Place History: The Charles Theatre

THE STORY OF THE CHARLES:

The Charles Theatre markets itself as “the only theatre of its kind in Baltimore” in “one of Charles Street’s most intriguing historic buildings,” a claim that can be supported by the over 120 years of history on of the 1700 block of North Charles Street in Baltimore’s Station North Arts & Entertainment District.  While originally designed as a street car barn, the Charles Theatre now features five screens, over 1,150 seats, and the opportunity for patrons to see Hollywood films and specialty screenings in the same space. 

The space originally served for city transportation.  In 1892 the Baltimore Traction Company hired Jackson C. Gott to design a streetcar barn for the Baltimore Passenger Railway.  In 1915 the space was then converted into a motor bus garage until the space was sold by the United Railways and Electric Company in 1939.

At the time of its sale, the streetcar barn was separated into two different properties and the history of the Charles takes two different paths for over fifty years.  The original streetcar barn was divided into the North Barn (1715-1717 N. Charles Street) and South Barn (1711 N. Charles Street) and were owned and operated individually, however both as entertainment venues. 

The North Barn

In 1939, Louis Schecter, purchased the North Barn and opened the property as a 100-lane bowling alley.  The space functioned as a bowling alley until 1948 when a fire damaged the second floor of the building.  Schecter took the construction opportunity on the second floor to rebuild the section of the building and opened up the Famous Ballroom as a club.  Schecter leased the venue to many patrons, including the Left Bank Jazz Society who hosted shows and promoted jazz in the space from 1966 to the Famous Ballroom’s closing in 1984.  Schecter then sold the property and in 1986 the venue was reopened as Godfrey’s Famous Ballroom.  Large crowds, underage drinking, and crime led to the closing of Godfrey’s only five years later.   

The South Barn

After the split of the streetcar barn in 1939, the South Barn was purchased by Jack Fruchtman.  Fruchtman was the founder of JF Theaters, a company that owned over 50 theaters in the state, and converted the space into the Times Theatre, Baltimore’s first moving picture house that specialized in newsreels.  In 1959, the Times Theatre was renamed The Charles Theatre in honor of its location.  For 38 years, the Charles Theatre was successful in hosting screenings of both local films and international films until 1978 when JF Theaters filed for bankruptcy and terminated its lease.

In 1979, the Charles Theatre was purchased by David Levy as an art repertory house.  The Charles remained successful and prominent in Baltimore arts culture, premiering and screening movies of Baltimore filmmaker John Waters such as his film Polyester in 1981.  Levy and the Charles’ success continued as film revenue broke records for the venue.  Slowly however around 1990, the Charles began to lose business as community demographics changed.  In 1993, Levy closed the Charles, unable to pay the rent because of low ticket sales and the theater’s single scree .  Three months later, the Charles was purchased, this time by John Standiford, a previous projectionist of the Charles, and his uncle, James Cusack, a contractor.

The Charles Theatre (as we know it)

Cusack and Standiford together transformed the Charles Theatre into what it is today.  Once again, the single-screen kept ticket sales low, but the two saw the space next door as an opportunity.  The two purchased the North Barn in 1998 and worked to create an entertainment space in the community to boost not only sales, but to bring people back to North Charles Street.  In 1998, the theater received a $79,000 grant from the city, allowing for construction to combine the North and South Barn into one large complex.  The Charles had its grand re-opening in 1999 where they debuted four new screens, for a total of five screens and 1,150 seats for patrons of the theater.  The Charles’ new look brought back the authentic looks of the North and South barn and made the theater a destination for city-goers.  With this expansion, the Charles also became a main venue for the Maryland Film Festival from 1999 to 2014. 

Today, the Charles is has become a central landmark of North Charles Street and a destination for those visiting the Station North Arts & Entertainment District.  Patrons can see varieties of films in this unique space that focuses on the history of the area and the films it screens.

Continuing Conversation (In and Outside of Class!)

This past week has been a lot of wrapping up.  Making final blog posts, going on final adventures (I'm gonna post them all I promise), and seeing the project come together as a whole.  It was awesome to get to hear the voices project and their completed work and see all the research we have done come together on a map.

Not related to the class, but related to the rest of the world going on around us, I went to the second Teach In on campus, this time hosted by UMBC for Ferguson.  I am glad I attended the event, and I heard a lot of new perspectives on the events, coming from community activists and others.  However, the next day I was talking to someone and they asked me how the event was, and I found myself at a loss of words.  I'm glad I went, really glad (and I don't think I could say this enough), but I felt like there was something missing.  It could have been that they needed another panelist, or an additional perspective, I'm not sure.  I just didn't leave feeling the same way I did with the other Teach In.  I learned about ways to get involved, but at the same time I didn't.  This is probably really confusing because I'm equally as confused as to how I felt after attending the event. Maybe it's my privilege making me feel uncomfortable?

