Adult Entertainment News

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Arson? - The 2010 Block Fire

  A fire started in The Gayety Show World viewing booth, fire dogs sniffed out an accelerant in that area, reports from locals stated that a massive collection of vagrants, employees and visitors are present daily and anyone could have been responsible.

  It looks like this is all we get on this subject for a long time. I'll continue searching and picking up the news of the day, but the city has been waiting for The Block to "fade away" and this is a great event for them. Never mind that the property burned was originally The Lubino Theatre circa 1907 (more details on this history to come) that was a huge attraction for all walks of life in Baltimore. It had a rich history, one that could have been restored, highlighted and sold for a good profit to tourists and business owners. But now, the history has been buried with the "investigation."These are some follow up articles recently published that discuss the findings of the fire investigation into the 5 alarm conflagration at 404 East Baltimore St earlier in December 2010.

   Read through some Block history in the Sin In Mobtown archives and you'll soon understand that the ruling of arson is far from a surprise. I highly doubt that the true arsonist and motivation will ever be revealed and that the investigation will quietly and quickly fade into the archives of City Hall. The powers that be on The Block, as mysterious as they may seem, have heavy hands in the politics of Baltimore. While no one can/is willing to prove a thing against these mystery people their actions throughout time sure show off their influence.

Check out these articles for more information:

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-12-15/news/bs-md-ci-fire-investigation-20101215_1_electrical-malfunction-arson-afternoon-fire - Baltimore Sun December 15 2010

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-fire-investigation-20101215,0,1608357.story - Video of Press Conference included with a detailed article on the investigation Baltimore Sun December 15 2010

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2010/12/16/5-alarm-block-fire-may-have-been-intentionally-set/#comment-9013 - WJZ/CBS written follow-up with a bit of their news footage on the follow-up investigation December 15 2010

http://www.adultfyi.com/read.php?ID=45455 - NSFW - Who Knew!? AdultFYI.com and DerekAndreWhay.com, the former an adult entertainment industry news site and the latter an adult entertainment news forum and archive, cover the follow-up story on The Block fire. It's brief, but the sites are worth checking out for interesting bits of news you never knew existed! December 17 2010

Lubin, the first big-time Jewish movie mogul and owner of  Lubino's Theatre on The Block of the early 1900's.

 Buy the book pictured above!

http://www.amazon.com/King-Movies-Pioneer-Siegmund-Lubin/dp/0838637280

The 2010 Block Fire

Long view of the fire from E. Baltimore Street on December 6th, 2010.
Photo from bizjournals.com.

The Gaety Show World after fire ravaged the building and destroyed this business.
Photo by Baltimore Sun.

The Hustler Club was not damaged in the fire but was directly across the street from the 5 alarm conflagration.
Photo by Jerry Jackson, Baltimore Sun December 7, 2010. 

   On Monday December 6th a fire of unknown origin began at 404 E. Baltimore Street, better known as The Block. It developed quickly into a 5 alarm blaze that shut down much of downtown for the day and into the evening. 4 buildings were directly affected by the fire including The Gaety Show bar and popular Crazy John's, which apparently had delicious french fries I've yet had the chance to sample.

    I got news of the fire via local NPR station 88.1 around 5pm and had to sit quietly for a moment to catch my breath. The last thing this struggling area needed was a huge fire to further depress their businesses and add yet another abandoned and dangerous structure to the cityscape. To be brutally honest, my initial panic at the news happened because I did not know if The Gaety (now Hustler Club)  and The Two O'Clock club had been affected. Much to my relief I was soon able to deduce that neither were directly involved. It is still a great loss of historical buildings that contained a century of great stories. The Gaety Show World building was a very important place in the early history of The Block. I'll soon be posting an in depth history of what was lost during this fire.

    Below I have compiled a short collection of articles and video clips regarding the fire. Most of the major local network news organizations are included as well as the major newspapers. While the majority of the material represents The Block as nothing more than a crumbling strip club district (which has only been true for the past twenty years, out of 111) the similarity in the articles is what I find most interesting. For a history freak like me who has dedicated years to researching this location I find it ever intriguing that the people of this city know so little about this once rich and lusty district of stars, sex and politics.

