washington Branch.

On May 13, Butler secretly moved troops by rail from Relay to Baltimore. Arriving near sundown at Camden Station, he marched his men to Federal Hill and dug in. The next day the citizens of Baltimore awoke to find the American Flag flying on Federal Hill and artillery guarded by the same regiment they attacked on April 19, the 6th Massachusetts.

This ended all overt opposition to the movement of troops and supplies between Washington and the North. More importantly, assets of the largest industrial city in the South would be used to supply the Union army. However, despite a strong military presence in the city, a Confederate underground flourished until the very end of the war.

Life in Baltimore changed dramatically after Union troops secured the city. The Middle Military Department was created to control Maryland during the war with a major general headquartered in the city. The Writ of Habeas Corpus was suspended and the U. S. Army made wholesale arrests of Southern sympathizers.
By the end of 1861, 112 civilians had
been arrested and imprisoned at Fort McHenry. By the end of the war, it was more than 2,000. Most notable of these was the grandson of Francis Scott Key, the author of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Baltimore rapidly took on a war-like appearance. Carroll Park on the west side of town became the site of the largest Union encampment in the city. From here, the First Maryland Infantry Regiment left for Union field service in 1861. Throughout the war, units from other states were stationed there to train and guard the nearby B&O repair shops at Mount Clare. By 1864, more than 40 camps and forts had been erected to protect the city and train new recruits for the Union Army.

In September of 1862, the bloodiest day of the war was fought along the Antietam Creek in Western Maryland. In its aftermath, trainloads of wounded soldiers arrived at the B&O’s Camden Station. Prisoners were processed at Fort McHenry and a number of buildings throughout the city were converted for hospital use, including Newton University on Lexington Street. In 1863, a 1,200-bed hospital was opened in Patterson Park. These hospitals had a remarkable success rate. In 1864, the Patterson Park Hospital treated 6,459 patients, with only 45 deaths recorded.

After three brutal days of fighting at Gettysburg July 1-3, 1863, trainloads of wounded soldiers arrived badly in need of medical attention, disrupting Fourth of July activities in the city. The Western Maryland Railroad also delivered thousands of Confederate prisoners. Later, trains brought the bodies of men whose families could afford the cost of shipping them home for burial. The most notable of these was General Lewis A. Armistead, who had been mortally wounded in Pickett’s Charge. He was buried in St. Paul’s Cemetery next to his uncle, Colonel George Armistead, who had commanded Fort McHenry during the War of 1812.

Four months after the Battle of Gettysburg—the bloodiest of the war, with more than 50,000 casualties on both sides, and widely considered its turning point—a national cemetery was dedicated there to honor the Union dead. President Lincoln passed through Baltimore on November 18 en route to deliver his now immortal Gettysburg Address. Arriving on a special B&O train at Camden Station, he was escorted to the Northern Central’s Bolton Station by eight companies of the Fifth New York Heavy Artillery.

The undercurrent of Southern support in the city continued throughout the war and led to many arrests. Social organizations and newspapers felt the hand of federal authority too. In 1863, General Schenck ordered the Maryland Club, then located at the corner of Cathedral and Franklin Streets, closed, declaring it “a resort for those disaffected toward the government.” In November of 1864, General Wallace had the idle club converted into a reception center for recently freed slaves and renamed “Freeman’s Rest.”

The year 1865 saw a rapid disintegration of the Confederacy. In the North, the celebrations that followed Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse were stilled by news of Lincoln’s assassination.

Maryland, the little state that had caused Lincoln so much trouble in 1861, would literally be the death of him in 1865. All but one of the assassins were Marylanders and many had ties to Baltimore. John Wilkes Booth had often performed in the Baltimore theaters. He met two of the conspirators, Samuel Arnold and Michael O’Laughlen, at Barnum’s Hotel on Calvert and Fayette Streets in August of 1864.

The last great event in Baltimore’s Civil War history was the passage of Lincoln’s funeral train through the city on April 21, 1865. Lincoln’s body laid in state at the Capitol building for two days after his official funeral, which, coincidentally, fell on April 19, the anniversary of the Pratt Street Riot. Then it was placed in his private railcar for the sad journey back to Springfield, IL.

The route would be a reversal of his 1861 inaugural trip. During that trip, Lincoln passed through the city under the cover of darkness, fearing an assassination plot. Now there was no danger. Leaving from the B&O’s Washington Depot, the 10-car train arrived at Camden Station at 10 a.m. His casket was off-loaded into a hearse pulled by four white horses. The funeral procession took three hours as it wound its way through a pouring rain to the Merchant’s Exchange on Market Street, where an estimated 10,000 people viewed the body. At 2 p.m., the coffin was closed and taken to the Bolton Street Station. There a Northern Central locomotive waited to pull the funeral train to Harrisburg, PA, where the sad ritual would be repeated.

Perhaps no event since the British attack on Fort McHenry in 1814 had more of an effect on Baltimore than the Pratt Street Riot. It made the city the first front of the Civil War. The handful of casualties that occurred on that day would not compare to Antietam or Gettysburg, but they were not insignificant. They brought the war much closer to home for the Northern states than the firing on Fort Sumter and helped them mobilize in defense of the Union. Butler’s fortifying of Federal Hill in 1861 transferred the opening battle lines of the Civil War in the east from the Susquehanna River to the Potomac. The road to Richmond would begin in Maryland, not go through it.

Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, Shiloh . . . on and on go the names of unforgettable Civil War battles. The seemingly endless list of destruction that spanned 1861 to 1865 left 600,000 men dead and a landscape forever scarred by the blood of brother against brother. In Maryland, a border state, the tale of division and disunion was writ large. One contemporary described Maryland during the Civil War as “the weeping maiden, bound and fettered, seeking relief.” Although officially allied with the Union, many Marylanders sympathized and supported the Confederate cause. Maryland during the Civil War is a tale of voices and loyalties split in two.

On April 15, the Maryland Historical Society’s newest exhibition, “Divided Voices: Maryland in the Civil War,” opens to the public. Unlike many exhibitions that tackle the monumental subject of the Civil War with a death march of dates and facts, MdHS has taken an interpretive path that focuses the lens on the individuals who bring the story to life. Some of the highlighted figures are familiar—Frederick Douglass, Clara Barton, Abraham Lincoln. Other individuals highlighted in the exhibition are seldom mentioned except by scholars and aficionados of the period, but their stories provide windows into what the war was like for the Marylanders who lived through it.

Through these individual stories and more than 300 objects and images from the period, some of which appear here, the war comes alive. Visitors will be struck by the depth of this collection and the endless stories these objects, documents, photographs, textiles, and weapons can still tell. The Maryland Historical Society is providing a rare experience, a most appropriate commemoration of one of the darkest chapters in our nation’s history.

—By Alexandra Deutsch, Chief Curator

DRUM OWNED BY UNION DRUMMER BOY JAMES W. SANK, 1863
This exquisitely decorated drum bears a silver plaque that reads: “Presented to James W. Sank, by the officers and men of Camp A Purnell Legion Md. Vols. May 1863.” Sank was one of many young men who were drummer boys, marching beside the ranks and often facing the most brutal fire. On the interior of the drum, a label reads, “From the Union Manufacturing Co. 98 W. Baltimore Street, Corner of Holiday, Baltimore, Maryland Drums of all sizes from $1 to $50.” Sank survived the war and returned to Baltimore to serve as a lettercarrier.

WALLET AND PAPER INSIDE WITH THE WORDS TO A “SONG FOR THE VOLUNTEERS”
This small leather wallet is typical of the kind carried by Civil War soldiers, found with two period newspaper clippings inside. Sadly, the owner’s name, which was once written on it, is now illegible. The first clipping is “A Song for the Volunteers,” a song set to the tune of “Dixie” that mocks the African-American man’s desire to fight in the war, a clue that the owner was a rebel. The second clipping is a poem called “The Widow’s Offering,” a tale of a widow and her children who are left penniless after the man of the family is killed in battle.

VETERAN’S BADGE OF THE ISAAC R. TRIMBLE CAMP 1025
This badge was owned by a member of the Isaac R. Trimble Camp, a Confederate veterans group named after one of Baltimore’s most revered rebels. Two days after the Pratt Street Riot, Mayor George William Brown asked West Point graduate Isaac Ridgeway Trimble (1802–1888), a commander of the Baltimore militia companies, to protect the city from further Northern incursions. Trimble philosophically opposed secession, but he became a fierce division commander in the Confederate Army and lost a leg at Gettysburg in 1863.

ARTILLERY JACKET WORN BY RICHARD SNOWDEN ANDREWS
Andrews, a Confederate soldier, was severely wounded by a shell fragment at the Battle of Cedar Mountain on August 9, 1862. The shell blew apart the jacket and tore open his abdominal wall. A country doctor looked at the wound and, aided only by a rusty needle, pushed Andrews’s intestines back into his body, crudely sewed up the wound, and hoped that he had made the body more presentable for the Major’s inevitable death. Miraculously, Andrews survived to be wounded again at Gettysburg and, after the war, to carry his bloodstained jacket with him when he lectured about the great conflict.

COLT REVOLVER, CARRIED BY BALTIMORE CITY POLICE, 1849
When the Pratt Street Riot broke out on April 19, 1861, cobblestones and rocks were not the only weapons used during the attacks. During this tumultuous time, the Baltimore City police under Police Marshall George P. Kane used revolvers like this one, which descended in the Reeder family of Maryland.

OATH OF ALLEGIANCE WITH HAND-SEWN CONFEDERATE FLAG
The document reads, “On November 23, 1864, Georgia Richards, a 24 year-old housekeeper in South Hampton, Virginia, took and subscribed to the Oath . . . required by General Orders 49 and 31 for loyal citizens of the United States . . .” Her pledge to the Union was framed with a Confederate flag, demonstrating that she took the oath only to avoid imprisonment.

GENERAL LEE’S CAMP CHAIR
A plaque on the worn, repaired seat of this simple Victorian folding chair reads: “Camp Chair Of Robert E. Lee Used At The Field Headquarters Second Battle Of Manassas War Between The States.” As the battle now known as the Second Manassas erupted, General Lee’s beloved but ornery horse, Traveler, threw him. The General suffered two sprained wrists and retreated to his tent as the battle ebbed and flowed nearby, likely finding comfort in this chair. Baltimorean Joshua Thomas, the chair’s donor, is said to have served as one of Lee’s clerks during the war.

GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC HAT
The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a national veterans’ organization formed immediately after the Civil War. It was limited to Union veterans, and camps were established throughout the country. In 1867, Commander-in-Chief of the GAR, General John A. Logan, established May 30 as Decoration Day, later known as Memorial Day. It was originally intended to commemorate the Union dead of the Civil War by decorating their graves with flowers and flags. Veterans held an annual “National Encampment” every year from 1866 to 1949.

BULL’S-EYE CANTEEN
Originally, this Civil War canteen would have been covered with wool. Few examples survive with their original fabric coverings. After the war, Philip Eckel Layman, who served in Company A of the 5th Maryland Infantry Regiment, decorated this souvenir with the American flag. Layman fought for the Union from 1861-1865 and served time in Libby Prison, the infamous Confederate facility in Richmond, VA. His grandson donated the canteen to the Maryland Historical Society in 1992.

PEOPLE OF BALTIMORE! APRIL 21, 1861 BROADSIDE
Tacked to buildings and hung in windows, broadsides spread word quickly and effectively. This one was printed two days after the pivotal Pratt Street Riot during which pro-secessionist and Southern-sympathizing citizens of Baltimore attacked the 6th Massachusetts regiment traveling through Baltimore under Lincoln’s orders. The city was on edge awaiting the next act of violence. This broadside urged the citizens of Baltimore to join up to defend their city and their homes and encouraged them to support the troops pouring into Baltimore to defend the city from Northern abuses.

HAND-CARVED WOODEN ROSARY CARVED BY CONFEDERATE PRISONERS
Today, the picturesque peninsula known as Point Lookout is a Maryland state park known for its natural beauty and recreational opportunities. Its peaceful surroundings belie its history as the location of one of the worst Union prison camps during the war. As many as 52,264 Confederate soldiers, some of them Marylanders, were imprisoned there and endured its wretched conditions. Soldiers found ways to wile away the time during their imprisonment, carving trinkets for loved ones. This rosary was probably made for family and friends who were waiting for the prisoners to come home.

4TH U.S.C.T. NATIONAL FLAG MADE BY THE “COLORED LADIES OF BALTIMORE” CARRIED IN THE BATTLE OF NEW MARKET HEIGHTS IN 1864
Baltimore-born, college-educated Christian Fleetwood had just turned 23 when he enlisted in the 4th Regiment, United States Colored Troops. Led by white commissioned officers, Fleetwood’s education and intelligence propelled him to sergeant major, the highest enlisted rank an African-American could attain.
In the early fall of 1864, Fleetwood’s regiment was part of an assault on heavily defended New Market Heights outside of Richmond, Virginia. After two color guards went down in a hailstorm of fire, Fleetwood seized this flag and rushed into the fray. In retrospect, Fleetwood thought he survived the brutal engagement because he was such a “little fellow” and the bullets went over his head.
Although small in stature, Fleetwood was so admired for his bravery that he was presented with a Medal of Honor, the lasting recognition of his contribution to the war. In 1865, all of the regiment’s white officers petitioned Secretary of War Stanton to promote Fleetwood to the rank of commissioned officer. Although Stanton denied the request, Fleetwood remained committed to his country and continued to serve in military affairs in Washington, D.C. until his death in 1914.

CARVED FIGURE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Little is known about this folk art figure of Lincoln, but it was carved in Somerset County, Maryland just after the war. It is a testament to the lasting memory of the man still revered as one of America’s greatest presidents. The presence of the beard rules out the possibility that it was made when Lincoln ran in the election of 1860. At that time, he was beardless.

CONFEDERATE NAVAL OFFICER’S FROCK COAT WORN BY ADMIRAL FRANKLIN BUCHANAN
Confederate naval officers’ frock coats are rare. This one conforms perfectly to the regulations established by the Confederate naval authorities.
Immediately after the 1861 Pratt Street Riots, career naval officer Franklin Buchanan resigned his post as First Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis and accepted Jefferson Davis’s offer to command the Confederate Navy. In 1862 as commander of the ironclad Virginia, Buchanan attacked and sank the Congress, the Union blockade vessel on which his brother, McKean Buchanan, was Paymaster. Buchanan’s is a story of “brother against brother” on the sea. He was wounded in the fight, missing the Virginia’s momentous fight with the Monitor the very next day.

ROBERT E. LEE’S GENERAL ORDER NO. 9
Upon Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender to the Union Army at Appomattox Court House (a village in 1865) Lee made his farewell address to his men. Lee’s general order to cease fighting and return home is poignant in its simplicity and gratitude for the efforts of those who fought and sacrificed for the cause of the South and for himself. Transcribed by a clerk at the Headquarters of the Army of Northern Virginia, twelve original copies were made to be sent to Lee’s regiments, with an additional copy given to the clerk. Immediately the order began being duplicated with versions disseminating across the country. This is one of those copies, Some of these, such as the Order No. 9 held by the Maryland Historical Society, are signed by Lee himself.

WALLPAPER FROM PRESIDENT LINCOLN’S BOX AT FORD THEATER
Few events in American history are as notorious as John Wilkes Booth’s successful plot to kill President Abraham Lincoln. The actor-turned-murderer hailed from Maryland, a fact sometimes overlooked when recalling his crime. The dramatic manhunt that took place in the wake of that evening at Ford’s Theater tracked Booth through the state and into Virginia where he was killed on April 26, 1865.
This wallpaper, removed from the private box at Ford’s Theater in which President Lincoln was sitting when he was shot, is part of the Mary Ann Booth Papers held by the Maryland Historical Society Library. The collection, on permanent deposit, pulls together several pieces of memorabilia relating to this Maryland family, including letters from Mary Ann Booth to her son John Wilkes Booth and notes. Despite dying a murderer, Booth remained beloved in the minds of his mother and particularly his sister, Asia. This scrap of wallpaper attests to their lingering obsession with a family member who became one of American history’s most despised men.

ADALBERT VOLCK, “SEARCHING FOR ARMS,” MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY H. FURLONG BALDWIN LIBRARY COLLECTION, PP247
Following the Pratt Street Riot of April 19, 1861, the need to preserve Maryland’s allegiance to the Union became even more evident to President Lincoln. The secessionist sentiments that inspired the riot made the divisions within Maryland profoundly evident. President Lincoln took action to keep Maryland in the Union, rescinding the writ of habeas corpus, one of the legal safeguards against unjustified imprisonment. In addition, he placed Maryland under martial law. Soon Federal troops were stationed on Baltimore’s Federal Hill and cannons were aimed at the Washington Monument in the city’s Mount Vernon Square. Individuals under any suspicion of loyalty to the Confederate cause were arrested and placed in Fort McHenry and other northern prisons. Houses were searched for Confederate materials, weapons, and any other evidence of actions against the Union.
In this cartoon, Volck depicts a nighttime “raid” by Federal troops on a Baltimore residence. The women of the house huddle together in their shifts while an older gentleman is menaced by two Union soldiers. Two Confederate flags, the famous “stars and bars” are found, revealing the family’s true loyalties. These “unlawful” searches, seizures, and imprisonments outraged citizens such as Volck, whose defiance of the Union cause was further strengthened by this type of event.

ADALBERT VOLCK, “PASSAGE THROUGH BALTIMORE,” MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY H. FURLONG BALDWIN LIBRARY COLLECTION, PP247
Adalbert Volck (1828–1912) was a Bavarian-born dentist and satirical caricaturist whose political cartoons lampooned President Abraham Lincoln and the actions of the North against the South during the Civil War. A staunch, almost militant supporter of the Confederacy, Volck used the pseudonym “V. Blada” and is said to have been a smuggler for the Confederacy as well as a courier for Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States of America. This image depicts the newly-elected president skulking through Baltimore on his way from Springfield to Washington, afraid of a rumored mob attack on his train. Lincoln’s election had resulted in Democrats assaulting Republicans in the city’s streets.

These days, some people’s idea of romance is turning off their BlackBerry at dinner. But we wanted to know what ever happened to the art of letter writing, hand holding, and door opening. So we explored this idea by photographing 20 of Baltimore’s hottest singles in the most beautiful spaces in the city. (We think the glamorous locales suit them.) We also asked our singles how they’ve kept romance alive, and polled local celebrities about their favorite love stories. Finally, we dug up some old school romantic traditions we would like to see make a comeback. Ultimately, we don’t think romance is dead, just a bit under the weather.

Tom Chan

38, race car team manager, TPC Racing; single, no kids

Favorite book: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Favorite film: Die Hard. Favorite TV show: How I Met Your Mother. Favorite website: ebay.com. Favorite music: Everything from rock to R&B. Celebrity dream date: Jennifer Love Hewitt. Celebrity look-alike: Christian Bale.Turn-ons: Warm smile, sparkling eyes, high heels.Turn-offs: Arrogance, rudeness. Hidden talents:Ballroom dancing. Most romantic thing you’ve ever done: Slow dancing on the Stratosphere overlooking the city lights. Most romantic thing someone has done for you: My ex waited for me outside to give me a flower after I had taken a test.Favorite love story? Jerry Maguire. What tradition should be more common? Holding hands. How did you spend the blizzard? Hiked to a pub for fish, chips, and beer. Romance is…what we make of it.

Jason Bosley-Smith

33, personal trainer, MAC; single, no kids

Favorite book: How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy.Favorite film: Step Brothers, To Kill a Mockingbird. Favorite TV show: Seinfeld.Favorite website: Mine, thefitrx.com. Favorite music: Everything from Al Green to The Gypsy Kings. Celebrity dream date: Eva Mendes.Celebrity look-alike: Noah Wyle. Turn-ons:Active, witty, generous, adventurous. Turn-offs:Negative, confrontational. Big sports fan? I like playing basketball and rooting for the O’s and Ravens. How do you stay fit? Free weights, cables, jump rope, boxing. Hidden talents? Drawing.Most romantic thing you’ve ever done: One year, I made a special church offering of poinsettias in the name of my girlfriend’s grandmother who had passed away. What tradition should be more common? Handwritten notes. How did you spend the blizzard? Having an ugly sweater party.Romance is…being there for someone no matter what.

Paul Moravec

31, owner, Allied Remodeling; single, no kids

Favorite book: Private Parts. Favorite film:Swingers. Favorite TV show: Two and a Half Men.Favorite website: espn.com. Favorite music: Anything ’80s. Celebrity dream date:Alessandra Ambrosio. Celebrity look-alike: David Villa. Turn-ons: Sense of humor.Turn-offs: Snobbiness. Big sports fan? O’s, Stroh’s, and Natty Boh’s. Hidden talents?I may or may not ice skate very well. Most romantic thing you’ve ever done:Blindfolded my girlfriend and went to Prague. Most romantic thing someone has done for you: Surprise birthday party in Montreal. Favorite love story? Sixteen Candles. What tradition should be more common? Picnics. How did you spend the blizzard? I intentionally stranded myself at my friend’s house in Canton so I could have fun downtown. Favorite app? TripIt. I love to travel. Romance is…a bottle of white, a bottle of red, perhaps a bottle of rosé instead?

Suzy Prucka

30, criminal appellate attorney; divorced, no kids

Favorite book: When Character Was King. Favorite film: The Usual Suspects.Favorite website: drudgereport.com. Favorite music: Texas country. Celebrity dream date: Landon Donovan. Celebrity look-alike: Stephanie March. Turn-ons:Southern manners. Turn-offs: Vegetarianism, ego. Big sports fan? Yes, bleed Cowboys blue with a dash of Ravens purple. Most romantic thing you’ve ever done:Went on a surprise sunset picnic. Most romantic thing someone has done for you:In Costa Rica, on the divide, he told he me loved me on the east coast and then took a step and told me he loved me on the west coast. Favorite love story? Love Actually.What tradition should be more common? Love letters. Lady Gaga vs. Madonna:Madge. She is the original. Romance is…patience.

Jen Royle

36, sports reporter, MASN and 105.7 The Fan; single, no kids

Favorite book: The James Frey collection. Favorite film: Fargo, Bull Durham, and Jaws. Favorite TV show: Survivor. Favorite website: zappos.com. Favorite music:Counting Crows. Celebrity dream date: Ben Affleck. Celebrity look-alike: Sarah Jessica Parker. Turn-ons: Funny. Period. Turn-offs: People who show off. Big sports fan? HUGE. Sports reporters are all fans—minus the crazy. How do you stay fit? Run and try to avoid eating entire loaves of bread. How did you meet your last boyfriend? Backstage at a concert. Most romantic thing you’ve ever done: Rubbed somebody’s head until they fell asleep on my stomach. Most romantic thing someone has done for you: Kissed me on my forehead. It’s that simple. Favorite app? Tip Calculator, because a group dinner can be really confusing. Romance is…hanging out with your best friend all day that you want to kiss all night.

Ben Jordan

29, vice president of business development, Wells Fargo; single, no kids

Favorite book: Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan. Favorite film: Scent of a Woman. Favorite TV show: Californication. Favorite website: livenation.com.Favorite music: Anything but country. Celebrity dream date: Jessica Biel. Celebrity look-alike: I’ve been told George Clooney. Turn-ons: Active, independent, and motivated. Hidden talents? I can touch my nose with my tongue. Most romantic thing you’ve ever done: Planned a surprise weekend in NYC. Most romantic thing someone has done for you: Surprised me with a trip to see Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. Favorite love story? Two Ninas. What tradition should be more common?Writing letters. How did you spend the blizzard? Snowboarding at Wisp. Favorite app? Words With Friends. Romance is…necessary.

Tom Wagner

55, medical sales, Boehringer Ingelheim; widowed, two kids, Maggie, 17, Lindsey, 14

Favorite book: Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff. Favorite film: One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. Favorite TV show: CSI. Favorite music: Rock ’n’ roll. Celebrity dream date: Jennifer Aniston. Turn-ons: Humor. Turn-offs: Smoking. How do you stay fit? Work out at the YMCA. Hidden talents? Cooking. Most romantic thing you’ve ever done: Bought 100 roses. Most romantic thing someone has done for you: Taken me out for fine dining. Favorite love story? Terms of Endearment. What tradition do you wish was more common? Saying “I love you.” How did you spend the blizzard? With my two girls. Lady Gaga vs. Madonna: Madonna. Romance is…fun.

Phyllis Collins

29, associate project manager, Laureate; single, no kids

Favorite book: Dear John. Favorite film:
The Shawshank Redemption. Favorite TV show: Criminal Minds. Favorite website:Groupon! Favorite music: I listen to (almost) anything. Celebrity dream date: Eric Dane. Celebrity look-alike: I’ve been told Tyra Banks, Halle Berry, and Vanessa Williams. Turn-ons: Sense of humor, physical fitness, silliness. Turn-offs: Cockiness.How do you stay fit? I love spin class! Most romantic thing you’ve ever done: I enjoy preparing a nice meal. Most romantic thing someone has done for you: On my birthday, my boyfriend had flowers set up all over his apartment and Sade playing softly in the background. Favorite love story? The Notebook, hands down. Is chivalry dead? I think it’s making a comeback. Favorite app? Pandora. Lady Gaga vs. Madonna: Madonna is an original. Romance is…a necessity.

Gina Finelli

41, assistant dean, undergraduate studies, University of Baltimore; single, no kids

Favorite film: Something the Lord Made. Favorite TV show: Seinfeld. Celebrity look-alike: When I was studying abroad in Europe in 1989, people thought Gloria Estefan. Turn-ons: Honesty, people who know who they are. Turn-offs: Lying, manipulating, and sugar-coating. Big sports fan? I grew up playing every sport I could in a time when girls were often not allowed to play. Most romantic thing someone has done for you: One morning, I was stirring my tea and the bag broke. He told me to finish getting ready for work and proceeded to sift the individual tea leaves out so I could have my tea for work. Favorite love story? My parents. Is chivalry dead? No, I just think it should be practiced by all. Romance is…what happens when you don’t take someone for granted.

Meg Link

31, graphic designer; single, no kids

Favorite book: Gone with the Wind. Favorite film: The Royal Tenenbaums. Favorite website: My blog, thepreppylife.com. Favorite music: Classic rock. Celebrity dream date: John Cusack. Turn-ons: Good cooking skills and a sense of humor. Turn-offs:Smoking, guys who don’t like dogs. Phobias? Going to the doctor. How do you stay fit?I’m allegedly training for a marathon. Most romantic thing you’ve ever done:Decorated my boyfriend’s house for Christmas when he was away. Most romantic thing someone has done for you: Adopted a dog for me. What’s your Favorite love story? Desk Set. Spencer Tracy falls for Katharine Hepburn. What tradition should be more common? Getting flowers at work. Is chivalry dead? Almost. How did you spend the blizzard? Sitting on the beach in Cancun! Lady Gaga vs. Madonna: Gaga all the way. Romance is…what everyone is looking for.

Moneé Cottman

32, travel media manager, Visit Baltimore; single, no kids

Favorite book: The Coldest Winter Ever. Favorite film: Dumb & Dumber, Love Actually. Favorite TV show: The Golden Girls. Favorite website: etsy.com. Favorite music: Everything but go-go, Taylor Swift, and Justin Bieber. Celebrity dream date:Allen Iverson. Turn-ons: Confidence, handsome smile, great cook. Turn-offs:Crackberry addicts, living in your mama’s basement. How do you stay fit? I eat what I want and work out. Hidden talents? I’m learning sign language. Most romantic thing you’ve ever done: Surprised him with his favorite meal for no reason. Most romantic thing someone has done for you: An ex-boyfriend went above and beyond to take care of me while I was sick. Is chivalry dead? Man, I hope not! I hear he opens doors.How did you spend the blizzard? Watched Prison Break and reorganized my closets.Favorite app? Groupon. Romance is…a luxury.

Meredith Hollandsworth

24, assistant planner, Joseph A. Bank Clothiers; single, no kids

Favorite book: Into biographies and memoirs. Favorite film: Clueless. Favorite TV show: The Price Is Right. Favorite website: giltgroupe.com. Favorite music: Eclectic, but no country. Celebrity dream date: Will Ferrell. Celebrity look-alike: Ivanka Trump. Turn-ons: Ambition, humor, adventure. Turn-offs: Laziness, insecurity, jean shorts. Big sports fan? Love the athletes. How do you stay fit? Yoga, kickboxing, and spin class. Hidden talents? Fishing. Most romantic thing you’ve ever done? Took a half-day from work to hop a train to Connecticut to surprise my college boyfriend. Most romantic thing someone has done for you? Trying to keep a long-distance relationship going. Favorite love story? My grandparents. Is chivalry dead? Is the sky blue?Favorite app? Daily Horoscope. Romance is…expression of the heart through action.

Lyn Harper

51, not-for-profit consultant, Yaffe & Company; divorced, two kids, George, 20, Clarke, 18

Favorite book: Mistress of Riversdale. Favorite TV show: Jeopardy! and Parenthood.Favorite website: southwest.com. Favorite music: Live, acoustic, and I will sing.Celebrity dream date: Johnny Depp, but if he is busy, George Clooney. Celebrity look-alike: Naomi Watts unplugged. Turn-ons: Wit, humor, athleticism, kindness.Turn-offs: Ego not commensurate with accomplishments. Big sports fan? Yes! I play, coach, ref, cheer, and watch. How do you stay fit? Swim, tennis, run, scuba. Most romantic thing you’ve ever done: Surprised my beau for his birthday at the Orlando Airport Hyatt. Most romantic thing someone has done for you: Taking care of me post-op. Favorite love story? When Harry Met Sally… What tradition should be more common? Holding hands. Favorite app? RedLaser. Romance is…a gift.

Roy Wilkinson IV

29, equity trade support associate, Morgan Stanley; single, no kids

Favorite book: The Great Gatsby. Favorite film: Amadeus. Favorite TV show:Project Runway. Favorite website: youtube.com. Favorite music: Pop and dance.Celebrity dream date: Ryan Reynolds. Celebrity look-alike: Ricky Martin. Turn-ons:Cleanliness, in-telligence, success, and a twisted sense of humor. Turn-offs: Arrogance, lack of compassion, laziness. Big sports fan? Penn State sports. How do you stay fit?No fast food, gym, and eight hours of sleep. Most romantic thing someone has done for you: Someone created a birthday scavenger hunt for me. Favorite love story?Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. What tradition should be more common?Sometimes I love turning off the TV and playing a board game with someone. Is chivalry dead? If you think so, you’re not paying attention. Favorite app? Foursquare.Romance is…different from love.

Michael Alderman

48, IT entrepreneur/real estate developer; divorced, two kids, Callie, 17, and Michael Jr., 15

Favorite book: The Pillars of the Earth. Favorite film: Uncle Buck. Favorite TV show: Two and a Half Men. Favorite website: nfl.com. Favorite music: Reggae.Celebrity dream date: Jennifer Aniston. Celebrity look-alike: Sean Astin. Turn-ons:Honesty, willpower, and a little black dress. Big sports fan? I’m a huge fan of my children’s sporting events. Most romantic thing you’ve ever done: I took an eight-hour train ride from Switzerland to Italy to give flowers to a girl I had met once. Most romantic thing someone has done for you: A girl went to church on Thanksgiving to give thanks for meeting me. Favorite love story? When Harry Met Sally… Is chivalry dead? Absolutely not! How did you spend the blizzard? Plowing out friends and family. Favorite app? Urbanspoon. Romance is…a lifestyle.

Courtney Barry

22, event planner, The Oregon Grille; single, no kids

Favorite book: The Great Gatsby. Favorite film: Cruel Intentions. Favorite TV show:Any CSI. Favorite website: sugarinc.com. Celebrity dream date: Wes Welker.Celebrity look-alike: Someone told me I look like Anna Rawson. Turn-ons:Spontaneity, honesty, adventure. Turn-offs: Pessimism, cockiness. How do you stay fit? Spinning class. Hidden talents? I went to culinary school, so I love to cook. Most romantic thing you’ve ever done: In high school, I wrote my boyfriend a love letter once a month. Most romantic thing someone has done for you: Someone bought me a rose one night and said I was gorgeous. Favorite love story? Never Been Kissed.What tradition do you wish was more common? Talking on the phone. Favorite app? Shazam. Lady Gaga vs. Madonna: Lady Gaga. She’s beautifully unique. Romance is…pure excitement.

Darryl Tarver

24, transportation engineer, Brudis & Associates; single, no kids

Favorite book: Things Fall Apart. Favorite film: Training Day. Favorite TV show: The Wire. Favorite website: wikipedia.com, espn.com. Favorite music: Outkast, Kanye West, Michael Jackson, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Celebrity dream date: Salma Hayek.Celebrity look-alike: I get Pharrell a lot. Turn-ons: Frequent smile and eye contact, intelligent, fashionable. Turn-offs: Drama queens, snobs, airheads. How do you stay fit? Running and pick-up baseball. Most romantic thing you’ve ever done? Write love letters. Most romantic thing someone has done for you? Breakfast in bed. Favorite love story? (500) Days of Summer. What tradition should be more common? I wish women didn’t take chivalry the wrong way sometimes. How did you spend the blizzard? Shoveling and quality time with my roommates. Favorite app? Foursquare.Romance…is something everyone should experience at least once.

Wyatt Everhart

36, Broadcast meteorologist, ABC 2 News; single, no kids

Favorite book: It’s Not About the Bike. Favorite film: Forgetting Sarah Marshall.Favorite website: grooveshark.com. Celebrity dream date: Charlize Theron.Celebrity look-alike: Val Kilmer. Turn-ons: Fun, fitness, laughs, travel. Turn-offs:Pessimism, cynicism, elitism. Big sports fan? Love college football. How do you stay fit? Depends on the season. Swim, surf in the summer. Snowboard in the winter.Hidden talents? I’m told I take really nice photos. Most romantic thing you’ve ever done: Weekend getaway to the beach. Favorite love story? Cast Away. What tradition should be more common? Massage. Is chivalry dead? No, but it is dying. There are still a few areas where I think it’s holding tough. How did you spend the blizzard? Working my butt off. Romance is…timeless.

Kathleen Pelletier

40, special education chair, Baltimore County Public Schools; divorced, one kid, Cora, 8

Favorite book: Eat, Pray, Love. Favorite film: Moonstruck. Favorite TV show:Modern Family. Favorite website: jcrew.com. Favorite music: Pretty much anything on WTMD. Celebrity dream date: Robert Downey Jr. Celebrity look-alike: Older Katie Holmes and Kristin Davis. Turn-ons: Humor, nice smile, good shoes. Turn-offs:Men with crunchy hair, arrogance. Big sports fan? I love football. I was married to a football coach for many years. Hidden talents? I play the bassoon. Most romantic thing you’ve ever done: After years of being afraid to fly, I flew to Boston to see an ex-flame. What tradition should be more common? Real dates! Is chivalry dead? It’s endangered. How did you spend the blizzard? Snowed in with my daughter and Labrador. Favorite app? GPS. Romance is…taking the time to act on your feelings.

John Bucher

34, equity investment liaison manager, T. Rowe Price; single, no kids

Favorite book: Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich. Favorite film: A Few Good Men. Favorite TV show: Glee and Boardwalk Empire. Favorite website:pandora.com. Favorite music: Country, pop, and ’80s. Celebrity dream date: Scarlett Johansson. Celebrity look-alike: Paul Rudd maybe? Turn-ons: Honesty and sings in the car. Turn-offs: Pessimism. Big sports fan? Absolutely, any local team. Hidden talents? I’m pretty handy with a hammer and a nail. Most romantic thing someone has done for you: A surprise homemade Valentine’s Day dinner. Favorite love story?Romeo and Juliet. What tradition should be more common? Courting. Is chivalry dead? Not in my mind. Favorite app? Does texting count? Lady Gaga vs. Madonna:A dress made entirely of meat is pretty hard to top! Romance is…alive and well.

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PHOTOGRAPHY

Setting: Hotel Monaco Baltimore
Why romantic: Maintaining the integrity of the B&O headquarters building, Hotel Monaco has the original marble and Tiffany stained glass in its lobby.
2 N. Charles Street, 443-692-6170, monaco-baltimore.com

Setting: The Walters Art Museum
Why romantic: The diverse collection of world art on display at the Walters includes romantic Greek sculptures and beautiful Egyptian jewelry.
600 N. Charles Street, 410-547-9000, thewalters.org

Setting: Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens
Why romantic: The conservatory allows us an escape, with over an acre of flora inside its glass walls.
3100 Swan Drive, 410-396-0008,baltimoreconservatory.org, Wed.-Sun., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Setting: Penn Station
Why romantic: There aren’t too many things more romantic than taking a bona fide train across the country. The neoclassical architecture and grand columns just add to the allure.
1515 N. Charles Street, 410-539-5000

Here’s a short list of peer-recommended physicians in or near the Ocean City and Rehoboth areas. Survey sampling was smaller than the Baltimore-area survey, and some specialties were omitted if results were inconclusive.

Methodology

We followed the same methodology and collected the results of this Eastern Shore survey concurrent with our main Top Doctors list. For full information on the survey methodology and our survey advisors, see our Top Doctors 2010 list, on newsstands now.

