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Finally. After months, NEW SPIRITS in downtown Baltimore. And at great prices, too.

After months of anticipation and waiting - on my part - Jim Amato's Urban Cellars is finally open next door to the Peanut Shoppe's new location and just a few steps away from 21201's new SuperFresh grocery store at 222 N Charles Street, Baltimore.

I've written before about the oddness of having to go to RiteAid for a bottle of wine or scotch when friends were coming over.

No longer do we, as residents of downtown Baltimore's City Center, have to buy our Band-Aids and Brandy and Benedryl in the same store. That change is a wonderful, wonderful thing!

Here's the very best news: Jacob and I were at Urban Cellars last week shopping for our Friday cocktail party and for our private New Year's Eve celebration. Jacob had been to Urban Cellars before. I hadn't. He asked me to check the shelf prices and I expected them to be high due to the store's location.

THEY WERE NOT!

Every bottle of wine (Urban Cellars has an International Collection), every six-pack of beer (Urban Cellars offers the finest and coldest and some of the most unusual), and every bottle of liquor (their selection blew my socks off) was priced equal to or less than what you'd pay at any Maryland liquor store. And, certainly less than you'd pay at the drug store.

Stay tuned. Amato tells me that Urban Cellars is planning some extradorinary tastings and events.

21201 Snow Later in the Day

Earlier today I mentioned the new lights in the trees at Charles Center. Here are a couple of photos taken just a short while ago.

Our 7.5 million-dollar front yard is special. Who could ask for anything more? And, we don't have to mow the grass, water the trees or clean the snow on the walk ways.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, etc.

If you visited this blog last winter, then you know that we love the snow. And, this year we need it more than ever. On a practical level, with the ground water shortage on the eastern seaboard so very low, I'd be happy to see it snow all winter. On a personal level... It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas! I'll let a couple of photos say the rest.

Beautiful from inside our house.

The new Charles Center park could not look more set for the holidays.

There are tiny Christmas lights in all of the trees. Come to City Center and visit our front yard!

Charles Plaza Attracting Nuts

Almonds, peanuts, macadamias. Brazilnuts, filberts, walnuts and pistichios. Pecans, chestnuts and seeds of all kinds. And my favorite, warm salted cashews -- extra large, please!

Bonnie Scible opened her Peanut Shoppe at 101 W Lexington some years ago and was forced to move to make way for Baltimore's promised Westside redevelopment. She reopened next to the Mechanic Theatre at 13 W Baltimore Street. Now that the Mechanic is headed for redevelopment Bonnie's moving once again. She's planning to reopen at 222 N Charles Street, in Charles Plaza, by the end of November.

The Peanut Shoppe will be located next door to Jim Amato's new Urban Cellars, also opening soon. Now, that's what I call a prime location. We all can pick up some great wine and cocktail fixins and go next door to grab wasabi coverd peanuts for our next cocktail party.

Welcome to Charles Center, Bonnie. Now, warm up those cashews -- extra large, please!

Is 21201 Becoming Too Pricey?

Looking at the direct mail we've been receiving from the newest downtown apartment buildings and from some of the recent classic building conversions... I'M JUST WONDERING...

Is this the wave of the future?

Reviewing the prices of of Bozzuto's newest construction, the Zenith, where prices per square-foot seem rather New-Yorkish and where the apartments seem cramped on each floor, I hope this is not where we're headed.

I'm also hoping that Baltimore's westside Super-Block project will finally come about and level the playing field by increasing inventory.

At the moment many of the new City-Center apartments rent for what would be a starting mortgage payment. I'm hoping that all of this cools down until the proposed Baltimore/DC MagLev train makes Charm City a viable suburb of our Nation's Capitol. Then, it will all be fair game.

And, yes I know, I've been doing a whole lot of looking, reviewing and hoping.

Free Movie Tonight - Charles Plaza

Living in Downtown Baltimore is a wonderful thing. Last Friday we were invited to a dinner party and we walked to it. Just four blocks. And after our fair share of great company and conversation, awesome food, and several exceptional wines we walked home. The air was cool and had that clean and earthy smell that reminded us that the true Baltimore autumn is just around the corner.

Today an email arrived from the Downtown Partnership. There's a free movie, Night at the Museum, tonight at Charles Center Plaza.

