Canton

Sellers on hold

For every home that sold in the first half of the year, 10 more would-be sellers in the Baltimore metro area were wishing, waiting, hoping.

Seeking, finding oldtime charm

North of Boston Street in the Baltimore neighborhood of Canton, two-story rowhouses line the streets like cereal boxes on a shelf. The alleys behind each neat row are whistle-clean testaments to pride of ownership. Marble front steps and painted window screens set against Formstone siding define the area with the flavor of a bygone Baltimore.

Glimpsed

Dr. Cristina Sadowsky

Dr. Cristina Sadowsky thought she had already received birthday presents - a gorgeous dress and shoes - from her fiance, Kennedy Krieger Institute's Dr. John McDonald. She wore them during her birthday dinner at Kali's Court. While the 44-year-old rehab physician is the first to admit she loves fashion, the Canton resident says she's not great when it comes to accessorizing. How fortunate that McDonald surprised her at the end of dinner with some adornment she adores: a 4-month-old pug.

Crooners draw a crowd to McDonald's

Monday evenings under the golden arches of a McDonald's in Pikesville, a troupe of tie-and-jacketed crooners entertains a sitting-room-only crowd of aging, adoring fans. Headlined by Gary "The Singing Stockbroker" Richman, gentlemen and ladies take turns singing tunes from Sinatra to ... Sinatra. Diners sing or toe tap along, very slow dance in the aisle, or quietly sip their McDonald's coffee and nibble their grilled chicken sandwich. They come at 5:30 p.m. every Monday for dinner and a show.

Dan Rodricks: Quit thinking small, people of Baltimore

As for the nattering negativists who will surely say this is a dumb idea, that it will never work, that Baltimore will never get this and never get that - well, blah, blah, blah. We've heard it all before. Mr. Grumpy-Gills really should treat himself to the big picture sometime. I know. It's hard. You've grown accustomed to thinking weenie and being cynical. After all, that's part of our national culture, and the condition has long been acute here in Baltimore, where the only thing we've had to "celebrate" lately (Wednesday at Camden Yards) was the Orioles' win in the World Series - 25 years ago.

Canton pavilions proposed

The Main Street-style shopping center planned for a former oil refinery site in the Canton Crossing mixed-use development - likely to be anchored by Target and grocer Harris Teeter - will include two large waterfront pavilions for shops and offices.

New arena seen at current spot

The Baltimore Development Corp. is expected to announce today that it has narrowed the list of potential sites for a new arena, and several developers believe the current location of the 1st Mariner Arena will be chosen for the new venue.

Leasing becomes tough sell

As businesses have delayed or halted expansion plans, office landlords are going to great lengths to get commercial brokers to at least visit their buildings, even without tenants in tow.

Abandoned boats plague harbor

The shipwrecked houseboat of Fells Point sleeps with the fishes.

Glimpsed

Eloise Barnum

While Eloise Barnum considers matchy-matchy a no-no, this 25-year-old Canton real estate agent knows how to coordinate current fashion trends with her body type.

Shifting image along harbor

A fortress of tony condominiums and townhouses now stands on the grounds of the old Bethlehem Steel shipyard at the base of Federal Hill. The city's Fire Department Repair Facility down the road is slated to be sold for more waterfront residential development. And cargo vessels long ago gave way to the pleasure boats that now dock at the Baltimore Museum of Industry's adjoining sailing school.

Harbor neighborhood suffers growing pains

For most of the 45 years that Colleen Rosenbach has lived in Locust Point, her neighbor was a hulking grain elevator that coated her cars and windows with brown dust. Now, that silo is being turned into upscale condominiums.

Fiorito Designs

2924 O'Donnell St., Canton Square

City battles backups on Boston St.

With a large fitness club on one side of Boston Street and new business on other side, the signs are clear that Canton is rapidly growing across a section of railroad tracks and into an adjacent industrial area.

Restaurant Review

Saute has imaginative food, an identity crisis

Saute, a fancy new bar-restaurant, opened in March where the Duck Inn was in Canton. It generated a lot of buzz, and it's the kind of place I would normally review a month or so after it opened. But, like Three... near Patterson Park, there was considerable turmoil in the kitchen after the first few weeks. The executive chef, Cyrus Keefer, left and was replaced by Mark Suliga, who had been at Cosmopolitan and Dooby's, and then Brian Mathias, formerly at Hampton's, Joy America and Brasserie Tatin.

Glimpsed

Bronwyn LeGette

Who knew there was a cache of fashionistas tucked up on the third floor of the Can Company in Canton? It makes sense, when you consider all the creative minds behind the technology start-ups headquartered there at the Emerging Technologies Centers. EntreQuest account executive Bronwyn LeGette is just one great example. She knows fashion, and herself. She stays away from black "because it's too stark for me," preferring browns, blues and variations of white. And then there's her favorite color. "If you talk to anyone about me, you'll hear that orange is my signature color. Love, love, love orange."

Glimpsed

Sara Collins

Black and white isn't just a classic look. It's also one of this spring's hottest trends. And Respira Medical sales rep Sara Collins pulls it off with great elan. This 24-year-old Canton resident loves taking a classic look and adding a trendy twist. How could a client refuse her?

Body not that of Catonsville kidnap victim, police say

The body of a teenage male found yesterday morning near train tracks alongside Carroll Park is not that of one of the two brothers kidnapped Tuesday from their Catonsville home, a city police spokesman said.

Sun Special Report

For sale, for less

Half the communities in the Baltimore metro area saw average home sale prices decline last year as the housing slump deepened.

A fighting chance

From the skull on his shirt to his own gleaming noggin to the tattoo of a grinning demon on his enormous right biceps, John Rallo looks decidedly like someone you would never want to mess with.

Watchdog

Big trucks' city-street shortcuts rile residents

THE PROBLEM // Large trucks use Bonaparte Avenue in East Baltimore even though doing so is prohibited.

City Council to vote on feral cat care

A woman in Pigtown looks forward to her regular visitors: alley cats that come for their daily fix of food.

New ballgame

Many of the city's most prominent developers propose building Baltimore's new indoor sports and concert arena outside of downtown and pairing the facility with ambitious waterfront projects or struggling areas in need of a boost.

Watchdog

Catching bus is like navigating a minefield

THE PROBLEM // Commuters using a Maryland Transit Administration bus in Southeast Baltimore have to climb over a guardrail to reach their ride.

City is fighting battle against violence - and hopelessness

Dondrea Ross' backyard is no longer her own. It belongs to the drug dealers who stalk the playground behind her house.

Violence hits too close to home

It was her one free weekend amid a hectic schedule juggling work and graduate school, and Anna Sowers spent it shopping for purses and jewelry with friends in downtown Chicago. But she couldn't reach her husband back in Baltimore, who had been out with friends in Canton the night before.

Icon might come to a vote

Who among the hundreds of people who packed City Hall recently to debate the ever-divisive Icon tower proposal left satisfied?

Council panel delays Icon vote

After a three-hour hearing last night, the City Council's land-use committee decided to delay a vote on the Icon tower proposed for Canton so that Baltimore's transportation department can have time to figure out how to handle the area's burgeoning traffic.

Tower plan appears headed for defeat

A $75 million proposed waterfront tower that has riled Canton for nearly two years might become the first significant Baltimore project to die in recent memory.

Canton building would face number of considerations

Blast owner Ed Hale, the chairman and chief executive officer of 1st Mariner Bank, would love to see a new arena built in East Baltimore near his headquarters.