Allergy and Immunology

Curt Watkins
Peninsula Allergy and Asthma
201 Pine Bluff Rd., #28 Salisbury 410-742-5599

Anesthesiology (Adult)

James Skolka
9733 Healthway Dr.
Berlin
410-641-9646

Anesthesiology (Pediatric)

James Skolka
9733 Healthway Dr.
Berlin
410-641-9646

Audiology

Michael Kelleher
106 Milford St., #101
Salisbury
410-742-1906

Cardiology (Adult)

Jeffrey Etherton
Delmarva Heart
Milford Street Professional Center
106 Milford St., Ste. 605
Salisbury
410-334-2227

Steven Hearne
Delmarva Heart
Milford Street Professional Center
106 Milford St., Ste. 605
Salisbury
410-334-2227

Dermatology

Luette Semmes
106 Milford St., Ste. 301
Salisbury
410-546-4431

Endocrinology (Diabetes, Thyroid)

Jack Snitzer
1415 S. Division St.
Salisbury
410-752-8848

Emergency Medicine

Clark Willis
Peninsula Regional Medical Center
100 E. Carroll St.
Salisbury
410-546-6400

Robert Portz
Sussex Emergency Associates
424 Savannah Rd.
Lewes, DE
302-645-3554

Family Practice

Victor DeJesus
2853 E. Dupont Hwy.
Seaford, DE
302-934-0195

William Greer
12417 Ocean Gateway
Ocean City
410-213-0111

Gastroenterology/Hepatology

Jerrold Canakis
124 N. Main St., Ste. A
Berlin
410-641-2938

Geriatrics

Vel Natesan
1415 S. Division St., Ste. B
Salisbury
410-749-4400

Gynecology

Bruce Winnacott
106 Milford St., Ste. 701
Salisbury
410-742-4547

Jason Evans
223 Phillip Morris Dr.
Salisbury
410-546-2424

Byron Lee Jennings
223 Phillip Morris Dr.
Salisbury
410-546-2424

Intensivists/Critical Care

Anthony Perella
Atlantic General Hospital
9733 Healthway Dr.
Berlin
410-641-9646

Obstetrics

Bruce Winnacott
106 Milford St., Ste. 701
Salisbury
410-742-4547

Jason Evans
223 Phillip Morris Dr.
Salisbury
410-546-2424

Byron Lee Jennings
223 Phillip Morris Dr.
Salisbury
410-546-2424

Hematology/Oncology

James Martin
Peninsula Regional Hematology
100 E. Carroll St.
Salisbury
410-749-1282

Hospitalist

Borislav Antonov
Beebe Medical Center
400 Savannah Rd., Ste. B
Lewes, DE
302-645-3555

Simona Eng
Peninsula Reginal Medical Ctr
100 E. Carroll St.
Salisbury
410-543-7536

Juliette von Egmond
Atlantic General Hospital
9733 Healthway Dr.
Berlin
410-641-1100

Internal Medicine

Ronald Travitz
Three Lower Counties Community Services, Inc.
1665 Woodbrooke Dr.
Salisbury
410-546-6650

Infectious Diseases

Camille Khawand
105 Pine Bluff Rd., Ste. 7A
Salisbury
410-749-8370

Nephrology

Michael Basuel
1340 S. Division St., Ste. 301
Salisbury
410-546-4427

Opthalmology

Gary Luppens
101 Milford St.
Salisbury
410-543-7835

Orthopedics, General

Ronald Sabbagh
Orthopedic Associates
17005 Old Orchard Rd.
Lewes, DE
302-422-5242

Thomas Beck
Atlantic Orthopedics
88 Atlantic Ave.
Ocean View, DE
302-541-4500

Orthopedics, Hand

Richard Kang
Peninsula Orthopedic Associates
314 Franklin Ave.
Berlin
410-641-0202

Orthopedics, Foot and Ankle

Thomas Beck
88 Atlantic Ave.
Ocean View, DE
302-541-4500

Orthopedics, Spine

John Greco
Peninsula Orthopedic Associates
314 Franklin Ave., Ste. 502
Berlin
410-641-0202

Orthopedics, Joint Replacement

Thomas Beck
88 Atlantic Ave.
Ocean View, DE
302-541-4500

Otolaryngology

Michael Kelleher
106 Milford St., #101
Salisbury
410-742-1906

Chronic Pain/Pain Management

Conworth Dayton-Jones
Assoc. Anesthesiology
1326 Mount Hermon Rd., Ste. 14B
Salisbury
410-742-4401

Pediatrics, General

Thiele Anthony
Nemours Pediatrics
121 S. Front St.
Seaford, DE
302-629-5030

William Taylor
Chesapeake Pediatrics
106 Milford St., Ste. 201
Salisbury
410-543-1616

Mohsin Ansari
106 Pine Bluff Rd., Ste. 11
Salisbury
410-742-2255

Maria Sofia Avedano-Welch
20785 Professional Park Blvd.
Georgetown, DE
302-855-2060

John Ludwicki
424 Mulberry St.
Milton, DE
302-684-0561

Pediatric Allergy

Curt Watkins
Peninsula Allergy and Asthma
201 Pine Bluff Rd., #28
Salisbury
410-742-5599

Physical Medicine/Rehabilitation

Gunnar Zorn
100 E. Carroll St., Ste. 400
Salisbury
410-543-7530

Jeffrey Anderson
Ability Rehabilitation
100 E. Carroll St.
Salisbury
410-543-7065

Podiatry

James Klocek
106 Milford St., Ste. 504A
Salisbury
410-546-2288

Peter Cuesta
11021 Nicholas Ln., Ste. 6
Ocean Pines
410-208-4878

Mark Menendez
33759 Clay Rd., Ste. 2
Lewes, DE
302-644-8500

Pulmonary

Anthony Perella
Atlantic General Hospital
9733 Healthway Dr.
Berlin, MD
410-641-9646

Radiation Oncology

Manjo Jain
100 E. Carroll St.
Salisbury
410-543-7000

General Diagnostic Radiology

Simmi Chawla
Peninsula Imaging
1655 Woodbrooke Dr., Ste. 101
Salisbury
866-725-1061

Alexander Zito
1655 Woodbrooke Dr., Ste. 101
Salisbury
866-725-1061

Sleep Specialist

Anthony Perella
Atlantic General Hospital
9733 Healthway Dr.
Berlin
410-641-9646

Rheumatology (Adult)

Michael Crouch
105 Pine Bluff Rd., Ste. 7
Salisbury
410-546-2926

Sports Medicine

Thomas Brandon
Peninsula Orthopedics
1675 Woodbroke Dr.
Salisbury
410-749-4154

Urology

Mark Edney, Peninsula Urology
1342 S. Division St.
Salisbury
410-548-3361

Bariatric Surgery

Un Chin
6507 Deer Pointe Dr.
Salisbury
410-543-9332

Breast Surgery

David Walker
205 W. Main St.
Salisbury
410-546-6388

Cardiac Surgery

James Todd
CV Surgical Associates
201 Pine Bluff Rd., Ste. 25
Medical Center West
Salisbury
410-546-1353

Colon-Rectal Surgery

Un Chin
6507 Deer Pointe Dr.
Salisbury
410-543-9332

General Surgery

Un Chin
6507 Deer Pointe Dr.
Salisbury
410-543-9332

Neurosurgery

Julius Zant
540 Snow Hill Rd.
Salisbury
410-860-0411

Surgical Oncology, General

Un Chin
6507 Deer Pointe Dr.
Salisbury
410-543-9332

Surgical Oncology, Head and Neck

Michael Kelleher
106 Milford St., #101
Salisbury
410-742-1906

Oral Maxillofacial Surgery

John Seidel
1346 S. Division St., Ste. 102
Salisbury
410-749-6822

Retina and Vitreous Surgery

Jeffrey Benner
6511 Deer Pointe Dr.
Salisbury
410-546-8037

Thoracic Surgery

Kurt Wehberg, CV Surgical Associates
201 Pine Bluff Rd., Ste. 25
Medical Center West
Salisbury
410-546-1353

Erik Stancofski
Cape Surgical Assoc.
750 Kings Hwy.
Lewes
302-645-7050

Trauma Specialists

David Kerrigan
Mid-Atlantic Surgical Group
6507 Deer Pointe Dr.
Salisbury
410-543-9332

Urology, Surgery

Mark Edney
Peninsula Urology
1342 S. Division St.
Salisbury
410-548-3361

Vascular Surgery

Douglas Wilhite
6507 Deer Pointe Dr.
Salisbury
410-543-9332

Plastic Reconstructive (Not Cosmetic) Surgery

Jason Arrington
106 Milford St., Ste. 307
Salisbury
410-548-9555

In 2004, Kuwaiti businessman Adel Alzankawi received word that his wife had a malignant tumor. Concerned that local doctors would not be able to remove the growth and save her life, he went to the Internet.

“I typed in ‘best hospital in the world,'” he recalls. “It came back ‘Johns Hopkins.'”

Months later, Alzankawi and his wife traveled to Baltimore to have her tumor removed. Six years later, she returns every year to monitor her condition.

“Everything is fine now,” says Alzankawi. “She had another operation last year—at Hopkins, of course.”

Mrs. Alzankawi is one of 3,000 people who will come from abroad to be treated at The Johns Hopkins Hospital this year, with 36,000 scheduled appointments and 1,100 inpatient admissions, making Baltimore probably the most popular global destination for health care. Patients come from South America, Asia, and Europe, but the largest number come from the Middle East, and often include members of royal families, high-ranking government officials, and heads of state.

The Herculean task of catering to this demanding and specialized clientele falls to Johns Hopkins Medicine International (JHI), a 150-person department including interpreters who speak more than 20 languages. JHI specializes in the delicate task of communicating with people from a wide range of backgrounds, cultural traditions, and religions, who are often in the most precarious of life-and-death situations.

“The people who come here from abroad are mostly very, very sick,” says Raffaella Molteni, the chief administrative officer at JHI. “They come here because this is one of the last options, if not the last or only option for their care. People who come here are desperate for their medical condition to improve and we need to handle the complexity of their family situation, their cultural situation.”

International patients coming to Hopkins most often come for medical or surgical treatment of advanced cancer, neurosurgery, or orthapedics. The group frequently includes children suffering from genetic defects, cancer, or birth abnormalities. These kinds of patients, who often arrive with families, have been coming to Hopkins for decades, as part of the “International Services” department, but, in 1999, the hospital created JHI, increasing staff and aiming to create a concierge level of service for them.

“We designated staff members to be ambassadors for the patients coming here, to go and help them, when arriving here at the airport, really making a point of being here for them at any point of their journey, even when they were not at the hospital,” says Molteni, who has been part of JHI since its inception. “We had a 24/7 phone number people could call when they had questions, we had people visiting the patients at their hotels and homes just to make sure they felt comfortable.”

These ambassadors, now called international care coordinators, usually speak the same language as the clients they serve and are generally from the same part of the world. They quickly become not just interpreters, but advocates, helping patients navigate the complicated world of medical diagnosis and treatment through the lens of their unique cultural and religious background.

“For example, there are times where you cannot use the word ‘cancer’ right away,” says Molteni, citing the cultural importance of discretion, particularly in patients from the Middle East. “At one point, the patient has to know, to make appropriate decisions regarding the care, but when is the time to let the patient know? You need to be a cultural broker betweens the physicians and medical staff and the family.”

These cultural brokers are crucial, says Dr. Charles Cummings, executive medical director of JHI, who regularly sees patients from abroad. “Patient coordinators are very much a part of the treatment process here, along with doctors and nurses,” he says. “Very frequently, those coordinators are present with a patient when the physician is in the process of treatment or evaluation.”

Since the creation of JHI, the number of international patients coming to Hopkins has tripled, based largely on word of mouth—the hospital does little marketing overseas.

“There is this unique relationship that gets established,” says Molteni. “Everybody is the same when they get sick. We all go through the same experiences, the same anxiety, the same fears.”

Passersby are frequently perplexed by the comings and goings on the corner of Aliceanna and S. Essex Streets in swanky Harbor East. There, large red vans, some handicap-accessible, often drop off or pick up large numbers of passengers in Middle Eastern garb. The women often have head-to-toe hijabs, the men wear long, flowing white robes and head coverings. Frequently, at least one member of the party will be wheelchair-bound, walking with crutches, or attached to an I.V.

These men and women are guests of Chase Street Properties, located in The Promenade building at 1001 Aliceanna Street. Argentinian expatriate Gonzalo Jouan founded the company in 1997 after working in the International Services department at Hopkins for 10 years. He is now JHI’s biggest contractor for housing international patients. His company owns or leases 82 apartments in the Baltimore area, including 38 in The Promenade, and Jouan says he is generally at about 97 percent capacity.

Often, Jouan and his staff are on the front lines, shuttling Hopkins’ international clientele to and from the hospital and the airport, taking them on shopping trips, tracking down markets with halal meat, and generally making their stay in Baltimore as pleasant as possible. He knows what it’s like to be a foreigner in this town.

“When I first came, I was kind of a novelty in Baltimore,” says Jouan, an ex-rugby player who first moved to town in 1987. While he was working at Hopkins, Jouan noticed that hotels and long-term housing companies didn’t know how to handle patients coming to the hospital from abroad.

“Corporate housing companies didn’t know anything about these people,” says Jouan, sitting in Chase Street Properties’ cramped office, which includes an unclaimed stack of luggage from Abu Dhabi, and a poster with camels riding into a desert sunrise that reads, “Colors of Libya.” “When they come to Baltimore, it’s because they’re really sick. They need help.”

He started his business by buying four apartments at the Belvedere Hotel in Mt. Vernon for $27,000, but quickly realized that the location wasn’t right.

“People from the Middle East, in particular, are very concerned about safety,” he says. “They need secure buildings, buildings with 24-hour front desk, everything within walking distance.”

Next, Jouan bought several units in Federal Hill’s Harbor View building, but soon found a hub in the rapidly developing Harbor East area. In addition to snapping up apartments in The Promenade, he bought dozens at Spinnaker Bay around the corner. He says his clients love all the dining and shopping options in the area, in addition to the proximity to the Inner Harbor.

Jouan gradually expanded his services as he realized his clients’ needs. He bought vans to shuttle them from the apartments to the hospital at no additional fee, and when he realized that they were paying $70 to get a wheelchair-accessible ride, he bought wheelchair-accessible vans. His drivers take clients to and from BWI at no cost and help them find whatever they need in town, whether it’s a Hindu temple or a rare ingredient to make stew. During the historic local snowstorms earlier this year, Jouan was in his Hummer around the clock, shuttling patients—including several who were not his clients—to hospitals, pharmacies, and markets.

“My mom was a cancer patient at Hopkins,” says Jouan, known to most of his clients as Gonzo. “I know what these people are going through.”

Some of Jouan’s clients have become friends over the years. Amer Al-Fulasi, for example, has been one of Chase Street’s most frequent clients. He first brought his son from Qatar to Hopkins in 2006 after the boy was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. They return once a year for treatment, usually staying in the same two-bedroom apartment at The Promenade.

“Gonzo is always great,” says Al-Fulasi, who has become something of a leader among the Middle Eastern families traveling to Hopkins. “It has been a great comfort, staying here.”

His apartment is simple, with wall-to-wall carpeting and plain white walls. One unique feature is the massive satellite dish on the balcony, capable of picking up stations throughout the Middle East—also a great comfort, says Al-Fulasi. On a visit during the month-long holiday Ramadan, when Muslims fast during daylight hours, packages of food are lined up for Al-Fulasi and his son to eat after sundown.

For the past two years, Jouan has set aside an apartment at The Promenade during Ramadan, where his clients from the Middle East can gather, pray, and break their daily fast. “You meet people from Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia,” says Al-Fulasi, who helps to pull together patients and families from different Middle Eastern countries for the gatherings, which are a welcome respite from what are often grim circumstances for visiting families.

In the lobby of The Promenade, Hend Ebrahim waits with her two sons for a shuttle to take them to appointments at Hopkins. One son, wearing a mask, suffers with cancer and recently had a tumor removed from his face. The other has epilepsy. Raffaella Molteni says Hopkins gets a disproportionate number of children with genetic-related diseases from the Middle East, because of the incidence of marriages within families.

Ebrahim first brought her sons to Hopkins from Kuwait on the recommendation of their Kuwaiti doctor in 2004. They’ve been back every year for the past three years. Through a smile and broken English, Ebrahim says she values the knowledgeable Arabic translators at Hopkins, as well as the mosque at the hospital, where she frequently prays. Also, she was surprised and delighted to meet so many Kuwaitis at the Ramadan gatherings at The Promenade. Like Al-Fulasi, she says her favorite restaurant in town is The Helmand in Mt. Vernon, which specializes in Afghan cuisine.

Her children, in giggling but more refined English, say they have particularly loved the Aquarium and a day trip to Six Flags, outside of D.C. The children help Ebrahim express how much she likes Harbor East, noting that two new buildings have gone up in the area since they first came three years ago.

Molteni says the development of Harbor East, a safe area with condos, high-end restaurants, and shopping downtown, has been very popular with international patients.

“They have seen a great improvement with Harbor East,” says Molteni. “They still would like to see a high-level department store, like Saks or Nordstrom, downtown.”

Although certainly many come from great wealth and even royalty, the staff at JHI is quick to point out that not all of the patients they work with are well-off. Some governments in the Persian Gulf, in particular, have a policy of paying for medical care overseas if treatments are not available at home. But it’s fair to say that most clients can easily pay for their health care out of pocket.

And catering to wealthy patients is good for Hopkins. Besides paying the cost of the services rendered, international patients make over 100 contributions to its research funds every year, some very substantial. It’s also good for Baltimore, which benefits from the influx of healtcare tourists with disposable income.

Elizabeth Titterton, who has come to Hopkins from Bermuda for a hip replacement, says her country is devoted to Hopkins. “Bermudians like the best-quality health care,” she says. “And Hopkins is definitely considered the best.”

In fact, surprisingly, Bermuda is one of the most common countries of origin for international patients at Hopkins. It fits the bill for the kind of country that sends a lot of patients to the hospital: Bermuda, like countries in the Middle East, and certain parts of Asia and Central and South America, has a population with significant wealth and a health care system without high-end services. Although Hopkins does frequently see patients from Europe, they are far fewer and generally for more specialized services.

In particular, patients from the royal families of the Middle East have kept the Hopkins staff on its toes. These patients are often treated at the Marburg Pavilion, an area of the hospital often set aside for wealthy patients, with rooms that look more like hotel suites and dining provided by the Marriott.

This year, one female member of a royal family came to Hopkins for treatment with an entourage of 70 people, including a chef, teachers for the children, their own private physician, and several assistants and servers. In addition to the primary patient, several members of her entourage asked to be treated, ultimately filling 11 of the Marburg Pavilion’s 15 private rooms.

JHI has a unique staff set up to accommodate the needs of VIP clients, including security, amenities, transportation—really anything they need—but, sometimes, there are problems.

“The last time we had member of the royal family, in the middle of the night, one of the sheiks wanted to have scrambled eggs made by one of her staff,” Molteni recalls. “The issue is that you cannot say, ‘No.'”

To sidestep rules about non-Hopkins staff using Hopkins facilities—particularly when they’re closed—Molteni called the director of food services and had a staff member open the kitchen and supervise the sheik’s personal chef preparation of the eggs.

“There is a story almost every week,” Molteni says with a weary laugh. She recalls the time a patient insisted on having kiwis, which the kitchen did not offer. She sent an employee to buy two cases of the fruits. Another time, a patient didn’t like her mattress and refused to sleep on it. Employees were dispatched to buy a new one.

But there are limits to the hospital’s flexibility, particularly with Hopkins personnel. Molteni says her staff tries to accommodate patient requests with regard to gender and race, assigning a patient coordinator of the same sex and background as the patient, if asked. Sometimes, patients will request not to work with certain staff members because of a perceived slight. “It could just be that the staff member sat down at a time when the patient thought they should stand up,” she says. “So they say, ‘I don’t want to see that person anymore.'”

But with medical staff, there is limited accommodation. “It becomes a matter of managing expectations,” she says. “They come for the best possible medical care, and that’s what they get.”

The fifth floor of the 550 building at Hopkins, where many of JHI’s international care coordinators work, looks a bit like the U.N. Desks are grouped by region. In one area, where coordinators who work with Asians sit, Asian-themed artwork—mostly gifts from appreciative patients—covers the walls. In another, staff who work with clients from Central and South America huddle below walls papered with flags from that part of the world.

One of the least-known facts about Johns Hopkins Medicine International—and yet one of its most beneficial to the community—is that, because of the staff’s language skills, it also caters to non-English-speaking Baltimore residents, mostly recent immigrants. For Spanish-speaking staff, local residents, many from nearby Upper Fells point, make up most of the clientele.

“The majority are Spanish-speaking, but we have Russian-speaking, a few Korean, Chinese, Farsi,” says Molteni.

And coordinators often connect their international patients with people in local immigrant communities during their stay.

“Especially for the patients here for a long time, it’s great to integrate with existing communities,” says Molteni, noting that patients from Greece have loved finding countrymen in Baltimore’s Greektown, and those from Korea are shocked to discover a vibrant Korean community in Howard County.

But even when there is a limited local community, having a patient coordinator from a patient’s own background can make a big impact. “The interaction with our staff people makes a huge difference in the patient experience,” says Molteni. “You interact with someone who understands your culture, maybe he is from the same town you came from, and that makes the patient feel at ease.”

And Molteni, who oversees the hiring of JHI staff, says that beyond language skills and intelligence, she looks for people with a deep sense of compassion.

“Our people are amazing,” she says. “When there is a patient in the hospital, I know that they come during the weekend, they bring homemade food, they bring additional friends to visit the patient—it’s the little human touch that is our main marketing tool.”

For Elizabeth Titterton, whose fractured hip was misdiagnosed by a Bermudian doctor before she came to Hopkins, having patient coordinator Ashley Jones to guide her through a new city—especially considering that Titterton was in pain and on crutches—made everything a little easier to manage.

“I would have been completely lost and miserable,” says Titterton, who has remained in Baltimore for specialized physical therapy since her hip replacement. “Ashley has been there, holding my hand every step of the way.”

transforming.

“They never stopped trying new things, they never gave up,” she says. “My parents put a lot of trust in them, and it was definitely not easy for my parents; it was all an incredible shock for them. It changed my perspective. It changed me.”

She’s held several research jobs while in school, but when making her career choice, she knew she wanted closer interaction with hospital patients.

“I know I’ll make a great nurse practitioner,” she says. “I know how it feels to be in that position. I know that feeling and the difference people make.”

If you have 72 hours to spare and a craving to flop on the sand somewhere, you’ve got the makings of a mini beach vacation. Consider the possibilities. Get away with old chums to wine, dine, and ride the Slingshot in Ocean City. Treat the family to kayak trips at twilight and stories around the bonfire. Surprise your soul mate with a weekend of sun, spa treatments, and candlelight dinners.

If you do plan a long weekend at the Maryland-Delaware shore this summer, our proposed itineraries will help maximize your finite retreat without exhausting you in the process. Off you go . . .

OCEAN CITY FOR FRIENDS

Ocean City encompasses 10 miles of beautiful beach and is chock full of bars, an improving ratio of fine dining to all-you-can-eat buffets, and numerous lodging options. Beach-pal groups may like the bayside Coconut Malorie Resort (200 59th St., 800-767-6060, coconutmalorie.com), a luxury, all-suite hotel so close to the popular nightspot Fager’s Island that a footbridge connects the two.

Friday night
There’s nothing quite like nightfall set to the “1812 Overture.” Does this tradition ever get old? Nah. Join the revelers at Fager’s Island, Ocean City’s iconic bayside restaurant/bar/party scene (201 60th St., 410-524-5500). After toasting sunset on the deck, tell Tchaikovsky to snooze as you rev up with steamed shrimp, a DJ, and dancing.

Later, find your uptown vibe at Jive, (8203 Coastal Hwy., 410-524-1111), a bayside lounge noted for martinis and live music that’s mellower than those O.C. clubs whose names you dare not explain to children.

Saturday
Rise, shine, and bicycle the boards (the city has extended cycling hours on the boardwalk), or sign up your gang for morning surfing lessons at Malibu’s Surf Shop (8th St. and Boardwalk, 410-289-3000).

Regroup at Bayside Skillet (77th St. and the bay, 410-524-7950) for a healthy (by beach standards) breakfast of crêpes filled with house-made Chantilly cream and piled with just-picked fresh fruit like peaches, blackberries, and blueberries.

When you hit the beach, you’ll find more blanket-spreading space north of the boardwalk, but greater amusement opportunities closer to Route 50. Team up at Dorchester Beach Volleyball Park—10 sand courts between Dorchester and Talbot streets off the boardwalk—for a gals-versus-guys spike down.

For lunch, cool off beside Isle of Wight Bay (a Montego Bay wannabe) at Seacrets (117 W. 49th St., 410-524-4900), O.C.’s admittedly touristy outpost of Jamaicatude. Tame your hunger with fish tacos and jerk chicken cheese steaks. But beware: A couple coconuty, rum-drenched “Pain in de Asses” will torpedo your afternoon.

Dinner at Capt. Bill Bunting’s Angler Restaurant (Talbot St. and the bay, 410-289-7424) includes a free cruise. (Failure to heed the previous rum-drinks warning could be a problem.) This popular seafood emporium’s setting, adjacent to the bustling fishing-boat docks, is a nice bonus, too.

Park at the inlet lot and spend the rest of your night wandering the whirling, blinking, raucous, neon-lit funfest that is the boardwalk. Ride the Tidal Wave roller coaster, crash bumper cars, and bop Whac-A-Moles at Trimper’s (S. 1st St. and Boardwalk, 410-289-8617). Shoot Skee-Ball and virtual street race, The Fast and the Furious-style, at Marty’s Playland (Worcester St. and Boardwalk, 410-289-7271). Eat and shop your way northward. If you’re logy from OD’ing on Fisher’s caramel corn, Thrasher’s fries, and Alaska Stand funnel cakes, hop the tram back to your car.

Sunday
You have a big day ahead, so dig into a hefty helping of pancakes and scrapple at Layton’s Family Restaurant (16th St. and Philadelphia Ave., 410-289-6635, and 92nd St. and Coastal Hwy., 410-524-4200). Then, drive west over the Route 50 bridge, where your group may prefer to part ways.

Golfers who’ve reserved tee times can head to GlenRiddle Golf Club (11501 Maid at Arms Ln., Berlin, 866-441-4536) to play its 18-hole public course (Man O’War, the champion racehorse, was raised on a farm here). Other folks can rent kayaks and paddle where wild horses still reside along the shores of Assateague State Park. Island Adventure Kayaking (6905 Stephen Decatur Hwy., Berlin, 443-365-3967) offers rental kayaks and advice about exploring the wonders of Sinepuxent Bay.

Later, swap tales of birdies and bird-watching over dinner at Liquid Assets (9301 Coastal Hwy., Ocean City, 410-524-7037), a wine bar, shop, and bistro that takes its potables seriously. Buy a bottle of wine in the large, well-stocked shop and pair it with fried calamari or tuna burgers in the restaurant’s dining area.

Monday
It’s your last day so, what the hey, let your waistlines go at O.C.’s famous design-it-yourself doughnut shop, Fractured Prune. Pick a glaze, add a topping or two, and, voila, you’ve created your own Carmen Miranda of cake doughnuts—banana-glazed with coconut flakes and rainbow sprinkles. There are several locations, including 127th Street and Coastal Highway, 2808 Philadelphia Avenue, and Route 611 and Sunset Avenue.

After grabbing more rays, bid the beach adieu at Harrison’s Harbor Watch (boardwalk at the inlet, 410-289-5121), a restaurant and raw bar with windows aplenty for gazing fondly at one of Ocean City’s scenic views.

MORE BEACH FUN (FOR FRIENDS)

At Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach, and Lewes

Play
Duffers and volleyball weenies take heart. Your forte could be disc (Frisbee) golf (Cape Henlopen State Park, 15099 Cape Henlopen Dr., Lewes), outdoor oversized chess (First Street Station, 70 Rehoboth Ave.), or English darts (Rehoboth Ale House, 15 Wilmington Ave., Rehoboth Beach, 302-227-2337).

Indulge
Gals’ getaway? The Diva du Jour package at Bling Salon and Spa (17644 Coastal Hwy., Lewes, 302-644-2580) includes a facial, massage, nail care, and hair styling.

The 100-plus outposts of tax-free shopping in Tanger Outlets (36470 Seaside Outlet Dr., Rehoboth Beach) include a Bose Factory Store (302-226-1390) and a Sony outlet (302-644-8605).

Let the savvy staff at cozy Vine Wine Bar (211 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach, 302-226-8463) suggest perfect pairings for your tapas. Don’t miss Saturday night jam sessions at Dewey Beach landmark Bottle & Cork (1807 Coastal Hwy., 302-227-7272).

Eat
Brunch at The Starboard (2009 Coastal Hwy., Dewey Beach, 302-227-4600) boasts a bounteous Bloody Mary bar and a generous spread of pancakes, waffles, eggscetera.

Enjoy big sandwiches, myriad microbrews, and nachos at Arena’s deli/sports bar (149 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach, 302-227-1272).

It’s musical bar stools once the doors open at Fin’s (234 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach, 302-226-FINS), such is this retro fish house’s reputation. There’s a large dining room upstairs.

Pickled Pig Pub (18756 Coastal Hwy., Harbor Square, Rehoboth Beach, 302-645-5444) raises pub grub to new heights (herb-roasted pork shoulder with bacon-garlic fingerling potatoes). Dewey Dogs (1707 Coastal Hwy., 302-227-1104) serves chili dogs, corned beef sandwiches, and more till 2 a.m.

Worth Considering
From 8 a.m. to 2 a.m., the low-fare Jolly Trolley (302-227-1197) shuttles between the Rehoboth Beach Bandstand and the Ruddertowne restaurant/nightlife complex in Dewey Beach. Just in case you overindulge!

At Bethany Beach and Fenwick Island

Play
Get in the swing of things at one of Delaware’s most lovingly landscaped golf courses, the 18 holes (nine wooded, nine waterside) at Baywood Greens (32267 Clubhouse
Way, Long Neck, 888-844-2254).

Catch a wave or a bluefish at Fenwick Island State Park (Coastal Hwy., Fenwick, 302-227-2800), which offers several surf fishing areas and one of Delaware’s few designated surfing beaches. (FYI, surf anglers now need a fishing license.)

Indulge
Ready, swirl, and sip at Fenwick Wine Cellars, a new winery, tasting room, and gift shop (38016 Fenwick Shoals Blvd., West Fenwick Island, 302-436-1500).

Eat
Head toward the state border to sample fajitas and “tres-a-ritas” at Matteo’s Salsa Loco. The popular Bethany Beach restaurant/tequila bar has relocated to Fenwick Island (Lighthouse Plaza, 305 Coastal Hwy., 302-541-4911).

You can’t go wrong with brick-oven pizza. Classic or creative (like crab and wild mushroom with Brie), you can count on crispy-crust pies at DiFebo’s Bistro on the Green (Bear Trap Dunes, 7 Clubhouse Dr., Ocean View, 302-537-5600).

True friendship is sharing a mound of cheese-smothered Dune Fries at The Cottage Café (Coastal Hwy., Bethany Beach, 302-539-8710). Serving till 1 a.m.

Worth Considering
Bring a mat and towel for sunrise yoga sessions Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (Bethany Beach boardwalk, 302-537-7838).

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BETHANY BEACH, SOUTH BETHANY, OCEAN VIEW, AND FENWICK ISLAND FOR FAMILIES

Bethany Beach, South Bethany, Ocean View (aka West Bethany), and Fenwick Island comprise the less commercial “Quiet Resorts,” sort of Ocean City unplugged. Hotel/motel options are slim here compared to O.C., so families might consider a three-night “mini-vacation” rental in Sea Colony’s Oceanfront or Tennis Community properties (ResortQuest Delaware, 888-500-4254, resortquestdelaware.com).

Friday night
Join the party upstairs at Mango’s (97 Garfield Pkwy., Bethany Beach, 302-537-6621). This tropically themed boardwalk restaurant boasts unsurpassed ocean views, a big bar, kid-friendly food, and ample cool cred for teens. Dine early to claim prime seats for the 7:30 p.m. concert at the adjacent town bandstand.

Saturday
You won’t be the only ones eager for breakfast at The Cottage Cafe (Coastal Hwy., Bethany Beach, 302-539-8710), a Route 1 dining landmark, and you won’t be sorry either. Its weekend buffet is legendary, a satisfying mix of hearty, healthy, and sweetly sinful choices. Try the crunchy French toast.

Downtown, browse Garfield Parkway, Bethany Beach’s broad-but-brief main drag. Need some SPF50? Rhodes 5 & 10 (118 Garfield Pkwy., 302-539-9191) stocks sunscreen, beach chairs, newspapers, and other sundries that spill onto the sidewalk. Redecorating a teen’s room? Blue Room Gallery (123 Garfield Pkwy., 302-537-6617) sells retro beach posters plus kitschy nightlights and handcrafted furniture.

Bethany Beach’s municipal beach is convenient and clean, but can lack for elbowroom on weekends. An option: Head to nearby Fenwick Island State Park, a three-mile-long stretch of barrier island—with its own guarded beach—between South Bethany Beach and Fenwick Island (Coastal Hwy., Fenwick Island, 302-227-2800). En route, buy takeout sandwiches and other provisions at McCabe’s Gourmet Market (Coastal Hwy., York Beach Mall, South Bethany Beach, 302-539-8550). Eat at park picnic tables overlooking the ocean or bay.

Make a day of it by arranging a family eco-paddle through the shallow salt marshes of Little Assawoman Bay with Coastal Kayak (Coastal Hwy., across from the state park entrance, 302-539-7999). You may spy osprey, herons, and Delaware’s tiny armored army, horseshoe crabs, on your two-hour guided tour. (Advance reservations required, 877-44-KAYAK.)

By dinnertime, you’ll be ready to dig into a heap o’ steamed blue crabs (no relation to the horseshoes, which aren’t really crabs) or a hefty crab cake at Mickey’s Family Crab House (222 Jefferson Bridge Rd., Bethany Beach, 302-539-5384), a longtime local favorite for seafood and brewskies.

Sunday
Coastal Delaware’s stormy past begs exploring. Begin with mid-morning breakfast in Fenwick Island at Warren’s Station (1406 Coastal Hwy., 302-539-7156), housed in a replica of an old lifesaving station. This knotty-pine-paneled family restaurant has been dishing up eggs, chipped beef, biscuits, and home fries since 1960 (lunches and dinners, too).

Before the Life Saving Service, foundered ships stood little chance in the Atlantic’s unforgiving seas. Unearth these doomed ships’ tales at DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum (708 Coastal Hwy., Fenwick Island, 302-539-9366), home to a stunning collection of centuries-old artifacts. Admire more maritime lore at Fenwick Island Lighthouse (Coastal Hwy. at Rte. 54; entrance on 146th St., Ocean City), an 1859 beacon and mini-museum at the Delaware-Maryland border.

Back in Bethany Beach, check out the Sunday night specials at Bethany Blues (6 N. Pennsylvania Ave., 302-537-1500), a rollicking, family-friendly barbecue joint noted for its authentic, hardwood-smoked ’cue. St. Louis-style pork ribs are a specialty.

All the better if a distant thunderstorm illuminates your eerie nighttime lantern visit to the circa-1876 Indian River Life-Saving Station north of Indian River Inlet (Delaware Seashore State Park, 25039 Coastal Hwy., Rehoboth Beach, 302-227-6991). Led by history-savvy guides dressed in traditional white uniforms and oilskins, the tours allow you to follow in the boot steps of the surf men who risked their lives. Registration required.

Monday
Plan your final beach day over a stack of buttermilk penguin cakes at The Penguin Diner (105 Garfield Pkwy., Bethany Beach, 302-541-8017), specializing in all-day breakfasts and all things penguin (not to eat!).

With fewer distractions, you can focus on the basics in Bethany Beach: sunbathing, swimming, and noshing beach food. Fall in line behind the bikini-and-baggy-shorts crowd lined up at Surf’s Up (302-539-5742), a beloved sub shop known for its cheese steaks, and D.B. Fries (302-537-0880), both in the brick-paved Bethany Town Center (Atlantic Ave. and Garfield Pkwy.).

MORE BEACH FUN (FOR FAMILIES)

In Ocean City

Play
Turn the kids loose for fun and games, then kick back for a flick at O.C.’s free movie nights (7:30-10:30 p.m. Fridays and Mondays, beach at 27th St.).

Hips, bowls, vert ramps, hit walls. They’re a mystery to you but not to young skateboarders, who’ll find them at Ocean Bowl Skate Park (3rd St. and St. Louis Ave., 410-289-2695).

Aspiring Danicas and Dale Jrs. can make tracks at Baja Amusements stock car, go-kart, grand prix, and rookie ovals (12639 Ocean Gateway, West Ocean City, 410-213-2252).

Indulge
Dish up dessert and listen to live tunes at Sundaes in the Park (Northside Park, 126th St. and the bay) from 6-8 p.m. on Sundays, of course.

Eat
Chicken nuggets for the kids, crab cake sliders for the grown-ups, corn for the ducks. Say what? Flock to B.J.’s on the Water (75th St. on the bay, 410-524-7575) at 1 p.m. daily and find out.

You and the kids can play in the sand at Fish Tales (21st and 22nd Sts. on the bay, 410-289-0990), a family-friendly marina-side restaurant/bar.

Ice cream mavens know that the go-to place for cones, shakes, and sundaes is Dumser’s (three Boardwalk locations; also Coastal Hwy. at 49th St. and 124th St.).

Order burgers and malted milk shakes at Rayne’s Reef in Berlin, an old-timey luncheonette featured in the movie Runaway Bride (10 N. Main St., 410-641-2131).

Worth Considering
For stripers’ sake, this is the ocean fishing capital of Maryland! Board a charter boat at Ocean City Fishing Center (12940 Inlet Isle Ln., 800-322-3065) and go ocean or bay fishing. Tight budget? Oyster Bay Tackle (116th St. and Coastal Hwy., 410-524-3433) rents rods and reels for fishing from piers and bridges.

In and around Rehoboth Beach

Play
Combine fun with a history lesson at Fort Miles, a World War II-era coastal defense outpost in Cape Henlopen State Park (15099 Cape Henlopen Dr., Lewes). Kids go wild for Cover and Concealment (capture the flag) and Code Breaking. Register at the park’s Seaside Nature Center (302-645-6852).

Learn to skimboard (for free) at Saturday morning sessions by Alley-Oop Skim (2000 Coastal Hwy., 302-227-7087) in Dewey Beach.

Let your tots storm the nautically-themed playground in Lewes’s beautiful new Canalfront Park.

Indulge
Join the countless kids, adults (including our Vice President), and canines who love to visit Browseabout Books (113 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach, 302-226-BOOK). Shop for
bestsellers, beach reads, toys, games, gifts, and calendars while Rover slurps from the courtesy water bowl outside.

Eat
The pizza debate is usually Grotto versus Nicola in Rehoboth Beach, but many natives pledge allegiance to Louie’s (11 Rehoboth Ave., 302-227-6002). Great cheese-steak grinders, too.

Crayons for the kids, trophy finfish on display for anglers, and fresh seafood for everyone at Big Fish Grill (20298 Coastal Hwy., Rehoboth Beach, 302-227-FISH).

Cream (201 2nd St., Lewes, 302-645-9425) remains the hometown favorite, hands-down.

Worth Considering
You can’t sleep on the Delaware beaches at night, but camping beside pillowy soft dunes at Cape Henlopen State Park (15099 Cape Henlopen Dr., Lewes) is a bargain for frugal families. Book your site months ahead, though, here or call 877-98-PARKS.

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REHOBOTH BEACH, DEWEY BEACH, AND LEWES FOR COUPLES

Not all “lower, slower” southern Delaware beach towns—Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach, and Lewes—are created equal. Each one packs a special allure: Rehoboth Beach for dining and shopping, Dewey Beach for water sports and nightlife, and Lewes for history and salty charm. As for lodging, cozy breakfasts in a shady courtyard, couple’s massages, and an adults-only pool, make The Bellmoor Inn & Spa (6 Christian St., Rehoboth Beach, 800-425-2355, thebellmoor.com) an appealing choice for you and your true love.

Friday night
Slide into a cozy banquette at candle-lit Kindle (111 Bank St., Lewes, 302-645-7887), which has a winning nouvelle touch with comfort food. Toast with a romantic cocktail featuring St-Germain, a French spirit made with handpicked alpine elderflowers.

Saturday
Puzzle together over a crossword and a French press of steamy rainbow java at Hobos (56 Baltimore Ave., 302-226-2226), a new Euro-Mex-Mediterranean bistro/bar serving peripatetic palates in Rehoboth Beach.

Rehoboth is known as SoDel’s most urbane melting pot, so get your tans on alongside sand-worshipping singles, couples (straight and gay), families, and BBFFs (best beach friends forever).
Pre- or post-sunning, savor the signature Cuban pork sandwich or a luscious Brie BLT at Rehoboth Beach’s Café Solé (44 Baltimore Ave., 302-227-7107), a cheery eatery a block-and-a-half from the beach.

