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Martick's faces demolition in Baltimore
March 12, 2019 at 7:50 am EDT | by Ed Gunts
Martick’s faces demolition in Baltimore
The exterior of Martick’s in Baltimore, a pre-Civil War building that has been vacant since 2008. (Photo by Ed Gunts)
One of Baltimore’s early gay gathering spots has been threatened with demolition.
The former Martick’s Restaurant Français, the endangered building, is well known locally as one of the first places where Baltimoreans were introduced to French cuisine.
It housed a speakeasy during the Prohibition era. It has been a magnet for artists and performers, including Billie Holliday, Leonard Bernstein and, more recently, filmmaker John Waters. It’s one of Baltimore’s few remaining buildings that was constructed before the Civil War. ... But Martick’s, which is now vacant, was also a place where gay people felt comfortable and came together, long before the advent of gay bars and nightclubs.
According to former employees and patrons, it had a following in the 1950s and 1960s that included not only gay men and women but other members of what is now called the LGBTQ+ community, including bisexuals, crossdressers and people undergoing sex change operations by Johns Hopkins Hospital physician John Money.
“It was one of the first places where gay people felt comfortable coming,” said Jimmy Rouse, an employee from 1974 to 1981, in recent testimony before Baltimore’s preservation commission. “They had people from the Sun papers, the artistic community, the gay community and the jazz community, all coming there during the 50s and 60s.”
....
Rouse, who is a son of the legendary developer James W. Rouse, waited on tables and tended bar at Martick’s from 1974 to 1981. He said Martick’s role as a hub for the arts community and for gay people came before it was converted to a French restaurant in 1970.
....
Martick’s faces demolition in Baltimore
The exterior of Martick’s in Baltimore, a pre-Civil War building that has been vacant since 2008. (Photo by Ed Gunts)
One of Baltimore’s early gay gathering spots has been threatened with demolition.
The former Martick’s Restaurant Français, the endangered building, is well known locally as one of the first places where Baltimoreans were introduced to French cuisine.
It housed a speakeasy during the Prohibition era. It has been a magnet for artists and performers, including Billie Holliday, Leonard Bernstein and, more recently, filmmaker John Waters. It’s one of Baltimore’s few remaining buildings that was constructed before the Civil War. ... But Martick’s, which is now vacant, was also a place where gay people felt comfortable and came together, long before the advent of gay bars and nightclubs.
According to former employees and patrons, it had a following in the 1950s and 1960s that included not only gay men and women but other members of what is now called the LGBTQ+ community, including bisexuals, crossdressers and people undergoing sex change operations by Johns Hopkins Hospital physician John Money.
“It was one of the first places where gay people felt comfortable coming,” said Jimmy Rouse, an employee from 1974 to 1981, in recent testimony before Baltimore’s preservation commission. “They had people from the Sun papers, the artistic community, the gay community and the jazz community, all coming there during the 50s and 60s.”
....
Rouse, who is a son of the legendary developer James W. Rouse, waited on tables and tended bar at Martick’s from 1974 to 1981. He said Martick’s role as a hub for the arts community and for gay people came before it was converted to a French restaurant in 1970.
....
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