Charles Village

The scene repeated itself over and over yesterday. A hungry diner would walk up to the Homewood Delicatessen, look through the darkened window with a frown, then finally catch the yellow sign in the window.It was a death notice."Closed. We thank everyone for their support," read the handwritten sign telling customers that the Homewood Deli was out of business."We were just here last week," said a surprised Thelma Gross, who had come to the deli with Doris Carroll, a co-worker at the Board of Education.

The formerly city-owned Barclay Recreation Center will make its debut as a privately run community center May 18, serving the Charles Village area, including the Abell, Oakenshawe, Harwood and Old Goucher communities. A grand opening celebration, possibly with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake in attendance, is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the center, 2900 Barclay St., in the Charles Village area. The Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks last year turned over the underutilized, 7,300-square-foot facility to the city public school next door, Barclay Elementary/Middle, to operate as a social and education center in a public-private partnership with the nonprofit Greater Homewood Community Corp.

Baltimore police confirmed that they are investigating a stabbing of a Charles Village man by an intruder who broke into the victim's apartment Tuesday night. According to a report, the 25-year-old victim and his girlfriend were awakened by his barking dog at 11 p.m. and the victim went downstairs, where he found an intruder in the living room of his home, in the 3000 block of Guilford Ave. The intruder punched the victim in the face, then pulled a knife and "continuously stabbed the victim in the face and his side until the struggle ended, allowing the suspect to flee the residence," according to a police report.

There is no set criterion for a great dive bar. A dingy bar can have character. An unassuming exterior could hide a spectacular interior. Sometimes, the right jukebox is all it takes. But all great dives are unified by one factor: They possess an instantly comfortable atmosphere. That can come from a warm bartender, cheap drinks or an overall lack of pretension. The really good ones have it all. Coach's Rendezvous (which was called Rendezvous Lounge before new owner Ray Harcum took over)

The University of Chicago's efforts to revitalize the neighborhood surrounding its campus suggests a similar opportunity is available for the Baltimore City neighborhood of Charles Village. As recently reported elsewhere, the University of Chicago has made a $250 million investment in the neighborhoods surrounding the Hyde Park campus. The plan includes the renovation of retail properties and the redevelopment of unused buildings into commercial spaces like a movie theater, shops and office space.

Yum's Asian Bistro has opened in Charles Village on the corner of Charles and 25th, where New No Da Ji was  for years and years. Before New No Da Ji (or No Da Ji as it was originallly known), there was Love's, which had been on that corner ever longer, for about 50 years beginning in 1942. The bad news: the old New Do Da Ji buffet is gone. The good news: Yum is a very pretty place to sit down for good old American Chinese food encompassing a half century or so of Cantonese, Szechwan and Hunan favorites.

A supermarket across from Eddie's Market in Charles Village ("Eddie's Market rallies Charles Villagers to resist potential competition on Hopkins lot," March 18)? It can't be. Eddie's is a unique Baltimore institution. When I couldn't find grape leaves anywhere else, guess who had a jar? Eddie's. When my husband forgot his wallet and couldn't buy his ice cream, the manager lent him $10! And spring and summer it's a great place to eat one of their deli sandwiches outside at their café tables in front and "people watch.

An adult man was reported shot in the head Thursday night on North Calvert Street in Charles Village, according to the Baltimore Police Department. Few details were available this morning, but police said the shooting occurred minutes before 11 p.m. in the 2900 block of N. Calvert. On Nov. 26, two people were shot in an SUV in lower Charles Village, in the 100 block of East 22nd St. That shooting occurred on a Saturday afternoon, about 12:45 p.m. The woman was shot in the hip and leg and the man was wounded in the arm. In October, a Prince George's County man was shot in the leg on St. Paul Street , just 50 feet from where Johns Hopkins University researcher Stephen Pitcairn was fatally stabbed last year while walking to his home and talking to his mother on his cell phone.

Police identified a man who was shot and killed Friday afternoon in Charles Village as Donatello Fenner, a 22-year-old who has long been on law enforcement radar as a leader of a North Baltimore gang. Police found Fenner with several gunshot wounds about 4:20 p.m. in an alley in the 2600 block of N. Calvert St. Fenner was said to be a ranking member of the Young Gorilla Family gang, and that group has been linked to much of the violence recently in the Barclay neighborhood, just south of where Fenner was found wounded, according to police.