Forgot to pack something special for date-night dinners? Rehoboth Beach’s chic shops can bail you out, be it a little black dress at White House Black Market (First Street Station, 70 Rehoboth Ave., 302-227-6930) or a men’s shirt at South Moon Under (120 Rehoboth Ave., 302-227-3806).

Casually yet smartly attired, dine where the locals do on special occasions. Venerable, venerated Back Porch Café (59 Rehoboth Ave., 302-227-3674) serves upscale cuisine (veal sweetbreads, pan-seared halibut with whipped sweet potatoes) in a 19th-century cottagey setting (think Queen Victoria meets Key West). Love’s true light? The house liqueur-spiked coffee for two, flamed tableside.

After dinner, stroll Rehoboth Avenue, where shops remain open late, or join the merriment at the Purple Parrot (134 Rehoboth Ave., 302-226-1139), a neon-lit karaoke bar.

Sunday
Sleep in, then set your sights on Lewes and a post-noon brunch of sweet and savory crepes at Béseme (142 2nd St., in the Hotel Rodney, 302-645-8108), a bistro whose name means “kiss me” in Spanish. First, though, buy vino at the Nassau Valley Vineyards wine shop (32165 Winery Way, Lewes, 302-645-9463). In town, present said bottle (or another) to the folks at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (135 2nd St., 302-645-5528), and they’ll chocolate coat it for delivery that night to your lodgings. It sure trumps pillow mints. Feeling Adam and Eve-ish? The shop’s tart-sweet caramel apples are dipped in chocolate and drizzled with icing—not your granny’s county-fair fare.

More compact than Rehoboth Beach’s shopping district and more relaxed than the Route 1 outlets, Lewes’s shops feature clothing, antiques, artworks, games, flags, pet paraphernalia, and more. At Just for You (112 Front St., 302-645-0576), lapidary artists will wire wrap a treasured beachcombing find—a seashell or a bit of sea glass—into keepsake jewelry and ship it to you. (Hint, hint, gentlemen.)

For dinner, head to Dewey Beach, where romance comes with a view times two at intimate Two Seas (1300 Coastal Hwy., 302-227-2610). When you’re not gazing dreamily at your S.O., soak up romantic vistas of the ocean and bay, whence came your delectable dinner.

Monday
Fuel up on Greek omelets at the Crystal Restaurant (620 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach, 302-227-1088) and proceed to Atlantic Cycles (18 Wilmington Ave., 302-226-2543). Rent a tandem bike, and you can pedal as one along the boardwalk, but only until 10 a.m. Alternatively, cruise Rehoboth Beach’s broad side streets to scenic Silver Lake. Feeling really energetic? Get road bikes and glide through the countryside on the Junction & Breakwater Rail Trail connecting Rehoboth Beach and Lewes (12 miles round trip).

Break for an afternoon treat at Annie’s Banannies (9 1st St. South, Rehoboth Beach, 302-260-9875), where the sinfully yummy house confection is a frozen banana processed through Annie’s industrial juicer, then covered in your pick of toppings (try Nutty Banana with Peanut Butter).

Stroll Rehoboth Beach’s (mostly) quiet old neighborhoods. Don’t miss Henlopen Acres at the north edge of town, a woodsy enclave encompassing the Rehoboth Art League (12 Dodds Ln., 302-227-8408). The peaceful, three-acre campus includes studios, galleries, and the Homestead, a historic farmhouse-turned-gallery that’s open daily. Secluded benches and arbors in its charming garden will tempt you to linger. Alas, so will the prospect of driving home.

MORE BEACH FUN (FOR COUPLES)

At Bethany Beach and Fenwick Island

Play
Soar side by side as you get a gull’s eye view of the beach on a tandem parasail ride from Sharks Cove Marina (38931 Madison Ave., Selbyville, 302-436-8500).

Indulge
Jonesing for Facebook? Order chocolate-caramel lattes and surf the Web at The Artful Bean coffeehouse and gallery (20 Pennsylvania Ave., Bethany Beach, 302-541-8160).

Wrap yourselves in coastal quietude. Pull up Adirondack chairs, order some wine, and watch the sunset from Catch 54’s bayside deck (Rte. 54 at Madison Ave., Fenwick Island, 302-436-8600).

Eat
From lobster BLTs to Portuguese-style seafood stew, NorthEast Seafood Kitchen sure-handedly tweaks tradition (29 F Atlantic Ave., Ocean View, 302-537-1785).

Grownups need gourmet escape. In Bethany Beach, try Sedona (26 Pennsylvania Ave.,
302-539-1200).

Patsy breaks out the cast-iron skillet once a week on Sundays to make her mama’s Southern fried chicken at Patsy’s Restaurant (121 Campbell Pl., Bethany Beach, 302-537-2433). Try it with waffles.

Worth Considering
Take a walk on the wilder side at Bethany Beach Nature Center’s informative promenade through inland bay wetlands (807 Garfield Pkwy., 302-537-7680).

In Ocean City

Play
Canoodle for the camera in an arcade photo booth or get giggly on the Ferris wheel at Trimper’s Rides (S. 1st St. and Boardwalk, 410-289-8617).

Indulge
Enjoy the royal treatments at Robin Walter Salon and Day Spa (11007 Manklin Creek Rd., Berlin, 410-208-2576). The ultra-pampering spa packages include facials and Swedish massage.

Take a twilight stroll in Sunset Park on South Division Street. Enjoy each other’s company plus sweeping views of the ocean, bay, and harbor.

Eat
Fresco’s (82nd St. at the bay, 410-524-8202) reflects the décor, the cuisine (lobster fra diavolo, anyone?), and the ambiance of Italy—with idyllic bay vistas.

Decisions, decisions. Galaxy 66 Bar & Grille (6601 Coastal Hwy., 410-723-6762) makes dessert choices difficult with its decadent chocolate box for two and chocolate lust martinis.

It’s nearly 8 p.m. on a Sunday night, and Bob Hieronimus is scurrying around the basement radio studio of his Owings Mills home.

As he has for the past 22 years, he’ll be broadcasting his unconventional take on the world. He settles into his chair and places headphones over his ears; his wife Zohara (or “Zoh”) enters the room surrounded by three barking dogs. She sits down at a second microphone and, almost on cue, the dogs fall silent, curl up at her feet, and go to sleep.

Behind the soundproof glass, executive producer Laura Cortner works frenetically setting sound levels. At the top of the hour, following a recorded introduction by reggae musician Ziggy Marley and the show’s theme music— “Egyptian Sun” by the local band Telesma—the mikes go live. Dr. Bob Hieronimus and 21st Century Radio are on the air.

The duo’s conversation bounces from subject to subject. First, Bob notes that the radio show, broadcast on WCBM, is “the longest running radio show on the paranormal, UFOs, alternative healing, and alternative energies in America and, perhaps, the western world.”

Next, they speculate about a passage in Alice Bailey’s book Esoteric Healing (published more than half a century ago), which cites four U.S. cities as “areas of light shining forth upon the physical plane.” The cities are Chicago, Cleveland, Rochester, and Baltimore.

From there, talk jumps to the possibility of starting a bus tour of local occult sites such as the Battle Monument that appears on the city seal. Then, they wonder aloud about a possible relationship between underground nuclear tests and earthquakes. And that’s just the first 10 minutes. There’s still one hour and fifty minutes to go.

To the 66-year-old Hieronimus, this is what radio should be. “Most radio isn’t set up to have an intelligent conversation,” he says.

Hieronimus’s brand of intelligent conversation may sound like crazy talk to some, but his views have become increasingly mainstream. The blockbuster success of Dan Brown’s novels and films—which are steeped in esoteric symbolism and cryptic intrigue—helped pave the way. “Brown plays fast and loose with history,” says Hieronimus, who prides himself on factual accuracy. “But that doesn’t bother me. He’s built a bridge to a greater audience.”

To a lesser degree, so has Hieronimus, who’s been popping up on TV screens with some frequency these days. Since 2006, he’s appeared on the National Geographic Channel (Secrets of the Freemasons), the Discovery Channel (a three-part series on the Freemasons), and The History Channel (Decoding the Past: Secrets of the Dollar Bill). Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes director and former Madonna husband) also filmed Bob and Zoh for a documentary he’s doing on spirituality and secrets. Bob even turned up on a Fox News segment talking about Dan Brown and the Illuminati.

And that’s the key to Hieronimus’s success. It’s hard to really pigeonhole him. Is he extreme left? Extreme right? Just plain extreme?

His latest book, The United Symbolism of America, won praise from the likes of Willie Nelson and Donald Grinde, Jr., chair of American studies at SUNY Buffalo, who called it “a must read.” A recent talk by Hieronimus on our nation’s symbols at New York’s School for the Visual Arts drew praise from film professor Gene Stavis, who rated the presentation “up there with other guest lecturers such as Sean Penn, Oliver Stone, and Meryl Streep.”

There’s more to Hieronimus than meets the eye (Egyptian, Masonic, or otherwise). He’s an accomplished painter—with commissioned murals in high-profile locations around the city—an art car pioneer, an expert on Negro League baseball and The Beatles, a rabid fan of Tolkien and Hank Williams, and something of a softie to boot.

Get to know him and you might notice a coherent philosophy connecting his far-ranging, seemingly random interests. He’s more down to earth than one might think, and, as it turns out, there’s something of a method to his madness. Call it The Hieronimus Code.

Ask around about Hieronimus and opinions generally range from whimsical to wacky. “Bob Hieronimus is like a little kid,” says Eastern Shore architect and painter Chuck Kropp, who’s known of Hieronimus for 30 years. “He really should dress like Willy Wonka all the time.”

“I always assumed Hieronimus was from out of town,” says former Sun columnist Michael Olesker, “or from another planet.”

Actually, he was born Richard Gill on September 16, 1943. His father, Stanley Gill, was a poet, musician, dreamer, and all around layabout who had a tendency to not pay his bills. By 1947, his mother, Florence, had had enough. She gathered up Bob and his sisters and moved in with the man who would eventually adopt him 11 years later, Robert Frederick Hieronimus.

The move changed his life. “We were rich,” says Hieronimus, recalling the move to Northwood, “We must have been rich. We had a milkman.”

In truth, his parents were working-class. His adopted father was a superintendent at the Lord Calvert Laundry, and his mother worked at Lever Brothers.

Bob attended City College, where he became interested in philosophy, art, and books. “I would go to the Jewish kids’ houses for dinner,” he recalls. “It was the first time I ever saw libraries in homes.”

It made a lasting impression; the present day Hieronimus household has no fewer than 12 libraries, containing tens of thousands of titles.

After graduating from City in 1961, Hieronimus went to what was then known as Towson State College and majored in art teacher education. He sported long hair, wore cowboy boots, rode a motor scooter, and cultivated a hippie counter-culture look that was popular with some of the coeds, but less accepted by others. In fact, Hieronimus recalls that some members of Towson’s sports teams once burned him in effigy.

His early art endeavors, like drawing eyeglasses on characters in comic books, blossomed into serious painting and drawing with help from his professors. Riveted by the symbols and archetypes he learned about in a psychology class, he began incorporating those things into his artwork. His work may have looked like the psychedelic art popular at the time, but it was infused with meaning.

“The earliest symbols I used were astronomical and astrological,” he says. “These symbols are universal and are constructed out of geometrical shapes giving them further layers of meanings.”

He recalls an early etching that showed a man with an elongated neck holding an eagle (symbolizing “spiritual or higher vision”) in his left hand (indicating “intuition and reception”). “He is undergoing a transformative experience as indicated by his elongated neck searching the black infinite unknown,” explains Hieronimus. “That’s what was happening to me during my senior year at Towson.”

After graduation, he earned a meager living drawing album covers for Elektra Records. But at only $100 apiece, he burned out quickly.

So he turned to other outlets and secured a commission from The Johns Hopkins University. Hieronimus was initially asked to create a mural called The Apocalypse on one wall of the upper floor of Levering Hall, the Student Union building. But what Hieronimus had in mind far exceeded one wall.

He became obsessed with the project, and the mural—a sprawling representation of history’s cyclical nature—spread to another wall and another, before finally covering all four walls, the ceiling, and a staircase. “I practically moved into the building so I could paint all the time,” recalls Hieronimus. “I lived on 22-ounce cups of coffee and tuna fish sandwiches.”

But as the mural neared completion, a troubled student, fearing its message was too strong, splashed blue paint over much of the piece before he could be restrained. It took months to repair the damage, and a judge eventually sentenced the vandal to a stint in the psychiatric hospital in Crownsville.

Years later, the court asked Hieronimus to weigh in on the vandal’s potential release, which he did. “I couldn’t just leave him there,” says Hieronimus, who eventually became friends with the guy.

Hieronimus went on to paint other high profile, symbol-laden murals in Hampden, Waverly, and inside Lexington Market and the War Memorial Building. Forecast magazine called him “one of the country’s best muralists,” and William Donald Schaefer put him in charge of the art committee for the city’s Bicentennial celebration.

“Mayor Schaefer gave me the best advice I ever received,” says Hieronimus. “He told me, ‘Surround yourself with women smarter than you are.’”

Hieronimus met Zohara Meyerhoff in 1975. Rebecca Hoffberger, founder of the American Visionary Art Museum, knew both of them. Hoffberger remembers Hieronimus as “a brilliant young muralist impassioned by the vision of the Founding Fathers. It was a rarity to see someone his age who was so knowledgeable and enthused about the Founding Fathers’ life and death commitment to revolution and real change.”

His interest in the Founders wasn’t some passing, Bicentennial-inspired fancy. Hieronimus had been studying the Founders for a decade and admired their “intellect, spiritual openness, courage, insight, diplomacy, and inventiveness.”

Zoh was a kindred spirit and came from a prominent and philanthropic Baltimore family; the symphony hall is named after her grandfather, Joseph. “I grew up in a home of strong personalities,” she recalls. “My mother used to say I was ‘one of her four only children.’ I also grew up with a love of America and its symbols, so my life before I met Bob was in preparation for meeting Bob.”

By that time, he’d furthered his studies and founded the Aquarian University of Maryland (AUM), a state-approved school of esoteric learning at Ruscombe Mansion, just north of the city. According to Ruscombe’s website, AUM “offered certificates in Religious Metaphysics, Occult Sciences, and the Mystical Arts” at that time and continues “supporting altruistic endeavors which unite mankind.”

Zoh became one of Bob’s students in 1978 and graduated with flying colors. They were married in 1980 and have a daughter Anna, 23. (Bob also has two children from a previous marriage: Plato, 38, and Maré, 35). In 1984, Zoh founded The Ruscombe Mansion Community Health Center devoted to holistic healing. She remains its executive director today.

“I’d never met anyone like Bob,” says Zoh. “He has the will to do, and we both have a dictum to serve.”

And Bob learned things from his new bride as well. “From Zohara and her family, I have learned that serving the city, state, nation, and planet must be done without resentment,” says Bob, “and it must be continued even if one’s society refuses to listen. You just continue on and wish everyone the best.”

That sense of service—whether it’s spreading the word about esoteric and arcane knowledge, or helping in more tangible ways, which tends to get obscured by all the chattering about conspiracy theories—is what informs his work. That point gets driven home during the radio show, when Bob and Zoh talk about the importance of donating books to libraries around the country. They donate books specifically to prison libraries and tell incarcerated listeners (who’ve written in) what titles they can expect in the mail. It’s certainly not your typical radio show giveaway.

A little later, a caller from Baltimore asks, “Why does this universe make no sense? Why must we all die?”

Bob leans close to his microphone. “All the suffering is how the soul learns,” he tells the caller. “The earth is a school, and we are learning how to treat people.”

He looks at Zoh, and she smiles and nods in agreement.

Hieronimus loads a wicker basket full of large brown eggs—collected from free-range chickens he keeps—into the back seat of his 1976, two-tone (powder blue/dark blue) Rolls Royce. Steering the car down Park Heights Avenue, he listens to a Bob Dylan CD and smokes a Victor Sinclair cigar. He parks in front of a red brick apartment building in West Baltimore.

One of the mailboxes bears the name “Day,” and Hieronimus knocks on the door. A smiling, African-American woman answers, and, before Hieronimus can hand her the eggs, she hugs and kisses him, and pulls him inside. She is Geraldine Day, widow of famed Negro League pitcher Leon Day.

He’s making good on a pledge he gave to Leon Day in 1994.

Leon, suffering from serious heart trouble, asked Hieronimus: “See that lady going in the kitchen? I love her. Promise me you’ll look after her.”

Hieronimus, who served on the Negro League Baseball Players Association board of directors and had been a tireless advocate for Day’s inclusion in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, promised he would.

It was Hieronimus who held Day’s hand on March 7, 1995, and told him he’d been elected into the Hall. Day died within the week, and Hieronimus and Geraldine have been close ever since.

Geraldine recalls the hours after her husband’s death, with funeral expenses looming. “Bob took care of everything, everything,” she says. “He insisted. He is the kindest man. He has the kindest heart. Leon told me, ‘Baby, he’s a good man.’”

Hieronimus and Geraldine sit and talk about the Orioles’ prospects for the upcoming season. Day quotes her late husband, “Good pitchers stop good hitters.”

Before leaving, Hieronimus wonders about going to a future game together and suggests seats where she might catch a foul ball. Day shakes her head. “If I want a ball, I just go down to the dugout and take one,” she says, before hugging Hieronimus and thanking him for the eggs.

After saying goodbye to Geraldine, Hieronimus wants an Irish coffee and a hamburger from The James Joyce Pub in Harbor East. He points the Rolls toward downtown and turns up Dylan’s “Desolation Row.”

The car draws considerably less attention than Hieronimus’s 1984 bio-diesel fueled Mercedes-Benz, which he’s painted from bumper to bumper with images and symbols associated with the founding of this country. Over the years, he’s painted seven vehicles, including a Volkswagen bus called the “Woodstock bus,” because it was part of an iconic photo from the festival. (Last year, a toy company produced a die-cast metal replica of the bus that sells for $250.)

Such “art cars” may be more accepted today than in the 1960s when Hieronimus started painting vehicles, but he says the Mercedes never fails to turn heads and, on occasion, raise ire. “Blue-haired ladies from Baltimore County seem to get particularly upset,” he says, laughing. “They get me to roll down my window, then they yell, ‘You ruined that car!’”

But Hieronimus considers his painted cars to be “moving billboards of symbolic instruction,” a description that could apply to himself as well.

He seems unfazed that some folks might find that sort of thing peculiar, noting “the East Coast has consistently lagged behind the self-transformational movement established decades ago on the West Coast, where there is more acceptance of differences and more enjoyment of those differences. Maybe an oddball or an eccentric in Baltimore is just an ordinary planetary citizen elsewhere.”

Getting closer to Harbor East, he talks about concentrating on finding one of the scarce parking spaces near the bar. He makes the turn onto President Street and there, directly in front of the pub, is a large parking space.

When it’s suggested that he’d gotten lucky, Hieronimus smiles. “That wasn’t luck,” he says, “that was magic.”

Knowing Hieronimus, it probably was.

*Some names and details have been changed to protect privacy.

“Stop right there, ma’am!”

Helen Atkins* hadn’t even noticed the police cruiser that pulled up as she put her son Robert in his car seat outside the Wal-Mart in Aberdeen. She was rushing to pick up another son, Zachary, from a friend’s house. Bewildered, she asked “What’s going on?”

“We had a report of a missing child in the area,” the officer said, clearly unsure how to proceed. “Um, is that your child? Do you have some way to show that child came with you?”

Atkins, a former police officer herself, demanded to know why she was being questioned. But secretly she knew. It wasn’t the first time people had questioned her relationship with Robert. Atkins is African-American and Robert is white. It was, however, the first time she had been questioned by police.

“A lady thought you were kidnapping this child at the store,” one officer said sheepishly, adding that the onlooker was moved to call the police when she saw Atkins rushing to the car with Robert.

Her face flushed with frustration, Atkins showed the officers her identification and Robert’s passport, but even then, the other officer was suspicious. “Well, you must’ve done something to make that lady think that,” he said.

Several months after the incident, sitting in her home in the Arcadia section of Northeast Baltimore, Atkins still shakes her head at the memory. “It’s hard,” she says. “After a while, you just get tired of explaining, constantly having to prove yourself.”

As she talks, Robert, a smiley blond boy who will turn two in August, flits around the room, moving from the toy cars to the stroller to the kitchen, frequently stopping to bury his head in his mom’s lap. He has lived with her since he was three days old.

“Robert was drug-exposed,” says Atkins, 44. “Heroin, Vicodin, alcohol—if there was a drug, [his mother] had it.”

For several years before Robert was born, Atkins and her husband had been taking in foster children, usually only for a few weeks at a time, until a family member agreed to take in the child or a more permanent home could be found. Atkins’s parents had taken in foster children when she was young, and when her own biological children had grown, she decided to do the same. After a while, Atkins, who also worked as a special-education teacher, decided to only take in drug-exposed children.

“Drug-exposed children are either real quiet or they constantly cry in pain because they’re coming off drugs and they have the tremors,” she says. “Robert was a screamer.”

In the days after Atkins took him in, Robert had to go back to stay in the hospital for further treatment. “He had to have morphine for a while to come over it,” says Atkins, who slept by his hospital bedside for five nights as he endured withdrawal symptoms. “His bottom was burnt from the drugs coming out, so he didn’t have a Pamper on. He had to be in this little bubble with this contraption blowing air on him. When he came home there was a lot of salve and cleaning, keeping that area clean and dry. It took six or seven months to fully recover.”

Robert’s biological mother has been in and out of drug-treatment programs since his birth and is facing a criminal hearing in June. “She said ‘I don’t think I’m gonna be able to do it,'” recalls Atkins, who sees Robert’s biological mother during occasional visits. “She said, ‘You keep him and just let me see him.’ And I said, ‘As long as you’re doing well.'”

Although Robert’s mother wants Atkins to adopt her son—and Atkins is eager to adopt him—Baltimore’s Department of Social Services has delayed adoption proceedings, hoping the biological mother will get clean and change her mind or that another relative can be found. Typically, foster children are not supposed to be in a “unification plan”—working toward reunification with birth parents—for more than 15 months, but Robert has been in such a plan for almost two years.

Atkins says the adoption is being held up because of her race.

“With Robert, they told me up front, ‘Don’t get too attached, ’cause we try to place children in culturally-based homes,'” says Atkins. “But that’s not a concern with African-American kids at all.”

Atkins has had more than 27 foster children come through her home and has adopted two, both African-American. She is also on the executive committee of the Baltimore City Resource Parent Council, a foster-parent advocacy group. She says she has never seen as much effort put into rehabilitating a birth mother or finding a relative as she has seen with Robert.

“They have fought us tooth and nail,” she says. “We had a lawyer who told us right off the bat, ‘He needs to be with a white family, someone that will know his needs.’ I said, ‘You don’t know anything about me,’ and I asked her to leave my home.”

Molly McGrath, the director of Baltimore’s Department of Social Services, says the priorities when placing children in foster care are different than they are for adoption.

“The federal regulations prohibit me from using race as a factor in decision-making when I place a child into foster care,” she says. “But they don’t prohibit me from taking race, ethnicity, that sort of thing, into account when I do an adoption.”

For foster care, she says, the importance is speed, getting children into safe homes as quickly as possible, regardless of race. But for adoptions, there are other considerations.

“Some adoptive families say, ‘You know what, I actually want the kid to look like me,’ because of how they feel when they’re walking down the street. Or they say, ‘I’m in a Muslim home and I’m interested in opening my home to a Muslim child,'” she says. “I have an ethical obligation to [see if] a child can be raised in its own race, ethnicity, culture, spiritual practice. Adoption, since it’s a permanent sort of thing, we use factors like that.”

But Atkins says that, in trying so hard to find adoptive parents with the same background, case workers often ignore what’s in the best interests of the child. She cites the case of an African-American friend and fellow foster parent who has an eight-year-old white girl she has raised since birth. The city, however, has kept the girl in a “reunification” plan, and when an aunt the girl had never met recently stepped forward, they allowed her to have custody for short periods to prepare for a potential adoption.

“When she comes back from the visits, she has regressed so much, she wets her pants, she’s not doing well in school—everything is a complete turnaround,” says Atkins, again shaking her head. “It’s just so sad.” Some case workers, she adds, won’t place white children in black homes, even for foster care, knowing that judges and administrators will try to move the child out.

“Some workers in the agency will tell you upfront, ‘I’m not going to place this white child with you because I don’t feel like going through the paperwork to move him,'” says Atkins. “‘Because they’re not gonna let you keep that child.'”

Despite the many bureaucratic obstacles, some black families have adopted white children. But the challenges do not end with the change in legal context.

Mark and Terri Riding and Terri’s mother Phyllis Smith—all African-American—have been raising Katie O’Dea-Smith, a 10-year-old white girl, since she was three. Smith officially adopted O’Dea-Smith three years ago.

Katie, a precocious redhead, spends weekdays with Smith in Mt. Washington, and spends many weekends, holidays, and vacations with the Ridings, who live around the corner and have two young children of their own.

“It’s kind of a collective family unit and we’re all raising her together,” says Mark Riding, an administrator at The Johns Hopkins University’s Talented Youth Program.

Like Helen Atkins, Phyllis Smith, a social worker and onetime president of the Baltimore Chapter of the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW), had taken in foster children for years. When her biological daughter Terri was in high school, Smith adopted twin boys and raised them to adulthood. Seven years ago—at this point, she was in her late 50s and wasn’t expecting to take in any more children—the social services department contacted her and asked if she would take in a three-year-old girl with some behavioral issues who had been bounced around a bit. She said yes.

“I was telling her it was a mistake, she didn’t need to be doing this at her age,” says Mark, who had married Terri only a month earlier. “Then, this little redheaded girl pops down the steps—she hadn’t even told me she was white.”

Katie, whose mother hasn’t had contact with her daughter in years, wooed her new family. “She was very personable, extraordinarily articulate for her age,” he says. “She was a hit.”

But soon, the family began to notice the way people looked at them when they walked around holding Katie’s hand. Strangers often assumed Smith or Terri were babysitters, but they were particularly suspicious of Mark. One day, when he took her to Federal Hill Park, complete strangers came up to her and asked her if she was okay.

“Clearly, if you were stealing the child, you wouldn’t take her to the park,” says Mark. He’s able to make light of the situation now, but at the time, he found it very unsettling. “I’m walking down the street holding hands with her, walking in the mall, and people are giving us funny looks—and not just looks of curiosity, but looks of concern. Occasionally they’ll say something to me, but not usually. Usually they look at her as if to let her know that she has an audience, an ‘I’m here if you need me’ kind of look.”

Riding was most disconcerted, however, with the reactions of friends and colleagues. “People would say, ‘There wasn’t like an aunt or somebody who could take care of her?’ It was like ‘anybody but you,'” he says. “You would not ask that question if it was a little black baby with a white family or a little Asian baby with a white family.”

“I worked at the Park School, which is a very liberal place,” he says. “And the same questions came from those folks as came from more conservative places.”

Riding says the experience caused him to rethink his attitudes towards racism and prejudice. “I was always less apt to blame things on prejudice,” he says. “It forced me to be more conscious that the liberal, educated world is not as unprejudiced as I made it out to be. I thought we were beyond certain things and it wasn’t that way.”

Since the election of Barack Obama, there has been a lot of talk about America entering a “post-racial” phase, but Atkins and Riding’s experiences have caused them to rethink how much attitudes about race have changed. Riding was particularly surprised by the reaction of neighbors in his relatively affluent, largely white neighborhood.

“I’m an educator, I drive a Volvo and I live in Mt. Washington, my wife is a human resources professional, we’re professional people—it doesn’t get any more middle class,” he says. “It’s insulting that people would make so many assumptions based on whatever cultural biases they have.”

Savannah Gibbons was two years old when her older brother was taken to the hospital covered with insect and rodent bites and skin infections. He died days later. In a subsequent search of the family’s home, Child Protective Services found piles of garbage, feces on the floor, and generally unhealthy conditions. They removed Savannah, who is white, from the home and placed her with foster mother Shant’e Gibbons, an African-American day-care provider in East Baltimore.

“When she first came here, she didn’t talk at all—it was about a week and a half before she started responding to me,” says Gibbons, who has taken in a handful of foster children over the years. “The thing that surprised me the most is that she never once cried out for her mother or father. Not once.”

Gibbons grew very attached to Savannah, who she describes as very smart and emotionally intuitive. About two years after she took the girl in, Gibbons legally adopted her. Now five years old, Savannah is in pre-kindergarten at East Baltimore’s William Paca Elementary School, where, Gibbons says, she gets great grades and has lots of friends.

Gibbons says she didn’t come under as much scrutiny as Atkins, who she knows through the Resource Parent Community, partially because Savannah’s parents divorced soon after she was taken from them and they turned over rights to her soon after that. Gibbons says she was also encouraged by the African-American lawyer handling her case.

“He said, ‘This may take a while, but that’s okay, don’t worry about it,'” she says. “I figured if it was meant to be, it would happen.”

Gibbons says she and her extended family have always treated Savannah like a member of the family, and that Savannah loves all of her aunts and cousins. The only negative encounter Gibbons has had happened recently when a school crossing guard she usually sees while walking with Savannah, saw her alone and asked, “Where’s whitey?”

“That really hurt me,” she says, adding that the crossing guard probably thought Savannah was a student in her day care center. “To hear her defined like that.”

By far, the most common type of interracial adoption is white families adopting non-white children, and the subject of white families adopting black children in particular has been the subject of major debate and controversy. The National Association of Black Social Workers described the practice as “cultural genocide.”

Onetime NABSW executive director Leora Neal has explained, “If you don’t practice your culture, it dies out,” she says. “It is not a color issue. It’s a culture issue.”

According to researchers Owen Gill and Barbara Jackson, such interracial adoptions are condemned because of “fears . . . the child will feel different and unaccepted, that he will not be able to create and maintain relationships with grandparents and extended family members, and that the child will be unable to relate to members of the black community.”

Even Mark Riding, who has come to love his adopted daughter Katie, says the same concerns apply to white children adopted by black families.

“A lot of people, myself included, think it’s probably healthier and easier if the cultures match,” he says. “Certainly it’s easier for everybody involved. You don’t have complicated questions. You don’t have the challenges of trying to explain a race that you’re not a part of, or a culture you’re not a part of, and you don’t have a child with identity issues, trying to figure out, ‘Why don’t I look like or act like or smell like or does my hair look different than the people I live with?'”

But ultimately, Mark says, Katie will benefit from being raised by a black family. “When she is an adult, looking back on her experience living with a black family, I think she’ll feel informed and she’ll have a better understanding of what black families are all about,” he says, adding that, now, Katie generally avoids the topic of race altogether, preferring not to identify people by their race. “I don’t think right now she understands that. I think she does her best to kind of ignore [race].”

Similarly, Savannah doesn’t seem to notice the difference between herself and her family. And Gibbons points out that if the adoption guidelines were enforced absolutely, she would never have been able to be Savannah’s mom, a relationship that she says has given them both a tremendous amount of joy.

“It’s not about color, it’s about love and guidance,” says Gibbons, who says she especially loves playing music with Savannah and recently arranged for her to take guitar lessons from one of the parents at her day care center. “I could see myself starting a band with her,” she says, laughing at the thought. “Maybe, like, when she’s 10.”

The members of Dru Hill have gathered at the Belvedere Hotel’s Owl Bar to discuss the logistics of a forthcoming tour to promote their reunion album, InDRUpendence Day, the quartet’s first new music in eight years.

As they talk, Larry Anthony Jr.—known as “Jazz”—orders a Long Island iced tea and a crab cake to take home to his wife. All three of the original members still in the group have kids, and family-friendly travel is a sticking point of their plans. “We have to learn how to balance work and family,” says Tamir Ruffin, a.k.a. Nokio, who founded the group in 1994. “It’s not the same as when we were teenagers.”

That’s for sure.

Nokio was 17 in 1996, when Dru Hill’s self-titled debut became the soundtrack to a million love affairs. With songs ranging from the sexy drama of “In My Bed” to slow-dance anthem “Never Make a Promise,” the Baltimore-based quartet of Nokio, Jazz, Mark “Sisqo” Andrews, and James “Woody” Green (who is replaced by Antwuan “Tao” Simpson for the new album) presented a sophisticated, sultry form of R&B that made audiences—particularly women—swoon.

“We were young, but we made grownup music,” jokes lead singer Sisqo, whose solo success with hits like “The Thong Song” and “Incomplete” boosted Dru Hill’s profile but also contributed to its demise. “Dru Hill made relationship music.”

Over the course of three albums—Dru Hill (1996), Enter the Dru (1998) and Dru World Order (2002)—the quartet became R&B stars, with number-one hits “In My Bed,” “Never Make a Promise,” “How Deep is Your Love,” and “Wild Wild West” with Will Smith. Critics compared them to soul sensations Boyz II Men and Jodeci.

But, in a turn of events that could have been Xeroxed from a Behind the Music script, the former church boys were tempted by flashy demons and sank into a quicksand of jealousy, depression, and drug addiction, before disbanding in 2003.

“I started smoking a lot of weed and taking ecstasy,” Nokio confesses. “We had done everything in excess and we were tired.” Later that year, Sisqo was arrested in front of his Randallstown home and charged with first-degree assault, resisting arrest, and reckless endangerment for allegedly firing a 9mm pistol at his neighbor’s brother’s car. Charges were dismissed, but the incident underlined the demise of Dru Hill.

In the years since, band members have kept a low profile—except for Sisqo, who recently appeared on UK’s Celebrity Big Brother. But in 2008, Nokio, Sisqo, and manager Kevin Peck first discussed reuniting the group, and brought everybody together for a meeting.

“Once we got together, it was like a party, and we started messing around in the booth,” says Jazz. “I’d forgotten how good we sounded together. It was like no matter how mad we were at each other, there was no denying the magic we make together.”

Now, they’ve got a new album co-produced by fellow ’90s R&B refugee Keith Sweat, a single with hip-hop heavyweight Ludacris (“Rollercoaster”), and a forthcoming reality show on BET’s new Centric Network documenting the comeback, including infighting, real fighting—the trailer shows Sisqo and Nokio in a boxing ring—therapy sessions, and recording sessions.

It won’t be easy for the aging harmony specialists to land on top of the R&B heap again. Male soul groups have dropped off the radar. The quartet’s two-step mission is to remind R&B fans why they loved Dru Hill and to convince them to fall in love again.

Tamir Ruffin grew up surrounded by music. His grandmother played piano by ear—any song you wanted to hear—and every Sunday he watched his mom wail in the church choir. His Uncle Irvin even bragged about a friendship with Motown king Smokey Robinson. So it was no surprise when, as a lanky but sharp-dressed teen, Ruffin started a singing group called 14K Harmony.

“I remember singing in the City College courtyard and a workman dropped five dollars down,” recalls the singer, who was already going by Nokio at the time. Nineteen years later, stepping outside of the Belvedere for a smoke, he wears a knit cap covering his purple Mohawk—still a sharp dresser, as cool as the diamonds in his ears. “I was happy just singing for girls,” he says. “But, at that moment, I realized—hey, we can make money from this. We can be famous.”

The quartet became an immediate smash at local talent shows. Sliding across auditorium stage floors as girls screeched from the audience, 14K Harmony—later, they changed their name to Legacy—was the group everybody wanted to beat. For years, they practiced in classrooms and basements and as harmonizing employees of Inner Harbor sweet shop The Fudgery.

“They used my classroom to practice after school,” says retired music teacher Carolyn Starks. “The one song they sang over and over was [Stevie Wonder’s] ‘Ribbon in the Sky.’ They sang it so much, I started calling them the one-hit wonders.”

They dreamed of becoming stars, but, since no R&B artist from Baltimore had ever broken nationally, they weren’t sure it could happen. “It seemed like it might be impossible,” says Sisqo. “I thought you had to be from California or New York to make it.”

But in 1996, manager Kevin Peck secured them an audition with Hiriam Hicks, president of Island Black Music, at New York’s famed Hit Factory recording studio. Hicks was so impressed, he signed Dru Hill that night and rushed them into the booth to record the sensuous “Tell Me” for the soundtrack to Eddie, starring Whoopi Goldberg. Chicago-based R&B singer Dave Hollister had already recorded the track, but his vocals were wiped out at the eleventh hour and Dru Hill’s were inserted.

Dru Hill were poised to become stars.

Perhaps the most underrated member of Dru Hill is Jazz, who has been battling with Nokio since they were students at Douglass.

“When I got to Douglass, I had heard about Nokio’s group and I wanted to be down,” says Jazz, who, at 33, still has a baby face and teddy-bear frame like Barry White or Luther Vandross. “But, even then, Nokio could be an ass, so he wasn’t really listening to me.”

That changed when Nokio heard Jazz sing Whitney Houston’s maudlin classic “The Greatest Love of All” in a school assembly. The same song had gotten him accepted into the Baltimore School for the Arts and, onstage at Douglass, he simply made it his own. Soon afterwards, Nokio asked Jazz if he wanted to join 14K.

“Larry Anthony was one of my best students,” recalls Miriam Fitzgerald, a vocal teacher at Douglass since 1974, who declines to call Jazz by his stage name. “He did a lot of classical music and studied one-on-one with Dolores Jones, a Baltimore opera singer who traveled throughout the country. It didn’t surprise me when Dru Hill became successful. The guys just seemed to work so well together.”

Local R&B singer Paula Campbell, who has toured with Ne-Yo and is currently working on new material, was enrolled in the music program with the boys. “In the music curriculum at Douglass, we had a big brother-big sister program and Jazz was my big brother,” she recalls. “He helped me a lot with my vocals. I always sang in a falsetto and Jazz taught me not to be afraid of my natural voice.”

But once the quartet hit the big time, Jazz’s vocal chops took a backseat to Sisqo’s sharp looks and wild style.

“Our label pushed me in front, but anyone in the group could’ve sung lead,” explains the 31-year-old blonde-haired singer, who, more than anyone in the group, has retained some celebrity, as on Big Brother, where he appeared alongside actor Stephen Baldwin, Donald Trump’s ex-wife Ivana, and was the fifth person evicted. “On the new project, we tried to distribute the vocals more evenly, and, for the first time, you can really hear Jazz sing.”

As a child, Sisqo won countless Michael Jackson dance contests. In grammar school, still going by “Mark,” he and best friend Milo started a dance duo called M&M Productions. Decked out in MC Hammer pants, they danced for classmates and signed autographs. “My love for dancing can be traced back to seeing Michael Jackson do the moonwalk on the Motown 25 special,” Sisqo says of the 1983 television show that aired when he was four. “I was blown away. At that moment, I knew what I wanted to do.” Sisqo, who met Jackson after “The Thong Song” came out, recently recorded a cover of “Billie Jean” for an upcoming solo record, his third.

Wearing a backwards baseball cap over his trademark platinum hair, Sisqo’s thick diamond-encrusted bracelet sparkles in the light. Two platinum chains dangle around his neck: a crucifix and a dragon. In 1996, when Dru Hill arrived for their first photo shoot at a studio in New York’s Chinatown, there was a dragon painted on the wall. They insisted that the fire-breathing creature be included in their shots, and the dragon became Dru Hill’s trademark. “The Rolling Stones have the lips and tongue; we had the dragon,” says Sisqo.