     Occasionally the articles will drop a few interesting pieces into their generic accounts of fire companies, closed roads and billowing smoke. By reading and comparing them all, as well as perusing the many other news archives not represented by my list, the continuing pattern of neglect, disdain, reverence, aloofness and hope emerge over and over as different people from all parts of Baltimore society weigh in on the impact of this fire. It is a stark reminder that the people of Baltimore somewhere and somehow recognize the need for this historic vice district to both tourism and the human condition and they also see that its current condition is not the solution. However, the same people are not willing to take the steps to clean up the corruption or invest the time and money to improve the district. 

     Coverage of the fire just continues the limp debate that flares up in city government every ten years or so regarding the state of The Block. Nothing ever happens as the business owners of The Block refuse to cooperate with clean-up efforts preferring the flow of money from prostitution and drugs to the capital required for change. The police and politicians sent to correct the corruption and free flow of drugs very often fall into it themselves as a result of inconsistencies in city policy enforcement and opposite political and social feelings towards this district.

      Just as before, I see this sad event as another call for action to the politicians that have offices next to these dirty clubs and the mayor who brings dignitaries and diplomats down 400 East Baltimore Street. It's an opportunity to rebuild and reinvent up to 4 businesses in this Adult Entertainment Zone, as defined by city law. Essential is understanding the history and culture we Baltimoreans stand to lose with inaction. The citizens can do nothing and get nothing in return or stand up to reap the rewards of progressive improvement embracing the past and future essential to forward movement. I take that as my cue to continue with my research, writing and impromptu lectures to unassuming people in the grocery store check-out line. A historic renovation of The Block will be mine...oh yes...it will be mine.

Read through the articles below and come up with your own observations of how the city and the people view this part of history that refuses to fade away.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-12-10/news/bs-md-block-clubs-street-20101210_1_strip-clubs-chez-joey-hustler-club Good general article from the Baltimore Sun on economic impact of fire on The Block by Peter Hermann (keep your eye out for his other Block articles circulating around the web) 10/10/2010

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/26092703/detail.html WBAL TV fire update 12/10/10

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/26045626/detail.html uLocal photos of fire from viewers of WBAL TV 12/7/2010

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-hermann-block-survival-20101207,0,990003,full.story Refreshingly good Baltimore Sun article on the fire and The Block past by Peter Hermann 12/11/2010

http://www.batangastoday.com/baltimore-fire-hit-the-block-in-downtown-area-photos-and-video/7151/ Batangas Today brief poorly representing The Block, but two good fire pictures 12/7/2010

http://site-press.com/2010/12/how-did-the-baltimore-fire-of-december-2010-start/ 6 different articles archived on Site-Press regarding the fire and its investigation 12/6/2010

http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/region/baltimore_city/fire-breaks-out-on-east-baltimore-street ABC News brief on ATF investigation beginning on fire site with video of interviews 12/6/2010

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/06/AR2010120605302.html Washington Post article on fire with only generic info regarding The Block 12/6/2010

http://statter911.com/2010/12/06/multi-alarm-fire-hits-the-block-in-baltimore/ great collection of video and some interesting and a couple hilarious quotes from individuals on the scene. Compiled by Dave Statter at Statter911.com beginning with 12/6/2010 and it promises to continue updating as new info is revealed

Video of the Gaeyty Show World roof collapsing as shot by Alexander Koblansky, an employee in an adjacent building. Posted on http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/blog/2010/12/video_of_roof_collapse_in_bloc.html 12/7/2010


WMAR TV news snippet describing the basics of the fire with various angles and perspectives from the event. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GoOrunR-HY&feature=related 12/7/2010

A Sinful Collection of Smut

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Being a Historian DOES NOT have an age requirement!

