Fells Point

Laura Vozzella: If you live near Michael Phelps, don't answer the phone

How's this for gold-medal motivation? On July 31, just days before he headed to Beijing, Michael Phelps shelled out $36,538.46 for property taxes on his $1.7 million Fells Point townhouse.

A diamond in the buff

They won't even get a fig leaf.

A bet on Johns Hopkins

Developers hope to start building a $230 million project next spring near the campus of Johns Hopkins Hospital in East Baltimore that would include luxury apartments, shops and, later, offices or a hotel to cater to the expanding health system's growing number of employees, patients and visitors.

Sam Sessa: Spirits Tavern in Fells Point makes for a great local-bar haunt

When Chad Ellis and his father, Dan, bought a Fells Point corner bar a couple of years ago, they didn't change it much.

Local Screenings

Flock to Fells Point for 'Birds'

Films on the Pier, a free film series that turns Fells Point into a giant outdoor movie theater on Wednesday nights (with a finale set for Sept. 18), continues next week with Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, a 1963 thriller that suggests it may be a good idea to be a little kinder to our feathered friends. Showtime is 8:45 p.m. Wednesday at the end of the Broadway pier, where films are shown on a giant screen. Future offerings include The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (Aug. 20), plus three additional films yet to be chosen.

A new self in Baltimore

The suspected con man known to law enforcement as Clark Rockefeller started looking for a new house in Baltimore late last year but only enjoyed his new home in historic Mount Vernon for a few weeks before authorities picked him up.

Suspect 'talked a big story'

The man known as Clark Rockefeller slipped into Baltimore months ago with ambitions to restore historic city property, quickly passing himself off as the owner of a local real estate agency with ties to the New York City elite.

John B. Johnson

John Bruce Johnson, a retired teacher whom friends called the "patriarch of community theater in Baltimore," died of dementia Sunday at Seasons Hospice and Palliative Care. The Canton resident was 77.

Flavorful, elegant fare at Fin Steak & Seafood

I admit that I didn't go into Fin with as open a mind as I should have. I just thought the restaurant's full name, Fin Steak & Seafood, was weird. Shouldn't it be Fin Seafood? Or if beef is an important part of your raison d'etre, shouldn't you call yourself something other than Fin?

City charms 'My One and Only' cast, crew

The cast and crew of My One and Only, a comedy starring Renee Zellweger, finally had a chance to relax after months of local filming. About 200 members of the production gathered Saturday night for the party that marked the wrap-up of production.

TAG Galleries

732 S Broadway, Fells Point

Let beer be your guide at Riptide in Fells Point

My rule of thumb in ordering at the new Riptide by the Bay in Fells Point is this: If it goes with beer, go for it.

Whatever happened to ... Steve Bunker?

Steve Bunker, an 11th-generation old salt whose roots in his native Maine date to the 1600s, dropped anchor in Fells Point in 1976.

Abandoned boats plague harbor

The shipwrecked houseboat of Fells Point sleeps with the fishes.

Edward Gunts: Drawing: not a lost art for architects

Even in an age when most architectural design work is carried out on computers, many architects still draw by hand at least part of the time. As a precursor to the city's annual Artscape festival later this month, the Baltimore Architecture Foundation is presenting four exhibits on Sunday to display the range of work architects produce when they aren't sitting in front of a computer terminal. All four exhibits will be open that day within one block from each other in midtown.

Sascha Wolhandler

Sascha Wolhandler describes herself as "an aging prom queen." However, most of Baltimore knows her as the dynamic caterer/restaurateur behind the 25-year-old Sascha's Catering and 8-year old Sascha's 527 Cafe, both of which she runs with her husband, Steve Suser. Wolhandler also works as a food stylist on movies filmed around Baltimore. Currently, she is doing just that for the Renee Zellweger/Chris Noth film, My One And Only, now in production here. Wolhandler and Suser live in Fells Point.

Newest Coast Guard ship in port

The Coast Guard's newest vessel pulled into the Fells Point pier yesterday, part of a national tour that federal homeland security officials say marks a watershed in the service's ability to patrol the nation's waters.

Neighborhood sees $1.3 billion lifeline

Mayor Sheila Dixon walked down a block in West Baltimore yesterday and noticed what wasn't there: doctors' offices, cleaners, grocery stores. Instead, she saw abandoned houses with collapsed roofs, vacant lots overrun with trash and weeds, and residents desperate for something better.

Poppy and Stella

728 S. Broadway, Fells Point

Red Line hits a wall

New cost projections for a proposed east-west transit line across Baltimore show that the most widely favored alternatives are too expensive to qualify for federal funding, while the only clearly affordable choices are ones already rejected by City Hall.

Man fatally shot in Fells Point

An unidentified man was fatally shot last night on a street in Fells Point, police said.

The smoker's retreat

While the last cigarette won't go out in a Baltimore bar for two more months, some city bar owners have been hard at work, looking for ways to follow the statewide ban without forcing smokers - some of their most loyal customers - out onto the street.

Glimpsed

Kim Danner

Color is your friend, ladies.

Maryland Journal

Celebrating a miracle legacy

Hundreds of Peruvian-American Catholics reinforced ties to their religious heritage yesterday as teams slowly carried an image of Jesus that is revered in their native country for its miraculous powers through the streets of Fells Point.

In Md., dogs and dining don't mix

Nobody knows who it was, but someone definitely ratted out Duke, and he's not happy. You can see it in his eyes. And in his tail.