While Nokio launched the group that would become Dru Hill, it was Sisqo who earned the boys their first measure of acclaim, at The Fudgery. “I was working there first, so I helped the rest of the group get jobs there,” he says, smiling at the memory. “Part of the job was to take popular songs and throw the word fudge in there. So, instead of ‘Isn’t she lovely?’ we sang, ‘Isn’t fudge lovely?’ No one is going to get discovered at The Fudgery, but it was a good place to practice.”

Although their label and managers had always tried to make Sisqo the center of attention, it didn’t start to roil the group until 1999, when Sisqo was featured prominently on Will Smith’s “Wild Wild West” soundtrack song, as well as in the extravagant video.

On the set, Woody quit the band and soon thereafter, Sisqo left to make his solo debut, Unleash the Dragon, featuring “The Thong Song,” which proved to be one of the biggest tracks of 2000.

“It started as a joke,” Sisqo says of the mega-hit, recently heard on the popular show Glee. “A friend told me about a date he had been on, and, in a serious voice, he said, ‘Guess what she gave me.’ I was waiting for a serious answer and he says, ‘That thong, thong, thong, thong.’ Man, I laughed for three days. When it was time for me to go into the studio, I just started freestyling that word.”

Unleash the Dragon sold five million copies. “The Thong Song” became the soundtrack to the summer of 2000, but it wasn’t long before there was a Sisqo backlash. “Thong Song” was seen a novelty hit and nobody took Sisqo seriously. Though it went platinum, his follow-up solo album Return of the Dragon (2001) was seen as a flop. “It seemed like my name was like a curse word,” Sisqo says.

The spring 1996 night Dru Hill recorded their debut single “Tell Me” at The Hit Factory, they were just a bunch of well-groomed teenagers from Baltimore hoping for a break. Willing to compromise in order to make the big time, the group’s name Legacy was changed by the same Island Records executive who signed them.

“What’s the name of the park where you guys hang out?” he asked. Someone answered, “Dru’ Hill,” and that became their name.

“Getting signed felt like taking a rocket,” chuckles Jazz. “One minute, we’re auditioning, and the next, we’re shooting a video, finishing our album, and sleeping in airports. Talent-wise, we were ready, but in terms of maturity, not even close.”

When things ended as suddenly as they began, the group members were lost, adults who never learned to grow up. “I hit rock bottom,” Jazz recalls. “I had to come down off the hype and experience the struggle.”

While Sisqo starred in movies and continued his solo career, other group members struggled. “After the glitz and glamour, all I did was watch television and eat,” says Jazz. “There was no real money coming in, so I would drive around the city [in a cab] just to make seventy or eighty dollars. I had gone from spending thousands a day to hacking.”

Beyond the financial loss, the singers had to deal with a loss of identity. “I’d look at the platinum plaques and rewards and felt like, if I didn’t have that again, then something was wrong,” says Nokio. “I was nothing.”

They started families and other ventures, but when reunion talk came up, everyone jumped. “Being in Dru Hill is like being a superhero,” says Nokio. “When they show the Dru signal in the sky, it’s time to go sing.”

Soon after the joyful reunion, Woody decided to sit out the project to focus on a solo gospel album. Jazz, who had started an artist development company, suggested his friend Tao as a replacement.

Tao won the gig and on the very next night, the new Dru Hill crowded into Sisqo’s home studio and started trying out fresh material. “We recorded a song called ‘Loose,'” says Tao. “And the next thing I knew, we were on the road with Keith Sweat.”

Sweat, himself an old-school soul crooner, helped Dru Hill focus on work, updating their music. “The challenge was to keep the basis of our sound, but tweak it enough to be accepted by new audiences,” Nokio says. “We did a few more up-tempo songs than usual, but we maintained the core Dru Hill sound.”

Sisqo jumps in. “We’ve evolved as artists,” he says. “Our sound is tighter and fuller. I think we’re better now than ever.”

This article originally appeared in print in our May 2010 issue. Included here are extra entries and photographs that did not appear in print. Where possible, this additional content is noted with an asterisk.

Have you ever wondered what goes on at the National Aquarium after closing time? Or been tempted to open doors marked “Personnel Only” to see what actually happens behind the scenes? I know I have. And my curiosity really piqued after hearing a few Aquarium staffers mention during a breakfast meeting that it’s more of a 24/7 operation than anyone would imagine. So I asked them to show me around, after all the visitors were gone and the doors were locked.

I figured it would be an eye-opener, but I had no idea.

Unlike certain museums in the movies, the Aquarium’s exhibits don’t magically come to life after-hours, because they’re already alive. And hundreds of people go to great lengths to keep them alive and maintain the facility. During my first visit, for instance, vets performed an ultrasound on a stingray, and I saw a dove get a dressing changed on an injured foot as a half-dozen giant bats watched. I was hooked and went back nine times to see what went on in different areas.

With various curators and keepers as my guides, I navigated a labyrinth of hidden hallways, stairwells, labs, and offices. I held a dolphin by its pectoral fins—they’re a lot harder than you’d think—and rubbed its belly—which is softer than you’d think. I also fed a stingray, spotted a baby sloth clinging to its mother, and stood atop the rocky gorge in the Australia exhibit and marveled at the view of the harbor.

I also learned that, on any given day, Aquarium workers may be mixing seed for exotic birds, examining a quarantined puffin, scrubbing algae in a tank, removing a cancerous tumor on a monkey, transporting a rescued sea turtle to the Animal Care Center—housed in an old Fells Point warehouse—testing life support and security systems, scaling a rock face to water plants, baiting mousetraps—the Aquarium deals with pests, too—unpacking jars of mosquitoes, counting lizards, breeding rare frogs, or mixing up seawater.

Their world feels private and mysterious; their work is loaded with unique, sometimes dangerous, possibilities. It’s something few outsiders get to see.

What follows is a glimpse into that world.

DOLPHIN TANK: MARCH 10, 10:30 P.M.

It’s a girl

Stepping off the elevator near the Pier 3 security desk, Leigh Clayton and Kat Hadfield (both vets in the Animal Care Department) and Brent Whitaker (deputy director for biological programs) look elated. They’re coming from the Marine Mammal Pavilion, where a dolphin calf was born just 90 minutes ago. “Mother and baby are doing well,” says Clayton.

The trio exudes a sort of familial glow. Hadfield beams, her eyes twinkling, and Whitaker flashes a smile. “So far, so good,” he says, and the group heads out into the night.

Upstairs, the lights are dimmed and all is quiet and calm at the dolphin pool. Dolphin trainer Deirdre Weadock and Sue Hunter, the Aquarium’s director of animal programs, watch the water, looking for the three-foot long newborn—still wrinkled from the birth, its dorsal fin flopped to one side—swimming alongside its mother, Jade.

When the female calf comes up for a breath and makes a small splash, Weadock makes note of it on a Palm Pilot. Another trainer, in an observation area below the water’s surface, logs behaviors such as nursing and disciplining. “It’s going really well, just about textbook,” says Hunter, who’s been doing this for 17 years. “The calf is swimming strongly and taking clear breaths, which are encouraging signs.”

The trainers seem more reserved than the vets—which may be due to marathon workdays and round-the-clock observations that were initiated weeks ago, as the birth neared. Or it may be due to the realization that dolphin calves have a high mortality rate. One-in-three doesn’t make it past the first year. “That’s the reality,” says Hunter, “but this one looks great. Someone even referred to it as ‘super-calf.'”

Weadock nods, and she and Hunter return to watching the pool in zen-like silence.

Eventually, a cell phone rings, and Hunter answers—it’s the vets checking on the newborn.

VETS: FEBRUARY 17, 8 A.M.

Stingray Ultrasound

A half-dozen veterinarians and vet techs from the Animal Health Department convene in Rob Adamski’s office. Amid the typical clutter of computer equipment and stacks of paper, books such as Fish Medicine and Avian Physiology line the shelves. The department, according to Clayton, “takes care of things that get sick and does preventative health.” Today, it’s dealing with, among other things, a sick stingray.

After discussing items on the day’s agenda—deworming of frogs, nail trims for birds, and turtle x-rays—and applauding hospital manager Christine Steinert’s 17-year service anniversary, the group turns its attention to a southern stingray with a possible uterine infection. The ray is scheduled for an ultrasound at 8:30.

Hadfield, the primary vet on the case, notes that this is the third exam for this particular ray, and the procedure involves hoisting the animal out of the “Wings in the Water” exhibit, lowering it into a plastic tub containing 200 gallons of water, and performing the ultrasound. “That way, we can determine how much fluid is in the uterus,” she explains, “and see if there is any fluid in the body. If we need to do a uterine flush, we’ll put in a small catheter.”

The group disperses to check e-mails and firm up the day’s schedule, before reconvening at the “ray tray,” where a team of divers and a half-dozen additional Aquarium staffers—dressed in requisite blue polo shirt and khakis—await. After Hadfield outlines the procedure and everyone’s clear who’s responsible for what, four divers slip into the water and herd the six-feet-wide ray into what looks like a large stretcher. The stretcher is then chained to a lift that extends over the water. (A permanent fixture, the lift is painted black, like the ceiling, and is barely noticeable to visitors.)

Once secure, the stretcher is pulled aloft, and when it breaks the water’s surface, the ray furiously whips its wings against the canvas and splashes water out the sides. The flapping ray is hoisted up and over the cement wall—a section of the railing has been removed to help with clearance—and slid onto the laps of two staffers in wetsuits sitting in the plastic tub. The ray thrashes, spilling waves of water over the sides of the tub, as the staffers hold it down—its stinger, or barb, has been trimmed to minimize any risk—and Adamski administers a shot of antibiotics into its dark brown skin.

Then, staffers flip the ray, so its white underbelly is exposed. The flipping, for reasons that aren’t completely understood, induces a state of near-hypnosis. “They kind of go to sleep,” says Clayton, as the ray becomes completely docile.

Hadfield moves the ultrasound scanner over its belly, and images appear on a nearby monitor. The ray’s beating heart is visible, and Hadfield checks the esophagus, liver, kidney, gall bladder, and uterus. “It looks better than it did the last time,” says Clayton.

“It’s much better,” Hadfield confirms. “There’s a lot less fluid.”

Satisfied with what she sees, Hadfield wraps up the exam, and, in short order, the ray is weighed (190 pounds) and returned to the exhibit, where it retreats to a far corner of the pool. The entire procedure takes 20 minutes.

As Hadfield gives an assessment to her assembled colleagues—”everything looks okay, and we’re seeing significant improvement”—water is squeegeed off the floor, plastic hoses are coiled, the section of railing is replaced, and the large tub is wheeled away.

In minutes, there is no evidence that a stingray exam ever took place. And Clayton, Hadfield, and their colleagues hustle to their next round of exams.

* ANIMAL CARE CENTER: MARCH 4, 12 P.M.

FISHRUS

Aquarist Karen Owczarzak surveys the fish on ice at Sal’s Seafood in the Broadway Market. She comes here twice a week—usually Tuesdays and Thursdays—to buy food for a sand tiger shark that’s kept at the Aquarium’s Animal Care Center in Fells Point.

Owczarzak waves to the guy behind the counter. “Hi, how are you?” she asks.

“Como esta?” he responds.

“Bien,” she says. “Y, tu?”

“Bien. Gracias.”

“We did mullet and a bluefish the other day,” says Owczarzak, scanning the fish on display, “so I’m going to get a Spanish mackerel, because I know he loves those.”

She points to a mackerel: “Uno.”

“And can I get two perch?” she adds. The counter guy wraps the fish and gives them to Owczarzak. The Aquarium runs a tab at Sal’s, so no money changes hands.

“Gracias,” says Owczarzak. “See you next week.”

She hops into a white van—with “FISHRUS” plates—and returns to the Animal Care Center. The shark is large (about seven feet long) and so is the tank (50,000 gallons). Owczarzak inserts vitamin supplement pellets into the gill cavity of each fish that will be fed to the shark. “He usually doesn’t even notice the pellets,” she says. “He just smells the fish and goes after it.”

Using a pair of long-handled tongs, she holds the fish below the water’s surface. Seconds later, the shark appears, snags the fish off the tongs, and heads to the far end of the pool.

“There you go,” says Owczarzak, before repeating the process.

When asked about the shark’s appetite, she doesn’t hesitate: “It’s been good. Except for having gas one time, he’s been eating fine.”

But he hasn’t been playing well with others. That’s why he’s been at the Center for the past year and a half. “He was too aggressive,” explains the Center’s Manager Jason Cook, “so he had to be taken out of the exhibit.” The shark is awaiting transfer to another facility, where the dynamics of the tank will hopefully be more to his liking.

Housed in an old Fells Point warehouse, the 20,000 square foot Animal Care Center functions mostly as a quarantine area for sick animals and animals on their way to being exhibited at the Aquarium—750 fish were recently transferred from the Center to various Aquarium exhibits. “Animals can come here from the wild, or from wholesalers across the country,” says Cook. “So when we get in a shipment, we follow quarantine protocols and treat the animals for any parasites, before transferring them to the Aquarium. The average quarantine is about 30 days.”

The Center is divided into four main areas: rooms A, B, C, and D. A and B are mostly for fish; the other half, says Cook, houses “almost an entire Australia exhibit, a lot of turtles and reptiles. We do quite a bit of turtle breeding because some of them are hard to acquire from Australia.”

Later today, the vets will perform a medical induction on a pregnant turtle, because an x-ray revealed that some of her eggs were malformed.

Down a hallway, Jennifer Dittmar, is checking on a quarantined seal. Dittmar heads the Marine Animal Rescue Program and is currently caring for the seal, along with a few ailing turtles that were rescued along the New England coast. “He has seal pox and seal lice, which are not uncommon,” says Dittmar. “His immune system is really suppressed, and he’s a little contagious.”

That said, she exits through a metal door to check on the seal’s condition.

The Center is also home to the Aquarium’s exhibit design and fabrication workshop.

Its director, Allan Sutherland, and his crew are creating faux rocks and barnacles along with some rubber seaweed for the puffin exhibit.

There’s more to it than meets the eye, and Sutherland stresses that his team “has to meet the psychological and physical needs of the animals.”

“We want them to settle in comfortably to the environments we create,” he says. “After all, it’s their home.”

AUSTRALIA EXHIBIT: FEBRUARY 24, 6:45 A.M.

Python Feeding

John Seyjagat walks purposefully through the Australia exhibit, which replicates a river gorge in Australia’s rugged northern territory. Right away, something catches his eye; something isn’t quite right in a small tank in the hallway. “See that particle that’s dropping?” he says, pointing to a barely visible speck descending inside the tank. “That shouldn’t drop. It means there is no water movement in this tank. If there is no water movement, it means the pump is shut down, so we need to check it.”

As curator, he’s responsible for the exhibit’s “total management and problem solving,” including issues relating to its life support system, mechanical facilities, and animal collection. “The minute I get off the elevator,” says Seyjagat, “my job starts.”

Seyjagat takes out a ring of keys, and inserts one of them into the fabricated rock below the tank. He twists the key clockwise and removes a section of the rock face, revealing a pump housing tucked behind it. It’s empty. “Good,” says Seyjagat. “Somebody already got to this.”

He replaces the section of rock and moves on, lingering for a moment on the walkway overlooking the harbor. “I stop here and look out over the plaza for signs that the bird migration has started,” he says.

He’s looking for dead or injured birds. “The lights from the buildings in this area attract birds migrating south in the fall and north in the spring,” he explains, “and the birds crash into these buildings.”

That’s why Seyjagat has customized the Aquarium’s lighting. “I use green-colored lights, because birds can see green,” he says. “Now, they’re less likely to crash into our building, which makes sense because we’re a conservation agency.”

Seyjagat then checks the flow of the waterfall behind him, eyeballs water levels in various tanks housing turtles and crocodiles, and scans the towering, simulated river gorge. “I try to look at our animals to make sure everybody’s fine,” he says. “I want to see that everybody’s looking good, no one needs emergency attention, and nobody’s stuck.”

After a brief meeting with half a dozen staff members, Seyjagat and his team ready the exhibit for visitors. Animal Planet Australia: Wild Extremes (named “Best Exhibit” by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in 2008) is the first stop on the Aquarium’s tour route, and the doors open in about two hours. By then, over 2,000 animals—including exotic birds, large turtles and lizards, crocodiles, pythons, bats, and lots of fish—need to be fed, plants watered, tanks cleaned, and floors scrubbed.

The food prep area looks like most restaurant kitchens, with its gleaming stainless steel sinks and counters and large refrigerator. But a sign on the refrigerator distinguishes it from any restaurant; it reads, “Snakebite Antivenom Type B Stored in Bottom Right.” A peek inside reveals a bounty of high-quality produce such as blueberries, melons, and grapes, alongside plastic containers of mice and the antivenom. Varieties of birdseed sit on a nearby shelf, along with a container labeled “monkey biscuit.” While prepping trays of seed, senior aviculturist Kim Mann notes that there aren’t any monkeys in this particular exhibit, and the biscuits are actually fed to the bats. “It has everything they need, nutritionally,” she says.

Down the hall, herpetologist Courtney Russo is feeding the whiptail rays. First, she runs downstairs to turn off the waterfall, and, when she enters the exhibit through a camouflaged door cut into the back wall, the rays sit at the water’s edge waiting for her. “They know that when the waterfall goes off, they’re about to get fed,” she says. “And they’ve been trained to come to these specific spots.”

She puts on a latex glove, reaches into the plastic container she’s holding, and extracts a small fish. She bends down and holds the fish below the water’s surface in the vicinity of the ray’s mouth. The ray sort of hunches around her hand and swallows the fish. Each ray gulps down about 20.

The crocodiles are fed on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays; pythons are fed on Thursdays. The largest python eats in a back hallway, where it’s served a once-frozen rabbit that’s been thawed and warmed to its original body temperature. If its food isn’t properly warmed, the cold-blooded python’s metabolism will drop, making digestion difficult. Russo always observes the feeding “to make sure she gets the rabbit down okay. It’s rare, but snakes can choke.”

And how do you aid a choking python? “You have to scare it,” she says. She’s being serious.

“You just pick her up and play with her mouth a little bit,” she explains, more casually than one might expect. “Because the mouth is her main defense, handling her will cause some stress, and she’ll spit up the rabbit.”

That said, Russo heads down the hallway to feed fish in an exhibit that is also home to a couple crocodiles. She runs into Seyjagat, who volunteers to spot her (a requirement for this type of feeding) and reaches for a 4’x2′ fiberglass shield. “If you should need [the shield], the trick is keeping it between you and the crocodile,” says Seyjagat. “The other trick is keeping your wits about you, which helps with a lot of the things we do here.”

* RAIN FOREST: FEBRUARY 26, 7:30 A.M.

Giving Up Secrets

If you listen carefully, you can practically hear the Rain Forest come to life in the morning. It’s totally quiet as horticulturist Chris Baker uncoils a hose and begins watering lush foliage all around him. The spraying triggers an audible response from various frogs, all of them unseen. “When I water, it wakes them up,” says Baker, “and they start calling.”

In short order, the birds start chattering, chirping, and singing. An extraordinarily loud, whistle-like call rings out; it’s a screaming piha—a surprisingly tiny bird—living up to its name.

Baker presides over the Rain Forest’s extensive plant collection, which he curates like an artist and organizes like a landscape designer. One moment he’s discussing “the importance of mixing textures and colors,” and then he’s talking about “creating little areas where people can see things” and “leading people through the exhibit.”

He points out bromeliads, a mahogany tree, peace lilies, ficus, a cocoa tree, philodendrons, and a vanilla orchid. He seems especially exited about how some of the trees are used by native people. The Soursop, for instance, bears fruit that have a green, prickly skin. “People from South America have told me they love it,” says Baker, “but it’s pretty sour.”

Natives dry leaves from the Cecropia tree and use them for tea and to soothe toothaches. Dye from the Annatto tree is used for face painting and dying clothing. “That’s pretty cool, isn’t it?” he asks.

As Baker sprays, the humidity spikes, and the air gets thick.

Rain Forest Curator Ken Howell comes by and takes a look around. “When people come here,” he says, “they consider the plants to be secondary to the animals, like they’re nothing more than props for the animals to sit on. But in a tropical rain forest, it’s actually the animals that are secondary.

“Most first time visitors fly through the rain forest and never see anything. For the first time visitor, the rain forest can be a disappointment. But for return visitors, it quickly becomes one of their favorites. It doesn’t give up a lot of its secrets. Not everything is pegged down and in sight. In a naturalistic exhibit like this, animals can hide or stay in a corner. It can take multiple visits or a keen observational eye to really appreciate it.”

Walking up the steps towards the rain forest’s observation deck, he stops abruptly. “Look,” he says, pointing. “It’s a greenhouse frog.” By his foot, a tiny frog slips between cracks in the wood.

On the deck, the morning “bug drop” is in progress. The aviculturists drop bugs, wax worms, and other goodies on the deck to attract the birds. As they swoop in to eat, aviculturists Debra Dial and Alex Kessler check off each bird on a checklist. They’re looking for 20 birds, 15 species in all. Dial takes note of a motmot bird. “It’s always out and about,” she says. “Instead of building nests, it burrows underground. Last year, she built a burrow right in the middle of the exhibit.”

After the “bug drop” is over, Dial climbs to a walkway on a ledge above the treetops and heads to the far corner of the rain forest. Here, two tamarin monkeys spend the night in a cage. Dial opens the door, and they come out immediately. “Rosa, she’s much more outgoing and daring,” says Dial. “She goes out and explores. Lee, he stays closer to the cage, and you rarely see him.”

She tells how Lee has a bump on his arm that needs to be monitored. “We needed him to be willing to raise his arm,” says Dial, “which is a bizarre thing to ask a monkey to do. But we trained that behavior.”

Dial explains that it’s possible, if you build a relationship based on trust. “It’s incremental,” she says. “One step at a time. You take a step, and then you build on that.”

Howell makes it sound like they’re all one big family—the keepers, monkeys, sloths, toads and frogs, tortoises, birds, and plant. “Our second baby sloth was born last Thursday,” he says. “Mom’s been stretched out with a little baby on her for the past couple days.”

He mentions a tamarin monkey with cancer, and a pygmy marmoset who died of heart disease. “It’s interesting that these captive primates begin exhibiting the same medical issues that people do,” says Howell. “You have all these varieties of different living things that all have different requirements and needs. And they’re not just physical needs; they can be psychological needs. Their environments may need to be enriched, so they have more stimulation. The parrots are real high maintenance when it comes to stimulation and psychological well being, as are the primates.”

Howell smiles broadly and says: “I always picture this job as somewhat like that bar in Star Wars.”

Note: A few weeks later, Howell sent out the following email… “Lee, our male golden lion tamarind, has been battling metastatic cancer for almost a year now. Lee has had several tumors removed and has been on a rigid chemotherapy regime for his cancer. His last exam showed us that his condition had dramatically worsened and Lee was placed in ‘hospice’ care at that time. Yesterday, his condition began to rapidly decline, and we made the decision to humanely euthanize him. Lee was born March 10, 1994 at the Milwaukee Zoo, spent two years at the Brookfield Zoo, and came to the National Aquarium in November of 1998. Lee was always the ‘cowardly lion’ of the rainforest, and his presence will be missed.”

DOLPHIN TANK: FEBRUARY 19, 8:30 A.M.

Breakfast Time

It’s breakfast time for the dolphins. Four trainers grab buckets of herring and capelin, scatter around the perimeter of the dolphin pool, and step—in unison, so all the dolphins are fed at the same time—to the deck’s edge. Through a wall of red-framed windows behind them, the harbor glimmers in the distance; before them, the dolphins congregate, waiting expectantly.

Foster looks up at Allison Ginsburg, his primary trainer. At two-and-a-half years old, Foster is still considered a calf, although he’s four-and-a-half feet long and weighs about 150 pounds. Ginsburg tosses him a fish, which he snags in the air and swallows quickly. “You’re the cutest little boy in all the world,” she says, adopting a high-pitched voice that sounds like she’s talking to a golden retriever. “You’re such a good boy.”

Foster responds with spirited chirps that sound as if he agrees. He makes the sounds by forcing air through his blowhole, as dolphins don’t have vocal cords. Ginsburg likens it to letting air out of a balloon. “You know how you can stretch a balloon opening to make different sounds?” she says. “A dolphin’s blowhole cover is a very thick muscle, which they can manipulate to produce different types of vocalizations.”

As if to demonstrate, Foster lets loose with a flurry of crackles and squeals. Ginsburg tosses him a fish.

Actually, this is more than a feeding. The 8:30 “session,” though it always involves food, can take a variety of forms. It’s up to each trainer. “We can choose to play with the animals,” says Ginsburg, nodding toward a variety of toys—plastic balls, floats, sinkers, and hoops—lining the back wall. “We can do an enrichment session, where we give them a few toys and just let them do as they please, which encourages natural behaviors such as foraging and looking for food. Or we can train show behaviors, such as aerials, lots of jumping, swimming fast—high energy stuff.”

Those behaviors, and the routines reinforcing them, are vital, because the dolphins perform, on average, three times a day. So when the blizzards hit in February and the Aquarium closed for nearly a week, the trainers staged mock shows, in an empty theater, to keep the group on-point.

This morning, Ginsburg gives Foster a physical exam. “Dolphins can’t tell us if they’re not feeling good,” says Ginsburg, “so we’ve trained them to present their bodies to us, so we can look them over.”

Ginsburg kneels at the water’s edge, and Foster bobs in front of her. She extends her hand—palm away, fingers straight—and motions to the right. Foster turns in that direction and positions his body so it’s parallel to the deck. Ginsburg reaches for his dorsal fin and examines it. After a few seconds, she releases it, and Foster inches forward, so she can look at his tail. When she gives the tail two quick pats, Foster turns around, and she tosses him a fish.

Then, Ginsburg extends her arm and rotates her hand counterclockwise, and Foster flips over on his back. She holds his pectoral fins, looks at his belly, checks the underside of his tail, gives him a quick pat, and he swims away. He returns, and she tosses him a fish. Ginsburg cycles through a few similar maneuvers, assessing body tone and looking for cuts and scrapes along the way. “Everything looks good,” she says.

Ginsburg and the other trainers wrap up their sessions and continue prepping for the day. She retreats to a poolside office to work on scheduling and go over diets.

Her colleagues return pails to the food prep area and start scrubbing the deck with long-handled brushes.

Except for the scrubbing and the occasional splash, it’s completely silent. A scrim gets lowered from the ceiling and raised. Spotlights are tested, on and off. A dolphin with a yellow and black float toy in its mouth rises to the surface and tosses the toy clear out of the pool. It’s almost showtime.

LIFE SUPPORT STAFF: FEBRUARY 26, 7 A.M.

Water Main Break

Water gushes up through the brick walkway in front of the Hard Rock Café, creating something of a three-sided waterfall streaming over the Hard Rock’s deck into the harbor. A main has burst, and, shortly, the water will be turned off on Pier 4. That’s bad news for Andy Aiken, director of the Aquarium’s life support department.

“Having no water presents a few problems for us, as you can well imagine,” says Aiken, sitting in his office, which is accessed, oddly enough, through the dolphin gift shop. With glasses perched on his head and a disarming chuckle, Aiken seems like a cross between a straight-laced engineer and a mad scientist. “We are responsible for making sure the environment in these tanks is suitable for keeping the animals alive,” he says, “and that always presents challenges.”

Right now, he’s hoping to avoid a domino effect in a complex system that processes over a million gallons of water an hour. The life support system adjacent to the dolphin tank is his main concern. From his computer, he monitors temperatures, flow rates, water levels and pressure—hundreds of bits of data—in the tanks.

He surveys the pump room, as well. A sprawling mass of metal pipes, plastic tubing, webs of circuitry, droning engines, and massive holding tanks, it roars with mechanized purpose. “It’s an outrageous amount of equipment,” says Aiken, “but it’s what’s required to keep a very large amount of sea water in good enough shape to keep the dolphins happy.”

Aiken heads for the ozone generator. Because chlorine can irritate the dolphins’ skin, ozone is used to disinfect their tanks. This piece of equipment—fairly unremarkable, painted battleship gray and not very large compared to other items in the room—splits oxygen atoms to make ozone, which requires an enormous amount of electricity. Fresh water usually cools the generator, so it doesn’t overheat and burn up. But with the water shut off, Aiken has switched to an alternative coolant to keep things running.

Everything’s working now, but if the ozone generator can’t do its job, “we can’t disinfect,” says Aiken. “Then, we have a coliform problem, in very short order, in the dolphin tank. The USDA regulations state that we can’t have more than a certain amount of coliform in the water, and if we exceed it, we need to fix it.”

Without ozone, that would mean using chlorine to bring down the level. And if the coliform level remains high, the USDA can actually order that the dolphins be moved. “I’m not going to have that on my watch,” says Aiken, who seems remarkably calm. “I have total confidence in my guys and in their troubleshooting abilities.”

He’s obviously experienced more dire circumstances. “Hurricane Isabel was the worst,” he says, back in his office. He recalls wading through waist high water to the building, “where it was totally dark inside. I’m feeling my way up a stairwell, and I see somebody up ahead wearing a headlamp, and they say, ‘Welcome to hell.'”

For Aiken, it was exactly that. The pump rooms were flooded. There was no power.

His guys, who had worked through the night, were spent, and conditions were worsening for the animals. “I just started grabbing scuba tanks with regulators and taping lead weights onto them,” says Aiken. “I opened the regulators a little bit and started chucking tanks into the water, one after another. They were like little air bombs, bubbling some air into the water. And when we ran out, we called an oxygen company, and they boated cylinders over to us.”

Not a single animal died. Though obviously proud, Aiken stresses that he can’t take credit for that. “It was everyone who was here,” he says.

By contrast, the current situation is a minor hiccup. But late in the afternoon, a life support staffer drops by the office to tell Aiken the busted water main hasn’t been fixed. In fact, the City still hasn’t found the pipe, which elicits an “Oh, my god” from Aiken.

“They have to bust through a lot of concrete to get to it,” says the staffer. “I’ll stick around tonight and monitor things.”

“We’ll be okay for a couple days,” says Aiken, “unless something catastrophic happens.”

He leans back in his chair and sighs: “Thanks for the heads-up. We should be all right until Monday. Let’s just hope this doesn’t go on any longer than that.”

Water service was restored to Pier 4 on Monday morning.

* SECURITY OFFICE: MARCH 3, 2010, 2:30 P.M.

Listening to the Quiet

Sitting in an office adjacent to the Pier 3 security desk—which is helmed by Dee “Miss Dee” Green, easily the “best dressed” Aquarium employee—Safety Manager Gene Taylor and a few security officers talk about working the night and early morning shifts. During those shifts, they test systems, perform inspections, coordinate with contractors working after-hours, and conduct CPR and fire extinguisher training. They also make the rounds.

“We do inspections in all three buildings,” says Taylor, “so we’re alone with the animals.”

“When you first start working here,” says Hilda Henson, who works the 3 to 11 shift, “it’s really weird at night, because all the lights go down. After awhile, you get used to it, but the first month or so, it’s weird, especially in the Rain Forest. I was praying that the sloth didn’t want to come down and meet me.”

“At night, most of the birds are quiet,” says Sergeant George Sipes.

“Not the lorikeets,” notes Taylor. “They’re a little sexually aggressive. They saw two humans walking in their area and started dive-bombing us. But, you know, we were walking into their territory.”

“The sharks and snakes don’t bother you because they’re all behind glass,” says Miss Hilda.

“I like the coral reef because of the solitude,” says Sipes. “You go down there and it’s real quiet and soothing.”

“Down there, you’d like to have a La-Z-Boy at night,” says Miss Hilda, “so you could just listen to the quiet. Mmm.”

Taylor and Sipes nod in agreement.

PIER 4 OFFICE: MARCH 22, 1:30 P.M.

Cycle of Life

The mood in Sue Hunter’s office is somber. The baby dolphin passed away yesterday morning at seven o’clock—it was just 11 days old. “The calf had been nursing well, which was a positive sign,” says Hunter. “A lot of us were commenting on how strong she looked.”

She lets out a sigh: “But we also knew there was a decent chance she wouldn’t make it.”

“These young animals are very fragile,” says Brent Whitaker, “and life is tough for them early on.” Whitaker speculates that an infection was the cause of death, but he won’t be sure until test results come in from Johns Hopkins.

He turns philosophical. “We had a real high when it was born,” he says, “and this is a real low. It’s heartbreaking, but we’ve worked with these animals long enough to understand that this is part of the reality of the job we do.”

“It’s another side of what we deal with, a side that isn’t usually seen,” says Hunter. “It really is the worst part of the job.”

“But we help each other through it,” she adds. “We’ve been getting support from the whole Aquarium. Everybody’s been writing e-mails and stopping by and sending food. It’s almost like a wake. It’s a very supportive atmosphere, and we’ll keep going.”

“It’s the cycle of life,” says Whitaker, “and we know we’ll have more babies born in the future.”

And that may be sooner, rather than later. It seems that two of the dolphins, Chinook and Spirit, have taken a shine to one another. “They’ve been very close, swimming everywhere, touching each other,” says Hunter. “The other day, they were nose to nose, and it looked as if they were kissing. She was at the surface looking at him, and he was spinning around, like he was doing a little dance.”

She cracks a slight smile: “There’s no sign of pregnancy yet, but we’re watching for it.”

---

ART LOVERS

Out of the Way Arts

Some of the city’s best cultural offerings are in off-the-beaten-path spots that often get overlooked. There’s a stunning display of
graffiti down a Howard Street alley, just above North Avenue. Tucked behind Load of Fun Studios, it features some of the finest aerosol art you’ll ever see, and it’s all legal thanks to a deal between the City and Load of Fun’s owner. Sometimes, you can even chat with the artists. Photo enthusiasts might want to pop into 1919 Fleet Street, a Fells Point bar that’s popular with locals and known to host the occasional Caleb Stine or Arty Hill show. Proprietor Sally Hutchins covers the walls with a sprawling collage of portraits, snapshots, and landscapes she’s taken around the neighborhood and around the country. It’s the best unintentional photo installation in town. You can also find terrific tunes in unexpected places: J. Patrick’s Irish Pub(1371 Andre St.) in Locust Point hosts world class Irish music during Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday jam sessions. There’s no cover, but you might want to spring for a Guinness.

Take A Tour

Checking out the eye-popping array of
outdoor murals scattered around town makes for a colorful tour of the city. Our favorites include James Voshell’s photorealistic depiction of life in Carrollton Ridge (2200 block of W. Pratt St.), Lyle Kissack and Gerald Ross’s gigantic steelworkers’ wall in East Baltimore (1000 N. Patterson Park Ave.), and Pontella Mason’s Baltimore Wall of Pride in Sandtown (N. Carey and Cumberland Streets). There’s a handy Google map of the sites available at promotionandarts.com.

Touring studios is a great way to meet artists and hear about their work.
The Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower (21 S. Eutaw St.) opens its studios to the public on the first Saturday of each month, and visitors are welcome to tour the historic structure, as well. It’s also worth stopping by Highlandtown’s Creative Alliance (3134 Eastern Ave.) and South Baltimore’s School 33 Arts Center (1427 Light St.) to see what their artists-in-residence are up to and gauge the city’s artistic spirit.

A different type of spirit permeates
The Basilica (409 Cathedral St.), America’s first cathedral, in Mt. Vernon. Its recent restoration went a long way toward highlighting the building’s architectural splendor, and it’s now open to the public seven days a week, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. But keep in mind that it’s a place of worship, so plan your visit around the mass schedule.

World’s Craziest Race

AVAM’s
Kinetic Sculpture Race features a jaw-dropping array of art-drenched, human-powered, amphibious vehicles navigating a 15-mile course over “land, mud, and deep harbor waters.” The annual spectacle mixes Olympian ideals and sculptural ingenuity with theatrical kitsch. Where else can you see a giant pink poodle pedal through Federal Hill, Fells Point, and Canton and splash in the Inner Harbor? In what other race do contestants vie for “The Mediocre Award” or “The-Next-to-the-Last Award”? It’s great fun, whether you’re a kinetinaut (pilot) or a peon (cheerleader). (See our story about the race, p. 64.)

Cyberconcerts

Baltimore has great live music (see sidebar, p. 176). If you miss a show, try to catch it online:
Aural States (auralstates.com) maintains an impressive archive of local artists’ live sets, including some by Lake Trout, Wye Oak, and The Baltimore Afrobeat Society.Beatbots (beatbots.com) posts audio and video of shows at venues like Floristree, The Hexagon, and Metro Gallery. It’s worth digging for gems such as a classic Lungfish show from 1991.

Galleries Galore

There are ever-more opportunities to visit Baltimore’s art shrines for free. For a few years,
The Walters Art Museum and The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) have been free, so it’s possible to forge ongoing relationships with specific exhibition spaces or pieces of art. The Walters’s Chamber of Wonders—with its drawers of specimens and cabinets of curiosities—rewards repeated visits, as does the BMA’s Sculpture Garden (perfect for breezy summer days) or contemporary wing (a welcome respite from stifling heat). Cooling off in front of a Rothko or Rauschenberg as the asphalt melts outside can be sublimely surreal. Local artist Les Harris died a few years ago, but his vibrant paintings and sculptures can still be seen at Clipper Mill’s Amaranthine Museum (2010 Clipper Park Rd., Suite 120), which is run by his wife, Sally. Visionary artist Loring Cornish has transformed two Penn North row houses into glittering and radiant mosaics that make driving down the 2700 block of Parkwood Avenue something wondrous. If he’s home, Cornish might invite you in.

Festival Fever

No city has a better variety of free summer festivals than Charm City.

Billed as “America’s largest free arts festival,”
Artscape (July 16-18) is truly a mammoth three-day spectacle, and Baltimore should be both grateful that it exists and proud of our arts community for putting it on every year. Feast on three music stages—Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles have appeared—dance, opera, theater performances, and displays by more than 150 artists, plus art cars, competitions (including the Billie Holiday and Cab Calloway vocal contests), a mini-fest for kids, and endless food options (including free samples!).

No local fest captures Charm City’s charm so well as
HonFest (June 12-13). Head to The Avenue in Hampden and mingle among the beehived Hons in house dresses—or be one for a day—cheer on contestants in the Best Hon Contest, sample a hunk of the world’s biggest crab cake (if they try to top last year), and revel in your hometown’s glorious strangeness.

It would seem hard to do justice to a neighborhood with as much history and diversity as Fells Point with a single fest, but the
Fells Point Fun Festival (October 2-3) does a good job. There are sections where most of the ethnic communities that live nearby—Polish, Latino, Greek, Italian—sell homemade food and crafts, endless booths where local businesses promote their wares, and, they’re not free, but old-school rides and amusement park games for the tykes.

A visit to the annual
Baltimore Book Festival (September 24-26) reminds you that this is still is “the city that reads.” High profile authors like Cornell West, Ralph Nader, and Buzz Aldrin came last year, and there’s tons of live music, food, and activities for the kids (including a great kids’ book tent with readings by prominent authors), but the best part might be mingling among the booths of dozens of community groups focused on education and reading and finding more reasons why this is such a great place to live.

