The Block (Baltimore, Dundalk: real estate, city hall, crime)

[Woodlands]

I know you historians on this site may be able to answer this.. .but how did "the block" come into existence? Was it a part of a larger red light district? Why is it still in existence (no judgement call intended) it just seems like some developer or the city would have gobbled it up for more municipal office space or parking not to mention to get rid of it. I can only imagine walking a developer down to the Permits Office and they have to park on Baltimore street and see all the wonderful neon lights and ***** cat bars..... With fire damaging a few of the businesses there and there appears to be no rush by the Fire Marshal to reopen the street.. Will the businesses eventually wither away and thus the Block goes on the chopping Block

[davecj]

The Block (Baltimore) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[jonjj]

The block used to extend further than it does today. A parking lot and new office building rose on the former parts of it. Today, the block is literally the block.

[barante]

For example it claims that The Block began declining in the 1950s. Maybe, but the real decline began in the 1960s. Anyway, a good local history book could written about The Block because rising politicians, including John F. Kennedy, escaped the prying eyes of Washington to party on The Block.
I did a search trying to locate a very good pulp magazine article in the 1950s (?) about The Block. It's somewhere on the Internet.
Barry Levinson built his Liberty Heights around a famous Block figure, Julius Salsbury. The guy who is leaving the synagogue in the end of the movie is a Salsbury-like character. (Salsbury himself fled to Israel and died. HIs underworld comrade, bailbondsman Fifi London, was left hold the bag because he had paid the bail).
Chip Silverstein did a book about The Block.http://www.amazon.com/Block-Bob-Litw...1880325179/ref
I'm sure someone has collected Block lore. But getting the straight scoop now is impossible; all the key figures of its notorioks days are gone.

[westsideboy]

The great thing about Wikipedia is that you can update the article if you realize something is wrong.

[barante]

I tried googling Julius Salsbury (who, I think, was a relative newcomer and ruled in The Block's waning days. It refers to a Baltimore Magazine story that is not on their site; anyone interested might try the Enoch Pratt Library for a copy



Mobtown Confidential. Baltimore Magazine, 2000
"Julius 'The Lord' Salsbury ... was a [Baltimore] Block kingpin who was hunted down by the Feds ... Salsbury ... was never caught. After appealing in a gambling conviction, he jumped bail and fled the country in 1970, eluding capture ever since. Legend has it that he went to Israel to enjoy the protections afforded Jewish-American criminals under the 1965 U.S.-Israeli extradition treaty ... Julius Salsbury became Mobtown's outlaw hero ... By the early 1950s, the lowdown on the Block was attracting out-of-town press. In Washington Confidential, the bestselling pulp expose from 1951, Baltimore's red-light strip was described as 'one of the most vicious and lawless areas in the world' by muckraking authors Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer. 'At this writing,' they concluded, 'any and all forms of vice are tolerated and protected. There is a price for everything and it's not much.'"

Years ago I actually talked to Sidney Weinberg, who is now dead. A boyhood friend of his acted as the go-between. Weinberg had been the accountant of many Block figures. Our first meeting at Miller's Delicatessen at Greenspring Shopping Center was memorable because so many alte kaker stopped by to pay their respects. The second meeting was pretty unproductive because his son felt it was unwise to talk.

[Tom Lennox 70]

Interesting, didn't know there was that much organized crime history around here. I wonder if the Jewish mob still runs the Block like these posters said they did in the past or have they been driven out and the businesses legitimized the way Las Vegas used to have a lot of mafia run casinos but are now major corporations. This probably is indeed the only city to have a whole block of strip clubs right next to city hall and police headquarters, not even Las Vegas or Miami are like that. I think its good to have the police nearby to keep an eye on things, and it does provide employment, I mean not a glamorous job but better than if they were on welfare and the rest of us are paying right? I wonder if the local media ever waits outside city hall to see who on the city council visits the Block after the meetings. Especially with so many Democrats in city hall....

[kaydeb]

I used to work in downtown Baltimore back in the late 80s, and asked a few of the then 30-year workers in our office that same question...how could something come to be right next to downtown.

the answer was, before the block of modern times, the downtown area of baltimore was Howard street for all the stores, and further north on charles street, I believe, where charles street goes uphill, by Hopkins Plaza and the church on that little nubbin rise. [st. paul's???]. and, the medical rich of that time, lived north of John Hopkins Hospital, on Wolf, I believe, and the other rich of the time lived on charles and St. Paul streets, south of the train station.

so when the block started, back in vaudville days, and even before, when there were just saloons, it was close to the harbor, [such as it was then], and away from the original port communities of fells point, canton.

basically, it was, at that time, in an 'out of the way' spot for the red light district.

sorry if I'm wrong. this is just what I remember.
kay

[barante]

I seem to remember an Evening Sun (?) expose that looked at who owned all the real estate where happy endings were sold. Turned out that some belonged to Catholic organizations!

[Woodlands]

It wouldnt surprise me if the fire was arson attached to some organized crime... It seems odd that theATF is investigating, I didnt think that was common in your run of the mill City Fire.

I have to admit that I have a chance to visit the Block on one occasion as I was heading over to the Power Plant. I had just moved to Baltimore and was trying to get the lay of the land

I went downstairs to a club on the southside of the block after being lured in by a rather persistent doorman. It was something straight out of a seedy 70s porno movie. It was not crowded but there were guys sitting in dark corners all around this narrow basement nursing beers and eyeing the not so attractive dancers that immediately decended on you once you belly up to the bar. One woman told me that she was a single mother of three from Dundalk working her way through community college... and dances for extra income. I passed on the dance, gave her a tip, downed my rather expensive beer and beat it.

Afterwards I did dive into the Midway Lounge Bar that was inhabited by a wide range of toothless characters and surly bar maid. I spoke with a few regulars as I down my Natty Boh. I have to admit that I enjoyed the "realness" of the Midway and some of the characters that were in there.. it appeared to be what is your typical Baltimore Corner Bar...