It's family fare, fun and fanciful. The cast includes Ben Stiller, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Robin Williams, Paul Rudd, and Anne Meara. Oh yes, and Brad Garrett as the voice of the Easter Island head. What's not to like?

Bring a chair or blanket, grab some food at EATS - our local food court - and enjoy what looks to be a balmy and beautiful autumn evening.

It all begins a 8PM.

Southern Management's 39 West Lex - New Website & Hot Floorplans Now Online

I've been watching the progress at the old BG&E building on the corners of Fayette, Liberty and Lexington Streets for many months with some sense of awe. The grand dame of a structure has been receiving some tender loving care at the hands of some amazingly skilled workers by way of it's conversion from an office building, built in 1916, to new apartment homes known as 39 West Lex.

David Hillman and his Southern Management Co., under the supervision of the National Park Service, are restoring the 22-story, neoclassical building to the standards of the National Register of Historic Places. (Jacob and I belong to the National Trust for Histoic Preservation. Trust me, such a project is not easy and, for a project of this size, is blazingly expensive.)

Today I had my first look at the online floorplans. I'd feared that, to maximize income, there would be many, many small apartments per floor as is the case in quite a few historic conversions. Oh, that's not the case here. The building has a true penthouse level with 2-bedroom + den units, on two floors, topping out at a startling 1799 square feet. The entire project has a maximum of 10 units per floor.

And, no creaky spiral staircases here. At 39 West Lex you get the real deal.

By way of total disclosure, we live in a Southern Management property, the Park Charles, and have no plans of moving anytime soon. What Hillman's company has done to improve the unban landscape of downtown Baltimore requires some serious loyalty. Besides, young Mr. Oliver loves the view.

An Envelope on Our Front Door! What's This?

Was the music too loud last night? Were our computer speakers pumped-up with too much bass? No, that couldn't be it. Those types of messages wouldn't be in an envelope neatly placed under the door-knocker.

Could it be?

Yes, it could. It was an INVITATION.

In the dog days of August all invitations are welcome -- Especially an invite to a downtown Luau hosted by your landlord.

Actually Southern Management, the company behind Park Charles, Charles Towers, and many other apartment communities in Baltimore's City Center are more than generous when it comes to parties for residents.

While this may seem like a lame endorsement of an apartment building or a management company: It isn't.

Invitations to a sponsored event arrive every few months.

And last year, on October 31st, residents here came home to a bag of Trick-or-Treat candy hanging over their doorknobs with clever little cards from the building staff. It's a little thing... and also one that means so much.

Now then, I'll be away this coming Friday evening. Hopefully I won't be the only one in a grass skirt.

UPDATE: Urban Wine Cellars

Last February I wrote about the possibility of Roland Park Wine & Liquors opening a high-end wine store, Urban Wine Cellars, at Charles Center.

Today I received an email from RPW&L's proprietor, Jim Amato, and it looks as though delays were caused by Baltimore's offices of City Permits. He's had the Liquor License in hand since February, HOWEVER...

Amato says that it has taken over two months just to get approval for interior renovations on what was an unimproved retail space in a 30-year-old building. Amato looks forward to opening shortly after Labor Day.

When we all return from the Eastern Shore after the holiday weekend, let's order a case from Urban Wine Cellars. (They've already hosted a downtown wine tasting... and, it was not so well attended. Let's change that.)

Once again, WELCOME JIM!

The Generosity of Urban Cellars: Sadly, UNAPPRECIATED!

When the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore invites you to an evening wine tasting, you mark your calendar.

When the Historic Charles Street Association invites you to the same event, you make it a MUST-ATTEND.

When Southern Management tucks a 4-color invite under your door... Well, you start picking out your wardrobe. At least that's what we did.

With cameras on our shoulders, Jacob and I headed out to enjoy the party in the newly configured Charles Center Plaza Park.

Where was the crowd? We saw folks from Downtown Partnership - their employees.

Where were the wine experts?

I asked a wine rep behind one of the serving tables (he was promoting a group of Australian and New Zealand wines) what made his Shiraz special. He said, "What? What are you asking"?

Yikes! Sell me on something.

The assembly of vintners was darn good. Over-all, their reps were not so good. Attendance was sadder than anything that I've seen in Baltimore's City Center. We must do better. We MUST support our downtown Baltimore partners... Each and everyone of them.