Lombard Street's Corned Beef Row (Baltimore: condos, townhouse, neighborhood)

[barante]

I don't know how many have ventured out to what is left of the Corned Beef Row, on Lombard Street west of Central Avenue. Its dellies used to be famous. Attman's is still there, as is Weiss'. However, they are just pale imitations of what they used to be in their heyday. (Also remaining is Lenny's, which used to be far more famous Jack's).
Anyway, the Jewish Museum of Maryland, which is off Lombard Street, has a new exhibit about the neighborhood that once housed better-off Baltimoreans before it became a Jewish slum. Eventually, an even more recent ethnic group, Italians, took much of the formerly Jewish area, forming Little Italy.
The area was near the epicenter of the 1968 Baltimore riots and never recovered. A new townhouse community was recently built there; a mixture of homeownership units and subsidized units.
I highly recommend the exhibit, which opened today. It's an introduction to a neighborhood that again is changing. Just look at all those condos at the Inner Harbor East and how old factory buildings on Central Avenue also are condoized. Check the JMM website for hours.

[jonjj]

I was by the area today. Did you see the new sculpture on Lombard? I think that the area is beautiful and the new townhomes blend in very well with the original homes and street plans of Little Italy. Some of those new townhomes sold in the 400s.

[barante]

Sorry, I did not travel on Lombard today so I have to return to look at that sculpture. And return I will. Because of opening day crowds I did not get a good look at the exhibit and its artifacts. They even had live chickens at the opening to remind us of days when chickens and turkeys were sold on Lombard street and customers then took them to a kosher butcher next door who wringed their necks.
For those who cannot make the exhibit but are interested in the topic, the Jewish Museum has published a richly illustrated $20 book about Lombard Street. It shows the same high caliber of scholarship that characterizes the museum's previous exhibit catalogues, including one about Howard Street's department stores, another long-gone era. While Lombard Street memories still live, I thought it was interesting that the museum's opening event crowd consisted almost exclusively of senior citizens.
For those who are walkers, the Lombard Street area is perfect. It is close to Shot Tower, the harbor and Fells Point. So depending on your strength, you can easily fashion a variety of challenging and not-so-challenging routes.