   **please see disclaimer below if you are a graduate school admissions officer

   If you love history you know that it's everywhere. I say it all the time to every skeptic I talk to about the value of the subject. It's behind all of our beloved technology, media, food and daily traditions. I heard a guy speak last night about Historic Preservation...he loved to emphasize that it was impossible to accurately describe the field in one paragraph due to it's broad field of influence. This was a guy that is an architect whose firm does over 90% of their business in historic preservation cases. He is the director of one of the nation's leading Historic Preservation grad programs and quick to describe his many successes in the field throughout the country. He'd done some cool stuff and definitely had some jobs I would kill for. Yet he stood in front of the lecture hall in a suit that looked liked he'd grabbed it out of a Goodwill refuse bin 30 years ago, his humor only existed to laugh at his own stale jokes and the MA program he runs falls just short of visionary because he puffs up with pride when he announces that the median age of the students is 40.
   I'll come back to that age issue in a minute, but I first need to add the other part of his self important banter that caused me to swallow a little vomit that had cruised up to the back of my throat. Many may find that reaction strange, but if you've been looking for a "History Revolution" as hard as I have people like this would make you nauseous too. I promise.
   The man pointed out, very casually, that the environmental movement and the historical preservation movement developed very much side by side. However, he noted, the Sierra Club has over 3 million members while The National Historic Trust, the nation's leader in HP, has only 250,000. His response to the discrepancy was to note that the Sierra Club used the "KISS" method with the message, "Clean Water, Clean Air, or You Die." "Historic Preservation," he smiled, "just isn't that simple to explain." Really? "Reduce. Reuse. Restore," is that hard to copyright? "Save History or America Disappears," isn't simple enough for people to understand? Without efforts of historians throughout time America would be missing...the White House, Constitution, Liberty Bell, Monticello, Mt. Vernon, the French Quarter of New Orleans, the Vegas Strip, tv re-runs of I Love Lucy or The Brady Bunch...simple enough now?
   When combining this man's delight in age discrimination because, "people under 30, statistics prove, are less motivated and focused than older students,"with his obvious inability to distill information down to its marketable basics I was looking at one of the "leaders" in my future field slowly and joyfully kill off any interest the subject may have for my generation.
   I'm not too proud to say that change comes from youth because we are too idealistic and stubborn to back down from a fight. Sure, 40 year olds with families and life experience could be great at saving historic buildings and fighting politicians and developers over public policy...but at that point in an established existence how much are they willing to sacrifice for the cause? Us youngsters...we don't have anything to lose. We have to prove ourselves to move ahead or we get nothing for the effort. And by the way, I'm a youngster so much as I'm 27, been married for 8 years, expecting a kid in April and have had almost ten years of serious work experience. If I have to wait until I'm 40 to develop focus and motivation my family is screwed and my kid will starve.
   Going back to school serves so many great purposes for people of all ages. It is a big leap when you get older and put it all on the line to start a new career or push for a bigger one. But the reality of the situation is that the 69 year old woman this guy spoke of that had just graduated from his program wasn't going to be rocking any boats. Her area of expertise, historic cranberry bogs in New England. Somehow, I don't see that giving the Historic Preservation genre a step up on The Sierra Club.
   Young people have just as much right, and twice as much experience with the rapid changing technology that is set to rule our world in less than a lifetime, to decide how the history of our world is going to be presented and preserved. By shutting out our opinions and discriminating against our modern ideas...such as...*gasp* using multi-media markets to present history to the public...this man and his Historical Preservation program are dooming the field to failure. Once they die off, and it is sooner than they want to admit, the hole they created with their short-sightedness becomes too big to fill.
   As much as I've wanted to find a place in the world of history to feel accepted, as hard as I've looked and as far as I've stretched my standards to fit the mold I know now that I have to give up that fight. There is no group out there to protect the fun and excitement of history. There is no academic program that is fighting to secure the future of the subject...Being young and spry and only having everything to prove, we don't need to stand for snobbery and traditionalism for the sake of stagnation. Those groups we are looking for...we have to make them ourselves. There is no "History Revolution" until we make it happen. So, I wish those geezers well and I'll wave at them as I move on into the future.