I'm glad that I am on a college campus that allows for these sorts of conversations to be had, and that I have friends, peers, and professors willing to have these meaningful conversations.  I hope that they continue in a with not for kind of way.  I think classes like ours allow for that to happen.  As the class comes to a close, I'm actually really impressed with the work we have done thus far.  I am additionally very excited to see how the research we've done and the voices we have collected are used in continued courses.

History with Some Humanity

This week's work focused once again around a listening assignment.  Our job with these assignments have been to focus reemerging themes in these pieces and capturing the stories of Station North, listening to D. Watkins' interview appropriately led me to focusing on one of the hopes we've had for this project since the beginning: humanity.

The goal of our Community in America course this semester has been capturing the true voices, opinions, beliefs, and experiences of those living, working, and passing through Station North.  It has been about uncovering the history of the spaces that make up the District, but also about learning how the people who live in the neighborhoods and hang out in the businesses feel about what it is to be a community in Station North.

Watkins explains his experience as a writer and how people have before forgotten his own humanity, thinking of him as just a "thing" rather than a person with complex layers and lived experiences.

The idea of listening and collecting the ideas of others is something that has become a reoccurring topic of discussion outside of the classroom.  In all aspects of conversation this week, whether it be at work meetings, talking with peers, or in academic settings, I have been urged to take in the ideas of others without question.  To take into consideration the lived experiences and ideas of those around me. To try and place humanity back into the headlines I've been reading.

I think it was appropriate that my last listening assignment was Watkins' because it reminded me of why we started this project.  During his interview, Watkins says, "I'm trying to preserve history and doing what I can to document culture as I know it."  And in a way, I feel like we're doing the same thing.  We're trying to combine these stories and lived experiences to document the changes and triumphs of Station North, but they won't all be collected once we are done.  New people will move into the area, all with different potentials, and the project will continue.

Return to North Avenue

As I'm writing my blog today, I've got a lot of thoughts and feelings, but I'm not sure how to put them down.  As Baltimore City is placed under a State of Emergency with National Guard on standby, I've talked a lot to my parents about the events leading up to and following the death of Freddie Gray.

My dad was the one who first brought up the riots to me tonight saying, "your mom and I were both growing up in the city when they happened."  I had never spoken to my parents about the events in Baltimore in 1968.  Of course they had been around, growing up in Highlandtown, but it wasn't something that we had ever talked about or really I had begun to really understand until this year.

My mom later told me, "I was only 8 when the riots happened and I was terrified.  That's the only time I ever really remember being terrified.  There were National Guard helicopters landing across the street.  My father was coming home in full riot gear.  We had an escape plan.  I didn't understand what was happening, or why people were acting this way, it treating people in such a way based off the color of their skin was something I was never taught."

I'm suddenly more confident and appreciative of my decision to take this class than ever before.   Because I've come to know the history, or at least some of it, and can begin to understand more of what happened during the 1968 riots in Baltimore and how they relate to the events taking place in Baltimore now.  Last week part of my small assignment #3 was listening to an interview with Penny and Don Freeman.  Penny was a restaurateur during the times of the riots and said the following during his interview:

“The riots came across North Avenue and so that night I’ll never forget when they came across. We had a predominately black kitchen because we just growing up with it that way and that’s the way all our people grew up with us and we kept moving them up so it stayed we had some whites, but it was predominately black and who were the people most scared when that started happening? That kitchen.  It I walked back in that kitchen and it was like this and I remember getting them all together I got up on a milk crate and I got them all gathered around me and I said, I’d already been in touch with the police and was like what’s going on what should we do and I said to them ‘Fellas, I want you to take a deep breath and relax because nothing’s going to happen to you.  I know you’re worried about going home and getting out on the street, but when the time comes we’re gonna get you transportation home and if necessary, police protection, I’ve already been in touch with the police and they’ve insured me that they’ll see that our people get home alright’ and you could just feel the air come back into that room.”

