The Baltimore Aquarium has a Glass Covered Terrarium on the top floor. This is especially interesting in Winter... The Terrarium is Warm and Simulates a Tropical Paradise. Quite a contrast on a Snowy Day. They also have a shark pool. I enjoyed the Endless Mirror Escalator. By placing parallel mirrors on both sides of an escalator the reflections go off into infinity. There was also a super Touristy Amusement Park dedicated to Phileas Fogg. The Man who went around the World in 80 Days. Actually, I found it a Lame imitation of Disneyland. We went in the Late 1970s and I doubt that it is still there... There was also a Science Museum and a Giant Farmers Market/Crafts Shop/Barn. Selling fresh fish, hand made Amish Furniture and Quilts and Many Restaurants...
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| Drawing of the Baltimore Inner Harbor |
I remember Working in Baltimore. I was a Draftsman who was assigned jobs from an Temporary Employment Agency. We were assigned to Measure Ancient Townhouses and Draw Floor plans for an Architect that bought abandoned Buildings from the City. His deal was that he would buy the building for a Dollar and then had to put $20,000 worth of repairs into it. SO, he needed accurate floor plans and reports about the safety of staircases etc etc etc... We Went in teams of Three Men. One man to hold each end of the Tape Measure and one man to watch the Truck. This part of town had a Lot of Homeless people standing around barrels burning lumber that they had removed from abandoned buildings. In General, those squatters were not happy about Gentrification. So the guy who watched the truck was a Black Man... Needed to Talk to the Locals. When we finished the Construction work, they would no longer be able to Live in those abandoned Buildings.
There is a Museum at Fort McHenry where Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner song. As you drive over Key Bridge I got a view of the abandoned Sparrows Point Steel Mill. It is a vast industrial complex that was owned at one time by Bethlehem Steel. Boats would come up the Chesapeake Bay loaded with Iron Ore and Coal. The soil was dark grey/brown... A reminder of times of long ago. https://www.nps.gov/fomc/index.htm
I had another Job at Ward Machinery in Towson, Maryland. That's a Suburb of Baltimore on the North Side. I drove to work during the winter and THAT was a very scary commute. Ice and Snow on the Beltway... I kept on singing the Beach Boys song "Don't Worry Baby" to calm myself down on the way to the Factory. I worked in the drafting department drawing wiring diagrams for the custom installations of Cardboard Box Manufacturing Machines. One Day, the Atomic Power Plant called Three Mile Island had an Accident. The man who sat at the next desk was a Nuclear Engineer and he said. "Don't worry, it takes about ten things to go wrong simultaneously to have a real problem... and we are at about eight!" and then he left. We were about 50 miles away. I do not believe we were Nuked... This was a Real industrial machine factory and an eye opener for a Silicon Valley Draftsman. Giant riding drill presses and big dark rooms for punching metal. They made "Crown" Rollers to hold conveyor belts. These were cylinders of aluminum that were slightly wider at a few locations. The Crown. Belts will ride towards the crown when rotating... Who Knew?
We went dancing at a Disco in Downtown Baltimore. It was called Girard's and had colored flashing lights. and extremely LOUD Disco Music that played Forever. Truly a Disco just like you see in The Movie "Saturday Night Fever." We also went to another Disco in the Suburbs called Reflections that had a flashing Light Floor. This was in the Late 1970s and I feel certain that those places are gone but they are replaced with whatever kids do today. My Wife was working at the NSA at Fort Meade, Maryland and we went to Parties and Clubs with Women from Work. All recent college graduates who had just gotten their first real job and were hunting for husbands. Right next door was Westinghouse Defense Systems and that business employed many Men who were Engineers. A match made in Disco Heaven...
We went to an Outdoor Bar BQ Party at a place on the Chesapeake Bay Upstream from Baltimore. The water is Mostly fresh but some ocean water is mixed in... depending on the tides... We all went swimming... I remember that the Cook made Vast quantities of Chicken but it was Not Cooked enough... still red inside but we were too polite to complain... I wanted to complain but my wife asked me not to...
We also went to a Halloween Party and I went as an Ax Murderer (with my real ax) and My Wife went as a Victim with a Split Skull Mask. We were covered with fake blood and... surprise, surprise the other people at the party were scared of me. I forget that they might be concerned about a drunk giant with an ax. Those were fun times... The next year I went as the Jolly Green Giant from the canned vegetables advertisements... much more fun...
We went to a Grateful Dead Concert at the Baltimore Civic Center. This was at a Time when the Dead were not all that popular and so they were not playing the really big Stadium Shows that I went to Later. I got in a fender bender accident after the concert because I put the gear shift into forward instead of reverse... OOPS... I gave the other drive $50 and My wife drove us home. Too much Booze... I had another Car accident during rush hour one day. I was leaving Ward Machinery and was going to pick up my wife at Fort Meade. Since I was North of Baltimore and She was South, I decided to take the freeway to the center of town, drive around downtown, and then find the freeway heading South out of town. Bad Plan because I got lost downtown and was in a hurry and then... I saw the freeway entrance, made a quick left hand turn from the right hand lane and CRASH a car from my blind spot hit me. We exchanged Insurance info, talked to a Policeman and Drove Away Unhurt... Just a bit of Bodywork needed to be done. In retrospect, driving around the beltway, while longer geographically, was shorter in time... than going straight thru town...
I remember much later, there was an ENERGY CRISIS. People were sold Gasoline on alternate Days... and There were long lines at Gas Stations... It was all a Fake Crisis. I saw about a DOZEN BOATS parked in the Chesapeake Bay filled with Gas... but they DID NOT park at the Baltimore Harbor... For some unknown reason, the people that own the Gas Stations just stopped delivering gas... I guess they got what they wanted and so, surprise, surprise there was PLENTY OF GASOLINE...
My cousin Dian and her husband Dick Kryniki lived in Towson and they were slightly older than us and they had three teenage boys. John, Ken and Steve. When we visited we were put in the middle of the family fight as Referees... Total Generation Gap Troubles. One of the Teenagers grew up to be a Professional Artist. After he left home he squatted in an abandoned building in downtown Baltimore at an ARTISTS COMMUNE... Sounds like fun but I don't know how they survived during the Winter.
My Cousin Dian Recommended that we move to Columbia, Maryland when we moved from Santa Clara... Excellent advice. The Year We lived there was wonderful. I went to Howard Community College studying Computer Programming and Jo-Ann was Studying how to Transcribe Russian telephone calls for the NSA. Sadly, she had the desire to BUY a Condo in Oxon Hill, Maryland and we left. Bad Move. The price was low because most of the neighbors were black. SO... we chose the low price... an Identical Condo in a white neighborhood cost about 25% more... I didn't really care id the family next door was black... it wasn't until I tried to SEEL that condo that I understood... By That time the neighborhood had gone CRACK CRAZY and there was gunfire at night... Everyone that bought a condo there lost money because they were unsellable... anyway, I simply refused to pay the mortgage for three months and the bank HAD to take it...
In General, I hated the Winter... Since I'm from California, I Can't Imagine why people would tolerate Snow... I Didn't... So I Left.
In General, Baltimore is an Interesting OLD City. Founded before the American Revolution it has Historical Significance... and it is a step backwards in time to the Industrial Revolution Steel Mill Days...
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| Tesla's Tower of Power |
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