The hands of time are slowly returning to the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower.
Tag: bromo seltzer arts tower
Hands of Time Returning to the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower
The Bromo Seltzer Tower Clock is Going Away for a While
The hands on the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower clock were shaking this morning, but it wasn’t the result of a time warp. Workers were removing the massive hands, which are each made of three layers of wood held together by 200 brass bolts. After more than a century overlooking Baltimore, the iconic clock is in need of restoration.
Have You Tried Out Baltimore’s New Hopscotch Crosswalk?
If you’ve been walking around town lately, you might have noticed that Baltimore’s street crossing have gotten a little more interesting. Last week, the city converted the crossings near the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower into a giant hopscotch game, while the crossing at the intersection of Fayette and Eutaw streets now looks like a giant zipper.
Long Anticipated New Everyman Theatre Opens Doors in the Bromo Tower A&E District
Six years in the making (the planning and ongoing money-gathering and actual renovating), the Everyman Theatre’s hipper new home in the 300 block of West Fayette Street in the Bromo Tower Arts & Entertainment District kicks off a week of opening celebrations January 14th with a ribbon-cutting ceremony starring Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and other local biggies. First show on the slate: the Baltimore premiere of August: Osage County by Tracy Letts, the 2008 Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play plugged by The New York Times as “the most exciting new American play in years.” Founder and Everyman Artistic Director Vincent Lancisi directs. (Show runs 1/16-2/17.)
So what physical changes can we expect as the well-respected actor’s actors’ stage finally relocates from 1727 N. Charles?
Arts Open House and the Bromo Seltzer
It’s a common misconception that artists live glamorous lives. They wax poetic about muses and live with little to no obligations, creating only beauty to rouse discussions that will ultimately altar society.
This is, of course, not true. While the best work they create definitely sparks important discussions about life, about culture, about religion, they do so much beyond waxing poetic and have a wealth of obligations. They have deadlines to meet, pennies to pinch, and pieces to create.
Once a month, the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower opens its doors to the public so we may have the great privilege of seeing works in progress. Recently named a Baltimore Icon by WTMD, it plays a prominent role in defining our skyline and has been watching (no pun intended) over the city for over 100 years. Swing on by, soak in the history, and thank the artists that bring life and culture to this town.
Will Balimore Get Another Arts District?
Captain Isaac Emerson, the inventor of the Bromo-Seltzer headache remedy and builder of the iconic Bromo Seltzer Tower on Baltimore’s west side, was said to “interest himself thoroughly in everything tending to advance our city, and [be] a patron of all worthy enterprises seeking to push Baltimore to the front.” So I bet he would approve of the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts’s push to make his horizontally-challenged building the centerpiece of what would be Baltimore’s third arts and entertainment district.
The Bromo Tower Arts and Entertainment District would cover 117 acres on the west side between Park Avenue and Paca, bounded by Read Street on the north and Lombard on the south. Within the district qualified artists as well as building owners could apply for tax breaks.
Currently known as the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower, the structure has already been repurposed. Artists rent out studios on several of the Tower’s 15 small floors and show their work in a monthly open house. The Tower is also home to the monthly poetry reading, Benevolent Armchair.
Now, arts and nightlife are probably not enough on their own to save a struggling city, but it’s certainly more pleasant than some other remedies. And it would be nice to see some support for the Hippodrome and Bromo Seltzer.
Maryland economic development officials should make a decision on the neighborhood’s arts and entertainment designation by June 1.
