In January, the Librarian, Steven, and Caligula moved from the deep suburbs of Baltimore County, to a downtown neighborhood known as SoWeBo, or South West Baltimore. SoWeBo was an up and coming neighborhood 10 years or so ago. It, however, seems to have up and gone to some degree. Don’t misunderstand: the Librarian loves his neighborhood, but has to admit that it isn’t Federal Hill. Fortunately it isn’t Essex, either. And it isn’t particularly dangerous in spite of this post. It’s actually a pretty good neighborhood. That abuts pretty bad ones.
The house the Librarian lives in is more than 100 years old. It has three floors and a basement. Because the Librarian’s bedroom is on the third floor, and the bathrooms are on the second floor and the basement, he has learned to do without the 2 AM trip to the bathroom. This will make him stronger or will kill him. There are really multiple reasons behind this: the stairs are steep, the Librarian has a bad knee, and there is no single squeaking stair: they all squeak. An adult human going up or down the staircase sounds like a piano in freefall.
There are, of course, benefits to living here. First the Librarian is an 8 minute walk to work now. And, theoretically, 8 minutes away from the gym. This remains an untested theory and is likely to be so for a while. Consequently, the Librarian has become larger, making a potential spill down a midnight staircase even more dangerous.
Other attractions are things like Lithuanian Hall immediately across the street. The Librarian lives in the old Lithuanian neighborhood. The Lithuanians have long since moved to the suburbs, but retain a footstep in the form of a meeting hall. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights are raucous celebrations of every kind of music that Baltimore listens to. Which, mercifully, has not included country & western.
The only drawback is that the Lith crowds leave at around 2 AM. They gather in our residential street and scream at each other, understandably continuing the party. Only many of us would like to sleep. Most weekend nights end up with police showing up, turning on sirens, and saying “Clear the area. The show is over. No need to remain in the street.” Sometimes helicopters show up and usher people away with the same words. Steven is attempting to use the same phraseology on Caligula to see if he will get out from underfoot during people meal time. To no avail so far.
One Sunday, the Lith was having an all day church service. Lots of noise and excitement. At 2 AM, there was 
the usual crowd on the street, making a sea of undifferentiated noise with the occasional sharp exclamation. But the sea turned angry and seemed to shift and roll. The police arrived, the sea parted and eventually went home.
Next morning, the Librarian found that someone had been viciously beaten outside the hall. Just like on The Wire. Pretty cool. A neighbor saw it and called the cops. He helpfully pointed out the blood. There have, unfortunately been no recurrences of this kind of excitement. Sure, there have being touristy excitements: the minister in the all-white suit, coat, and hat arriving in an all-white limo, tattooed and shaven-headed rockers, hoochie mommas going to either church or Ladies’ Night (a favorite song played by all cultures making use of the hall). But nothing as indicative of real feeling as trying to kill someone. However, just in case, Steven and the Librarian keep all doors locked and watch the events from an upper floor.
Leave a Comment
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