Street Beat (September 19) is Federal Hill’s block party, with music on three stages and all the food and shopping you’d expect from a “greatest American main street” (per the National Trust for Historic Preservation).

They’re not all free (most are), but the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts puts on a great series of parties in its
Showcase of Nations Ethnic Festivals, including Polish (June 4-6), Greek (June 10-13), African-American (June 18-20), Latino (June 26-27), Caribbean (July 9-11), African (August 14-15), Ukrainian (September 11-12), Russian (October 15-17) and the Baltimore International Festival (August 7-8), which, in 2009, featured a soccer tournament, a fashion show, and music into the night (promotionandarts.com for locations and more info).

FOODIES

Farm to Mouth

These open-air gatherings are a great place to graze for freebies. Yes, there are the biggies, like the
32nd Street Farmers Market in Waverly (E. 32nd St. and Barclay St.; Saturdays, year-round) and the Baltimore Farmers’ Market & Bazaar under the JFX (Sundays, starting May 2), where you can often sweet talk vendors into sips and nibbles. (We always enjoy a chug of freshly squeezed orange juice from the Nuttin But the Juice guy.) Carole Simon, manager of special projects for the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, offers this advice: “Where samples are not actually set out, a simple request would happily bring forth a sample.” Many farmers are also glad to share recipes, she says. We also appreciate the smaller markets, like the one at Green Spring Station(Joppa Rd. and Falls Rd.; Lutherville), which is held on Saturday afternoons (weekly, starting May 22). After no-hassle parking, head to The Nut Farm and Creamery stand for cheese samples or to the Quite a Stir table and spend your time tasting cupcakes.

See Where Pretzels Come From

Take a free, one-hour tour of the
Herr’s factory in Nottingham, PA, about an hour north of Baltimore, where the company’s delicious snacks are made. You’ll find out little-known facts like how a pretzel gets its brown color, what makes a great chipping potato, and also get samples to eat on the spot.

The Happiest Hours In Town

You may have to pay discounted prices for your drinks during happy hour, but you can also chow on complimentary snacks at many places. Here’s what you’ll find:

Monday-Friday: buffet, Bare Bones Grill and Brewery (9150-22 Baltimore National Pike, Ellicott City)

Tuesday: wings, The Mt. Washington Tavern (5700 Newbury St.)

Wednesday: passed hors d’oeuvres, The Capital Grille, (500 E. Pratt St.)

Thursday: oysters, Alonso’s (415 W. Cold Spring Ln.)

Friday: cheese, Cat’s Eye Pub (1730 Thames St.); tacos and mussels, Kooper’s Tavern (1702 Thames St.); spreads, Curb Shoppe Bar & Grill (5736 Falls Rd.) and Bay Cafe (2809 Boston St.)

See. Cook. Eat.

Head to Whole Foods in
Mt. Washington (1330 Smith Ave.), where, every Thursday, from noon-2 p.m. and 5-7 p.m., there are live cooking demonstrations. On Fridays, the action is at the seafood department, where store personnel prepare fish dishes and give out recipes and samples. On Fridays from 10:30–11:30 a.m., kids can visit various departments for treats, like an apple from the produce section, a cookie from the bakery, and applesauce from prepared-foods. Visitwholefoodsmarket.com/stores/mountwashington

Taste Testing

McCormick, the spice company, is always looking for panelists to try out a range of food, snacks, and beverages at home or at its Hunt Valley plant. In addition to nibbling on free food, there is monetary compensation, too! Sign up at mccormick.com.

Visit a local
winery, take a tour, and enjoy free (or nearly free) tastings at Cygnus Wine Cellars in Carroll County (cygnuswinecellars.com) and Linganore Winecellars in Frederick County (linganore-wine.com).

You don’t have to spend a dime to sample produce, drinks, snacks, cheeses, and other goodies at local
grocery stores like Wegmans, Whole Foods, Giant, Eddie’s of Roland Park, H-Mart (if you look longingly enough, the guy making rice cakes will bless you with a freshly made one), and Graul’s Market. You won’t leave hungry, that’s for sure.

While you’re “downy ocean, hon,” take a detour to Milton, DE, outside Rehoboth Beach, for a free tour Tuesdays-Saturdays of the
Dogfish Head Brewery (6 Village Center Blvd., Milton, DE). Besides a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the award-winning craft ales, you also get a sampling of the beer. Reservations recommended (dogfish.com).

Not only will you be able to save money (10 percent off!) during
First Thursdays in Federal Hill, you’ll also be able to quench your thirst at many of the stores involved in the monthly shopping spree from 6-8 p.m. At BABE (a boutique) (910 S. Charles St.), you can sip complimentary Champagne while perusing the stylish inventory. At Whimsy Boutique (1033 S. Charles St.), there’s gratis wine. Such a civilized way to shop.

Kids Eat Free

Buy an adult meal and feed one or two young’uns at no extra charge. Here’s a sampling:
Austin Grill (2400 Boston St.), Tuesdays, two kids under 18 get free entrees off the kids’ menu with the purchase of one adult entree, all day. Dine-in only. Champps Americana (10300 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia), Tuesdays, 4-7 p.m., ages 12 and younger. A local magician also entertains the kids from 4-7 p.m. Denny’s (1995 E. Joppa Rd., Parkville), Tuesdays and Saturdays, 4-10 p.m., ages 10 and younger. IHOP (6820 Loch Raven Blvd., Towson), every day, 4-10 p.m., 12 and younger. Mi Viejo Pueblito(601 S. Conkling St.), Sundays, 13 and younger, all day.

SPORTS FANATICS

Meet a Raven

As the Baltimore summer goes from hot to hotter, the Baltimore Ravens head to McDaniel College to start
training camp, which is a great opportunity for fans to see their favorite players up close and personal. During July and August, families and fanatics crowd the bleachers and the sideline to get a glimpse of scrimmages, drills, and non-contact plays. You get to see a softer side of Pro Bowlers like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed as they joke about dropped passes and tease rookies. There’s a waiting area for autograph-seekers and players often sign memorabilia until there’s nobody left.

Happy Birthday From the O’s

To draw more fans to the Yard, the Orioles give away
free birthday tickets. All you do is go to their website and enter in your birth date, and you’ll get a free upper reserve ticket to a

non-prime (not Yankees or Red Sox) game in your birthday month. Don’t fret if you were born during the off-season—you’ll get one anyway (an April game for January through March b’days, a September game for October through December ones).

Catch the Game

There’s no charge to see 16 top 11- and 12-year-old teams from around the world compete at the
Cal Ripken World Series at the IronBirds complex (873 Long Dr., Aberdeen), August 13-21. They play on fields modeled after Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Memorial Stadium, Wrigley Field, and Fenway Park.

Enjoy hockey during the warm months by checking out
floor hockey games at Dominic “Mimi” DiPietro Family Skating Center in Patterson Park (200 S. Linwood Ave.). Hop up on the bleachers surrounding the rink and watch as the co-ed teams blade around—they don’t shy away from contact.

You don’t even have to cross the Bay Bridge to enjoy one of the best beach activities.
Baltimore Beach Volleyball runs 10-week sessions, April-July and July-September. Teams play on seven volleyball courts at Rash Field (201 Key Hwy.) and patrons watch from Federal Hill, right across the street.

Get In the Game

For something a little different, head to
Littly Italy’s bocce ball courts (902 Stiles St.) named after former mayor (and Nancy Pelosi’s father) Thomas D’Alesandro Jr. Around dinner time on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, watch seasoned players roll balls down the dusty alley. But don’t be afraid to try—they often welcome guest players.

Charm City Yoga offered free
outdoor yoga sessions at West Shore Park (500 block of Light St.) last summer and may do so again. The six hour-long classes started at 10 a.m. and were appropriate for all levels of yoga—especially good for those who like practicing in the open air. One definite free session is scheduled for May 8 at 10 a.m.

If you’re in the mood to shoot some hoops, head down to the courts at the bottom of Federal Hill where
pick-up basketball games abound. Most of it is casual street ball, but certain games can get really competitive.

Take Me Out To the (Soft)Ball Game

On a nice weeknight from April through September, head over to one of the City’s great parks—including Carroll, Clifton, Holabird, Joseph Lee, Latrobe, Patterson, and Riverside—to catch a competitive women’s, men’s, or co-ed
softball game. The eight-week spring league starts in April, the summer softball season begins in June, and the fall league starts up in September—so the games are guaranteed year-round entertainment. Make sure to check out the slow-pitch techniques and watch as the game intensifies with every mud-ridden slide to home. Hopefully you’ll get to see a tie game where the winner is usually decided by a dizzy bat contest.

ANIMAL PEOPLE

Heavy Petting

The free petting zoo at
Baugher Enterprises (1236 Baugher Rd., Westminster, 410-848-5541) features calves, a llama, a donkey, some goats and sheep, kittens, guinea pigs, rabbits, emus, a turkey, and sometimes pot-bellied pigs and peacocks. With this range of somewhat exotic animals, you’ll never guess which is most popular: Yes, the kittens. Baugher’s is mainly set up as a pick-your-own farm (strawberries and cherries early in season; peaches late), but they encourage you to come pet the animals anytime, sunup to sundown. There’s even a gazebo, picnic tables, a playhouse, and a swing set on site if you want to make a day of it. You can feed the animals, and they sell pellets in case you don’t know the preferred food of an emu. (FYI: Emus eat everything; but seeds and nuts are your best bet.)

Dog Devotion

For a dog owner, watching your pooch at the dog park is akin to having a hidden camera at your child’s kindergarten class: It’s a great chance to see how your dog interacts with, you know, his peers. The
Canton Dog Park (South Bouldin and Toone Sts.) was the first in the city, and is still the only park to separate the Chihuahuas from the Labs (that is, the small dogs from the big ones). This is your standard city dog park: sand-covered asphalt, some benches for owners, and a water pump for thirsty pups. Funding for a renovation project is currently underway. The city’s newest canine playground, theLocust Point Dog Park (1627 E. Fort Ave.), has a few more bells and whistles, including an Astroturf hill, rocks for sitting or climbing, and a water tube (for drinking and splashing). This park has only one play area, but twice a day—from 9-10 a.m. and from 3-4 p.m.—it’s reserved for small and older pups.

Another chance to watch Buster mix and mingle is available at the free
Yappy Hour at Dogma—Life, With Your Pet (two locations: 3600 Boston St., 410-276-3410 and 1340-G Smith Ave., 443-708-4420). The first Friday of every month, the trendy pet store puts together a little cocktail party with beer, wine, and snacks (for the humans) and treats for the dogs.

Don’t have a dog but want in on all the fun? At the
Maryland SPCA (mdspca.org), you can adopt an older dog (age 7 and up) for free. (There may be fees for licensing and micro-chipping; For younger dogs, there’s a $125-150 adoption fee.) Just think of all the money you’ll save (money that you’ll immediately sink into a doggie bed, sweater, designer collar, and organic kibble).

Quackpot

Photographers have been known to get inspiration at
Homeland lakes duck pond(Springlake Way), one of the more bucolic spots in the city. For the true urban duck park experience, check out Patterson Park (Pratt St. & S. Patterson Park Ave.), where young families mingle with old ladies wielding day-old H&S bread. See all manner of beautiful ducks and geese at the Druid Ridge Duck Park (Old Court Rd. & Park Heights Ave.), but look out for aggressive geese. They might scare the little ones (and their moms and dads).

EXPLORERS

Star Gazing

Explore the universe from the comfort of Dundalk with a visit to the observatory at the
Community College of Baltimore County, which last year sprung for a new 14-inch telescope. See their website (ccbcmd.edu, under events) for dates that are open to the public, usually Friday nights, every two weeks, starting about 9. It’s weather permitting (an observatory is open to the night sky), but sometimes you get the place virtually all to yourself. Or run for cover at the monthly indoor “Celestial Shows” at CCBC in Catonsville, where you can get the big celestial picture from its planetarium’s simulated star projector. Check ccbcmd.edu for dates.

Trail Mix

Walk, bike, saddle up, or roll a stroller along the NCR trail, now known as the
Torrey C. Brown Trail, a scenic, former railway bed. Extending 20 miles from Ashland Road in Hunt Valley to the state line, it’s 10-feet wide with a crushed stone surface, attracting hikers, joggers, cyclists, and the horsey set.

Not enough exercise for you? Then try the 185-mile-long trails of the old
C&O Canal tow path, a national park along the watery route where mules once pulled barges. It runs from Georgetown northwest through farm country and forest to Cumberland, drawing everything from campers and bird watchers to photography buffs.

Closer to home is
Patapsco Valley State Park, where you can hike, fish, camp, ride horses, mountain-bike, or picnic under one of its many pavilions.

Even closer to home is the 745-acre
Druid Hill Park with its scenic reservoir that makes it a favorite for hikers and bird watchers, and offers the added attraction of its historic conservatory and botanic gardens (free, but $2 donation suggested).

Also under our noses is Baltimore’s
Jones Falls Bike Trail, a little-known route along the river where you can see Charm City from a new angle.

Natural Life

Nature centers make the natural world ever-more accessible, and Baltimore is rife with them—and most are free
! Marshy Point Nature Center (7130 Marshy Point Rd.), located within 500-acre Marshy Point Park on the Chesapeake Bay, hosts “rare flower” walks, night-time hikes, and a monthly speaker series. Also on the bay is Masonville Cove (1000 Frankfurst Ave.), a bird sanctuary, conservation parcel, and nature center. West Baltimore’s Carrie Murray Nature Center (1901 Ridgegtop Rd.) boasts an Insect Zoo with hundreds of species, a rehabilitation center for injured and orphaned wildlife, and a live display of reptiles and amphibians. Plus, there’s always Oregon Ridge (13555 Beaver Dam Rd., Cockeysville), which offers exhibits explaining the history, wildlife, and natural environment of the park, the site of a 19th-century iron and marble mine.

Watering Holes

When it gets hot this summer (and it will) head for these oases.
Patapsco Valley State Park (8020 Baltimore National Pike, Ellicott City, 410-461-5005) encompasses 32 miles of river, ample room for tubing, canoeing, swimming, and fishing. Tubing down the one-mile Hereford section of the Big Gunpowder at Gunpowder Falls State Park (2813 Jerusalem Rd.) is a favorite summer pastime, as is swimming at the park’s Hammerman beach. Worth the drive into northern Harford County is Rocks State Park (3318 Rocks Chrome Hill Rd.), where Deer Creek’s cool waters host tubers and swimmers all summer long. Check safety requirements at all parks before visiting.

On the Rocks

Dig your pitons out of the attic and go rock climbing: For beginners, try the modest formations at
Patapsco State Park, then graduate to the “King and Queen Seat,” a formation of more challenging cliffs in Harford County’s Rocks State Park. For experts, the pros at the area’s Earth Treks’ Climbing Centers operate climbing courses for Baltimore-area students at the Carderock Cliffs along the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., and at the cliff-framed gorge at Great Falls National Park in northern Virginia.

FILM BUFFS

B’more on Film

1. Werner’s Restaurant, 231 East Redwood St.

Ladder 49: John Travolta gives advice to Joaquin Phoenix at the counter.

2. Little Havana Restaurant, 1325 Key Hwy.

The Replacements: Keanu Reeves and his teammates have a bar brawl with angry NFL players.

3. Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St.

Absolute Power: Clint Eastwood’s principled thief sketches an El Greco painting in a gallery.

4. The Hollywood Diner (now Crema Coffee), 400 E. Saratoga St.

Diner: This is the classic diner where Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, and the boys kibitzed.

5. Corner of Calvert and Fayette Sts. (by Courthouse East)

Live Free or Die Hard: A garbage truck crashes into a car carrying John McClane (Bruce Willis).

6. Booker T. Washington Middle School, 1301 McCulloh St.

Step up and Step Up 2: It was the exterior of this school, not the BSA, that played the fictitious Maryland School for the Arts.

7. Broadway Pier, Fells Point

Sleepless in Seattle: Meg Ryan sat on a bench here, daydreaming about Tom Hanks.

8. Union Square (Sowebo)

Washington Square: The square and both the interior and exterior of homes were used in this Henry James adaptation.

9. Mt. Vernon, Washington Monument, 699 N. Charles St.

Enemy of the State: Will Smith meets Lisa Bonet on a park bench here.

10. Waugh United Methodist Church, 11453 Long Green Pike

Runaway Bride: Julia Roberts runs away from her wedding to Richard Gere at this Baltimore County Church.

Last of its Kind

Video Americain (400 West Cold Spring Ln., with a second local location at 3100 St. Paul St.) has become something of an anachronism: A real live video and DVD store, with actual people behind the counter, and actual sections you can browse… in person. But it’s more than that—a true film lover’s mecca, where the cinephiles who work there mingle with the cinephiles who pile in for rentals. Go ahead and get in a debate with the video clerk about the “House Favorites” section. Feel free to watch the film—usually something black and white and European—that’s playing on the house TV. Flip through the tattered stack of film books next to the counter. Yes, Video Americain is a business (they’d prefer you actually rent something), but as long as you love film, you can definitely hang out.

Cinema al Fresco

No, there are no windows to steam up, but you can share a picnic with your sweetie and lay back on the grass at an outdoor film series. The poppi of them all,
The Little Italy Open Air Film Festival (High & Stiles Sts.) features mostly Italian-themed movies (think Moonstruck and Big Night) and some of the best takeout picnic possibilities imaginable (Fridays at 7 p.m.). Flicks from the Hill (800 Key Hwy.), at the American Visionary Art Museum, offers films that reflect the current exhibit (Thursdays at 9 p.m.).The Johns Hopkins University Outdoor Film Series (3400 N. Charles St.) features films on the green in front of Shriver Hall and—bonus!—live music from the likes of theSwingin’ Swamis (Fridays at 7:30 p.m.). In Fells Point, Films on the Pier features mostly family fare on the Broadway Pier (Wednesdays at approx. 8:45 p.m.). Every Saturday in June, the Village of Cross Keys rolls out the red carpet for MovieFest. Festivities begin at 6 p.m. with food, drink, music, and prizes.

Sidewalk Heroes

The theater’s future is in flux, but the
Walk of Fame in front of the Senator Theatre remains an impressive landmark. We can certainly thank local heroes John Waters, David Simon, Barry Levinson, and Edward Norton for contributing to the elaborately painted and signed sidewalk squares. Norton, for example, has brought the likes of Richard Gere and Naomi Watts to town (for the premieres of Primal Fear and The Painted Veil, respectively). There’s a square for Cecil B. Demented, with the signatures of Melanie Griffith and Stephen Dorff; and another one for Hairspray, that immortalizes the late, great Divine. Here’s a game: One of the following names is NOT on the Walk of Fame: David Mamet, Greg Kinnear, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matt Damon, and Drew Barrymore. Happy hunting!

KIDS

All’s Fair

The
Maryland State Fair is free for kids under 6. That doesn’t include rides, but it does include up-close-and-personal visits with horses, cows, and pigs, including a birthing center, milking station, and pig races, plus crafts, demonstrations—chain-saw sculpting!—and concerts. You might not even have time for the teacups. Also, in June, there’s the totally free Regional Toddler Fair at The Montessori School in Lutherville, featuring fire truck tours, horse rides, gymnastics demonstrations, and reptiles to pet—or shudder at, as need be.

Outdoor Fun

The Chesapeake and Allegheny Steam Preservation maintains
one-eighth size replicas of steam trains that once ruled the rails in Maryland, along with more than three miles of mini-tracks running through West Baltimore’s Leakin Park. On the second Sunday of the month, from April to November, volunteers take train enthusiasts of all ages on long, glorious rides for free!

The
Mt. Vernon Children’s Park (Calvert and Madison Sts.) stands as one of the city’s most unique play areas, full of awesomely fun activities—a kid-activated water spray, a hedge maze, and a massive sandbox—that are also beautiful, including the glorious gazebo designed by artist David Hess.

During Charm City’s notoriously hot, hazy summers,
Walter Sondheim Fountain in West Shore Park (400-500 Light St.) shoots water and shines colored lights in time to music like “Good Morning Baltimore” from Hairspray, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, and Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.”

Visitors cross a footbridge over Deep Run stream to enter Baltimore County’s 96-acre
Meadowood Regional Park (10650 Falls Rd.), a wonderland of nature and recreation with paved paths for biking, skating, and scootering; seven playing fields; two playgrounds; and three picnic pavilions.

Indoor Fun

That crying you hear? It’s parents trying to drag their kids out of
Storyville, the play-area that’s a pint-sized world unto itself. At two locations now—inside the public libraries in Rosedale (6105 Kenwood Ave.) and Woodlawn (1811 Woodlawn Dr.)—Storyville offers the under-five set a chance to do everything: fish in the Chesapeake Bay, fill up a shopping cart with groceries and work the check-out, climb a tree house, and plant flowers. It’s so fun even the parents might shed some tears when it’s time to go.

It’s like having a Swedish nanny (for 60 minutes—45 on weekends and holidays) when you leave your kids at
Ikea’s Småland (8352 Honeygo Blvd.)—grab the buzzer, make a run for it, and you might have enough time to sprint down to textiles and grab that duvet cover, buy Swedish meatballs, and sample lingonberry jam in peace.

“Four fat sausages sizzling in a pan”—Miss Gloria sings with a group of rapt kids, parents, and caregivers, every Thursday at the Canton library—”All of a sudden one went BAM!” The
Mother Goose on the Loose program is offered at about 16 different branches at various dates and times and involves singing and stories and general silliness to crawlers, walkers, and preschoolers. Afterwards, there is always free play for the kids and lunch date planning for the parents. “Now there are three fat sausages…”

Museum Scene

Here’s an incentive for good grades:
The National Aquarium (501 E. Pratt St.) offers free admission on Thursday, June 24 from 6:30-9 p.m. for any Baltimore City or County student (and one adult) with three or more A’s on his or her report card. The College Park Aviation Museum (1985 Corporal Frank Scott Dr.), while not quite free, offers $2 admission for story time and crafts. The Baltimore Museum of Art has free family events every Sunday at 2 p.m., including workshops and gallery tours. To really encourage your pint-sized Picasso, The Walters Art Museum boasts weekday ArtTots and ArtKids programs with stories and activities, and themed weekend activities, like Surf’s Up in July with coral and sponge painting.

NIGHT OWLS

Dance Lessons

You’d be hard-pressed to find something more fun on a Monday night than
salsa lessons at Talara (615 President St., 410-528-9883). The South American-inspired tapas restaurant that opened a year ago offers free dance lessons every week starting at 9 p.m. Underneath the neon lights and vibrant Cuban art, local salsa experts Sean Climer and Michael Earle Campbell teach patrons beginner moves for the first half-hour and then the dance floor opens up until close. In between songs, you and your partner can munch on Talara’s signature ceviche dishes or sip $3 Negro Modelo drafts. If you want to put a little more twang into your step, Cancun Cantina (7501 Old Telegraph Rd., Hanover, 410-761-6188) offers free line dancing lessons Tuesday-Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The giant dance floor can hold a few hundred people, as they test out their new moves to a live country band.

Got Game?

Work hard, play free. That could be the motto for Baltimore these days, thanks to the bevy of free games offered at local watering holes. And we’re talking about actual games, too, not the “last-one-still-on-their-barstool-at-the-end-of-the-night-wins” kind. There’s shuffleboard at
Alexander’s Tavern (710 S. Broadway, 410-522-0000), board games ranging from Pictionary to Clue to Battleship at Hamilton Tavern (5517 Harford Rd., 410-426-1930), and all the frat house classics (beer pong, air hockey, foosball) you remember so fondly upstairs in The Mt. Washington Tavern‘s skybar (5700 Newbury St., 410-367-6903). Some places, like Hamilton Tavern, ask you to wait until after dinner service is over to play, while others, like The Mt. Washington Tavern, let the games begin whenever.

Fireworks

There are plenty of chances to see summer fireworks. Of course, there’s
Fourth of Julywhen fireworks light up the Inner Harbor starting at 9:30 p.m. On five Friday nights during the O’s season (May 14, June 25, July 16, August 6, and September 17), Camden Yards is lit with post-game fireworks, viewable to non-ticket holders anywhere nearby. And, Fort McHenry celebrates Star-Spangled Weekend in September with spangles in the sky.

Be a Star

Spectating is all well and good, but sometimes you’ve just gotta get in there and seize the spotlight yourself. Whether it’s done in jest (
karaoke at Walt’s Inn, 3201 O’Donnell St.), in earnest (open mic nights at the 8×10, 10 E. Cross St), or some combination of the two (Showtune Video Madness at the Hippo, 1 W. Eager St.), nothing beats the thrill of live performing. Walt’s has karaoke every night, but, on Wednesdays, the Canton pub hosts “Walt’s Inn Idol,” with winners going to a monthly contest with prizes. On Tuesdays, the 8×10 hosts its open mic night, which comes replete with professional sound systems, lighting systems, and an engineer—all you have to bring is The Rock. Also on Tuesdays, the Hippo, Baltimore’s oldest gay club, does Showtune Video Madness, where you can sing along to Broadway and Hollywood musicals to your heart’s content. Belt it out convincingly and you can win prizes like tickets to the latest Broadway shows.

Live Music

Free concerts are a highlight of summer in the city

Virgin Mobile FreeFest will be returning to Merriwether Post Pavilion this summer, although dates and headliners have not been announced. Last year, Weezer, Blink-182, and Franz Ferdinand headlined the one-day concert, which encouraged fans to donate volunteer hours or money to charity to be one of the 35,000 admitted. Not a bad deal.

Every weekend from Memorial Day until Labor Day, the
Harboplace Concert Serieshosts shows at the amphitheater near Pratt and Light Streets. Saturday shows are from 8-11 p.m., Sunday shows from 5-8 p.m., and last year, they featured everyone from locals roots rocker Caleb Stein to the Brazilian jazz of Bossalingo.

The annual
PNC Concerts in Patterson Park tend to be family- and picnic-friendly. Last year’s lineup included blues from Big Daddy Stallings and bluegrass from Mama Tried.

Belvedere Square’s
Summer Sounds at the Square features concerts by the likes of Sons of Pirates (beach music!) and Higher Hands (soul/funk) every Friday, from mid-May to

mid-September.

The Summer Concert Series at the lovely Lurman Woodland Theatre in Catonsville offers a particularly serene setting and play area for tykes right by the stage.

Expect a hipper-than-average lineup at
WTMD’s First Thursday Concerts in the Park.

Last year, Towson University’s eclectic music station brought singer-songwriters like Julian Velard and indie rockers like Wild Light to Mt. Vernon Place.

Power Plant Live! hosts
Friday Night Live! all summer (Live!) Last year brought ’90s alt-rock heroes like Better Than Ezra and The Gin Blossoms.

The Baltimore Museum of Industry sponsors the Southside
Summer Concert Series, which, last year, featured reggae band Jah Works and the Cold-Cold Heartbreakers.

On the first Friday of every month from June to October, head to Canton for
First Fridays at the Can Company. Last year, it featured everything from zydeco music from The Crawdaddies to the Celtic rock of Donegal Xpress.

And if that’s not enough, you can always see great
live music with no cover at clubs like The Waterfront, Joe Squared, Golden West, and other spots around town.

Last Picture Show

Okay, we admit it: Going to see a movie at
Bengies Drive-In Theatre (3417 Eastern Blvd., 410-687-5627) isn’t free, but it comes darn close. Regular admission ranges from $3-8 depending on what showing you attend (the later, the cheaper, mostly). Plus, kids between the ages of four and 10 are only $4. Best of all, kids under four get in absolutely free. There’s also free admission on some Sundays for the drivers of registered historic vehicles. Don’t say Bengies never did anything for you.

Dance Parties

There are tons of great dance parties in the city, but only a handful that offer free admission. Check out
No Rule at The Metro Gallery (1700 N. Charles St., 410-244-0899) on Monday nights where DJs Cullen Stalin and Scottie B spin an energetic mix of hip-hop, techno, and pop that inspires even the too-cool hipsters to get up and dance. Every Thursday night before 10 p.m., it’s free to get into Moog at Red Maple (930 N. Charles St., 410-385-0520), where a diverse crowd gets down to hip-hop and international house music. And pretty much every night of the week, The Ottobar(2549 N. Howard St., 410-662-0069) hosts free dance parties upstairs, where DJs spin everything from soul and funk to metal and Britpop.

TIME TRAVELERS

War Games

Baltimore is a trove of military history—and most of it can be explored for free. The most famous site is
Fort McHenry, which was pounded for two days in 1814 but blocked the British fleet from getting into the harbor and burning the city. It costs a few bucks to go inside the fort, but you can wander the 43-acre grounds for free. Kids love to climb on the cannons that point bay-ward, ready for the next superpower who underestimates Charm City. Next, visit Hampstead Hill at Patterson Park, where 12,000 soldiers, militia, and volunteers (including some graying Revolution veterans) repulsed a subsequent advance of thousands of redcoats trying to enter the city from the rear. For Civil War buffs, start at the Baltimore Civil War Museum (601 President St.) to see why the first fatalities of the war took place here. For the truly committed, go to reenactments: This summer is the 6th Annual Civil War Encampment at Rose Hill Manor Park and Museums in Frederick (rosehillmuseum.com), the 146th Anniversary of Gen. George G. Meade’s Pipe Creek Line in Union Mills, and a reenactment of the Battle of Funkstown, near Hagerstown (funkstown.com). There are small fees to participate, but it’s free to watch at a distance.

See Dead People

If saluting well-known deceased folk is your thing, Baltimore has plenty of them: Head to historic
Green Mount Cemetery (1501 Greenmount Ave.), which holds more than 78,000 graves going back 171 years, including those of university founder Johns Hopkins, industrialist and library champion Enoch Pratt, Napoleon Bonaparte’s sister-in-law Betsy Patterson Bonaparte, and Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth, whose grave is unmarked. Then head west to the grave of poet Edgar Allan Poe at Westminster Hall Burying Ground (519 W. Fayette St.), whose birthday has been marked each January 19 since 1949 by a mysterious figure dressed in black with a wide-brimmed hat and a white scarf, who would leave three roses and a partially filled bottle of cognac. (The “Poe Toaster” missed the ritual this year for the first time.) On to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) headquarters in Lochearn (4805 Mt. Hope Dr.), where the ashes of poet, wit, and civil rights advocate Dorothy Parker are buried in a memorial garden. Why there? Because, though she never met him, she left her entire estate to Martin Luther King, Jr. It went to the NAACP after King was assassinated.

The High Seas

To get a feel for Baltimore’s days as a tough seaport town, start on the cobblestone streets of
Fells Point. Head west to the nonprofit Living Classrooms Foundation’s marina, where inner-city kids learn about the bay aboard ships like replica pungy schooner Lady Maryland. Going toward the Harbor, you’ll spot World War II sub Torskand the last surviving Pearl Harbor warship, Taney. At the Harbor, see the USS Constellation, the Navy’s last all-sail warship (ogle from the dock for free or pay to tour). To check when visiting ships come in, visit Sail Baltimore (sailbaltimore.org).

Monumental Places

Baltimore has shown an untiring love for building tributes. No wonder pigeons love it here. Best known is the
Washington Monument, the nation’s first edifice honoring the Revolutionary War general and President. Walk 228 steps to the top for great views of the city. (A $1 donation is suggested, but not mandatory.) The Francis Scott Key Monument, on Eutaw Place at Lanvale Street in Bolton Hill includes a bronze figure of Key, holding up his poem while standing in a rowboat. Tired of old wars? Check out one of the city’s newer monuments at Harbor East: the dramatic, gold Katyn Memorial in the circle at Harbor East, which honors the thousands of Polish army officers, police, and civilians who were executed en masse by invading Soviet forces in March 1940.

Let’s Get Trivial

Baltimore is full of brainiacs—and there’s ample opportunity to display mental brawn at trivia nights all over town. All free—though you might want to, ya know, have a drink…

If they find themselves in a tie, participants in Tuesday contests at Fells Point’s
Wharf Rat (801 S. Ann St.) may be asked to chug beers, eat crackers, and/or run around the block to claim top prize (often a bottle of water or bag of peanuts).

Federal Hill’s
No Idea Tavern (1649 S. Hanover St.) also hosts Tuesday-night trivia, with slightly better prizes (usually gift certificates), but, alas, no running.

Also in Fells Point,
Max’s Taphouse (737 S. Broadway) has a Thursday-night game called Quiz-a-ma-jig, with prizes every round.

James Joyce Pub in Harbor East (616 S. President St.) runs a Monday-night contest that offers gift card prizes to the top three finishers.

For the tournament-minded, there are three regional games that move from location to location,
Final Score (finalscoretrivia.com), TriviaMaryland (triviamaryland.com), andShowTime (showtimetrivia.com).

Comics For All

No geek calendar is complete unless
Free Comic Book Day (freecomicbookday.com) is clearly marked. On May 1, comic book stores around the city (and the world)—including Graphic Novelty in Fells Point (1712 Thames St.), Geppi’s Entertainment Museum at Camden Yards (301 W. Camden St.), Legends Games & Comics in Towson (503 York Rd.), and many others—will give comic books away to all comers. Another local participant, Canton Games (2101 Essex St.) has kicked the tradition up a notch, adding Free Role-Playing Game Day to its calendar, on June 19. On that day, the store will give out free RPG packets to any and all interested, and host a game on the premises.

Reader’s Delight

It’s hard to believe that the
Book Thing of Baltimore (3001 Vineyard Ln.) celebrated its 10th anniversary last year—rarely does such a good thing last so long. The Thing, located in a white cinder-block building near The Johns Hopkins University, looks like a warehouse from the outside, and a public library circa 1975 on the inside. Except, in this library, you can borrow the books forever. For free. As many as you want. Well, founder Russell Wattenberg does have one rule, listed on his website (bookthing.org): “You can only take 150,000 per day per person.” The Thing gets its stock from donations from all over the country and relies on foundation grants to pay for the space and staff. The result is a bibliophile’s paradise, where browsers can peruse thousands of volumes to their hearts’ content, carting out the spoils in one of many cardboard boxes nearby. It truly is a beautiful Thing.

How We Did It

We surveyed 2,000 dentists in Baltimore and the five surrounding counties over the course of a month and received an astounding 75 percent return of our surveys, an unheard-of response rate for unsolicited mail. Assisting us were our two advisors, Drs. David S. and Donna M. Querido (they were therefore ineligible to be on the list). Dentists were occasionally nominated by the name of their practice and are listed as such. Dentists having more than one office could be winners in more than one geographic area. Winning dentists needed to be accepting new patients. In select cases, when dozens of dentists each received low vote counts in a certain specialty and geographic area, we declared the results inconclusive.

BALTIMORE CITY

Endodontists

Stanley Klein
Belvedere Towers, Ste. 107, 1190 W. Northern Pkwy., 410-435-2350.

Timothy Skane
36 S. Charles St., Ste. 1405, 410-637-3636.

General Dentists

Stephen Mastella
1030 N. Charles St., Ste. 302, 410-685-2850.

Oral Maxillofacial Pathologist

Bernard Levy
650 W. Baltimore St., 410-706-7936.

Robert Ord
650 W. Baltimore St., 410-706-6195.

Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon

Results inconclusive

Orthodontist

Stanley Markovitz
Intercontinental HarborCourt, 2 E. Lee St., 410-659-0770.

Gwendolyn Dunn
2406 Garrison Blvd., 410-542-9780.

Pediatric Dentist

Doug Clemens
2 Hamill Rd., 410-435-8400.

Periodontist

Barbara Lesco
2 E. Lee St., 410-727-6190.

Howard Fisher
The Village at Cross Keys, 1 Village Sq., 410-532-2200.

Martin Narun
1030 N. Charles St., Ste. 302, 410-685-2850.

Prosthodontist

K. Michael Murphy
3900 N. Charles St., Ste. 112, Baltimore, 410-235-1233.

Kevin G. Murphy
6080 Falls Rd., Ste. 202, 410-372-0202.

EAST OF BALTIMORE

Endodontists

Charles Mann
7939 Honeygo Blvd., Ste. 227, 410-931-0250.

Jeffrey Lieberman
1101 N. Point Blvd., Ste. 126, 410-285-7177.

General Dentists

Jerry Kilian
2740 Lighthouse Point East, 410-675-3300.

Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon

Bryan Keegan
8114 Sandpiper Cir., Ste. 211, White Marsh (and Glen Burnie and Bel Air), 410-933-1008.

Mark Eisen
8114 Sandpiper Cir., Ste. 211, White Marsh, 410-933-1008.

Oral Maxillofacial Pathologist

Results inconclusive

Orthodontist

Jeffrey Cramer
8114 Sandpiper Cir., Ste. 207, White Marsh, 410-931-3350.

Michael Noorani
8114 Sandpiper Cir., Ste. 207, White Marsh, 410-931-3350.

Pediatric Dentist

Sandra Shih
5430 Campbell Blvd., Ste. 209, Nottingham, 443-725-4185.

Hakan Koymen
5009 Honeygo Center Dr., Ste. 228, Perry Hall, 410-248-3384.

Periodontist

Bruce Mandel
8114 Sandpiper Cir., Ste. 200, White Marsh, 410-931-1000.
Tied with two others for the most number of peer recommendations in the region in his specialty.

Peter Joseph
8114 Sandpiper Cir., Ste. 200, White Marsh, 410-931-1000. Tied with two others for the most peer recommendations in the region in his specialty.

Mark Keiser
8114 Sandpiper Cir., Ste. 200, White Marsh, 410-931-1000. Tied with two others for the most number of peer recommendations in the region in his specialty.

Prosthodontist

Mandel, Keiser, and Joseph
8114 Sandpiper Cir., Ste. 200, White Marsh, 410-931-1000.

WEST OF BALTIMORE

Endodontists

Dennis Levinson
9199 Reisterstown Rd., 410-356-6500.

Bradley Trattner
8 Reservoir Cir., Ste. 102, Pikesville, 410-653-2020. Leads in peer recommendations in the region in his specialty.

General Dentists

Charles Fine
20 Crossroads Dr., Ste. 110, Owings Mills, 410-363-2500.

Herbert Mendelson
11300 Reisterstown Rd., Owings Mills, 410-356-4100.

Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon

Michael Schwartz
McDonogh Crossroads, 10 Crossroads Dr., Ste. 200, Owings Mills, 410-363-7780. Leads in peer recommendations in the region in his specialty.

Julius Hyatt
McDonogh Crossroads, 10 Crossroads Dr., Ste. 200, Owings Mills, 410-363-7780.

Steven Ashman
9199 Reisterstown Rd, Ste. 209B, Owings Mills, 410-581-9008.

Daniel Fried
10 Crossroads Dr., Ste. 200, Owings Mills, 410-484-6076.

Robert Testani
405 Frederick Rd., Ste. 9, Catonsville, 410-744-4484.

Oral Maxillofacial Pathologist

Results inconclusive

Orthodontist

Lawrence Wang
1134 N. Rolling Rd., Catonsville (also in East Baltimore and Lutherville), 410-744-0260.