**Disclaimer: if you are reading this as part of my admissions packet to your grad school program...please remember that I'm just a kid and I don't really know what I'm talking about. Think of all your program can teach me! Thanks, Kristi Cory

A Day-Time Television Event!

If anyone is going to make bad day-time television commercial that airs between Jerry Springer and Judge Mathias it should be "The Historians". 

[Serious deep man's voice rumbles while background sound effects add the squealing tires, a tortured scream and sounds of a racing ambulance siren added between lines for ultimate emotional appeal] 

"Have you been the victim of a crime? Denied Social Security benefits? Recipient of bad medical advice?      

Let the Historians help! 

We serve the public through pristinely kept records of all the legal precedents and medical procedures that have caused you pain and suffering.

Our efforts make it possible for that ambulance sniffing lawyer to do their job or the doctor to remember those antibiotics so as not to bleed you dry in attempts to cure a case of pneumonia. Life can be a scary thing. Just forget about it and let us do the remembering for you!"

"Call now for a free consultation. Remember...we don't get paid if you don't get paid!"

"The Historians...experts on everything before you were born."

[ Cut back to Jerry Springer and his, " My man is really a gay woman..." episode]

History of History.

 "Many think that getting a master's degree in History is a dead end." 


This is how the website, Mastersdegree.org begins their description of what to do with a History masters. It pretty much sums up the popular opinion of what it is to be a Historian. 


I know that my mother holds tightly to that assumption as she always changes the subject from my historical aspirations to medical school. Recently even suggesting I become an accountant to run my husband's business while, "doing volunteer work for history on the side." An accountant? Seriously, Mom! Historians may be nerdy, but accountants are downright zombies. Albeit the kind of zombies one would like to have chained up in the back yard during tax season...


The real history of history goes like this...History has been the staple of politics, law and culture since the beginning of time. In fact, we wouldn't even know about the beginning of time without concerned record keepers. Even the disgustingly nostalgic and sentimental scrap booking moms who buy polka dotted paper and and stickers that say, "Love" or "Imagination" employ the magic of history to maintain a record of family events. They too are archivists and historians. 


It is however somehow not acceptable to aspire to just be a Historian. One may take that undergraduate degree as long as they vow to continue on with their studies in law or business or even forsaking it altogether when a better paying career beckons.


Public and private middle and high schools across the country have deadened the experience of History for most individuals. At least in elementary school with the interminable study of Pilgrims and Christopher Columbus came picture books, school assemblies and those awesome turkey pictures where you get to use your spread out fingers as feathers. Past that light hearted approach to inspiring patriotism school strips away most truth, interest and value of the Historical genre. Hence, making it one of the most loathed subjects known to students. Me included.


Now I stand at the precipice of continuing my education into the post grad world. I've tried to force myself into med school, law school, matchmaking, motherhood, and housewifery just to avoid the truth that I am a Historian for life. 


That's right, I'm a Lifer. The tweed jacket, pipe smoking, long winded, short pant wearing, unkempt keeper of facts that resides somewhere between the obsolete card catalog and dusty historical tomes in a forgotten college library. That's what we look like to you, right?  


It's still better than the cadaver cutting, God-complex, white coat wearing, germ soaked doctor.... or ambulance sniffing, bad day-time commercial making, over worked and underpaid member of the public legal world. Historians have enough to deal with...paper cuts, eye strain, being dull in social situations and the extreme deficit of interaction with the opposite sex. It's not all heroes and high-jinxs in the world of History. It's serious business.

The Man. The Myth. The Legend.

Blogging by popular demand, my fabulous friend and musical savant Dave Kemp has reigned down his knowledge to the world via: www.kempepedia.blogspot.com. 


Like myself, he is a subterranean lover of the underground. Dave is totally worthy of the Sin In Mobtown Seal of Underground Approval.


Show him some love!

                                                                    Approved!

Feels like the very first time...

Wednesday, July 28th,  a major press conference was called by the city. It was a podium placed in front of the tree where courageous Reggie held Stephen Pitcairn's limp hand and watched the blood pool in the dirt surrounding the hostas. The press conference brought together Col. Bealefeld, Mayor Rawlings-Blake, the heads of the neighborhood associations, a Senator, Jack Young President of the City Council, a religious figure and other city dignitaries to speak about the horrifying murder.

