Hampden

Economy points to ho-hum holiday

At Hampden's trendy Double Dutch clothing boutique, shoppers are buying more from the sale rack and making fewer impulse purchases. At Chesapeake Wine Co. in Canton, they're choosing cheaper bottles of wine.

Glimpsed

Joshua Crown

Joshua Crown was a picture of vintage chic outside the Savory House in Hampden, where he was checking out a performance by the rockabilly band Deke Dickerson and the Eccophonics. The decorative carpenter says his work keeps his style low-key, and low-budget, which suits him just fine. And where did his retro sense of style come from? The 28-year-old Hampden resident says it's "pretty much self-inflicted." But, he admits that home schooling and Norman Rockwell each may have played a part.

Rebirth begins in Hampden

A dark-wood sign board still standing yesterday listed No. 354 as the congregation's final hymn at the Hampden church struck by lightning and badly damaged by fire 10 days ago. A watery hymnal lists the selection as "I Surrender All."

Hampden church's future unsure

The congregation of a Hampden church that suffered an estimated $5.5 million in fire damage Saturday morning will await the assessments of building inspectors before deciding what to do with the building.

Blaze destroys church

Betty Callahan arrived at her Hampden church before firefighters did early yesterday morning, only to see "fire tongues" licking the base of the steeple and then engulfing the 130-year-old bell tower and slate roof in flames.

fotopopART

813 W. 36th St., Hampden

Glimpsed

Scott Holt

Junior's Wine Bar is a favored hangout among Baltimore's trendsetting professionals, so it only figures that its manager would be a trendsetter himself. Scott Holt, better known as Scooter, knows how to welcome customers with style. The Hampden resident has also found that he has something in common with the beverage his restaurant features: His style has mellowed with age.

Dining for $25 or less: Grano

Grano, the new Hampden pasta joint, is indie-movie cute. You know those movies where some type-A executive loses it all, rediscovers his muse and ends up opening the place of his dreams, a modest bakery or a sweet little cafe, the kind with just a couple of tables and a handful of stools at the counter, where the hero's quirky friends can chat while the emotionally restored hero prepares their meals.

'The Hons aren't dead'

Adorned in an Amy Winehouse-inspired black wig and dressed in a neon pink mermaid skirt, a matching feather boa, a pink-sequined T-shirt and dusty pink house slippers, Robert Glick stood out yesterday among the thousands of people crowding The Avenue for the 15th annual Honfest in Hampden.

Backlash against kitschy Honfest grows

Suddenly, it's hard out there to be a Hon.

Watchdog

Bus stop benches unsuitable for sitting

The problem A wooden bench at a Towson bus stop has been broken for more than a year.

Watchdog

Loading zone gets a load of complaints

THE PROBLEM // A Hampden resident says a nearby business doesn't get enough deliveries to warrant a truck-loading zone out front.

Watchdog

Missing bus schedule leaves riders in dark

THE PROBLEM // A notice at a Hampden bus stop promises an updated schedule will be posted - in June 2007.

Laura Vozzella: Maybe it's for the XXX Games

Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff aren't just showing off their swimming in Missouri. They're showing off their new Speedo LZR Racer swimsuits. And that means they're showing off their birthday suits, too.

Smokers get the boot

The rain was bad enough. But having to stand in it just to light a cigarette was really the limit.

A charmed Christmas

If you're in Baltimore for the holidays and can't get into the spirit, consider yourself a Grinch -- no city does Christmas like this city. Nearly every neighborhood gets into the act: From modest rowhouses in Highlandtown to large homes in Guilford, lights are strung, lawn displays are erected and an annual decoration overdrive commences.

Lombard as center of Jewish life

The crowds and the noise, the live chickens at Yankelove's Poultry, the bagels at Wartzman's and the cream cheese at Smelkinson's, the sidewalk fruit stands and pickle barrels ... they've all vanished from East Lombard Street, once the heart of Jewish East Baltimore.

Mayor's missing forum action

From the pews of an East Baltimore church, residents listened to the mayoral candidates answer questions about how they would combat crime. In a Hampden recreation center, voters heard them zip through their stump speeches in three minutes flat.