Olwyn Diamond
2835 Smith Ave., Ste. B, 410-486-3636.

James Gordon
3635 Old Court Rd., Ste. 505 (also in Reisterstown), 410-486-0550.

Karl Pick
409 Main St., Reisterstown, 410-833-9330.

Pediatric Dentist

Edward Ginsberg
1134 N. Rolling Rd., Catonsville, 410-788-4555. Leads in peer recommendations in the region in his specialty. Also won more recommendations than any other dentist in any specialty.

Periodontist

Peter Joseph
66 Painters Mill Rd., Ste. 100, Owings Mills, 410-363-3780. Tied with two others for the most number of peer recommendations in the region in his specialty.

Bruce Mandel
66 Painters Mill Rd., Ste. 100, Owings Mills, 410-363-3780. Tied with two others for the most number of peer recommendations in the region in his specialty.

Mark Keiser
66 Painters Mill Rd., Ste. 100, Owings Mills, 410-363-3780. Tied with two others for the most number of peer recommendations in the region in his specialty.

Ari Moskowitz
6400 Baltimore National Pike, Ste. 200B, Catonsville, 410-744-6088.

Wendy Burstein
20 Crossroads Dr., Ste. 110, Owings Mills (also in Columbia), 410-465-8480.

Prosthodontist

Martin Schwartzberg
106 Old Court Rd., Ste. 201, 410-486-1133.

Richard Kuntz
10706 Reisterstown Rd., Owings Mills (also in Annapolis), 410-356-9640.

NORTH OF BALTIMORE

Endodontists

Bradley Trattner
21 West Rd., Towson, 410-321-1266.

Charles Mann
2328 W. Joppa Rd., Ste. 102, Lutherville, 410-296-8050.

Eric Volk
1447 York Rd., Ste. 607, Lutherville, 410-828-7668.

Howard Cohen
21 West Rd., Towson (also in Pikesville), 410-321-1266.

Charles Herbert
2328 W. Joppa Rd., Ste. 102, Lutherville (also in Annapolis), 410-296-8050.

Brenda Richardson
515 E. Joppa Rd., Ste. 106, Towson, 410-321-5700.

General Dentists

Jay Shires
40 York Rd., Ste. 220, Towson, 410-296-6527. Leads in peer recommendations in the region in his specialty.

D. William DeVeas
406 Allegheny Ave., Towson, 410-825-8708.

Mark Ballinger
20 E. Timonium Rd., Timonium, 410-252-3717.

Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon

Stephen Cameron
1212 York Rd., Lutherville, 410-337-7755.

John Emmett
7401 Osler Dr., Ste 105, Towson, 410-494-8687.

Oral Maxillofacial Pathologist

James Sciubba
1232 Race Rd., 410-391-8301. Leads in peer recommendations in the region in his specialty.

Orthodontist

Thomas Barron
9475 Deereco Rd., Timonium, 410 628 0677.

Scott Nawy
7211 Park Heights Ave. (also in Bel Air and Timonium), 410-466-4319.

Nicole Brummer
8322 Bellona Ave., Towson, 410-823-1900.

Thomas McInnes
8322 Bellona Ave., Towson (also in Hereford), 410-823-1900.

Cass Garcia
120 Sister Pierre Dr., Ste. 502, Towson (also in Phoenix), 410-321-8144.

Martin Lang
1407 York Rd., No. 306, Lutherville (also in Ellicott City), 410-821-6458.

Pediatric Dentist

Shari Kohn
100 Sparks Valley Rd., Ste. C, Sparks Glencoe, 410-771-8200.

Tracy Bowden
2326 York Rd., Ste. 200, Timonium, 410-828-5699.

Margie Hernandez
7401 Osler Dr., Ste. 109, Towson, 410-825-2878.

Stuart Blumenthal
2324 W. Joppa Rd., Ste. 430, Lutherville, 410-321-0200.

Periodontist

Karl Zeren
9515 Deereco Rd., Ste. 308, Timonium, 410-252-0871.

Richard Mao
8600 La Salle Rd., 402 Severn Bldg., Towson (also in Bel Air), 410-321-9595.

Gus Livaditis
1206 York Rd., Ste. 100, Lutherville, 410-337-8950.

Prosthodontist

Keith Boenning
1104 Kenilworth Dr., Ste. 104, Towson, 410-828-1717. Leads in peer recommendations in the region in his specialty.

Patrick Ousborne
21 West Rd., Ste. 104, Towson, 410-828-1177.

Michael Linnan
110 West Rd., Ste. 200, Towson, 410-296-0136.

Ghassan Sinada
110 West Rd., Ste. 200, Towson, 410-296-0136.

Sylvan Feldman
660 Kenilworth Dr., No. 103, Towson, 410-821-8800.

ANNE ARUNDEL

Endodontists

Lou Berman
201 West St., Annapolis, 410-268-4770.

Kenneth Mangano
8025 Ritchie Hwy., Ste. 204, Pasadena, 410-766-3453.

General Dentists

Andrew Gruver
810 Landmark Dr., Ste. 114, Glen Burnie, 410-766-2744.

Scott Finlay
1460 Ritchie Hwy., Arnold, 410-757-6681.

Gene Garrett
8092 Edwin Raynor Blvd., Pasadena, 410-255-8825.

Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon

Neil Sullivan
275 West St., Ste. 100, Annapolis, 410-268-7790.

Clifford Walzer
275 West St., Ste. 100, Annapolis, 410-268-7790.

Oral Maxillofacial Pathologist

Clifford Walzer
275 West St., Ste. 100, Annapolis, 410-268-7790.

Orthodontist

Kendall Miller
690 Ritchie Hwy., Severna Park, 410-647-0800.

Mairead O’Reilly
888 Bestgate Rd., Ste. 301, Annapolis, 410-266-0025.

Philip Philbin
502 Bestgate Rd., Annapolis, 410-263-5600.

Steven Siegel
7935 Crain Hwy. South, Glen Burnie (also in Reisterstown), 410-761-6960.

Pediatric Dentist

Nilda Collins
2114 General’s Hwy., Annapolis, 410-224-0018.

C. J. Tull
1507 Ritchie Hwy., Arnold, 410-757-5437.

Periodontist

Richard Gartner
900 Ritchie Hwy., Ste. 103, Severna Park, 410-647-0200.

Deborah O’Dell
2448 Holly Ave., Annapolis, 410-224-0500.

David Mugford
1660 Village Green, Crofton, 410-721-7801.

Prosthodontist

John Davliakos
201 West St., Ste. 101, Annapolis, 410-268-7100.

Robert Cook
201 West St., Ste. 101, Annapolis, 410-268-7100.

HOWARD COUNTY

Endodontists

Lina Jarboe
6021 University Blvd., Ste. 170, Ellicott City, 410-203-1800.

Craig Schneider
8885 Centre Park Dr., No. 2E, Columbia, 410-715-8951.

Richard Fein
10025 Governor Warfield Pkwy., Ste. 207, Columbia, 410-772-9600.

General Dentists

Eric and Lawrence Katkow
Snowden Professional Center, 8600 Snowden River Pkwy., Ste. 106, Columbia, 410-730-2020.

Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon

Sam Hishmeh
12433 Clarksville Pike, Clarksville, 410-531-2265.

Oral Maxillofacial Pathologist

Results inconclusive

Orthodontist

Lawrence Wang
10045 Baltimore National Pike, Ste. A-1, Ellicott City and other locations, 410-418-8370. Leads in peer recommendations in the region in his specialty.

Sandra Selnick
5082 Dorsey Hall Dr., Ste. 202, Ellicott City, 410-740-0002.

Connie Rubler
5570 Sterrett Pl., Ste. 301, Columbia, 410-997-0707.

Pediatric Dentist

Edward Ginsberg
10045 Baltimore National Pike, Ste. A1, Ellicott City, 410-203-2410. Leads in peer recommendations in the region in his specialty. Also won more recommendations than any other dentist in any specialty.

Ximena Pareja
8600 Snowden River Pkwy., Ste. 302, Columbia, 410-953-0111.

Periodontist

Lawrence Page
5044 Dorsey Hall Dr., No. 104, Ellicott City, 410-997-7975.

Wendy Burstein
5850 Waterloo Rd., Ste. 250, Columbia, 410-465-8480.

Prosthodontist

George Whitaker
8815 Centre Park Dr., Ste. 310, Columbia, 410-730-3311.

HARFORD COUNTY

Endodontists

Charles Mann
602 S. Atwood Rd., Ste. 212, Bel Air, 410-836-0290.

Stanley Andrews
208 Fulford Rd. (also in Lutherville), 410-879-7770.

Gerard “Joe” Simoneaux
602 S. Atwood Rd., Ste. 212, Bel Air, 410-836-0290.

General Dentists

Alan Scharf, Gregory Indyke, Jonathan Baron
2300 Bel Air Rd., Fallston, 410-879-8424.

Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon

Bryan Keegan
2014 S. Tollgate Rd., Ste. 100, Bel Air, 410-515-0430.

Oral Maxillofacial Pathologist

Results inconclusive

Orthodontist

Stephen Godwin
610 S. Main St., Bel Air, 410-838-2244.

Jeffrey Cramer
4-A North Ave., Ste. 208, Bel Air, 410-879-1180.

Joseph LaPonzina
2103 Laurel Bush Rd., Ste. D, Bel Air, 410-515-0035.

Michael Noorani
4-A North Ave., Ste. 208, Bel Air, 410-879-1180.

Edwin Morris
2815 Belair Rd., Ste. 203, Fallston (also in Baltimore), 410-877-7716.

Pediatric Dentist

Diana Capobianco
2012 S. Tollgate Rd., Ste. 212, Bel Air, 410-569-6700.

Howard Schapiro
203 S. Washington St., Havre de Grace, 888-201-KIDS.

Periodontist

Richard Mao
707 N. Hickory Ave., Bel Air, 410-879-6969.

Leo V. Trail, Jr.
2021 B Emmorton Rd., Ste. 118, Bel Air, 410-569-8567.

Prosthodontist

Results inconclusive

CARROLL COUNTY

Endodontists

Steven Delgado
730 Old Liberty Rd., No. 101, Eldersburg, 410-549-9760.

General Dentists

Results inconclusive

Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon

Jay Chason
15 E. Main St., Ste. 222, Westminster, 410-857-2802.

Oral Maxillofacial Pathologist

Results inconclusive

Orthodontist

Robert Scott
207 Washington Heights Medical Ctr., Westminster (and other locations), 410-876-6886.

Edward Goldman
7 Carroll Plaza Shopping Center No. 5, Westminster, 410-848-0600.

Pediatric Dentist

David Hasson
602 Center St., Ste. 203, Mt. Airy, 301-829-6588.

Periodontist

Arnold Sindler
407 Malcolm Dr., Westminster, 410-857-5700.

Prosthodontist

Results inconclusive

Our Advisors

Our advisors on the Top Dentist survey were Drs. David S. and Donna M. Querido, partners (and husband and wife) at Inner Harbor Dental, a second-generation practice at 2 N. Charles St. For the Queridos, collecting degrees is almost a hobby: Dr. David Querido followed in the footsteps of his father, the late Dr. Herbert Querido (and a previous Baltimore top dentist) by obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering (where he met Donna, who was also pursuing an engineering degree). He then continued his education in dentistry, graduating from the University of Maryland School of Dentistry in 1987. He subsequently joined his father’s practice and has since also earned a law degree. Additional studies on the latest dental technology have also earned him the award of Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry (F.A.G.D.). What’s next? In his spare time, he’s studying for certification as a financial planner. So, if he doesn’t have your mouth propped open, there’s plenty you can talk about.

Dr. Donna Querido, who first earned a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering, completed her degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1998 from the University of Maryland School of Dentistry. Donna later completed an intensive three-year, post-graduate degree in orthodontics with the United States Dental Institute.

Who would you trust to gauge the skills of a dentist? For starters, you probably wouldn’t ask a journalist. And sure, you could ask the patients, but then, they’ve never been to dental school, so you might end up with a charming dentist who still wants to remove a tooth with a doorknob and string. No, your best bet would be to ask other dentists—and that’s exactly what we did.

We know what big egos are at work in any medical profession: So, if a dentist gets a vote of confidence from dozens of his or her own colleagues, you can be pretty confident that you’re getting a sound recommendation.

Here are our picks for the dentists with the most peer referrals, divided into eight areas of the region and eight dental specialties. (We have noted those dentists that garnered more peer recommendations than any of the other survey leaders in their specialties.) And while these guys and gals may never turn a root canal into a rollicking good time, we think they’ll make the trip to the dentist a little more pleasant

“Guitars are almost like iPods,” says Paul Reed Smith. “I’ve never seen anybody in a bad mood with an iPod in their ears. It’s a mood adjuster. It’s almost like really sophisticated, expensive OxyContin.”

Smith is musing on the power of the six-string “mood adjusters” he’s been creating for 35 years, the last 25 as the pioneer behind Paul Reed Smith (PRS) Guitars, now the third largest electric guitar manufacturer in the nation. (Iconic old lions Fender and Gibson are numbers one and two, respectively.)

Seated at a conference table in his office at the PRS factory, a 100,000-square-foot facility on Kent Island, Smith, 54, is dressed in jeans and a long-sleeve T-shirt rolled up to his elbows. He is tall and lean, his silver-gray hair cropped short. He keeps a guitar pick wedged between his thumb and index finger and carries it with him from appointment to appointment, using it as needed. Doctors have stethoscopes; Smith has guitar picks.

On the surface, he presents a reserved, professional air, but when he speaks, Smith’s eyes widen behind his spectacles. His voice, infused with an intense musicality, shifts in levels—from a weighted whisper to a bright melody—when discussing his beloved instruments.

“I think Joseph Campbell called it ‘aesthetic arrest,'” says Smith, “where you hear a sound, you go. . . .” He takes in a quick, deep breath, as if he’s just seen the Grand Canyon for the first time. “It kind of arrests you a little bit, right? That’s the goal of any good art. We’re making art here and tools to do jobs. It’s a very interesting combination.”

Poster-size sheets of white paper with specs lay before him on the conference table. They’re reminders that Smith’s job isn’t just some rock ‘n’ roll fantasy. He has a lot on his mind, these days. In fact, a tangible sense of excitement and urgency can be detected throughout the factory—from the top down, from this conference room to the shop floor. PRS is about to unveil its 25th Anniversary guitars at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), one of the largest industry events in the world; the launch of new lines of acoustic guitars and guitar amplifiers is already underway, and today is the employee awards ceremony.

Jon Wasserman, a research and development engineer, pops into Smith’s office holding a guitar. “Hi, Jon,” Smith says. “What was wrong?”

Apparently, a pick-up needed adjusting on one of the guitars; Jon explains the modification that’s been made, and he and Paul duck into a sound room next to the amp department. Smith sits on a stool, plugs in the guitar, and starts strumming chords. “It’s still not right,” he tells Wasserman, before quickly adding that he’s “almost there.”

Smith obviously likes being hands-on, the ultimate quality-control guy, who interacts with employees and remains an integral part of the process. “The most enjoyable part of my day is when we get it right,” he says.

Smith has been getting it right for decades, transforming a specialized product and boutique operation into a recognizable brand and formidable company that employs 235 people and generated $35 million in sales last year. The PRS catalogue boasts more than 50 electric guitar models, acclaimed for their playability and design. In addition to distinct tonal qualities, they’re known throughout the industry for their elegant body shapes, colorful finishes, and trademark symbols, such as the silhouetted birds detailed in the fret inlays. (They were inspired by images from his mother’s bird-watching books.)

“I’ve always maintained a Paul Reed Smith is the Lamborghini of guitars,” says Paul Riario, technical editor for Guitar World magazine. “Each one is a custom, finely tuned instrument built for speed and awe.”

Riario describes Smith as a “CSI guitar specialist.”

“Paul is already a visionary designer, but the one thing that remains constant is he possesses a creative unrest to improve his already popular guitars,” Riario says. “He is also an accomplished guitar player, which is key, because he’s able to distinguish what makes a guitar tick when he’s exploring a new sound or considering materials to begin construction for future guitar models.”

Adding to PRS’s street cred is a stable of “signature” and endorsement artists, a diverse array of heavyweight guitar-slingers, including Carlos Santana, Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers fame, and country picker Ricky Skaggs.

Smith realized the importance of such endorsements early in his career.

For awhile, in the 1970s, he was building guitars at his parents’ house by day, and hitting up the likes of Ted Nugent (and his guitarist, Derek St. Holmes) and Peter Frampton at local concert venues at night. “I wouldn’t make a sale every time,” he recalls. “It was a sale one out of 10 times. I was scared. I did it anyway. I met Stanley Clarke once. Couldn’t control my voice. ‘Hi Stanley . . . I . . . I . . . make guitars,'” Smith says in an exaggerated, high-pitched squeal. “I was so frightened. He said, ‘Calm down,'” Smith laughs at the memory.

When he met Carlos Santana at the Capital Centre in 1976, trying to make a sale to one of his heroes wasn’t what scared him. “I was very frightened when he asked me to play with him,” remembers Smith. “I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ That scared the hell out of me.”

Santana recalled their meeting in the 2008 summer edition of Signature, the official PRS magazine. He remarked on the guitar Smith had brought him, “a beautiful guitar that was cherry red, a different red than I’d ever seen.” He also noted that it had “a different kind of tone to it, the varnish was different, everything was.”

But the iconic guitarist also picked up on something else, something equally important. “He had really bright eyes,” said Santana. “And he was just filled with hope and future possibilities.”

Raised in Bowie, Smith grew up surrounded by music. When Smith was 5, his father bought him a ukulele, and he also learned to play his mother’s classical guitar. After hearing The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, he became obsessed with guitars and played in a few local bands.

But early on, he knew what he wanted to do. “I dreamed about it when I was 14, 15 years old,” says Smith. “The story is—I don’t know if it’s true or not—that Christina Aguilera used to sing to her dolls on her bed when she was like 12 or 13, right? I wasn’t singing to dolls on the bed, but I had visions of being a guitar maker when I was young.”

He made a bass—affixing the neck from a Japanese model to a body he constructed—during his senior year at Bowie High. He also landed a job at the Washington Music Center as a repairman, which allowed him to hone his craftsmanship and skills.

He went on to St. Mary’s College of Maryland, the only school that accepted him. “I even applied to Paul Smith College in upstate New York and said, ‘Come on, my name is Paul Smith,'” he says. “They wouldn’t take me.”

While at St. Mary’s, Smith built his first “real” guitar as an independent study project. One guitar led to another, and Smith eventually moved into a small shop in Annapolis. There, a handful of craftsmen churned out one guitar a month.

“Paul’s dynamic personality was as evident [then] as it is now,” says Jack Higginbotham, President of PRS Guitars. Higginbotham was one of the first builders Smith hired for the shop 25 years ago. At the time, Higginbotham had no experience making guitars—he was a local musician. “I remember going home and telling my girlfriend that I just met a really interesting guy who I think is going to do something in this world,” says Higginbotham. “The way I think of it is: Paul had a dream and brought us into his dream.”

To fully realize that dream, Smith moved to a larger manufacturing facility—on Virginia Avenue in Annapolis—and officially launched PRS Guitars in 1985. That same year, the company introduced its first model, the PRS Custom, at the Winter NAMM. Guitar Player called it “a wonderful, subtle instrument for discerning players who know the difference,” and PRS began its ascent in the guitar market.

A year later, Smith fortuitously met Ted McCarty, who ran Gibson in its heyday and helped design the classic Les Paul and Flying V models. (The towering guitar affixed to the Hard Rock Café is a McCarty design.) McCarty became a crucial mentor, and Smith hired him as a consultant. “I wasn’t guessing how it was done,” says Smith. “He told me how it was done.”

The veteran designer helped the young entrepreneur enhance and evolve his designs and also provided a role model for Smith, who was growing into his position as the head of a blossoming guitar company. “He basically handed me the baton and said, ‘I support you,'” says Smith. “It was a big deal for him to align himself with us.”

The PRS McCarty model the company debuted in 1994 took on added significance after McCarty passed away in 2001. By that time, PRS had moved to its current Kent Island facility, where it now produces between 40 and 75 guitars a day.

At 2:30 p.m., employees gather in the lunchroom for the awards ceremony. The awards are given for perfect attendance over the course of several years. (Perfect attendance includes not being late.) It’s a no-frills affair that lasts about 20 minutes, and then it’s back to work.

Smith, donning a black sports coat, stands behind a microphone and presents the awards, which range from new guitars to plaques and gift certificates. He does it all with a soft-spoken casualness that conveys respect and gratitude.

Kenny Dennis, who does finishing work at PRS, says the feeling is mutual. Dennis has worked 10 years for the company and never missed a day—so he gets a plaque. He says all the employees know that Smith has done almost every job in the factory at some point in his career, and that carries a lot of weight.

Smith and his staff are also aware that the economy has taken a toll on PRS, which had to lay off 35 employees last year. “I think that the art going on in this building [has] been very strong,” notes Smith, “and one of the reasons we’re still alive in this economy is because of that.”

He echoes that sentiment when asked about the significance of the 25-year anniversary. “It means we survived,” he replies. “The only thing I think when I look backwards is I can’t believe that kid did that. I look at the pictures of myself, and I look at the guitars that are in the archives and I can’t believe that kid did that. It doesn’t even seem like me.”

And he’s convinced his best work lies ahead of him. He ticks off the names of his predecessors: “D’Angelico, McCarty, Fender, Stradivari—you name ’em,” he says. “They got good around 50, 55 years old. Guitar makers don’t get good until they’re my age.”

Demographers with the U.S. government will tell you that the Baltimore metro area is home to more than 2.5 million people.

Float this figure by veterans of Charm City’s singles scene, however, and they’ll surely assume those number-crunchers are all happily married, or maybe hermits holed up in their parents’ basements.

“Baltimore just feels miniscule,” says Amanda Birckhead, a single 35-year-old sales manager from Crofton. “It seems the only single people out there are crazy or very needy.”

“Smalltimore” is a nickname some bestow upon our little-big town, a moniker that, for singles, describes not only a thimble-sized dating pool, but also a social scene with more curious and complex intersections than an Escher drawing.

“It has gotten to the point where I can’t remember who’s dated who, and the dating scene in Baltimore is so incestuous that I have to assume by default that everyone has dated everyone,” says Mike Storck, a 36-year-old comedian from Parkville who gets material for his standup act through dating here, if not many serious relationships. “Dating in Baltimore is a Chinese fire drill.”

And what else is it? How about “boring,” “limited,” “provincial”—these are just some of the terms singles employed on an unscientific, though telling, online survey this author concocted asking folks to describe the local dating scene in three words. (Among the more snarky replies: “Not enough men,” “Go fish elsewhere,” and “Prince charming who?”)

Still, come the rice-tossing, high-season in June, crepe-paper bedecked limos will busily shuttle grinning newlyweds away from churches and temples all across town. Love blooms in Baltimore, perhaps despite the odds. Indeed, our intimate, socially interwoven, overgrown village has its own rules of attraction. Your friends meet my friends and, suddenly, some of us are more than friends. Happens all the time. The One might be somewhere out there on the Internet, or he or she might simply be pumping the keg at a backyard barbecue.

Liz McFarlane, a single 42-year-old fundraiser from Woodberry, even goes so far as to praise our single scene’s “huge variety” and “great smorgasbord.”

“And because it’s a little ‘Smalltimore-ish’ you have the opportunity to vet potential mates with a panel of screeners—like your friends and coworkers—who are sure to know someone who knows him,” she adds. “It’s more like three or four degrees of separation here, as opposed to six.”

It was through a mutual friend that Jim Meyer, a 37-year-old brand manager from Hampden, met his current girlfriend. Though he was quickly smitten when they first crossed paths two years ago, she was “off the market” and involved with someone else. Time marched on. Eventually he bumped into her again while walking his dog, learned she’d become unattached, and soon enough a new couple was born.

“In a really big city, that ‘I see you everywhere’ thing isn’t there,” Meyer says. “Baltimore gives you a second chance—sometimes even a third, fourth, or fifteenth.”

So why the “small” in Smalltimore? It might just be because we put the “home” in hometown.

“I lived in New York City for a few years, and 90 percent of the people I met were from somewhere else—you could go out every night of the week and never see the same face twice,” Storck says. “In Baltimore, you typically grow up here and stay here.”

Big-city anonymity, Storck adds, does have its own dating dynamics: “In New York, women tended to be a lot more cautious of ‘players’—guys burning bridges without fear,” he says. “In Baltimore, if you’re doing the one-night-stand thing and just trying to hook up, you’ll get a reputation for it.”

“Baltimore is a cliquish kind of town—it’s high school after high school in a way,” says Kat Hudson, 40, a Mt. Washington resident who writes a sex column for the local online fashion and arts magazine Gutter. “Folks tend to hang together with their ‘comfort zone’ people. I’m an art and music nerd and I hang out with that crowd. Eventually you run into the same people over and over again.”

Certainly Internet dating has broadened the singles scene, but even the World Wide Web sometimes serves only as a convoluted way of connecting you with the girl or boy next door. Literally. Meyer ended up meeting a woman who lived across the alley from him through an online dating site. When it ended after two dates, so began the awkward moments taking out the trash or walking the dog.

“For a while I used to wave but she never waved back,” he says.

If meeting a new flame is hard here, so too is staying clear of loves that have long since burned out. There are anecdotal tales of splitsville couples going out of their way to, er, stay out of each other’s way—to the point of formally divvying up Baltimore bars and eateries (Okay, you take The Brewer’s Art, I’ll take Golden West). But you never know where and when an erstwhile significant other will awkwardly appear. Just ask 48-year-old writer and Federal Hill resident Brian Wendell Morton, who found himself holed-up with an ex while doing the already dreaded jury duty down at the courthouse.

“She ended up as Juror Number Five and I as Alternate Number Four,” Morton recalls. “We just turned around in the jury box and looked at each other like, ‘Can you believe this?'”

(The defendant went to civil trial and Morton and ex made it through the ordeal without creating a court case of their own.)

Suffice it to say, Baltimore’s downsized social scene can result in slim pickens and, in turn, some pretty unbelievable stories from the minimal dating pool.

Take Jamie Crumpler’s story. The 30-year-old communications specialist from Bel Air donned the always-appropriate little black dress for a first date with a man she met online. Her would-be paramour, meanwhile, shows up—without irony or hipster artiness, she swears—sporting an “I’m With Stupid” T-shirt.

“You know, with the hand pointing to the side,” Crumpler explains. “Needless to say I spent the entire evening—which I gracefully cut short—trying to stand on the other side.”

Sometimes the best way to deal with a complex social situation is not to get mad, but inspired. Filmmaker and 42-year-old Mt. Vernon resident Jeanie Clark says she moved from “anonymous” Washington to close-knit Baltimore 12 years ago, and was soon ensnared in the city’s love-line spider web. She turned her experiences into the partially autobiographical film Smalltimore, a feature-length indie she wrote and directed that’s billed as a “romantic comedy of zero degrees of separation.” It screened at The Charles Theatre in December and is now out on the film-fest circuit.

“In one way or another, all the stories intersect,” Clark says. “There are romantic plot lines regarding everyone from a wealthy elderly widow to a twentysomething barfly and they’re all tightly woven together, as usually happens in this town.”

Lynn Crosby, too, has found her muse while searching for Mr. Right. The divorced, 42-year-old school administrator from Mt. Washington has put a 21st-century spin on an old adage: “When life gives you lemons, write a blog.”

Debuting in 2008, her Boyfriend, please! blog (boyfriendplease-sailorgrl.blogspot.com) chronicles the single mother’s cannonball-leap into the city’s knee-deep dating pool. The inspiration came from her coworkers, who were always amused by her morning-after tales. And with more than 50 first dates under her belt, Crosby has plenty of these—though it’s getting tougher all the time.

“My pools to draw from get smaller and smaller,” Crosby laments. “Trying to find fresh blood is almost impossible.”

She never names names in her writings and few men ever get wind of her online chronicling. One who did was a two-timer from D.C. who spent weekends with Crosby and weekdays with a Washington woman—a lady who did some Internet snooping, found Crosby’s blog, and was able to connect the dots just from some of the details.

“Basically, he got nailed by my blog,” says Crosby, who knew nothing of the man’s D.C. mistresses until it all came to an ugly head.

Among her more memorable dates was a week spent in Amsterdam with a man who paid for everything and never laid a finger on her. “When I told him I didn’t feel a connection he was very respectful,” she says.

And among the worst? A divorced father of 11—a fallen evangelical preacher—who was new to both dating and drinking so that even a small amount of wine sent him into a slurred diatribe about lost faith.

“Oh my God, I wanted this guy out of my house and I kept waiting for him to sober up,” Crosby says.

“I get discouraged sometimes and it’s all out there in the blog, which has been hugely therapeutic,” she adds. “It’s an adventure and I’m having one hell of a ride.”

And her advice for the lovelorn of Charm City?

“Regardless of how small Baltimore is—and it is small—you have to put yourself out there,” she says. “Otherwise you stay at home doing nothing. And that sucks.”

Six Degrees of Smalltimore

Think you’re dating a stranger? Better ask these six questions first.

• What high school did you go to?
• How many mutual Facebook friends do we have?
• What neighborhood do you live in?
• What’s your go-to bar?
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This year, as we prepared our annual survey of the region’s best doctors, more Americans have been thinking about health care than at any time in recent history. The debate over health-care reform has caused many of us to reflect on our physical and mental well-being, our national values, and the way medicine is practiced and paid for in America. We decided to tackle the issue head-on, inviting important local players in the health-care reform debate—including Sen. Ben Cardin and the CEOs of several hospitals and health systems in the region, along with doctors, nurses, and public policy experts—to discuss the issue in our offices. The result is a wide-ranging roundtable that goes far beyond the talking points you’re likely to hear on the evening news. There are also features on Dr. Anthony Gaspari, the University of Maryland dermatologist who treated the Indonesian “Tree-Man,” and the Penn North Neighborhood Center, which has had tremendous success using acupuncture to treat addicts referred from the city’s drug courts. Those stories, plus interviews with several “Top Docs,” give the survey appropriate context in a year when managing health is on everyone’s mind.

Following are our 2009 Top Doctors as selected by their peers. The physician’s age follows each name if he or she provided it.

ADDICTION

Marc J. Fishman, 49, Mountain Manor Treatment Center, 3800 Frederick Ave., 410-233-1400.

Jack L. Wapner, 59, 11100 Liberty Rd., Wards Chapel Village, Ste. F, Randallstown, 410-655-2740.

ALLERGY AND IMMUNOLOGY

John R. Bacon, 60, 120 Sister Pierre Dr., Ste. 201, Towson, 410-321-0284.

David Golden, 56, 7939 Honeygo Blvd. No. 219, White Marsh. 410-931-0404.

Jonathan Matz, 47, 7939 Honeygo Blvd. No. 219, White Marsh. 410-931-0404.

ALTERNATIVE/COMPLEMENTARY

Brian M. Berman, 58, University of Maryland Center for Integrative Medicine, Kernan Hospital, 2200 Kernan Dr., 410-448-6361.

Mark A. Young, 49, 4000 Old Court Rd., Ste. 105, 410-602-6272; 5430 Campbell Blvd. Ste. 205, White Marsh. 410-933-8800.

ANESTHESIOLOGY, ADULT

Richard Shapiro, 55, Parkway Anesthesiologists, 201 E. University Pkwy., 410-554-6559.

John A. Ulatowski, 55, Johns Hopkins, 600 N. Wolfe St., Blalock 1415, 410-955-8408.

Kelvin M. Yee, 44, Sinai Hospital, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., 410-601-5209.

ANESTHESIOLOGY, PEDIATRIC

Anne Savarese, 52, University of Maryland Medical Center, 22 S. Greene St., S11C00, 410-328-6033.

Aaron Zuckerberg, 51, Sinai Hospital, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., B-4, 410-601-9193.

CARDIOLOGY, ADULT

Ernest Arnett, 63, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N. Wolfe St., 410-955-7670.

R. Michael Benitez, 48, University of Maryland, 22 S. Greene St., 800-492-5538.

Benjamin V. DuBois, 56, MidAtlantic Cardiovascular Associates, 1838 Greene Tree Rd., Ste. 535, Pikesville, 410-653-3923.

Stacy Fisher, 39, MidAtlantic Cardiovascular Associates, 1838 Greene Tree Rd., Ste. 535, Pikesville, 410-653-3923.

Warren Israel, 62, MidAtlantic Cardiovascular Associates, 1838 Greene Tree Rd., Ste. 535, Pikesville, 410-653-3923.

Stephen J. Mason, 63, MidAtlantic Cardiovascular Associates, 9105 Franklin Square Dr., Ste. 209, Rosedale, 410-484-9520.

Stephen Plantholt, 58, MidAtlantic Cardiovascular Associates, 3449 Wilkens Ave., Ste. 300, 410-644-5111.

James Porterfield, age n/a, MidAtlantic Cardiovascular Associates, 6569 N. Charles St., Ste. 600, Towson, 410-825-5150.

Jonathon Safren, 56, MidAtlantic Cardiovascular Associates, 3449 Wilkens Ave., Ste. 300, 410-644-5111.

CARDIOLOGY/WOMEN

Shellee Nolan, age n/a, 7501 Osler Dr., 3rd Floor, Towson, 410-583-1170.

Dawn Kershner, 39, MidAtlantic Cardiovascular Associates, 3333 N. Calvert St., Ste. 500, 410-366-5600.

Wendy Post, 44, 110 W. Timonium Rd., Timonium, 410-308-7170.

DERMATOLOGY

Regina Anderson, age n/a, 4100 N. Charles St., Ste. 114, 410-889-7600.

Bernard A. Cohen, 58, Johns Hopkins at Green Spring Station, 10755 Falls Rd., Pavilion I, Ste. 350, Lutherville, 410-847-3767.

Barbara Honig, 45, 1777 Reisterstown Rd., Ste. 108, Pikesville. 410-580-2880.

Mark H. Lowitt, 47, 6565 N. Charles St., Ste. 315, 410-321-1195.

ENDOCRINOLOGY

David S. Cooper, 60, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 1830 E. Monument St., Ste. 333, 410-955-9270.

Paul W. Ladenso, 61, Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center, 601 N. Caroline St., 410-955-9270.

William Valente, 61, Saint Agnes Hospital, 900 Caton Ave., 410-368-2883.

REPRODUCTIVE ENDOCRINOLOGY

Eugene Katz, 54, 6569 N. Charles St., Ste. 406, Pavilion West, Towson, 410-512-8300.

Samuel Smith, 54, Franklin Square Hospital, 9105 Franklin Square Dr., Ste. 316, 443-777-7831.

EATING DISORDERS

Harry Brandt, 51, Center for Eating Disorders, Physicians Pavilion North, Ste. 300, 6535 N. Charles St., Towson, 410-938-5252.

Angela Guarda, 46, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N. Wolfe St., Meyer Building, Rm. 101, 410-955-3863.

EMERGENCY MEDICINE

Michael Pipkin, 48, 9000 Franklin Square Dr., Department of Emergency Medicine, Franklin Square Hospital Center, 443-777-7046.

William Jaquis, age n/a, Chief, Department of Emergency Medicine, Sinai Hospital, 410-601-5737.

Jeffrey Sternlicht, 40, GBMC, 6701 North Charles St., 443-849-2528.

GASTROENTEROLOGY/HEPATOLOGY

Marshall Bedine, 68, 10751 Falls Rd., Ste. 301, Lutherville, 410-583-2633.

David Cromwell, 48, 10751 Falls Rd., Ste. 401, Lutherville, 410-583-2920.

Sudhir Dutta, 61, 2411 W. Belvedere Ave. Ste. 305, 410-601-5392.

Bruce Greenwald, 48, 22 S. Greene St., 410-328-8731.

Chris Hansen, 54, 10751 Falls Rd., Ste. 303, Lutherville, 410-583-2630.

William Ravich, 61, 10751 Falls Rd., Ste. 401, Lutherville, 410-616-2840.

Andrew Rosenstein, 43, 7505 Osler Dr., Ste. 502, Towson, 410-296-4210.

Louis Salas, 47, 4660 Wilkens Ave., Ste. 206, 410-247-7500.

Edward Wolfe, 55, 1838 Greene Tree Rd., Ste. 400, 410-602-7782.

FAMILY PRACTICE

Karen Perkins, 32, 9101 Franklin Square Dr., Ste. 205, 443-777-2000.

David L. Stewart, 53, University of Maryland, Department of Family and Community Medicine, 29 S. Paca St., 410-328-8792.

Sarah Whiteford, 40, Family Care Associates at GBMC, 6565 N. Charles St., Ste. 411, Physician Pavilion East, 443-849-2707.

GENETICS

Clair Francomano, “early 50s,” GBMC, Harvey Institute for Human Genetics, 6701 N. Charles St., Ste. 2326, Towson, 443-849-3131.

Ada Hamosh, 49, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, McKusick Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, 600 N. Wolfe St., Blalock Bldg. Rm. 1012D, 410-955-3071.

Antonie D. Kline, 49, Harvey Institute for Human Genetics, GBMC, 6701 N. Charles St., Ste. 2326, 443-849-3192.

GERIATRICS

Michael Gloth, 53, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, 5505 Hopkins Bayview Cir., 410-550-0925.

James P. Richardson, 55, 3421 Benson Ave., Ste. 210, 410-368-8979.

GYNECOLOGY

Harry W. Johnson Jr., 52, University of Maryland OB/GYN, 419 W. Redwood St., Ste. 500, 410-328-6640.

Andrew London, 62, 1300 York Rd., Ste. 100, Lutherville, 410-296-5863.

Michael Magan, 70, 120 Sister Pierre Dr., 410-337-9003.

OBSTETRICS

Missy Garavente, 41, 9000 Franklin Square Dr., 443-777-8005.

Deborah L. Hebb, 55, 6569 N. Charles St., Ste. 500, Towson, 410-296-6090.

ONCOLOGY, GYNECOLOGICAL

Fouad Abbas, 48, Morton Mower Office Building, 2411 W. Belvedere Ave., No. 206, 410-601-9030.

Francis C. Grumbine, 62, GBMC, 6569 N. Charles St., Ste. 306, 443-849-2765.

Dwight Im, 49, Weinberg Center at Mercy Hospital, 227 St. Paul Place, Floor 6, 410-332-9200.

Neil B. Rosenshein, 65, 227 St. Paul Pl., 6th Fl., 410-332-9200.

ONCOLOGY, HEMATOLOGY

Michael Auerbach, 60, 9110 Philadelphia Rd., Ste. 314, 410-780-4050.

Gary Cohen, n/a, Director, GBMC Cancer Center, 6569 N. Charles St., Ste. 205, Towson, 443-849-3051.

Carole Miller, 51, Saint Agnes Hospital, 900 S. Caton Ave., 410-368-2909.

Stephen Noga, 55, Director of Medical Oncology and Hematology and the Cellular Therapeutics Program at the Alvin & Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute, Sinai Hospital, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., 410-601-4710.

William C. Waterfield, 63, Franklin Square Hospital, 9103 Franklin Square Dr., Ste. 2200, 443-777-7147.