Head of police, Bealefeld, looking pristinely white skinned in his perfectly ironed blue suit, went to the podium and the vein in his neck was popping in just a matter of seconds. He was angry and apologetic and making all kinds of promises that I'm sure he wants to keep but can't. Everyone else, including the Mayor all said equally angry things and promised to get on legislation to strengthen laws on illegal gun violations. No one mentioned that this crime was done with a knife and gun laws won't help the next victim...The wonderful man who was brave enough to venture out upon hearing Stephen's cries was honored. That was good and true and honest on everyone's part. The Mayor, in her vibrant emerald suit slipped away and soon all of the other officials had evaporated with the setting sun.

So many promises, that everyone has heard before. But, the officials made these sound like they were the very first time they said it and that they mattered. Stephen wasn't the first to lose his life that weekend and since his death a man volunteering at a church downtown was shot for his scooter in a robbery. He made the news a couple nights in a row, but he was a black man, in a bad neighborhood, volunteering at a church. He wasn't working at Hopkins and getting ready for med school.

Baltimore kills so many people so often we almost forget about it. How do officials decide which murder gets the most attention and the most yelling and promises? Charles Village has enough money and influence to get the news there on the double. Whereas West Baltimore has already dug their graves with drugs and gang violence. How can we get people to have sympathy for those "junkies" and "welfare losers"

The crime numbers don't sky rocket because of random murders surrounding "outstanding and motivated" white kids. Our numbers come from neighbors killing neighbors in places the city has forgotten. Maybe a podium should be set up there to grieve for the loss of a whole generation and the fact that the city is too overwhelmed, too underfunded and too corrupt to be effective. It is up to the people to empower themselves. Charles Village, Druid Hill, West Baltimore, East Baltimore and all the rest are responsible now for making their own promises to ensure the safety of each-other and these kind of promises can be kept.

The very same issues emerged on The Block in the 70's as the city was getting a downtown re-model. The city had many ideas for this adult entertainment zone that included, tearing it down or moving the businesses out of the area. Instead of making any changes at all the city built their offices around it and closed their eyes to the problem. It is now very obvious what has happened to a once very viable part of the city. Broken promises and lowered expectations are the downfall of Baltimore. We are continually ok with reports of "lowered violence." The expectation should be NO VIOLENCE. Go ahead and raise the bar.

The people of Baltimore are paying the price. I've heard many say, "I hate this city," as a result of Stephen's murder. It is that attitude that killed him. We all did it. There is always enough time for you to get up and help your neighbors, your neighbor's dog, their child, your car, your family. Turn off the awful trash on television for just thirty minutes and take a walk around your block. It's that simple.

Can you make that promise?

A BA and The Block

It's official, I have my Bachelor's Degree in History from Goucher College.

Historian for Hire complete with BA and low rates!

My first edition of Sin In Mobtown: the academic version has been written and is under revisions. I will not sleep until the red light history of Baltimore is revealed and the people of Baltimore understand the dire need for change on East Baltimore Street. Learning about The Block isn't just history it's about human rights in the present. Adult entertainment can be profitable, fun and doesn't have to be exploitation.

Ye Olde Arguments for a War on Ye Olde Boston.

Boston Beauties

Even though I was in the heart of the American Revolution and the symbolic home of Independence all I could wonder about was, "Where did they keep the strippers?" I had heard of The Combat Zone from those who had visited many years ago. It was supposed to be the Boston equivalent to The Block, with a much cooler name. In the very brief research I had done to find this place I found that it had been destroyed during urban renewal projects in Boston and turned into City Hall.

Baltimore Gems: Ready to Move In !!

The complete irony did not get passed me as I stood around what had been the area of The Combat Zone at the edge of beautiful Boston Common and watched couples kissing and homeless rummaging and tourists touristing with no idea that less than 40 years ago the district would have been blanketed by prostitutes, neon lights and peep shows.

