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.