INTERNAL MEDICINE

Richard Berg, 59, 10755 Falls Rd., Ste. 450, Lutherville, 410-583-2711.

Harry Kaplan, 45, 2700 Quarry Lake Dr., Ste. 290, 410-653-0073.

Jeffrey Magaziner, 41, Park Medical Associates, 10755 Falls Rd., Ste. 200, Lutherville, 410-583-7137.

Mary Newman, 57, Park Medical Associates, 10755 Falls Rd., Ste. 200, Lutherville, 410-583-7120.

Kenneth Williams, 53, Seton Medical Group, 2801 Foster Ave., and 1120 Rolling Rd., 410-342-0333.

INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Paul G. Auwaerter, 47, Johns Hopkins at Green Spring Station, 10751 Falls Rd., Lutherville, 410-583-2651.

John Bartlett, 68, 1830 E. Monument St., Rm. 447, 410-955-7634.

Richard A. Berg, 59, 10755 Falls Rd., Ste. 450, Lutherville, 410-583-2711.

Wayne Campbell, 56, 201 E. University Pl., Department of Medicine, Ste. 512, 410-554-2284.

Charles Haile, 61, 7505 Osler Dr., Ste. 404, Towson, 410-337-7097.

Andrew Mayrer, 61, Director, Division of Infectious Diseases, Sinai Hospital, 2435 W. Belvedere Ave., Ste. 17, 410-601-5941.

Donal K. Walshe, 45, Chief of Infectious Diseases, Saint Agnes Hospital, 827 Linden Ave., Ste. 3F, Armory Bldg., 410-225-8404.

Marcos Wolff, 47, 9000 Franklin Square Dr., 443-777-7138.

NEPHROLOGY

Mary T. Behrens, 50, 516 N. Rolling Rd., Ste. 107, Catonsville, 410-744-0890.

Kevin Rossiter, 52, 9103 Franklin Square Dr., Ste. 301, 443-777-6540.

Paul Scheel Jr., 48, 1830 E. Monument St., 410-955-5268.

Khalid Al-Talib, 52, 9103 Franklin Square Dr., Ste. 301, 443-777-6540.

Stephen Zemel, 57, 1838 Greene Tree Rd., Ste. 245, Pikesville, 410-602-7792.

NEUROLOGY

Jerold Fleishman, 53, 9000 Franklin Square Dr., 2nd floor, 443-777-7320.

Justin McArthur, 53, The Johns Hopkins Hospital Outpatient Center, 601 N. Caroline St., 410-955-3730.

Howard Moses, 79, 1205 York Rd., Ste. 39B, Lutherville, 410-494-0191.

Bruce Rabin, 51, Johns Hopkins at Green Spring Station, 10755 Falls Rd., Ste. 370, Lutherville, 410-616-7188.

Howard D. Weiss, 62, 2411 W. Belvedere Ave., Ste. 202, 410-367-7600.

OCCUPATIONAL/ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE

John Parkerson, 51, 4717 Falls Rd., 410-366-3627.

OPHTHALMOLOGY

Donald Abrams, 49, Krieger Eye Institute, Chief, Department of Ophthalmology, Morton Mower, M.D. Office Building, 2411 W. Belvedere Ave., 6th Floor, 410-601-6480.

Marc A. Honig, 45, 23 Crossroads Dr., Ste. 310 Owings Mills, 410-581-1500.

Allan D. Jensen, 65, 200 E. 33rd St., Ste. 426, 410-235-1133.

Gerami Seitzman, 36, Krieger Eye Institute at Sinai Hospital, 2411 W. Belvedere Ave., 6th Floor, 410-601-5991.

Amy Zimmerman, 44, 1105 North Point Blvd., Ste. 323, 410-282-5544.

ORTHOPEDICS, GENERAL

David Buchalter, 39, OrthoMaryland, 2700 Quarry Lake Dr., Ste. 300, 410-377-8900.

Frank Frassica, 56, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N. Wolfe St., 410-502-2698.

Stewart L. Koehler, 57, 6565 N. Charles St., Ste. 606, 410-583-0160.

Jerome Reichmister, 69, OrthoMaryland, 2700 Quarry Lake Dr., Ste. 300, 410-377-8900.

Sam Sydney, 52, Orthopedic Associates of Central Maryland, 3421 Benson Ave., Ste. 100, 410-644-1880.

ORTHOPEDICS, HAND

Mark A. Deitch, 44, OrthoMaryland, 2700 Quarry Lake Dr., Ste. 300, 410-377-8900.

Stacey H. Berner, 46, 10 Crossroads Dr., Ste. 210 Owings Mills. 410-484-8088.

Thomas Brushart, 60, The Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center, 601 N. Caroline St., 410-955-9663.

Steven L. Friedman, 49, OrthoMaryland, 2700 Quarry Lake Dr., Ste. 300, 410-377-8900.

Thomas Graham, 47, Chief, Division of Hand Surgery, Union Memorial Hospital, Johnston Professional Building, 2nd Floor, 3333 N. Calvert St., 410-235-5405.

Peter C. Innis, 50, 1400 Front Ave., Ste. 100, Lutherville, 410-296-6232.

Keith A. Segalman, 47, 1400 Front Ave., Lutherville, 410-296-6232; Union Memorial Hospital, 3333 N. Calvert St., 410-235-5405.

ORTHOPEDICS, FOOT/ANKLE

John Campbell, 44, The Institute for Foot and Ankle Reconstruction at Mercy, 301 St. Paul Pl., Lobby Level, 410-659-2800.

Mark Myerson, 58, Mercy Medical Center, 301 St. Paul Pl., 410-659-2800.

Lew Schon, 48, 3333 N. Calvert St., Ste. 400, 410-554-2891.

Ian Weiner, 48, OrthoMaryland, 2700 Quarry Lake Dr., Ste. 300, 410-377-8900.

ORTHOPEDICS, SPINE

Paul Asdourian, 53, Union Memorial, 3333 N. Calvert St., Ste. 400, 410-554-2867.

Myles D. Brager, 57, 1 Village Sq., Westminster, 410-876-8077.

Stephen Ludwig, 42, 1 Texas Station Ct., 3rd Floor, Timonium, 410-448-6400.

Lee Riley III, 49, 601 N. Caroline St., 410-955-6930.

Mark Rosenthal, 56, OrthoMaryland, 2700 Quarry Lake Dr., Ste. 300, 410-377-8900.

P. Justin Tortolani, 39, O’Dea Medical Arts Bldg., 7505 Osler Dr., Ste. 104, Towson, 410-337-8888.

ORTHOPEDICS, JOINT REPLACEMENT

David F. Dalury, 51, 8322 Bellona Ave., Ste. 100, 410-337-7900.

Ronald Delanois, 44, Center for Joint Preservation and Replacement, Sinai Hospital, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., 410-601-5645.

Frank Ebert, 57, 3333 N. Calvert St., 4th Floor, 410-554-2850.

Mark Hungerford, age n/a, 301 St. Paul Pl., lobby level, 410-539-2227.

Dave A. Silber, age 51, 10 Crossroads Dr., Ste. 210, Owings Mills, 410-876-8077.

Michael Mont, 50, Center for Joint Preservation and Replacement, Sinai Hospital, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., 410-601-5645.

Barry J. Waldman, age n/a, OrthoMaryland, 2700 Quarry Lake Dr., Ste. 300, 410-377-8900.

OTOLARYNGOLOGY

Charles W. Cummings, 74, Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center, 601 N. Caroline St., Ste. 1080, 410-955-7400.

Karl W. Diehn, 60, 6565 N. Charles St., Physicians Pavilion East, Ste. 601, 410-821-5151.

Andrew C. Goldstone, 50, 6565 N. Charles St., Ste. 601, 410-821-5151.

Howard Hessan, 52, 3449 Wilkens Ave., Ste. 200, 410-525-3818.

Theda C. Kontis, 49, Facial Plastic Surgicenter, 1838 Greene Tree Rd., Ste. 370, 410-486-3400.

Scott D. London, 39, Chesapeake Ear Nose and Throat, 23 Crossroads Dr., Ste. 400, Owings Mills, 410-356-2626.

Douglas C. McCorkle, 56, 10 Crossroads Dr., Ste. 100, Owings Mills, 410-363-7172.

MATERNAL FETAL MEDICINE

Lindsay Alger, 59, 419 W. Redwood St., Ste. 500, 410-328-6640.

Jessica Bienstock, 47, 600 N. Wolfe St., Nelson 2170, 410-502-3200.

Hugh E. Mighty, 53, 419 W. Redwood St., Ste. 500, 410-328-6640.

NEONATAL-PERINATAL MEDICINE

Karen A. Broderick, 53, Saint Agnes Hospital, 900 S. Caton Ave., 410-368-2500.

Melinda Elliott, 50, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., Division of Neonatalogy, Sinai Hospital, 410-601-5217.

Sabah Helou, 54, Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, GBMC, 6701 N. Charles St., 443-849-2792.

Sita Kottapalli, age n/a, Franklin Square Hospital, 9000 Franklin Square Dr., 443-777-7050.

Laurel Yap, 56, Harbor Hospital, 3001 S. Hanover St., 410-350-7186.

PAIN MANAGEMENT/CHRONIC PAIN

Brian Block, 41, Pain Medicine Specialists, 8322 Bellona Ave., Ste. 330, Towson, 410-825-6945.

Jason Brokaw, 37, OrthoMaryland, 2700 Quarry Lake Dr., Ste. 300, 410-377-8900.

Ibrahim Elsamanoudi, 62, Union Memorial Hospital, 201 E. University Pkwy., 410-554-6497.

Ross Sugar, 49, Sinai Hospital, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., 410-601-6587.

PATHOLOGY

Jerry J. Marty, 60, 9000 Franklin Square Dr., Pathology Department, 443-777-8248.

Edward McCarthy, 65, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N. Wolfe St., 410-955-2660.

Arthur H. McTighe, 64, 201 E. University Pkwy., 410-554-2974.

PEDIATRICS, GENERAL

Harsha Bhagtani, 37, 5009 Honeygo Village Dr., Ste. 225, 443-725-2100.

Lauren Bogue, age n/a, Pavilion Pediatrics at Green Spring Station, Pavilion 1, Ste. 260, 10755 Falls Rd., Lutherville, 410-583-2955.

Michael G. Burke, 52, Saint Agnes Hospital, 900 S. Caton Ave., 410-368-2506.

Karen A. Broderick, 53, Saint Agnes Hospital, 900 S. Caton Ave., 410-368-2500.

Steven Caplan, 60, 2411 W. Belvedere Ave., Ste. 508, 410-578-8383.

Timothy F. Doran, 57, 6565 N. Charles St., Ste. 306, Towson, 443-849-6444.

Jason Goldstein, age n/a, Pavilion Pediatrics, 10755 Falls Rd., Ste. 260, Lutherville, 410-583-2955.

Alan M. Lake, 61, 10807 Falls Rd., Ste. 200, Lutherville, 410-321-9393.

PEDIATRIC, ALLERGY

Kenneth C. Schuberth, 61, 10807 Falls Rd., Ste. 200, Lutherville, 410-321-9393.

Robert Wood, 52, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N. Wolfe St., 410-955-5883.

PEDIATRIC, GENERAL SURGERY

James R. Buck, 61, GBMC, 6565 N. Charles St., Ste. 305, Towson, 443-849-6201.

Roger Voigt, 53, University of Maryland Medical Center, 22 S. Greene St., 800-492-5538.

PEDIATRICS, GASTROINTESTINAL

Alan M. Lake, 61, 10807 Falls Rd., Ste. 200, Lutherville, 410-321-9393.

Kalpana Murthy, 46, Herman and Walter Samuelson Children’s Hospital at Sinai, Morton Mower Medical Office Building, 2411 W. Belvedere Ave., Ste. 407, 410-601-8663.

David Tuchman, 58, Herman and Walter Samuelson Children’s Hospital at Sinai, Morton Mower Medical Office Building, 2411 W. Belvedere Ave., Ste. 407, 410-601-8663.

PEDIATRICS,CARDIOLOGY

Peter Gaskin, 44, University of Maryland Medical Center, 22 S. Greene St., 410-328-6666.

Janet Scheel, 50, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 601 N. Caroline St., 7th floor, 410-955-9714.

PEDIATRICS, HEMATOLOGY/ONCOLOGY

Joseph M. Wiley, 52, Sinai Hospital, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., 410-601-5864.

PEDIATRICS, NEUROLOGY

Edward Gratz, age n/a, 2435 W. Belvedere Ave., Ste. 32, 410-601-8300.

Eileen Vining, 63, Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center, 601 ZN. Caroline St., 410-955-9100.

PEDIATRICS, ENDOCRINE

Barry Reiner, 52, 1001 Pine Heights Ave., Ste. 202, 410-646-4009.

PEDIATRICS, ORTHOPEDICS

John Herzenberg, 54, Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics, Sinai Hospital, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., 410-601-9562.

Paul D. Sponseller, 52, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 601 N. Caroline St, 5th Fl., 410-955-3136.

PEDIATRICS, PSYCHIATRY

Stuart Varon, 50, 2324 W. Joppa Rd., Ste. 420, Lutherville, 410-583-1859.

Elizabeth Kastelic, 42, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N. Wolfe St.,

410-614-4948.

PEDIATRICS/PULMONARY

Anayansi Lasso-Pirot, 41, 22 S. Greene St., Ste. N5W40, 410-706-2443.

Laura Sterni, 46, Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital, 1708 W. Rogers Ave.; Johns Hopkins Childrens Center, 600 N. Wolfe St., 410-955-2035.

PHYSICAL MEDICINE, REHAB

Scott E. Brown, 48, Chairman, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Sinai Hospital, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., 410-601-6585.

Lisa Enders-Grant, 41, OrthoMaryland, 2700 Quarry Lake Dr., Ste. 300, 410-377-8900.

Gayle Schwartz, 51, 1920 Greenspring Dr., Ste. 125, Timonium, 410-308-4900.

Michael Shear, 55, 1920 Greenspring Dr., Ste. 125, Timonium, 410-308-4900.

PSYCHIATRY

Paul McClelland, 61, Saint Agnes Hospital, 900 S. Caton Ave., 410-368-2737.

PULMONARY

Philip Buescher, 54, Union Memorial Hospital, 201 E. University Pkwy., 410-467-4470.

Michael Lansing, 54, Jacobs, Lansing, and Mishkin, PA, Woodholme Medical Building, 1838 Greene Tree Rd., Ste. 350, Pikesville, 410-484-5686.

Jason Marx, 43, 7505 Osler Dr., Ste. 409, Towson, 410-321-5651.

Stephen R. Selinger, 56, Director of Critical Care, Franklin Square Hospital, 9103 Franklin Square Dr., Ste. 300, 410-682-5282.

Dennis Smith, 58, 3449 Wilkens Ave., 410-644-5112.

RADIATION ONCOLOGY

Cengiz Aygun, 57, Radiation Oncology Affiliates of Maryland, 9105 Franklin Square Dr., Ste. 100, 410-6820-6800.

Albert L. Blumberg, 57, GBMC, 6701 N. Charles St., Towson, 443-849-2540.

Mark J. Brenner, 59, Sinai Hospital, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., Dept. of Radiation Oncology, 410-601-5689.

Richard S. Hudes, age n/a, Section Chief, Saint Agnes Hospital Cancer Center, 900 Caton Ave., 410-368-2965.

RADIOLOGY, GENERAL DIAGNOSTIC

Blair Andrew, 56, Advanced Radiology, 7253 Ambassador Rd., 443-436-1100.

Noah Lightman, 65, Chief, Department of Radiology, Sinai Hospital/Lifebridge Health, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., 410-601-6530.

Loralie Ma, 45, Advanced Radiology, 7253 Ambassador Rd., 443-436-1100.

RADIOLOGY, BREAST

Judy M. Destouet, 61, Advanced Radiology, Pamona Sq., Ste. 112, 1700 Reisterstown Rd., 410-580-2100.

Nagi Khouri, age n/a, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 601 N. Caroline St., 410-955-4100.

H. Rosy Singh, 46, Advanced Radiology, 7253 Ambassador Rd., 443-436-1110.

REHABILITATIVE/PALLIATIVE MEDICINE

Scott E. Brown, 48, Chairman, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Sinai Hospital,

2401 W. Belvedere Ave., 410-601-6585.

Howard Hoffberg, 52, 10085 Red Run Blvd., Suite 404, Owings Mills, 410-363-7246.

RHEUMATOLOGY

Ira T. Fine, 60, 10753 Falls Rd., Ste. 225, Lutherville, 410-583-2828.

David Hellmann, 58, 4940 Eastern Ave., 410-550-6825.

Howard W. Hauptman, 54, 1220B E. Joppa Rd., Ste. 310, 410-494-1888.

John Meyerhoff, age n/a, Sinai Hospital, 2435 W. Belvedere Ave., Ste. 21, 410-601-8389.

RHEUMATOLOGY, PEDIATRIC

Stephen George, 51, 4801 Dorsey Hall Dr., Ste. 226, Ellicott City, 410-992-7440.

SLEEP SPECIALIST

Brian Bohner, 51, Pulmonary and Critical Care Associates of Baltimore, 6535 N. Charles St., Ste. 550, Towson, 410-494-1662.

Robert Meny, 64, Pulmonary and Critical Care Associates of Baltimore, 7505 Osler Dr., Ste. 409, Towson, 410-321-5651.

SPORTS MEDICINE

Jon Koman, 41, OrthoMaryland, 2700 Quarry Lake Dr., Ste. 300, 410-377-8900.

Leslie S. Matthews, 58, Chief of Orthopedic Surgery, Union Memorial Hospital, 3333 N. Calvert St., Ste. 400, 410-554-2865.

Teri McCambridge, 40, 8322 Bellona Ave., Ste. 100, Towson, 410-337-7900.

Andrew M. Tucker, 48, 1407 York Rd., Ste. 100-A, Lutherville, 410-821-8062.

SURGERY, BARIATRIC

Alex Gandsas, 46, Head of division, bariatric surgery, Sinai Hospital, 2435 W. Belvedere Ave., Ste. 15, 410-601-4486.

Christina Li, 39, Sinai Hospital, 2435 W. Belvedere Ave., Ste. 15, 410-601-4486.

Thomas Magnuson, 50, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, 4940 Eastern Ave., 410-550-0409.

David von Rueden, 60, 700 Geipe Rd., Ste. 274, Catonsville, 410-368-3003.

Kuldeep Singh, 44, 7625 Maple Lawn Blvd., Ste. 145, Fulton, 301-490-2193.

SURGERY, BREAST

Kristen Fernandez, 42, Franklin Square Hospital, 9101 Franklin Square Dr., Ste. 110, 443-777-6500.

Neil B. Friedman, 51, The Hoffberger Breast Center at Mercy, 227 St. Paul Pl., 410-332-9330.

Scott E. Maizel, 58, Director, Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Program, GBMC, Sandra and Malcolm Berman Comprehensive Breast Care Center, 6701 N. Charles St., Ste. 3105, Towson, 443-849-2600.

Lauren A. Schnaper, 61, GBMC, Sandra and Malcolm Berman Comprehensive Breast Care Center, 6701 N. Charles St., Ste. 3105, Towson, 443-849-2600.

Michael J. Schultz, 62, Director, Breast Center, St. Joseph Medical Center, 7501 Osler Dr., Ste. 205, Towson, 410-427-5510.

SURGERY, CARDIAC

Duke Cameron, 57, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N. Wolfe St., 410-955-2698.

R.C. Stewart Finney Jr., 50, St. Joseph Medical Center, 7601 Osler Dr., Ste. W255, Towson, 410-337-1783.

Michael Fiocco, 49, Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Union Memorial Hospital, 3333 N. Calvert St., Ste. LL08, 410-554-6550.

Alejandro Sequeira, 66, Head, Division of Cardiac Surgery, Sinai Hospital, 2435 W. Belvedere Ave., Ste. 35, 410-601-0900.

SURGERY, COLON RECTAL

P. Jeffrey Ferris, 51, 9103 Franklin Square Dr., Ste. 307, 443-777-6225.

Debra A. Vachon, 49, 301 St. Paul Pl., 410-783-5800.

SURGERY, GENERAL

J. Lawrence Fitzpatrick, 52, Mercy Medical Center, 301 St. Paul Pl., Ste. C304, 410-332-9265.

Marc Gertner, 62, General Surgery Specialists, 23 Crossroads Dr., Ste. 410, Owings Mills, 410-581-0700.

Frank S. Rotolo, 54, 1205 York Rd., Lutherville, 410-821-6260.

Viney Setya, 54, Associate Chairman and Section Chief, general surgery, Saint Agnes Hospital, 3421 Benson Ave., Ste. 210, 410-368-2700.

SURGERY, HEPATO-BILIARY

John Cameron, 71, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N. Wolfe St., 410-955-5464.

Mark H. Fraiman, 46, 7501 Osler Dr., Ste. 204, Towson, 410-427-2024.

NEUROSURGERY

Henry Brem, 57, Chair of Neurosurgery, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 410-955-2248.

Ira M. Garonzik, 37, Baltimore Neurosurgery and Spine Center, Mirowski Medical Office Bldg., 5051 Greenspring Ave., Ste. 101, 410-664-3680.

Rafael Tamargo, 51, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N. Wolfe St., Meyer Building, Room 8-181, 410-614-1533.

Neal J. Naff, 43, Chesapeake Neurosurgery, 10751 Falls Rd., Ste. 301, Lutherville, 410-616-7600.

PEDIATRICS, NEUROSURGERY

Benjamin S. Carson, 58, The Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, Department of Neurosurgery, 600 N. Wolfe St., Harvey 811, 410-955-7888.

George I. Jallo, 43, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N. Wolfe St., Harvey Building, Room 811, 410-955-7851.

SURGICAL ONCOLOGY, GENERAL

Mukund S. Didolkar, 66, Surgical Oncology Associates, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., 1st Floor, 410-601-8317.

Edward C. McCarron, 38, 9103 Franklin Square Dr., Ste. 2300, 443-777-7911.

Armando Sardi, 54, Institute for Cancer Care at Mercy, 227 St. Paul Place, 4th Fl., 410-332-9294.

John Zapas, 42, Chief, Center for Surgical Oncology, Franklin Square Hospital, 9103 Franklin Square Dr., Ste. 2300, 443-777-7911.

SURGICAL ONCOLOGY, HEAD AND NECK

Robert Ord, 61, 650 West Baltimore St., Ste. 1401, 410-706-6195.

John R. Saunders Jr., 64, Chief of medical staff, GBMC, 6569 N. Charles St., Physicians Pavilion West, Ste. 401, Towson, 443-849-8940.

SURGERY, ORAL MAXILLOFACIAL

Anthony Tufaro, 54, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 601 N. Caroline St., 410-955-9846.

SURGERY, PLASTIC RECONSTRUCTIVE (Not cosmetic)

Paul N. Manson, 65, Chief of the Department of Cosmetic and Facial Plastic Surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 601 N. Caroline St., 410-955-6897.

Paul Ringelman, 51, 7401 Osler Dr., Ste. 208, 410-823-3885.

SURGERY, RETINA AND VITREOUS

Joseph B. Harlan Jr., 42, 1209 York Rd., Ste. 200, Lutherville, 410-821-9490.

SURGERY, THORACIC

Richard Battafarano, 47, Stoller Pavilion, University of Maryland, Marlene and Stewart Greenanbaum Cancer Center, 22 S. Greene St., 410-328-6366.

Richard Heitmiller, 55, Chief of Surgery, Union Memorial Hospital, 3333 N. Calvert St., Ste. 610, 410-554-2063.

Gavin Henry, 38, 900 Caton Ave., Box 207, 410-368-2730.

Mark Krasna, 51, St. Joseph Cancer Institute, 7501 Osler Dr., Ste. 104, Towson, 410-427-2220.

Lynne Skaryak, 46, Sinai Hospital, 2435 W. Belvedere Ave., Ste. 41, 410-601-6491.

Stephen Yang, 50, Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center, 601 N. Caroline St., 8th Floor, 410-614-3891.

SURGERY, TRANSPLANT

Stephen T. Bartlett, 55, University of Maryland Medical Center, 22 S. Greene St., Room N4E40, 410-328-8407.

Andrew Cameron, 40, 720 Rutland Ave., 410-614-2989.

SURGERY, TRAUMA

Thomas Genuit, 45, 2435 W. Belvedere Ave., Ste. 42, 410-601-0600.

Thomas M. Scalea, 58, R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, 22 S. Greene St., 410-328-8976.

SURGERY, VASCULAR

James H. Black III, 40, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N. Wolfe St., 410-955-1708.

Peter Mackrell, 41, 2411 W. Belvedere Ave., Ste. 301, 410-601-0500.

Samer Saiedy, 43, 7600 Osler Drive, Suite 107, Towson, 410-825-4530.

UROLOGY

William Dowling, 45, Chesapeake Urology Associates, 6830 Hospital Dr., Ste. 204, 410-391-6131.

Brad Lerner, 50, Chief of Urology, Union Memorial Hospital, 3333 N. Calvert St., Ste. 600, 410-467-7665.

Just when you thought it was safe to pick your physician by closing your eyes and pointing at a name in the Yellow Pages, we’re back, with the 17th annual edition of Baltimore’s Top Doctors survey. It’s a gargantuan project for us, but one we’re confident includes the names of the most highly regarded doctors in the greater Baltimore area.

Highly regarded by whom, you ask? By their peers is the answer. Because, after all, who would want journalists picking their docs?

Alert readers will notice a difference this year: While we’ve been doing this for a long time, we have partnered in the past couple years with national polling firms that specialize in doc surveys, and which are used by other city magazines.

This year, we went back to doing it ourselves, because we wanted to be more hands-on and selective. So, instead of seeing 10 or 15 names under a specialty, you’ll see just the top 1, 3, or 5 leaders in peer referrals.

You’ll also read about some of the latest trends in medicine, from boutique practices to the phenomenon of patients trying to diagnose themselves over the Internet.

The process of determining who the region’s top doctors are in dozens of specialties and subspecialties was made a lot smoother by the assistance of our five medical advisors, who were especially helpful in fine-tuning the surveys we sent to physicians in the Baltimore area, as well as reviewing our list of finalists.

Of course, just for the record, the advisors agreed not to be included on the list of finalists, no matter how the peer polling turned out.

If you’re sick, we want you to get well fast. The good news, though, is that Baltimore is one of the luckiest places in the world to be sick. See for yourself. Oh, and break a leg.

ADDICTION
Joseph Adams
Total Health Care, 2401 Liberty Heights Ave., Ste. 111-113, 410-383-8300. AGE: 52. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. YIP: 20. BC: Internal Medicine (General); extra qualifications in Geriatric and by American Society of Addiction Medicine. PRIV: GBMC, Total Health Care Inc.

ALLERGY AND IMMUNOLOGY
John R. Bacon
120 Sister Pierre Dr., Ste. 201, Towson, 410-321-0284. AGE: 60. MS: George Washington University School of Medicine. RES: Children’s Hospital in D.C., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. YIP: 28. BC: Allergy and Immunology; Pediatrics. PRIV: Franklin Square Hospital Center, GBMC, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Saint Agnes Healthcare, University of Maryland Medical System, St. Joseph Medical Center.

Jonathan Matz
7939 Honeygo Blvd., No. 219, 410-931-0404. AGE: 47. MS: George Washington University School of Medicine. RES: George Washington University Medical Center. YIP: 16. BC: Allergy and Immunology; Internal Medicine. PRIV: Franklin Square Hospital Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Sinai Hospital.

Kenneth C. Schuberth
10807 Falls Rd., Ste. 200, Lutherville, 410-321-9393. AGE: 61. MS: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital. YIP: 30. BC: Pediatrics; Allergy and Immunology. PRIV: Sinai, Johns Hopkins, GBMC.

ALTERNATIVE/COMPLEMENTARY
Brian M. Berman
University of Maryland Center for Integrative Medicine, Kernan Hospital, 2200 Kernan Dr., 410-448-6361. AGE: 58. MS: Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, Ireland. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 20. BC: Pain Medicine. PRIV: Kernan Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation Hospital.

Peter Hinderberger
Ruscombe Mansion Community Health Center, 4801 Yellowwood Ave., 410-367-6263. AGE: 56. MS: University of Bern Medical School, Switzerland. RES: Berkshire Medical Center, Pittsfield, MA. YIP: 24. BC: none (General Practitioner). PRIV: none.

ANESTHESIOLOGY, ADULT
Lewis Hogge Jr.
GBMC, 6701 N. Charles St., Towson, 443-849-2202. AGE: 49. MS: Eastern Virginia Med School. RES: Duke University Medical Center. YIP: 20. BC: Anesthesiology. PRIV: GBMC.

Charles Rizzuto
St. Joseph Medical Center, 7601 Osler Dr., Towson, 410-337-3904. AGE: 46. MS: New York Medical College. RES: New York University. YIP: 16. BC: Anesthesiology (General). PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center, Ruxton Surgery Center, Cosmetic Surgery Center of MD.

ANESTHESIOLOGY, PEDIATRIC
Jose E. Dominguez
GBMC, 6701 N. Charles Street, 443-849-2203. AGE: 46. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: George Washington University Hospital. YIP: 15. BC: Anesthesiology. PRIV: GBMC.

Aaron Zuckerberg
Sinai Hospital, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave. B-4, 410-601-9193. AGE: 51. MS: University of Massachusetts Medical School. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital. YIP: 16. BC: Anesthesiology (Pediatrics); Pediatrics (Intensive Care) PRIV: Sinai Hospital.

CARDIOLOGY
R. Michael Benitez
University of Maryland, 22 S. Greene St., 800-492-5538. AGE: 48. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: University of Virginia. YIP: 16. BC: Internal Medicine; Cardiovascular Disease. PRIV: University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore VA Medical Center.

Miriam L. Cohen
Heart Associates, 200 E. 33rd St., Ste. 551, 410-243-4982. AGE: n/a. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: Union Memorial Hospital. YIP: 39. BC: Fellow in American College of Cardiology (predates advent of board certification). PRIV: GBMC, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Union Memorial Hospital, University of Maryland Medical System, St. Joseph Medical Center.

Stacy Fisher
Midatlantic Cardiovascular Associates, 1838 Greene Tree Rd., Ste. 535, Pikesville, 410-653-3923. AGE: 39. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: Duke University. YIP: 7. BC: Cardiology (General). PRIV: Northwest Hospital Center, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore.

Frank Morris
Midatlantic Cardiovascular Associates, 7501 Osler Dr., Towson, 410-583-1170. AGE: 59. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 28. BC: Internal Medicine; General Cardiology; Interventional Cardiology. PRIV: Franklin Square Hospital Center, GBMC, Saint Agnes Healthcare, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Union Memorial Hospital, St. Joseph Medical Center, Upper Chesapeake Medical Center.

Shellee Nolan
7501 Osler Dr., 3rd Floor, Towson, 410-583-1170. AGE: n/a. MS: Georgetown University School of Medicine. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital. YIP: 20. BC: Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center.

James Porterfield
6569 N. Charles St., Ste. 600, 410-825-5150 AGE: n/a. MS: West Virginia University School of Medicine. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital. YIP: 17. BC: Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases. PRIV: GBMC, Johns Hopkins Hospital, St. Joseph Medical Center.

DERMATOLOGY
Mark H. Lowitt
6565 N. Charles St., Ste. 315, Baltimore, 410-321-1195. AGE: 47. MS: Tulane University School of Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 15 BC: Dermatology.
PRIV: GBMC.

Howard Robinson
101 W. Ridgely Rd., Lutherville; 1115 S. Main St., Bel Air; 410-561-1960, 410-879-7404. AGE: 52. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital. YIP: 23. BC: Dermatology. PRIV: Johns Hopkins Hospital, St. Joseph Medical Center, GBMC.

Irving Wolfe
21 Crossroads Dr., Ste. 255, Owings Mills, 410-363-2320. AGE: 65. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 33. BC: Dermatology (General). PRIV: Johns Hopkins Hospital, Sinai Hospital, University of Maryland Medical System.

ENDOCRINOLOGY
David S. Cooper
Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism, Johns Hopkins University, 1830 E. Monument St., Ste. 333, 410-955-3663. AGE: 60. MS: Tufts University School of Medicine. RES: Barnes Hospital (Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis), endo. fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. YIP: 28. BC: Internal Medicine; Endocrinology and Metabolism. PRIV: Johns Hopkins Hospital.

William Valente
St. Agnes Hospital, 900 Caton Ave., 410-368-3120 AGE: n/a. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 28. BC: Endocrinology, Diabetes, Metabolism. PRIV: Anne Arundel Medical Center, Baltimore Washington Medical Center (formerly North Arundel Hospital), GBMC, Saint Agnes Healthcare, University of Maryland Medical System.

REPRODUCTIVE ENDOCRINOLOGY
Katherine Bass
Fertility Center of Maryland, 110 West Rd., Ste. 102, Towson; 2014 S. Tollgate Rd., Ste. 107, Bel Air, 410-296-6400. AGE: 51. MS: Duke University School of Medicine. RES: Magee-Women’s Hospital, Pittsburgh. YIP: 17. BC: Obstetrics and Gynecology (Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility subspecialties). PRIV: GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, Union Memorial Hospital.

Jairo Garcia
Johns Hopkins at Green Spring Station, 10753 Falls Rd., Ste. 335, Lutherville, 410-583-2753. AGE: n/a. MS: Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia, South America. RES: Universidad de Antioquia Medical School, Hospital San Vincente de Paul, Colombia, South America. YIP: 30. BC: None. PRIV: Johns Hopkins Hospital, GBMC.

Eugene Katz
6569 N. Charles St., Ste. 406, Pavilion West, Towson, 410-512-8300. AGE: 54. MS: University of Chile. RES: Tulane University. YIP: 21. BC: Obstetrics and Gynecology; Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. PRIV: GBMC, St. Agnes.

EATING DISORDERS
Harry Brandt
Center for Eating Disorders, Physicians Pavilion North, Ste. 300, 6535 N. Charles St., Towson, 410-938-5252. AGE: 51. MS: University of Maryland. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 22. BC: Psychiatry. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center, Sheppard Pratt.

Steven Crawford
6535 N. Charles St., Ste. 300, Towson, 410-938-5252. AGE: 48. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 19. BC: Psychiatry and Neurology. PRIV: Sheppard Pratt, St. Joseph Medical Center, GBMC.

EMERGENCY MEDICINE
C. Timothy Bessent
7601 Osler Dr., Towson, 410-337-1226. AGE: 61. MS: University of Maryland. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 32. BC: Emergency Medicine; Internal Medicine. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center.

Gail P. Cunningham
St. Joseph Medical Center, 7601 Osler Dr., Towson, 410-337-1226. AGE: 49. MS: Georgetown School of Medicine. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital. YIP: 18. BC: Emergency Medicine. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center.

John Wogan
GBMC, 6701 N. Charles St., 443-849-3571. AGE: 56. MS: Georgetown University School of Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center, Denver General Hospital. YIP: 23. BC: Emergency Medicine; Internal Medicine. PRIV: GBMC.

GASTROENTEROLOGY/HEPATOLOGY
Peter Darwin
University of Maryland Medical Center, 22 S. Greene St.,800-492-5538. AGE: 44. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 13. BC: Gastroenterology; Internal Medicine. PRIV: University of Maryland.

Neil D. Goldberg
7505 Osler Dr., Odea Bldg., Ste. 502, Towson, 410-296-4210. AGE: 56. MS: University of Maryland. RES: University of Florida, fellowship at Unversity of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 26. BC: Internal Medicine; Gastroenterology. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center.

F. Chris Hansen
10751 Falls Rd., Ste. 303, Lutherville, 410-583-2630. AGE: 53. MS: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. RES: University Hospitals of Cleveland. YIP: 21. BC: Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology. PRIV: GBMC, Johns Hopkins Hospital.

FAMILY PRACTICE
Daniel H. Collector
Family Medicine Associates, 35 E. Padonia Rd., Timonium, 410-683-3330. AGE: n/a. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 18. BC: Family Medicine. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center.

Sarah Whiteford
Family Care Associates at GBMC, 6565 N. Charles St., Ste. 411, Physician Pavilion East, 443-849-2707. AGE: 39. MS: University of Maryland. RES: Franklin Square Hospital Center. YIP: 7. BC: Family Medicine. PRIV: GBMC.

Joseph Zebley
Village of Cross Keys, 2 Hamill Rd., Quadrangle Building, Ste. 222, 443-524-4481. AGE: 59. MS: University of Strasbourg, France; University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 29. BC: Family Medicine; Geriatrics. PRIV: GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, Union Memorial Hospital.

GENETICS
Clair Francomano
GBMC, Harvey Genetics Institute, 6701 N. Charles St., Ste. 2326, Towson, 443-849-3131. AGE: “early 50’s.” MS: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital, fellowship National Institutes of Health. YIP: 23. BC: Internal Medicine; Medical Genetics; Molecular Genetics. PRIV: GBMC.

GERIATRICS
W. Anthony Riley
GBMC, 6565 N. Charles St., Ste. 209, Towson, 443-849-3184. AGE: 57. MS: University of Pennsylvania. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 28. BC: Internal Medicine: Geriatric Medicine; Palliative Medicine; Hospice. PRIV: GBMC.

GYNECOLOGY
Harry W. Johnson Jr.
University of Maryland OB/GYN, 419 W. Redwood St., Ste. 500, 800-492-5538. AGE: 52. MS: Wake Forest University. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 20.
BC: Obstetrics and Gynecology; Urogynecology; Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery. PRIV: University of Maryland Medical Center.

Ginny Merryman
GBMC, 6569 N. Charles St., No. 501, Towson, 410-938-8960. AGE: 54. MS: Vanderbilt. RES: GBMC. YIP: 16. BC: Obstetrics and Gynecology. PRIV: GBMC.

Ruthann Zern
7505 Osler Dr., Ste. 402, Towson, 410-339-7447. AGE: 55. MS: Duke University Medical Center. RES: Duke University Medical Center. YIP: 23. BC: Obstetrics and Gynecology. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center, GBMC.

OBSTETRICS
Murray Pearlman
23 Crossroads Dr., Ste. 220 Owings Mills, 410-581-9200. AGE: 57. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: Sinai Hospital. YIP: 28. BC: Obstetrics and Gynecology. PRIV: Sinai Hospital.

Claire M. Weitz
6565 N. Charles St., Ste. 406, Towson, 443-849-2568. AGE: n/a. MS: Albany Medical College of Union University, Albany, NY. RES: Johns Hopkins. YIP: 23. BC: Obstetrics and Gynecology; Maternal-Fetal Medicine. PRIV: GBMC.

Ruthann Zern
7505 Osler Dr., Ste. 402, Towson, 410-339-7447. AGE: 55. MS: Duke University Medical Center. RES: Duke University Medical Center. YIP: 23. BC: Obstetrics and Gynecology. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center, GBMC.