Boston chose to solve this issue of sleeze by removing The Combat Zone and building the bright domed building of democracy and law, City Hall... where naked girls had once done splits. Baltimore chooses to simply ignore the sleeze, the tourists and the homeless by surrounding the depressing scenes with City Hall and all of the important government buildings. For Bostonians it wasn't acceptable to have a city center filled with drugs, underage strippers and prostitution. Baltimore likes to think of itself as a rebel, one that can live with real combat zones in full view and be progressive enough to allow them to exist side by side with half-assed urban renewal from 1970.

Boston didn't have the same unique character or characters that Baltimore can boast. We Baltimoreans have the privilege of affordable housing and cheap beer with no suits or high heels required. It seemed Boston had a lot of professional up-tights wandering the streets looking productive and educated. Baltimore doesn't have too much to worry about it that area either; everyone in Baltimore knows that those from Hopkins can't bother to mix with the rest of the population anyway. Baltimore's a lot more friendly and have way better accents. There has never been an instance when either "park" or "car" have ever contained an "h."

I didn't come back after two days in Boston to rip on my favorite city in the world. Instead, I came back like one does after attending the wedding of a really rich friend with impeccable taste. Their uncle is a bank president, their mom a beauty queen and brother Secretary of State. You showed up with a Goodwill dress you thought was funky and interesting, but really just looked like you dumpster dove outside the reception hall when compared to the designer crap the twiggy women wore so elegantly. When you get home from an affair like that your life all of a sudden seems so sloppy and out of control. At your wedding the wedding singer sounded like Neil Diamond, the catering was from the pit beef place down the street paid for with a coupon, and the most educated guest was your brother with an A.A. in General Studies from a tech school. The kid that walked in drunk to his last final and announced, "I feel like Ron Howard!" when he really looked like King Koopa smelling like Natty Light and vomit.

There are many fundamental differences between those scenarios and I would never want to live a life of designer clothes with the Secretary of State's secret service at family dinners. I just want to know that I am good enough to have anything I want and that people realize I choose to live the campy life and love it. As of right now, I take my English guest to Boston after living with me for months in Baltimore and I found myself trying to show her dumpsters behind the historic churches calling them "monuments" or asking the few drunken homeless people I could find for directions to avoid the nicely uniformed "information" people milling about every corner. It was just too upsetting to show her how easy and wonderful it was to navigate around a city that embraced and capitalized on both its hard drinking Irish side and refined Puritan roots. Even after taking her to a soup kitchen for our final night out and telling her it was the best restaurant in town she was starry eyed about the city that had started the war against her nation with tar and feathers!

Baltimore city government wants to start a 4 cent bottle tax to raise money for city improvements. I am totally for the tax and insist that all of the money go to a "Government Exchange Program" so we can import the Boston planners and send our impoverished government lot up to them. Our Baltimore city council will have the extinct Combat Zone moved into City Hall in no time. Tourists will be mugged and possibly shot in front of famous monuments while liquors stores will be instated on every block. At least this "Government Exchange Program" will keep us competitive with Boston instead of our usual lack of recognition for creation of complete unemployment, total violence and most effective littering campaign. Let's spread the love.

Carnival Strippers.

photo by Susan Meiselas

Take a close look at the beautiful photo documentary book by Susan Meiselas, Carnival Strippers. It may not focus on the girls from The Block but does bring the sentiments of the current day Block strippers to life. It is sad and poetic and has blocks of transcribed interviews taken by the author beside images wavering between purity and total resignation.

Her documentation took place between three summers of 1973 through '75 as the carnival strippers performed in town. One girl cites Blaze Starr as an example of how well she wanted to do for herself as a stripper. Another girl candidly stated that all of the dancers were prostitutes veiled as strippers. It did seem this was true there as well as the way it seems to be on The Block. I can confirm that information for the present day and feel very strongly that the atmosphere of explicit sex acts on stage and prostitution were a common historical theme on The Block as well.

