The Hippodrome - Where's The What?

We're going to have a little more Baltimore architectural history today. Over the weekend we went downtown to see a show at the Hippodrome Theater. The show was 'Stomp' and if you have never seen it, I do recommend it as a fun, entertaining way to spend a couple of hours. My husband and I took the Buggy girl and also a couple of other family members went along. This show is all about creativity and imagination, it's music and dance and fun. Sounds perfect for an almost six year old and it was!

This theater is just beautiful inside and I really enjoy looking at the architecture. The theater originally opened in 1914 as a movie palace and vaudeville theater. They could seat 3,000 and the average weekly attendance was 30,000. In 1931 a facelift was performed with new seats installed and a new marquee. At that time prices for a show were 25 cents before noon, 35 cents from noon until 6pm and 50 cents after 6pm. The prices are a tad higher today!

The theater gained quite a reputation and booked acts such as Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Red Skelton as vaudeville performers. Musical acts were also very big and included Dinah Shore,the Andrews Sisters, Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. A lot of great history in those walls.
The theater was renovated and restored in the late 1990's and now features touring Broadway shows. We have seen several shows there and it's really my favorite theater in Baltimore.

On Saturday, we dressed up a little, shined the shoes, bows were tied perfectly, the dress was just so and off we went. We clapped, we laughed, we were entertained as people have been doing in this building for close to 100 years! Toward the end of the show, it ran a little long for a six year old, Buggy leaned over to me and asked in a VERY loud whisper,

"Grandmom, where's the Food Court? I want a hot dog."

Bromo Seltzer Tower Renovation

In 1911, Captain Isaac E. Emerson, the inventor of Bromo Seltzer, constructed the Bromo Seltzer Tower. Standing at 288.7 feet high, this was the tallest structure in Baltimore until 1923. There was originally a factory at the base of the tower which has since been replaced by a firehouse. The most distinctive feature of the tower is the four huge clock faces at the top of the building. Each clock has, in addition to the roman numerals, the words Bromo Seltzer spelled out around each face. Everyone who lives, works or visits the city knows the Bromo Seltzer clock, it's a major landmark.

A couple of years ago the Tower was completely renovated on the inside and now houses 33 artist studios. My son-in-law, Edo, worked for nearly two years on those renovations. Edo is a finish carpenter and specializes in historic restoration work. This is what he did in Holland before coming to the US in 2002. He is back at the Tower, this time to rehab the hands of the south facing clock. The south clock has not worked for some time because the hands are stuck. This week the hands were removed and Edo has begun restoring them.

I'm planning to be there when the restored clock hands are put back in place. I would love to get pictures of that.