It's crazy that today just like in 1968, there's unheard voices making their way up North Avenue.  I haven't been able to make up my mind how I feel about everything.  With my new knowledge comes new hesitations and worries about what will come of the protests, or riots, whatever you want to call them based off of what the news broadcasts are focusing on this hour.  My blog this week isn't about my feelings of who is right or wrong, if anyone group or person's actions are better or worse than the others--because that's not my call.  Everyone's perspectives should be valued and taken into consideration.  My blog this week is just that it's funny how you read about something one week and it pops back up into your life the next week.

A Switch in Focus

I feel like the last week has been the most stressful in class thus far, because what we were worried about happening has kind of happened.  On Tuesday we shared short group presentations of our progress so far.  I think our group is coming along really well!  The map looks awesome and the research behind the points on the map will be a great way to integrate the work from our class thus far.

The one critique we got from the other group was about making our short descriptions shorter.  I understand the need for brevity to keep readers interested, but I'm not sure how we will do that at this point because part of our group had already shortened histories.  There was also an idea to add to the neighborhoods as layers so it would be possible to visualize who the actual neighborhoods that make up the district which I feel like would be really beneficial.  Being able to look at Korea Town, Greenmount West, and Charles North in spacial terms could help in placing Station North on the map in a more residential way.

There was also a transition of the mapping group into working with the voices.  While the voices had a lot of interviews scheduled or conducted, they hadn't really done anything with the audio.  I listened to the Kate Ewald interview and through it learned a lot about the places she visited, being comforted by the fact that we had already identified most of them on our map.  Something we could potentially add is green space--different gardens which she had spoken about during her interview.

While a little stressful having to do the work of the voices group, I think it will add cohesion to our projects.  I'm a little bummed that I'm picking up more work now, but I think it will add to the final project.

New Points on the Map

In the last week, we added a new aspect to our project.  To integrate the research and work of the entire class, we have tasked every student with uploading their small assignment #2 onto their class blog.  We will then be hyperlinking to their blog on the map by placing a "more info" link in the pop up for every location we completed for small assignment #2.  This will make the map more interactive and thorough in explaining the history of these places in Station North.

Additionally, Rachel is going to be looking at artwork in Station North, specifically murals and other larger public art pieces, and we will be placing them on the map.

In terms of our mapping project, I feel like we're right on track.  Things are finishing up and I am finishing my missing place, locations are being put on the map, pictures are being taken, everything seems to be going smoothly.  I almost feel like I need to be suspicious that things are going too smoothly- maybe something is lost and we have to start all over or the voices group will expect something of us that we don't have and we have to cram that into our project at the last minute.  I almost feel like posting this is putting these bad ideas out there in the world and now one of them will happen.

I am eager to hear what the voices project has put together so far and to really begin to look at the time parts coming together.

I also have been enjoying the smaller pieces we have been reading about gentrification, especially D. Watkin's piece and the response by Brandon Soderberg.  I think it's interesting to read these sorts of conversations occurring in the form of writings and responses, and then additionally hearing about the public opinion on the pieces.  It's interesting for people to kind of attack a writer's work when it is coming from his own experiences because if you think about it empirically, the lived experiences of Watkins and Soderberg are true for them, they're allowed to have these opinions, just as others are allowed to differ from them.  Yeah there could be other motives behind their writings, but that doesn't make their opinions any less valid.  I still don't think I know what my opinion on gentrification is, especially in Baltimore, and at this point I don't know when I will--however I'm glad for people that have their opinions and ideas figured out.

More missing spaces

This week my mapping involvement has been heavily focused on logistics and research, and a little bit of confusion.  I have begun researching my missing places assigned last week, Liam Flynn's Ale House.  I haven't gotten very far, instead I've spent lots of time looking at the schedule and other missing places to add to the list, especially the Korean restaurants Aletheia told us about last class.

I really enjoyed hearing Aletheia's talk last week and learning about the Korean community in Station North.  I am going to try and visit her Pop Up Korea Town because I think that it is an amazing way to showcase an aspect of the Station North community and I would love to learn more about it.  I think that kind of community involvement is really inspiring and I would love to learn more about projects like that.

My worries with the project right now is that our piece, the historical part, won't really match up with what the voices group is doing.  I feel like we are going to have a very detailed map of places to go and visit in Station North and then the voices project will just kind of fit in--not really be cohesive.  However, that could completely change after we meet tomorrow.  I'm excited to see what they have decided to focus on and if we can incorporate their focus into the places we highlight.  While we are focusing on community as a space, I think they have a cool opportunity to focus on community as an abstract idea as well as a space, so I hope they do that!

Our project is slowly coming together, I really like doing logistical stuff and making sure the schedule is working out, I hope everyone is on track!