It is so unfortunate to me that a similar collection of photographs does not exist to document The Block of this same time period in the 1970's. The women interviewed for this collection spoke very often of their disdain for woman's liberation and their great desire for being homemakers. It makes me think deeper about the role of feminism in society beginning in the late 60's then taking flight in the 1970's and how it was translated to life in a strip club on The Block. I am curious how much of an effect the women's movement had on the souring of the adult entertainment district of Baltimore.

Carnival Strippers will most likely not appear in your local library. It is very explicit and often times highly disturbing. I checked it out from Goucher College Library in Towson, MD. It's worth searching for to help with your understanding of the most basic adult entertainment that was and still can be found all over the country.

photo by Susan Meiselas

Three Sides of 1950.

Baltimoreans were busy during this time fixing the city or buying the new marvels being produced by re-purposed post war mega factories. A lot of money circulated in the new middle class formed by returning GI's and their young wives and children. This money made it quickly to the flashy Block. This area of the city had gotten much advertisement and legitimacy during the war blitz and now national reporters were looking in to see what was happening behind the extremely neon sidewalk.

The problem with this dissection of The Block was that little agreement could be achieved between the articles published. In 1954 Esquire called The Block, "the golden road." It invited visitors to experience some "innocent" entertainment. In 1951Washington Confidential defined The Block women, "Few have looks, none have wit, and at $35 a week most of these stag-show strumpets are overpaid." Ouch! The autobiography written by Blaze Starr in 1989 reflected on the days of The Block in terms of how it influenced the rise of Ms.Starr. She has mentioned The Block always as her home and The Two O'Clock Club as a fine club for adult entertainment. She settled down in Baltimore and bought the club without ever mentioning any problems on The Block until the mid 1960's.

It is a fact that The Block during the 1950's was not all horrible disgusting acts but nor was it a shimmering innocent night out. I don't think there is a balance that will be struck between good and dirty. It will be more like finding the shining parts amidst the dirty core.

Please look into these fascinating sources and find some answers for yourself. It is not just about the adult entertainment district of Baltimore, but more about what the city was allowing to pass legally situated in between police headquarters and City Hall. It also reveals how the city supported the prosperity of this district in an era of American history considered the most conservative ever. The Block continues to be a dynamic and revealing test to Baltimore history.

If you remember the 1950's in Baltimore or know someone who has memories of The Block please send them my direction. Thanks!

Stay underground!

Dear Baltimore, You Have a Mess on Your Hands.

It's just the 400 block of East Baltimore Street... The clubs serve as brothels and many of the owners and managers deal drugs and underage girls. The police station sits within eye shot pulling their cars up to the station doors and emptying the handcuffed cargo always blindly passing the sadness that blankets their street. City Hall refuses to even admit The Block rages out of control just three blocks away from their doors.

The Block may never have been classy or refined but it also never intended to be. Unfortunately now it has lost any motivation to be anything at all and we Baltimoreans have just allowed that to happen. The less I knew about today's Block the more I wanted to save it...to re-establish the glory days of Blaze and The Oasis. Now the more I understand the rot and decay that oozes from these buisnesses the more I say, "Take it down!"

Free Baltimore from institutionalized prostitution and drug dealing that happens right under the nose of our government. These aren't invisible gang members hiding behind their no snitching cowardice. The City of Baltimore Health Department rolls up every week to hand out clean needles to the users brave enough to ask for help and take care of their bodies. It is no secret that prostitution and sex slavery happens behind the doors of thinly veiled strip clubs. Liquor license violations are handed out to Block club owners like candy.

How many violations does it take to get to the center of a government scandal..1...2......3.. Nope keep counting.

Change is Good.

History is one important way to understand The Block but a situation as dire as it is in now must rely on the work of interested citizens. These citizens want change not based on religious beliefs or morality concerns these citizens would approach the government under the basis of human rights. Women and young girls are suffering with nowhere to go and no one to help them. The city knows this and lets it fester like a rancid boil on the tip of its nose.

