Mount Vernon

Peter Hermann: Don't be lulled by low homicide numbers

We're through the hot, humid and dangerous months of July and August, and so far this year in Baltimore, 148 people have been killed. That's down from 210 at this time last year.

Labor Day: What's open

labor day schedule

Labor Day: What's open?

This schedule will be in effect Monday:

'Body Worlds' draws a record attendance

A lively display of dead bodies that ends its seven-month run at the Maryland Science Center on Monday has smashed local museum attendance records to become the most popular traveling exhibit in Baltimore history, drawing more than 300,000 visitors, including a few who were so impressed they've offered to donate their bodies for use in the show.

Labor Day schedule in area counties

This schedule will be in effect Monday.

Laura Vozzella: Getting Baltimore dolled up

If little girls in and around Baltimore want a doll that looks like Mommy, they're in luck, no matter if she shops all day at Cross Keys, gets lost on Columbia cul-de-sacs, works a street corner in the 'hood or lives with another mommy in Mount Vernon.

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."

Tim Smith: Crowds to blame for BSO's split personality

Back in the day, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's summer season at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall steered a fairly straight classical course. Sometimes, there were substantive chamber music programs as appetizers before the orchestral concerts.

Dream Home

Happily ensconced in Mount Vernon

When the lure of living in a historic city neighborhood combines with a love of Beaux Arts architecture, there are few Baltimore residences more appealing than Washington Place, situated at the foot of Mount Vernon's Washington Monument.

Fugitive back in Boston

The man known to law enforcement officials as Clark Rockefeller left Baltimore yesterday morning and was extradited to Boston, where he is to face charges of kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter and assaulting a social worker.

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.

Tim Smith: BSO players agree to new three-year contract

More than a month before their two-year contract expires, musicians of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra have ratified a new three-year deal that will see a total increase of 17.4 percent in base salary. By the 2010-2011 season, that base pay will be $90,012, an amount that was supposed to have been reached in 2005.

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.

Fugitive father caught in Baltimore

An international manhunt for a New England man accused of kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter a week ago came to an end yesterday afternoon when FBI agents arrested the fugitive and rescued the girl in Mount Vernon, officials said.

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.

Work in Progress

Helping high C's go high-def at Lyric

On Sept. 22, Baltimore's historic Lyric Opera House will become the Lyric Opera-in-High-Def-Simulcast House. That night, thanks to an initiative by the Baltimore Opera Company, the season-opening gala at the Metropolitan Opera in New York will be beamed into the Lyric's 2,400-seat auditorium, as it will be in venues around the country.

The Walters shares its wealth

The Coming Storm is going away for awhile. So is The Goose Girl. And one of Alfred Sisley's Impressionist paintings.

Fleisher celebrates 80 years of music

Leon Fleisher will celebrate his 80th birthday this week doing two of his favorite things - playing the piano and conducting. Joining him onstage for an all-Mozart program will be the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which shares with Fleisher a long, strong history.

Walters presents new 'Faces'

When University of Maryland medical school graduate Giraud Foster became the personal physician to the king of Yemen in 1961, he developed a strong interest in that ancient land and a passion for archaeology that stayed with him for life.

'One and Only' city

Nearly every day, Roxanne McCalla sits on the steps of her East Oliver Street home and tracks the comings and goings of her struggling neighborhood. She's witnessed a lot - the good, the bad, the just plain crazy - of life in Oliver. But McCalla has never seen a day like this.

Artscape prize winner finds his sea legs in the art world

Geoff Grace has been a marine scientist on the Pacific Ocean, a museum educator in Florida, a high school teacher in Overlea and a guitarist in his own band, the Tall Grass.

A bigger canvas

Judging urbanscapes by their appearances can be as misguided as judging books by their covers. Consider the slice of North Avenue between Charles and Howard streets.

My top for your pants

Otis Redding croons on the overhead speakers as Dionysus restaurant owner Lynn Hafner sets up shop for her biannual "clothing swap."

Independence Day

This schedule will be in effect today for the Fourth of July holiday.

Independence Day

This schedule will be in effect tomorrow for the July Fourth holiday.

Independence Day closings announced

This schedule will be in effect Friday for the July 4 holiday.

Art that lets your hair down

There are some places one would expect to find matted hair. Shower drains and hairbrushes, certainly. Museum displays, certainly not.

Edward Gunts: Designs big, small win awards

Ten years ago, St. Anthanasius Chapel in Curtis Bay appeared destined for the wrecking ball, after the Archdiocese of Baltimore closed it out of concerns that the 1891 building was structurally unsound.

No place like home for vacation in 2008

So you've all but given up on the idea of going on vacation this summer.

Dream Home

Just a perfect fit

Taylor Hubbard's interesting background called for an equally interesting and unique place to call home.

An artistic spirit sweeps through city

Carpenter Mike Cutsail and a colleague stood outside their work van on North Charles Street yesterday and gawked at the procession passing before them.

Art, age and arrogance

There are at least as many definitions of art as there are bristles on a brush. Maryland Institute College of Art student Lee B. Freeman's gold fence project in Mount Vernon Square has prompted not only different viewpoints but a flood of Sun articles involving at least three reporters and five photographers.

Park will no longer be fenced in

The saga of the golden fence -- the contentious artwork that blocked access to Mount Vernon Place in an attempt to make people see the historic park anew -- started coming to an early end this week after vandals removed bolts from several of its sections, making it unstable.

Access to park no longer on the fence

With help from the city Department of Recreation and Parks, the art student whose golden fence sealed off Mount Vernon Place from the public reopened all four sections of the park yesterday after reinforcing the structure.

Dream Home

Stairway to heaven

Jane Farrington's first impression of what would be her new home in Baltimore's Mount Vernon neighborhood was one of awe the moment she and her husband stepped beyond the tiny vestibule entrance.

To collectors' delight, exhibit is all over map

Feeling lost? Flip out the GPS and a soothing voice tells you exactly where you are and how to get where you're going. It'll even draw you a map. No need for that old Rand-McNally in the glove box, with its yellowing folds and so many creases there's bound to be one on just the spot you're looking for.

Update: Curb outside Lyric Opera House

Patrons of the Lyric Opera House will soon have an easier time getting to performances.

Watchdog

Curb cut across from Lyric is in disrepair

THE PROBLEM // Crumbling or nonexistent curb cuts at crosswalks near the Lyric Opera House

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.

Bizarre bazaars

"Cute" is a seasonal verity, particularly at holiday bazaars. What's a Christmas craft fair without precious pine cone rings, crocheted tea cozies or knitted kittens wreathed in boughs of holly?

Scarlett Johansson, co-stars get taste of Baltimore

Celebrity sightings continued this weekend as the cast of He's Just Not That Into You worked and dined around town.

Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Connelly in town for 'He's Just Not That Into You'

A-list actresses Scarlett Johansson and Jennifer Connelly will be in town this weekend, shooting the final scenes for He's Just Not That Into You to lend some geographic authenticity to the romantic comedy set in Baltimore.

Gary Vikan, Walters Art Museum director

Gary Vikan, director of the Walters Art Museum, is a specialist in Byzantine art. He lectures on topics such as icons, early Christian pilgrimages and Elvis. But he has embraced the modern era, publish his own blog on the museum's Web site. Every Wednesday he discusses art and cultural issues, and welcomes comments from readers.

Mitchell reaching across the racial divide

It was a hot Sunday afternoon, and City Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. was standing on a platform in front of a South Baltimore crowd, pounding away at the theme of diversity.