Police have arrested two juveniles in a series of robberies and carjackings in the Remington and Charles Village areas. After receiving reports of a rash of incidents in recent weeks and recovering a stolen car on Exeter Hall Avenue, the Regional Auto Theft Task Force began paying closer attention to the area, said Anthony Guglielmi, the department's chief spokesman. Task force members located two more stolen vehicles and arrested two juveniles, one of whom confessed to several of the crimes, Guglielmi said.

Baltimore County police say two men have been charged in connection with a stabbing that occurred at the Charles Village Pub in Towson on Saturday. Police said Nicholas Jarrad Jones, 22, of the 700 block of Richwood Avenue, Baltimore, was charged with attempted first-degree murder and first degree assault. On Sunday he was being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center. Robert Lee Blackshire II, 21, of the 6800 block of Barnett Road, in the Glendale area, was charged with second-degree assault and is currently being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center on $7,500 bail.

A man was stabbed and two other people were injured in an early-morning fight in the second floor of Charles Village Pub in Towson, Baltimore County Police said Saturday.   According to police, a man was stabbed, a second man received minor cuts to his hand, and a woman was injured when she fell.   All three were taken to area hospitals, and police said their injuries were not life threatening. Charles Village Pub Owner Melony Wagner said the bar manager, Jason Jankiewicz, reported that the fight took “less than 45 seconds.”   According to Wagner, a large man shoved a smaller man, and the smaller man allegedly pulled a knife and cut the large man in his shoulder.

The developer of a vacant lot in Charles Village owned by the Johns Hopkins University has decided not to build a grocery store there. The university supports the decision about the site, at the corner of St. Paul and E. 33rd streets, said a statement released Wednesday by Armada Hoffler, the lead developer of the 1.1-acre site. The other firms involved are Beatty Development Group LLC and Skye Hospitality LLC. The development group, 3200StPaul, has met with residents of Charles Village and the surrounding communities in recent weeks to solicit their thoughts on how the land should be used.

I don't know how to answer Michael Hanchard's questions, but I understand why he asks them: "If we were a middle-aged white couple, rather than a black couple, and if the group of people who surrounded us were black or Latino, rather than white, would the attackers have been treated with impunity? "Would police officers have told a middle-aged white couple there was no way to determine whether they had been … assaulted?" Before you go thinking that Michael Hanchard is a black man who plays the race card first and asks questions later, consider that the 53-year-old professor of political science at the Johns Hopkins University waited a year to speak about this.

The Waverly library would be about 2,000 square feet bigger than it is now, with a wall of glass, more computers, modernized equipment and separate areas for children and teens, as planned in a $6 million renovation project, Baltimore City library system officials told an audience of 50 people at a public meeting Thursday. "We are here, finally, to talk about renovation," said Carla Hayden, chief executive officer of the Enoch Pratt Free Library system. "There have been some bumps and starts.

The North Charles Street location of Eddie's of Roland Park is turning 20. The store will celebrate its 20th anniversary on Saturday, April 13, with a "Shop Local" community party featuring tastings of Maryland food purveyors and meet-and-greets with local food vendors like Zeke's Coffee, Roma Sausage, A. Kirchmayr Chocolates, Prigel Family Creamery and Hawks Hill Creamery. Eddie's has two locations, the original Roland Park store and the second location on North Charles Street.

The city's bicycle and pedestrian planner wants a "bike boulevard" to run up Guilford Avenue through Charles Village, an area already filled with commuters using pedal power. But a series of attacks on cyclists and several bike-jackings are creating concern. Police had arrested three people in two bike robberies this month and thought they had a handle on the situation until three young men pushed Michael Byrne off his Blue Falcon bike Wednesday night at North Charles and 20th streets.

A 22-year-old man was shot in the leg on St. Paul Street in Charles Village early Thursday, just 50 feet from where a Johns Hopkins University researcher was fatally stabbed in a robbery last year. Police said the shooting occurred during a robbery, one of two Thursday in city neighborhoods where gun violence is rare. The other occurred in Northeast Baltimore's Lauraville neighborhood just before 1 a.m., with a 33-year-old man shot in the abdomen during a robbery in the 2400 block of Ailsa Ave. He was in serious condition Thursday night.

The word was tristeza. It's a disease of citrus trees, but more importantly, for Tobey Roland, it once scored 228 points for him in a game of Scrabble, he said. Roland, 52, of Mount Washington, loves Scrabble and estimates he has played in 120 tournaments, winning eight to 10, since he started playing competitively in 2005. "It's fun and challenging," said Roland, an independent financial investor. "It's really more about probabilities, using premium spots and letters and getting bonuses by using seven-letter words.