Baltimore is a beautiful and history rich city that includes over 50 years of The Block at its prime. The city sees much suffering in every neighborhood every day. The Block is not a neighborhood it is just, one block, not one with shootings or armed robberies just one small block of sidewalk and awnings. Baltimore can't seem to find peace in many desperate gang fueled war zones or one block in front of police headquarters.

What Baltimore can do is take charge of one block, one tiny Adult Entertainment Zone smack dab in the middle of our political heart. Maybe Baltimore could show how change is done and lead the city into a new era of adult entertainment.

If you feel like the Baltimore where you want to live can do better here are some people you can contact with your ideas. Even if you don't want to go all the way to the top please send your ideas my way via comment or email: sininmobtown.gmail.com.  

The Mission on Gay Street where the homeless wait at dark to be allowed in for the night.

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Mayor                    
City Hall, Room 250
100 N. Holliday Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21202
Phone (410) 396-3835
Fax (410) 576-9425


Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young 410-396-4804
410-539-0647 (fax)
Room 400, City Hall
CouncilPresident@baltimorecity.gov

Downtown Explosion.

The Block would never exist even in its shattered form today had World War II not brought the overwhelming influx of government contracts to the city. 210,000 jobs became available during this time and housing was so tight for the immigrant war workers that housing trailers were visible in even the wealthy neighborhoods of the city.

Of course The Block was not churning out life vests or bombers, but the street definitely did their part to support the troops. The clubs were filled all night with sailors, soldiers and the war workers off for the evening. Clubs like the 2 O'clock Club served men with fine burlesque shows and girls with some dancing and performing experience. The Gayety burlesque theater filled their seats three shows a day for 25 cents. One reporter who spent some of his wartime life in the balcony of the Gayety described the smell to be a mixture of a horse stall and a filthy YMCA locker room. The girls the men packed in to see had just a few minutes on stage dancing to the terrible house band in between comics and vaudevillian skits. They rouged their nipples with lipstick and interacted coyly with the howling crowd of soldier boys and lonely war industry workers.

The city of Baltimore took care of the needs of the soldiers overseas with their mass productions of dials and gadgets for trucks and planes while launching Liberty Ships into the Patapsco bound for Europe. The Block workers took care of the boys at home by giving them a little hope that they would be destined back to America someday to live this colorful life once again.

Always a Contradiction.

Bernard Livingston recalls, "The Block of the 1930's was a strange contradiction. Top show business talent appeared in traveling road shows...But alongside the theatres which attracted top talent were also the honky tonks which attracted the devotees of bump and grind, the soldiers and sailors seeking diversion...It was a very puritanical era. The Block was the only little island where a man could go and get a glimpse of a nude female body and hear a sexy, smutty joke."

    Earl Arnett. "Burlesque House Box Office Once Served as Home," Baltimore Sun. 16 April 1971.     Pratt VF

Livingston wrote the most comprehensive book on The Block that exists today. He was there in the '30's and his family owned a theatre. The book covers an incredible 18 or so years of his experiences with the dancers, the cops, his family and the kids at school. Papa's Burlesque is out of print and hard to find but Amazon always manages to have at least one used copy for cheap. My copy just happens to be autographed to a 16 year old boy for his birthday from Livingston. I sleep with it under my pillow.

Red Light Culture

Here it is again!! February 10th at 6:30 pm tucked into the Village Learning Place, Sin In Mobtown will be presented LIVE. Hear stories of Baltimore's red light culture as it developed amidst scandal, sex and violence on East Baltimore Street. It's FREE wine and cheese, FREE scandal and mayhem even catch a glimpse of a trained baboon juggling a kitten while balancing on a bouncing ball!!

History rocks!!           Just get there.

Starr Power.

As reported in Esquire July, 1964....

"Blaze tripped to the microphone. Looking down at her exposed breast, she said, "What are you doing out there, you gorgeous thing?" Then she covered herself. "You got to tell them they're pretty," she said; "it makes them grow" . . . Then she flung herself on the couch and quickly stripped down to a transparent bra and black garter pants. She produced a power puff and asked rhetorically, "Who's going to powder my butt?"

Thanks, John Kenrick