ONCOLOGY, GYNECOLOGICAL
Fouad Abbas
Morton Mower Office Building, 2411 W. Belvedere Ave., No. 206, 410-601-9030. AGE: 48. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital. YIP: 22. BC: Obstetrics and Gynecology; Gynecological Oncology. PRIV: Baltimore Washington Hospital, Carroll Hospital Center, Frederick Memorial Hospital, Harbor Hospital Center, Howard County General Hospital, Sinai/Northwest Hospitals, St. Agnes Healthcare, Shore Health Systems, Southern Maryland Hospital Center, Union Hospital Health System, University of Maryland Medical System, Upper Chesapeake Health System.

Francis C. Grumbine
6569 N. Charles St., Ste. 306, 443-849-2765. AGE: 62. MS: University of Virginia School of Medicine. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital. YIP: 26. BC: Gynecological Oncology. PRIV: GBMC.

Neil B. Rosenshein
227 St. Paul Place, 6th Fl., 410-332-9200. AGE: 64. MS: University of Florida. RES: Johns Hopkins. YIP: 28. BC: Obstetrics and Gynecology. PRIV: Mercy Medical Center, St. Joseph Medical Center, University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Washington County Hospital.

ONCOLOGY, HEMATOLOGY
Paul Celano
GBMC, 6569 N. Charles St., Ste. 205, 443-849-3051. AGE: 53. MS: Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. RES: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, fellowship Johns Hopkins. YIP: 20. BC: Internal Medicine; Medical Oncology. PRIV: GBMC, Johns Hopkins.

Gary Cohen
6569 N. Carles St., Ste. 205, 443-849-3051.
AGE: 59. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Cancer Center. YIP: 28. BC: Internal Medicine, Oncology, Hematology. PRIV: GBMC.

Flavio W. Kruter
555 S. Center St., Westminster, 410-876-5747; 23 Crossroads Dr., Ste. 340, Owings Mills, 410-581-2100; 40 V Twin Dr., Ste.102, Gettysburg, PA, 717-338-9009. AGE: 55. MS: Faculdade de Medicina, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil. RES: Hospital de clinicas, Porto Alegre, Brazil, George Washington University and University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 23. BC: Internal Medicine; Medical Oncology. PRIV: Northwest Hospital Center, Carroll Hospital Center, Gettysburg Hospital.

INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Charles Haile
7505 Osler Dr., Ste. 404, Towson, 410-337-7097. AGE: 60. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: Mercy Medical Center. YIP: 34. BC: Internal Medicine: Infectious Disease. PRIV: GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, Mercy Medical Center. (hospital consultations only)

Richard A. Berg
10755 Falls Rd., Ste. 450, Lutherville, 410-583-2711. AGE: 58. MS: Cornell University Medical College. RES: Washington University of St. Louis-Barnes Hospital. YIP: 28. BC: Internal Medicine, Infectious Disease. PRIV: Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Northwest Hospital.

NEPHROLOGY
Jeffrey N. Posner
1838 Greene Tree Rd., Ste. 245, Baltimore, 410-602-7792. AGE: 54. MS: State University of New York At Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY. RES: University of Maryland Hospital, Baltimore Veterans Administration Hospital. YIP: 23. BC: Nephrology & Internal Medicine. PRIV: GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, Sinai Hospital, Northwest Hospital Center, Baltimore Washington Medical Center, Mercy Medical Center, Maryland General Hospital, Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital.

NEUROLOGY
A. Allan Genut
7600 Osler Dr., Rm. 105, Towson, 410-821-1377. AGE: 62. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 33. BC: Neurology. PRIV: GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center.

Howard Moses
1205 York Rd., Ste. 39B, Lutherville, 410-494-0191. AGE: 79. MS: University of Illinois. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital. YIP: 43. BC: Neurology; Submarine and Diving Medicine. PRIV: GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, Good Samaritan, Sinai Hospital, Union Memorial Hospital, Keswick, St. Agnes Hospital, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Manor Care/Ruxton.

OPHTHALMOLOGY
Paul A. Tarantino
1403 Madison Park Dr., Ste. 100, Glen Burnie, 410-590-9260. AGE: 47. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: Louisiana State University. YIP: 16. BC: Ophthalmology. PRIV: Baltimore Washington Medical Center.

Marcos Doxanas
Baltimore Eye Physicians, 6231 N. Charles St., 410-377-2044. AGE: 58. MS: University of Virginia School of Medicine. RES: GBMC. YIP: 28. BC: General Ophthalmology; Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery. PRIV: GBMC, Baltimore Eye Physicians.

ORTHOPEDICS, GENERAL
Stewart L. Koehler
GBMC, 6565 N. Charles St., Ste. 606, Baltimore, 410-583-0160. AGE: 57. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: Union Memorial Hospital. YIP: 25. BC: Orthopedic Surgery. PRIV: Union Memorial, GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, Baltimore Spine Center.

Scott L. Silverstein
3421 Benson Avenue, Ste. 100, 410-644-1880. AGE: 40. MS: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. RES: West Virginia University Hospitals, Morgantown, WV. YIP: 8. BC: Orthopedic Surgery. PRIV: Howard County General Hospital, Kernan Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation Hospital, Saint Agnes Healthcare.

ORTHOPEDICS, HAND
Mark A. Deitch
2700 Quarry Lake Dr., Ste. 300, 410-377-8900. AGE: 43. MS: State University of New York at Stony Brook. RES: Hospital for Special Surgery, NY. YIP: 11. BC: Orthopedic Surgery, special qualification in hand surgery. PRIV: GBMC, Sinai, Northwest.

Steven L. Friedman
2700 Quarry Lake Dr., Ste. 300, 410-377-8900. AGE: 48. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 18. BC: Orthopedic Surgery, special qualifications in hand and upper extremity surgery. PRIV: Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Northwest Hospital, GBMC, Union Memorial.

Peter C. Innis
1400 Front Ave., Ste. 100, Lutherville, 410-296-6232. AGE: 50. MS: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. RES: Johns Hopkins, fellowship Raymond Curtis National Hand Center. YIP: 18. BC: Orthopedic Surgery. PRIV: Union Memorial, Johns Hopkins Hospital/Bayview, Lutherville Surgicenter.

Keith A. Segalman
1400 Front Ave., Lutherville, 410-296-6232; Union Memorial Hospital, 3333 N. Calvert St., 410-235-5405. AGE: 47. MS: New York University School of Medicine. RES: New York University/Bellevue Hospital, NY; fellowship Raymond Curtis National Hand Center. YIP: 15. BC: Orthopedic Surgery, extra qualifications in Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery. PRIV: Union Memorial, Johns Hopkins, Good Samaritan, Lutherville Surgicenter, Pasadena Surgicenter.

ORTHOPEDICS, FOOT/ANKLE
Jeffrey Brodie
8322 Bellona Ave., Ste. 100, Towson, 410-337-7900. AGE: 44. MS: Georgetown University School of Medicine. RES: Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch, NJ. YIP: 11. BC: Orthopedic Surgery. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center, GBMC, Upper Chesapeake.

Mark Myerson
301 St. Paul Pl., Baltimore, 410-659-2800. AGE: 57. MS: University of Cape Town, South Africa. RES: Sinai Hospital, Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland Medical Center.
YIP: 23. BC: Orthopedic Surgery. PRIV: Mercy Medical Center.

Lew Schon
3333 N. Calvert St., Ste. 400, 410-554-2891. AGE: 48. MS: Albany Medical College, Albany, NY. RES: Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopaedic Institute. YIP: 18. BC: Orthopedic Surgery. PRIV: Good Samaritan Hospital of MD, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Union Memorial Hospital.

ORTHOPEDICS, SPINE
Ira Fedder
Orthopedic Associates, 7505 Osler Dr., Ste. 104, Towson, 410-337-8888. AGE: 54. MS: University of Maryland. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 17. BC: Orthopedic surgery. PRIV: St. Joseph, GBMC, Franklin Square, Upper Chesapeake.

Paul C. McAfee
7505 Osler Dr., Ste. 104, Towson, 410-337-8888.
AGE: 55. MS: State University of New York Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, NY. RES: State University of New York Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, NY. YIP: 25. BC: Orthopedic Surgery. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center, Johns Hopkins.

P. Justin Tortolani
O’Dea Medical Arts Bldg., 7505 Osler Dr., Ste. 104, Towson, 410-337-7900; GBMC North Pavilion, 6535 N. Charles St., Towson; 8322 Bellona Ave. AGE: 38. MS: Weill Cornell Medical College. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital, fellowship Emory University. YIP: 5. BC: Orthopedic Surgery. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center, Johns Hopkins, GBMC.

ORTHOPEDICS, JOINT REPLACEMENT
David F. Dalury
8322 Bellona Ave., Ste. 100, 410-337-7900. AGE: 51. MS: Harvard. RES: Harvard. YIP: 18. BC: Orthopedic Surgery. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center.

Frank Ebert
3333 N. Calvert St., 4th Floor, 410-554-2850. AGE: 57. MS: Temple University. RES: Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, WA. YIP: 22. BC: Orthopedic Surgery. PRIV: Union Memorial Hospital.

OTOLARYNGOLOGY
Karl W. Diehn
6565 N. Charles St., Ste. 601, 410-821-5151. AGE: 59. MS: University of Maryland. RES: Johns Hopkins. YIP: 26. BC: Otolaryngology. PRIV: GBMC, Johns Hopkins.

Andrew C. Goldstone
6565 N. Charles St., Ste. 601, 410-821-5151. AGE: 49. MS: Jefferson Medical College. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital. YIP: 18. BC: Otolaryngology. PRIV: GBMC.

MATERNAL FETAL MEDICINE
Judith Rossiter
7601 Osler Dr., Towson, 410-337-4480. AGE: 49. MS: Medical College of Virginia. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 17. BC: Obstetrics and Gynecology; Perinatology; Medical Genetics; Ultrasound. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center, Johns Hopkins, Sinai Hospital, Upper Chesapeake.

NEONATAL-PERINATAL MEDICINE
Michael Langbaum
St. Joseph Medical Center, 7601 Osler Dr., Towson, 410-337-1150. AGE: 49. MS: University Southern California School of Medicine. RES: Childrens Hospital of L.A. YIP: 17. BC: Pediatrics; Neonatology. PRIV: St. Joseph’s Medical Center.

PAIN MANAGEMENT/CHRONIC PAIN
Louis M. Panlilio
8322 Bellona Ave., Ste. 330, Towson, 410-825-6945. AGE: 42. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital. YIP: 7. BC: Anesthesiology; Pain Medicine. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center, Ruxton Surgi-Center, GBMC.

PATHOLOGY
James W. Eagan Jr.
St. Joseph Medical Center, 7601 Osler Dr., Towson, 410-337-1717. AGE: 63. MS: Johns Hopkins. RES: Johns Hopkins, Memorial Sloan-Keppering Cancer Center. YIP: 29. BC: Anatomic Pathology; Clinical Pathology. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center.

Howard L. Siegel
6701 N. Charles St., 443-849-2247. AGE: 52. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: Sinai Hospital. YIP: 21. BC: Anatomic Pathology, Clinical Pathology. PRIV: GBMC.

PEDIATRICS, GENERAL
Deborah Bittar
515 Fairmount Ave., Ste. 200, Towson, 410-828-8938. AGE: 50. MS: Johns Hopkins. RES: Johns Hopkins. YIP: 22. BC: General Pediatrics. PRIV: GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, Sinai Hospital, Johns Hopkins.

Lauren Lauck Bogue
Pavilion Pediatrics, 10755 Falls Rd., Ste. 260, Lutherville, 410-583-2955. AGE: 61. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Inc. (was then an affiliate program of Hopkins). YIP: 19. BC: Pediatrics. PRIV: Johns Hopkins, GBMC, St. Joseph’s Medical Center, Sinai.

Ralph S. Brown
2435 W. Belvedere Ave., 410-601-8301.
AGE: 63. MS: Johns Hopkins. RES: University of Minnesota, Johns Hopkins. YIP: 34. BC: Pediatrics. PRIV: Sinai Hospital, GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, Mercy Medical Center.

Alan M. Lake
10807 Falls Rd., Ste. 200, Lutherville, 410-321-9393. AGE: 61. MS: University of Cincinnati. RES: University of Colorado, Denver; State University of New York, Syracuse, NY. YIP: 29. BC: Pediatrics. PRIV: Johns Hopkins, GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, Sinai Hospital.

PEDIATRIC, ALLERGY
Mary Beth Bollinger
University of Maryland Medical Center, 22 S. Greene St., 800-492-5538. AGE: n/a. MS: Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: n/a. BC: Pediatrics; Allergy/Immunology. PRIV: University of Maryland Medical Center.

Kenneth C. Schuberth
10807 Falls Rd., Ste. 200, Lutherville, 410-321-9393. AGE: 61. MS: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital. YIP: 30. BC: Pediatrics; Allergy and Immunology. PRIV: Sinai, Johns Hopkins, GBMC.

Robert Wood
600 N. Wolfe St., 410-955-5883. AGE: 52. MS: University of Rochester. RES: Johns Hopkins. YIP: 18. BC: Pediatrics; Allergy and Immunology. PRIV: Johns Hopkins.

PEDIATRIC, GENERAL SURGERY
James R. Buck
6565 N. Charles St., Ste. 305, Towson, 443-849-6201. AGE: 61. MS: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. RES: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. YIP: 27. BC: Pediatric
General Surgery. PRIV: GBMC, Howard County General Hospital, Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, St. Joseph Medical Center, Sinai Hospital, Northwest Hospital.

Roger Voigt
University of Maryland Medical Center, 22 S. Greene St., 800-492-5538. AGE: 53. MS: Auckland University, Auckland, New Zealand. RES: Auckland Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand. YIP: 19. BC: General Surgery; Pediatric Surgery. PRIV: University of Maryland Medical Center.

PEDIATRICS, GI
David Tuchman
2411 W. Belvedere Ave., Ste. 407, 410-601-8663. AGE: 57. MS: Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, NY. RES: Montefiore Hospital Medical Center, Bronx. YIP: 25. BC: Pediatrics; Pediatric Gastroenterology. PRIV: Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, GBMC.

PEDIATRICS, CARDIOLOGY
Joel I. Brenner
600 N. Wolfe St., 410-955-9714. AGE: n/a MS: New York Medical College. RES: New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center. YIP: 33. BC: Pediatrics; Pediatric Cardiology. PRIV: Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, Sinai Hospital, Howard County General Hospital, St. Joseph’s Medical Center, GBMC.

PEDIATRICS, HEMATOLOGY/ONCOLOGY
Neil J. Grossman
University of Maryland Hospital for Children, 22 S. Greene St., 800-492-5538. AGE: 57. MS: Boston University School of Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 28. BC: Pediatrics; Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. PRIV: University of Maryland Medical Center.

Joseph M. Wiley
Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., 410-601-5864. AGE: 52. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital. YIP: 23. BC: Pediatrics; Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. PRIV: Sinai Hospital, Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, GBMC.

PEDIATRICS, NEUROLOGY
Edward Gratz
2435 W. Belvedere Ave., Ste. 32, 410-601-8300. AGE: n/a. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: Case Western Reserve University Hospital, Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, Cleveland. YIP: 27. BC: Pediatric Neurology; Pediatrics. PRIV: Sinai Hospital, Franklin Square Hospital, GBMC, St. Agnes, St. Joseph Medical Center, University of Maryland.

PEDIATRICS, NEUROSURGERY
Benjamin S. Carson
The Johns Hopkins Childrens Center, Department of Neurosurgery, 600 N. Wolfe St., Harvey 811, 410-955-7888. AGE: 57. MS: University of Michigan School of Medicine. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital. YIP: 24. BC: Neurological Surgery; Pediatric Neurological Surgery. PRIV: Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

PEDIATRICS, ENDOCRINE
Debra Counts
University of Maryland Hospital for Children, 22 S. Greene St., 800-492-5538. AGE: 49. MS: Johns Hopkins University. RES: Johns Hopkins Hospital. YIP: 15. BC: Pediatrics; Pediatric Endocrinology. PRIV: University of Maryland Medical Center, Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital.

PEDIATRICS, ORTHOPEDICS
Paul D. Sponseller
601 N. Caroline St, 5th Fl., 410-955-3870. AGE: 52. MS: University of Michigan. RES: University of Wisconsin. YIP: 22. BC: Orthopedic Surgery. PRIV: Johns Hopkins.

PHYSICAL MEDICINE, REHAB
Scott E. Brown
Sinai Hospital of Baltimore (Brown is Chairman, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation), 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., 410-601-6585.  AGE: 48. MS: UMDNJ-Rutgers. RES: Albert Einstein, Montefiore Medical Center, the Bronx. YIP: 18. BC: Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation; Pain Medicine; Electrodiagnostic Medicine, Independent Examiner (voluntary boards). PRIV: Sinai Hospital, Northwest Hospital, Levindale.

Michael Shear
1920 Greenspring Dr., Ste. 125, Timonium, 410-308-4900. AGE: 55. MS: University of Maryland. RES: Union Memorial Hospital. YIP: 22. BC: Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. PRIV: Union Memorial, Northwest Hospital Center.

PSYCHIATRY
Samuel Adler
Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., 410-601-5461. AGE: 59. MS: Medical College of Virginia. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 31. BC: Psychiatry. PRIV: Sinai Hospital, Northwest Hospital, Levindale.

PULMONARY
Linda F. Barr
7505 Osler Dr., Ste 410, Towson, 410-321-5651. AGE: 50. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 24. BC: Pulmonary Medicine; Critical Care; Internal Medicine. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center.

John H. Eppler
7505 Osler Dr., Ste. 409, Towson, 410-321-5651. AGE: 56. MS: University of Cincinnati. RES: Union Memorial Hospital. YIP: 23. BC: Internal Medicine; Pulmonary Disease; Critical Care Medicine. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center.

Mitchell L. Schwartz
Pulmonary and Critical Care Associates of Baltimore, 6535 N. Charles St., Ste. 550, Towson, 410-494-1662. AGE: 46. MS: New Jersey Medical School. RES: Medical College of Virginia. YIP: 21. BC: Pulmonary Medicine; Critical Care Medicine. PRIV: GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center.

RADIATION ONCOLOGY
Albert Blumberg
GBMC, 6701 N. Charles St., Towson, 443-849-2540. AGE: 57. MS: Jefferson Medical College. RES: University of California at San Francisco. YIP: 30. BC: Radiology. PRIV: GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, St. Agnes.

Mark J. Brenner
Sinai, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., Dept. of Radiation Oncology, 410-601-5689. AGE: 58. MS: Tufts University. RES: Harvard Joint Center for Radiation Therapy. YIP: 23. BC: Radiation Oncology. PRIV: Northwest Hospital, Sinai Hospital.

Robert K. Brookland
GBMC, 6701 N. Charles St., Ste. 1400, Towson, 443-849-2540. AGE: 54. MS: Georgetown University. RES: Georgetown University Hospital; Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. YIP: 24. BC: Therapeutic Radiology. PRIV: Northwest, St .Joseph, GBMC, and St. Agnes.

Eva S. Zinreich
GBMC, 6701 N. Charles St., Ste. 1400, 443-849-2540. AGE: 62. MS: Institutul de Medicina Medical School, Tirgu-Mures, Romania. RES: University of Brussels, Belgium; Sinai Hospital; Johns Hopkins. YIP: 32. BC: Diagnostic radiology; Therapeutic Radiology. PRIV: Northwest, St. Joseph, GBMC, and St. Agnes.

RADIOLOGY, GENERAL DIAGNOSTIC
Hyo S. Ahn
Sinai Hospital, 2401 W. Belvedere Ave., 410-601-4865. AGE: 63. MS: Yonsei University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. RES: West Virginia Medical School. YIP: 28. BC: Diagnostic Radiology, CA2 in neuroradiology. PRIV: Sinai Hospital, Northwest Hospital, Union Memorial Hospital.

H. Alexander Munitz
GBMC (Munitz is chairman of the Radiology Department), 6701 N. Charles St., Towson, 410-580-2301. AGE: 57. MS: University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. RES: Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University. YIP: 32. BC: Diagnostic Radiology. PRIV: GBMC.

Carlton C. Sexton
Union Memorial, Johnston Prof. Bldg., 3333 N. Calvert St., 410-554-2585. AGE: 56. MS: Duke University. RES: Yale. YIP: 23. BC: Diagnostic and neuroradiology. PRIV: Union Memorial.

Edward Steiner
Advanced Radiology, many locations, corp. office 7253 Ambassador Rd., 443-436-1116. AGE: 52. MS: University of Rochester. RES: University of Rochester, Harvard Medical School, fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. YIP: 22. BC: Diagnostic radiology. PRIV: Franklin Square, GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, Carroll Hospital Center.

RADIOLOGY, BREAST
Wendie Berg
American Radiology Services, Johns Hopkins at Green Spring Station, 10755 Falls Rd., Ste. 440, Lutherville, 410-583-2705. AGE: 48. MS: Johns Hopkins. RES: Johns Hopkins. YIP: 16.
BC: Diagnostic Radiology. PRIV: Johns Hopkins.

Judy M. Destouet
Advanced Radiology, Pamona Square, Ste. 112, 1700 Reisterstown Rd., 410-580-2100. AGE: 61. MS: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston. RES: Barnes Hospital at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. YIP: 29. BC: Diagnostic Radiology. PRIV: GBMC, Franklin Square Medical Center.

Barbara M. Jaeger
Tyanna O’Brien Center for Women’s Imaging, Mercy Medical Center, 227 St. Paul Pl., 410-332-9102. AGE: 48. MS: University of Florida College of Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 13. BC: Diagnostic Radiology. PRIV: Mercy Medical Center.

RHEUMATOLOGY
Ira T. Fine
10753 Falls Rd., Ste. 225, Lutherville, 410-583-2828. AGE: 60. MS: University of Maryland. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 27. BC: Rheumatology; Internal Medicine. PRIV: Johns Hopkins, Sinai Hospital.

Raymond H. Flores
2200 Kernan Dr., 410-448-6398. AGE: 57. MS: Harvard Medical School. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 26. BC: Internal Medicine; Rheumatology. PRIV: University of Maryland, Kernan Orthopaedic and Rehabilatation Hospital.

Howard W. Hauptman
1220B E. Joppa Rd., Ste. 310, 410-494-1888. AGE: 54. MS: St. George’s University. RES: GBMC. YIP: 21. BC: Internal Medicine; Rheumatology. PRIV: GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, Franklin Square Hospital.

RHEUMATOLOGY, PEDIATRIC
Stephen George
4801 Dorsey Hall Dr., Ste. 226, Ellicott City, 410-992-7440. AGE: 51. MS: University of Maryland. RES: Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, PA. YIP: 16. BC: Adult Rheumatology; Pediatric Rheumatology; Internal Medicine; Pediatrics. PRIV: University of Maryland, Howard County Hospital, Sinai Hospital, Mercy Medical Center, Carroll Hospital Center.

SLEEP SPECIALIST
Brian Bohner
Pulmonary and Critical Care Associates of Baltimore, 6535 N. Charles St., Ste. 550, Towson, 410-494-1662. AGE: 50. MS: Penn. State University. RES: Kessler Air Force Base as major in Air Force. YIP: 24. BC: Pulmonary Medicine; Critical Care Medicine; Sleep Disorders Medicine. PRIV: GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, Union Memorial, Sinai Hospital, Northwest Hospital, Good Samaritan.

Jason Marx
7505 Osler Dr., Ste. 409, Towson, 410-321-5651. AGE: 42. MS: Georgetown University. RES: Stanford University Medical Center. YIP: 15. BC: Internal Medicine; Pulmonary Disease; Critical Care Medicine; Sleep Medicine. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center, Union Memorial Hospital, GBMC, Franklin Square, Harbor Hospital, Sinai, Hopkins Bayview, Good Samaritan.

SPORTS MEDICINE
Leslie S. Matthews
Union Memorial (Matthews is chief of Orthopedic Surgery), 3333 N. Calvert St., Ste. 400, 410-554-2865. AGE: 57. MS: Baylor College of Medicine, Loyola MBA. RES: Johns
Hopkins. YIP: 26. BC: Orthopedic Surgery. PRIV: Union Memorial Hospital.

Teri Metcalf McCambridge
8322 Bellona Ave., Ste. 100, Towson, 410-337-7900. AGE: 39. MS: Johns Hopkins. RES: Johns Hopkins. YIP: 10. BC: Pediatrics; Sports Medicine. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center, GBMC.

Andrew M. Tucker
Address: 1407 York Rd., Ste. 100-A, Lutherville, 410-821-8062. AGE: 48. MS: Southern Illinois University. RES: North Carolina Baptist Hospital at Bowman Gray School of Medicine. YIP: 17. BC: Family Medicine; Sports Medicine. PRIV: Union Memorial Hospital.

SURGERY, BARIATRIC
David von Rueden
3421 Benson Ave., Ste. 210, 410-368-3003. AGE: 60. MS: University of Wisconsin. RES: Medical College of VA, Lankenau Hospital in Philadelphia. YIP: 27. BC: General Surgery.
PRIV: St. Agnes Hospital.

SURGERY, BREAST
Neil B. Friedman
The Hoffberger Breast Center at Mercy, 227 St. Paul Pl., 410-332-9330. AGE: 51. MS: University of Maryland. RES: Cornell. YIP: 19. BC: General Surgery. PRIV: Johns Hopkins, Mercy Medical Center.

Lauren A. Schnaper
GBMC, 6701 N. Charles St., Ste. 3105, 443-849-2600. AGE: 60. MS: University of Maryland. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 22. BC: General Surgery. PRIV: GBMC.

Michael J. Schultz
7501 Osler Dr., Ste. 205, Towson, 410-427-5510. AGE: 61. MS: University of Maryland. RES: Sinai Hospital. YIP: 30. BC: General Surgery. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center, Sinai Hospital, Northwest Hospital Center, GBMC, Surgery Center of Baltimore.

SURGERY, CARDIAC
R.C. Stewart Finney Jr.
St. Joseph Medical Center, 7601 Osler Dr., Ste. W255, Towson, 410-337-1783. AGE: 50. MS: Johns Hopkins. RES: Johns Hopkins. YIP: 14. BC: Cardiothorasic Surgery. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center, Union Memorial, Sinai.

SURGERY, COLON RECTAL
Debra A. Vachon
301 St. Paul Pl., 410-783-5800. AGE: 49. MS: University of Maryland. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 18. BC: Colon Rectal Surgery. PRIV: Mercy, St. Joseph Medical Center, St. Agnes Hospital, Northwest Hospital, Howard County General Hospital.

SURGERY, GENERAL
J. Lawrence Fitzpatrick
Mercy Medical Center, 301 St. Paul Pl., Ste. C304, 410-332-9265. AGE: 52. MS: University of Maryland. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 21. BC: General Surgery. PRIV: Mercy
Medical Center.

Frank S. Rotolo
1205 York Rd., Lutherville, 410-821-6260. AGE: 53. MS: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. RES: Duke University Medical Center. YIP: 18. BC: General Surgery. PRIV: GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center.

NEUROSURGERY
Amiel W. Bethel
GBMC, Physicians Pavilion North, 6535 N. Charles St., No. 600, Towson, 443-849-4270. AGE: 43. MS: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 11. BC: Neurological Surgery. PRIV: University of Maryland, GBMC, Good Samaritan Hospital, St. Joseph Medical Center, Union Memorial Hospital.

Reginald J. Davis
GBMC, Physicians Pavilion North, 6535 North Charles St., No. 600, Towson, 443-849-4270.
AGE: 53. MS: Johns Hopkins. RES: Johns Hopkins. YIP: 20. BC: Neurological Surgery; Spine Surgery. PRIV: GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, Baltimore Spine Center.

Neal J. Naff
10751 Falls Rd., Ste. 301, Lutherville, 410-616-7600. AGE: 43. MS: Johns Hopkins. RES: Johns Hopkins. YIP: 10. BC: Neurosurgery. PRIV: Sinai, St. Joseph Medical Center, Johns
Hopkins, Carroll County, Union Memorial, GBMC (Chief of neurosurgery at Sinai, St. Joseph).

SURGICAL ONCOLOGY, GENERAL
Mukund S. Didolkar
2401 W. Belvedere Ave., 1st Floor, 410-601-8317. AGE: 66. MS: Government Medical College, Nagpur, India. RES: University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, SD. YIP: 30. BC: General Surgery. PRIV: Sinai Hospital, Northwest, Johns Hopkins, St. Joseph’s Medical Center, GBMC, Mercy Medical Center, Harbor Hospital, St. Agnes, Union Memorial.

Nader Hanna
University of Maryland Medical Center, 22 S. Greene St., 410-328-7320. AGE: 46. MS: Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. RES: St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center (Tufts University), Boston, Surgery. YIP: 14. BC: General Surgery; Surgical Oncology. PRIV: University of Maryland Medical Center.

Armando Sardi
Institute for Cancer Care at Mercy, 227 St. Paul Place, 4th Fl., 410-332-9294. AGE: 54. MS: Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia, South America. RES: South Baltimore General, St. Agnes. YIP: 20. BC: General Surgery; Surgical Oncology. PRIV: Mercy Medical Center.

SURGICAL ONCOLOGY, HEAD AND NECK
John R. Saunders Jr.
GBMC (Saunders is chief of medical staff), 6569 N. Charles St., Physicians Pavilion West, Ste. 401, Towson, 443-849-8940. AGE: 63. MS: Georgetown University. RES: Walter Reed Army Medical Center. YIP: 26. BC: General Surgery. PRIV: GBMC, Johns Hopkins.

SURGERY, ORAL MAXILLOFACIAL
John F. Caccamese Jr.
650 W. Baltimore St., Ste. 1401, 410-706-6195. AGE: 37. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center. YIP: 4. BC: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. PRIV: University of Maryland, Sinai Hospital, GBMC, Kernan Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Hospital.

Julius Hyatt
10 Warren Rd., Ste. 330, Cockeysville, 410-666-5225; 10 Crossroads Dr., Ste. 200, Owings Mills, 410-363-7780. AGE: 50. MS: University of Maryland Dental School (DDS). RES: Johns Hopkins University. YIP: 18. BC: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. PRIV: GBMC Section Chair, University of Maryland.

SURGERY, RETINA AND VITREOUS
Raymond N. Sjaarda
GBMC 6569 N. Charles St., Ste. 605, Towson, 410-296-9700. AGE: 47. MS: Duke University School of Medicine. RES: Cullen Eye Institute, Houston. YIP: 17. BC: Ophthalmology.
PRIV: GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, Maryland General, University of Maryland, Frederick Memorial Hospital.

SURGERY, THORACIC
Neri M. Cohen
GBMC, 6569 N. Charles St., Ste. 701, Towson, 443-849-3470. AGE: 47. MS: University of Maryland. RES: Medical College of Virginia (now, VCU Medical Center). YIP: 10. BC: General Surgery; Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery. PRIV: GBMC, St. Agnes Hospital.

Richard Heitmiller
Union Memorial Hospital (Heitmiller is Chief of Surgery), 3333 N. Calvert St., Ste. 610, 410-554-2063. AGE: 54. MS: Johns Hopkins. RES: Massachusetts General. YIP: 21. BC: General Surgery and Thoracic Surgery. PRIV: Union Memorial.

SURGERY, TRANSPLANT
Stephen T. Bartlett
University of Maryland Medical Center, 22 South Greene St., Room N4E40, 410-328-8407. AGE: 55. MS: University of Chicago. RES: University of Pennsylvania Hospital. YIP: 29. BC: General Surgery; Vascular Surgery. PRIV: University of Maryland Medical Center.

Robert A. Montgomery
720 Rutland Ave., Ross Bldg., Ste. 765, 410-614-8297. AGE: 48. MS: University of Rochester. RES: Johns Hopkins. YIP: 21. BC: General Surgery. PRIV: Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Benjamin Philosophe
University of Maryland Medical Center, 22 South Greene St., Ste. 200, 410-328-5408. AGE: 45. MS: Boston University (MD and Ph.D.). RES: Washington University, St. Louis. YIP: 9.
BC: General Surgery. PRIV: University of Maryland Medical Center.

SURGERY, TRAUMA
Thomas M. Scalea
R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, 22 S. Greene St., 410-328-8976. AGE: 57. MS: Medical College of Virginia. RES: Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, NY. YIP: 30. BC: Surgery; Surgery Critical Care. PRIV: University of Maryland Medical Center, VA Medical Center.

SURGERY, VASCULAR
Peter J. Golueke
GBMC, 6565 North Charles St., Ste. 605, Towson, 410-825-4928. AGE: 53. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: State University of New York, Kings County Hospital. YIP: 24. BC: Vascular Surgery. PRIV: GBMC, St Joseph Medical Center, Sinai Hospital, Upper Chesapeake Medical Center.

Wayne Reichman
St. Joseph Medical Center, 7505 Osler Dr., Ste. 408, O’Dea Medical Arts Bldg., Towson, 410-296-3845; Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, 520 Upper Chesapeake Dr., Ste. 306, ACC Bldg., Bel Air, 410-879-2006. AGE: 50. MS: Medical College of Virginia. RES: Brown University, Rhode Island; fellowship, Medical College of Virginia. YIP: 19. BC: Vascular Surgery. PRIV: St. Joseph Medical Center, Upper Chesapeake, GBMC, Sinai Hospital.

SURGERY, HEPATO-BILIARY
John Cameron
Johns Hopkins, 600 North Wolfe St., Blalock 679, 410-955-5166. AGE: 71. MS: Johns Hopkins. RES: Johns Hopkins. YIP: 37. BC: American Board of Surgery, American Board of Thoracic Surgery. PRIV: The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

Mark H. Fraiman
7505 Osler Dr., Ste. 503, Odea Medical Arts Bldg., Towson, 410-427-2024. AGE: 46. MS: University of Maryland School of Medicine. RES: St. Agnes Hospital. YIP: 11. BC: General
Surgery. PRIV: Good Samaritan, St. Joseph Medical Center, GBMC, St. Agnes.

SURGERY, PLASTIC RECONSTRUCTIVE (Not cosmetic)
Paul N. Manson
Johns Hopkins (Manson is chief of the Department of Cosmetic and Facial Plastic Surgery), 601 N. Caroline St., 410-955-9897. AGE: 64. MS: Northwestern University, Chicago. RES: Boston City Hospital (Harvard), Johns Hopkins (for plastics). YIP: 32. BC: Plastic Surgery; General Surgery. PRIV: Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland.

UROLOGY
Brad Lerner
3333 N. Calvert St., Ste. 600, 410-467-7665. AGE: 49. MS: University of Maryland. RES: University of Maryland Medical Center, specialty training at Baylor College of Medicine
in male reproductive medicine and surgery. YIP: 19. BC: Urology. PRIV: Union Memorial (chief of Urology), GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, Good Samaritan.

Ronald F. Tutrone
GBMC, 6535 N. Charles St., Physicians Pavilion North, Ste. 625, 410-825-5454. AGE: 47. MS: University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers Medical School. RES: King’s County Hospital, State University of NY, Downstate Medical Center (general surgery); Harvard residency at Brigham and Women’s

Hospital (urology). YIP: 15. BC: Urology. PRIV: GBMC, St. Joseph Medical Center, Good Samaritan, Union Memorial.

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Key

MS: Medical School.
RES: Where physician did residency/fellowships.
YIP: Years in practice.
BC: Board certifications.
PRIV: Where physician has privileges

How We Compiled The List

Using names chosen at computer-random from medical association mailing lists, we surveyed more than 2,000 physicians in the region to find out where they would send a member of their family in each of 69 specialties.

Then we ran their names by the doctor policing folks, the Maryland Board of Physician Quality Assurance, to look for legal problems. (Yes, a couple were eliminated in that step.)

In every case, we insisted that docs on the list be accepting new patients, at the very least by referral, because our readers are not served otherwise.

Why are there four or five docs listed in one specialty and only one in some others? In cases where several physicians were running neck and neck in the number of peer referrals,
we included them all.

Meet The Dr.

Arthur A. Serpick is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and completed his residency at University Hospital. He entered private practice at Maryland General Hospital, then at St. Joseph Medical Center, where he served as Head of the Department of Medicine, and Vice President of Medical Affairs.

Dr. Melissa Sparrow is clinical director of pediatric inpatient and emergency services at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. Dr. Sparrow earned her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed her residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Dr. William H. B. Howard received his medical degree from the University of Maryland. His interest in athletic injuries sparked by his 28 years playing Division A rugby, Dr. Howard was a founder of what is now the Arnold Palmer SportsHealth Center at Union Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Jerome Riechmister, Chief of Orthopedics and Vice Chairman of the Board at Sinai Hospital, received his medical degree at the University of Maryland Medical Center, served his residency at Washington Hospital Center, and is board-certified in orthopedic surgery.

Dr. Michael R. Jablonover, Chief Medical Officer at the Kernan Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Hospital, and at University Specialty Hospital, received his medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine and completed his residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

It’s Saturday night: Do you know where your doctor is? If recent trends are any indication, there’s a good chance you’ll find your physician on a stage near you, jamming on a keyboard or playing a mind-bending solo guitar riff at The Bayou Blues Cafe, Timber Creek Tavern, or Martin’s West.

Rocking doctors is more than a fad, it’s a vertiable epidemic. Lew Schon, chief of Foot and Ankle Orthopaedic Surgery at Union Memorial Hospital, for instance, has been rocking out on keyboard with his band The Stimulators for 10 years (as well as Union comrades: Colorectal surgeon Jarrott Moore, Curtis National hand surgeon Ken Means, and Johns Hopkins biostatistician Reg Dunn). On the other side of town, internist Alan Reisinger (who once did backup at Pier Six for the Village People) plays the mandolin and guitar with his acoustic-rock band, Still Crazy (along with internal medicine doctor Lynn Alonso and health-care attorney Jeffrey Pecore).

Meanwhile, world-renowned Johns Hopkins University cancer researcher Bert Vogelstein until recently would regularly let loose on keyboard with his band Wild Type (comprised of researchers from his lab). And, of course, let’s not forget to give a shout out to cardiologist-vocalist Stephen Valenti of Stevie V. and the Heart Attackers (Valenti not only put himself through college and medical school, but he opened for Three Dog Night, Jimmy Buffett, Buddy Rich, and The Drifters in his college days) or urologist David Gordon of Baltimore-based Chesapeake Urology, who cut a CD with his former group Gypsy Lane (and got this close to getting hired by Star Trek producer Rick Berman to help write the musical score to a Star Trek: The Next Generation feature film) while he was an attending physician at University of Pennsylvania.

Why so many rockin’ docs? “People who are predisposed to go into medicine also have the same skill set that makes them good listeners and good executers of technique,” says Lew Schon. “It’s the same parts of brain that allow them to practice medicine that also allow them to appreciate, analyze, and perform music.”

Unlike a career in medicine, “Playing is fun, and it’s a great diversion from medicine,” says sports medicine doctor Frank Catanzariti of Towson Orthopaedic Associates, whose band the Upsetters disbanded in 2005 after six years.

“Half my fans are my patients,” says Alan Reisinger. “But I suspect the reason we pack them in is that nobody ever comes to my office and asks me a question about music, but during one of my concerts they like to ask me medical questions.” One of Reisinger’s favorite fan moments? “Years ago at a gig in a tiny bar on Route 40, two young ladies asked me for my guitar pick, and my drummer broke his stick in half and women were fighting for it. Here’s a bunch of middle-aged guys living their dream in front of people playing rock and roll.”