MICA: Sophomore Illustration: Unseen Baltimore: Fells Point Uncovered by Jordan Merlino

Hey guys!

Brick Oven Pizza

I have grown up in Baltimore my whole life, so a lot of places like the Inner Harbor disinterest me greatly, mostly because of tourists, but let's disregard a tangent. Fells Point has always fascinated me because of the history and the interesting shops and oddities around the neighborhood. Not to mention, the energy in Fells Point is alive... Maybe it has to do with the bars, but we can choose not to believe that. So, the places I have visited to conduct the research for my map varies. I wanted a little bit of everything rather than just "bars" or "galleries," excetra, excetra. Mostly because most of the places in Fells Point have a unique history to them (i.e. The Horse You Came In On was Edgar Allan Poe's bar of choice, or The Sound Garden almost got sued by the band, even though they didn't steal their name). Not to mention, Fells Point is known for the bars, and there are other places in Fells Point that are cool, and don't require an id and a need to get trashed every weekend.

Anyway, I toured Fells Point with my partner in crime Katie. We first went to Killer Trash, which is a vintage thrift store on South Broadway; past the Eastern Avenue intersection. There they have funky clothes: sequin bras, fur sweaters, plaid and striped pants, Prince-styled boots, cowboy hats, the list goes on and on. The owners are die-hard John Waters fans, which is pretty awesome.
Then, we ventured around the neighborhood, stumbling in and out of local galleries. We came across this Emporium on Thames. A local artist (Luana) owned it, and she sold art there. Not to mention, she sold books and "oddities," like tiny skulls and oujia board keychains and spinning globes and all kinds of really interesting objects. The store opened up like 3 years ago, so it's still relatively new. Of course Katie and I went into the Sound Garden; one of the best record/cd stores in Baltimore. They sell cds, dvds, and records for a reasonable price. They also sell t-shirts, pins, magnets, and video games. The customer service is always really friendly, and they always play amazing music in there.

The Horse You Came In On

After sketching for a bit, and having lots of people compliment "unsatisfying" sketches, we went to The Daily Grind; a cafe/coffee shop. They brew local coffee, and they also play interesting music in there. The place is very strategically placed, amongst all of the infamous bars on Thames. Not to mention, there were so weird people in there talking about "figuring out a way to cry during speed dating." If I knew what that meant, I wouldn't have written it down in my sketchbook... After experiencing Maggie Moos, a terrible Hawaiian shirt store and Brick Oven Pizza (which has a great wall illustration inside), we came across the Baltimore Tattoo Museum on Eastern Avenue. Not only is it a tattoo parlor, but it also shows art from countless tattoo artists and different periods in time that took tattooing to another level. The people working there were pretty cool and upbeat, but hey, they work in a tattoo parlor/museum, so I'd imagine that's fun.

In short, Fells Point is extremely interesting to just venture around in, and, in my personal opinion, is remotely a Baltimore scene that you can't find anywhere else.