Charles Village

Update April 17 : CVP has set the official opening date as April 23, after a week or so in soft mode, reports Explore Baltimore County . That's a month later than co-owner Rick Bielski had anticipated in early March, when he last spoke out about the reconstruction's progress. Towson's Charles Village Pub, closed for over year after a devastating fire, expects to re-open by month's end, owner Rick Bielski said Tuesday. The pub, a favorite of Towson residents and college students, was struck by a catastrophic, two-alarm fire January 2011 that required some 100 firefighters to put out. Reconstruction started last summer, but was delayed by weather complications.

Charles Edward Miller, who owned and operated a Charles Village commercial art school, died in his sleep April 9 at the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home. No cause of death was determined, family members said. He was 93 and had lived in the Cromwell Valley section of Baltimore County. Born and raised in New Windsor, he was a 1936 graduate of New Windsor High School, where he played on a championship basketball team and won silver medals in track and field competitions. A drummer, he played in his high school orchestra and the Maryland State Orchestra.

Hey, everybody -- give a warm welcome to Yvonne Wenger , a new Baltimore Sun reporter who will be joining me here to blog about (appropriately enough) newcomer issues. She'll take us along as she looks for a place to settle, gets to know the city and navigates the system (MVA registration, anyone?). We hope her experiences will help other newbies and give natives a new way to look at things we've seen a thousand times before. (If you're a new buyer, check out this collection of information and resources while you're at it.)

UPDATE (3/15): Video Americain tell Insider that the sale originally planned for tomorrow (3/16) has been postponed until further notice. They're hoping to sell the collection as a whole instead of piecemeal. -- JR Everyone's favorite quirky Baltimore video chain will soon shrink by half. The Charles Village outlet of Video Americain is closing. Monday will be the last day the shop will be open for rentals. It will then close for a few days and when it re-opens on Friday, March 16, people will have a chance to get their hands on all of the store's merchandise.

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.

Calle's Cucina is a place with potential. Chef-owner Carl "Calle" Vahl has the experience to run a show-stopping restaurant, with both formal and on-the-job training in Italy and New York. Philosophically, Vahl is in the right place, too. He uses fresh, local ingredients to create authentic Italian dishes and is committed to becoming an integral part of the Charles Village community. All great things. Unfortunately, both the food and the atmosphere at Calle's Cucina need some tweaking, and it's not completely clear where the restaurant falls on the casual-to-fine-dining scale.

Since Charles Village Pub & Patio in downtown Towson was devastated by a two-alarm fire last January, customers, Towson students, and neighbors have been asking owner Rick Bielski when the popular hangout would re-open. This week, he finally had an answer: "We'll be up and running mid-to-late March," he said. That's what he's shooting for anyway. Bielski had said before the bar, which was heavily damaged after an afternoon fire January 29 , would re-open March 1 at the latest.

Thomas J. Kennedy Jr., who while fighting with the Marines in the South Pacific during World War II was blinded by enemy fire and after his return to Baltimore established Dawn's Office Supply, died Friday of cancer at his Mount Washington home. He was 86. Mr. Kennedy was born and raised on his family's Kingsville farm. Growing up, he developed a lifelong love of horses while helping his father on his horse-drawn milk wagon. In his youth, he worked as a Western Union messenger boy, exercised racehorses on a Monkton farm and was a Pep Boys stock clerk.

Hours after a ribbon-cutting ceremony 50 years ago, the Jones Falls Expressway had its first pileup and subsequent traffic snarl. Some things never change. The JFX is the road we love to hate but can't live without, the city's Main Street where everyone has a tale to tell. Shannon Mullaney met her husband on the JFX. The soundtrack of David Rocah's workday is often provided by the southbound lanes right outside his office window. Steve McDaniel's bees thrive in the shadow of the roadway and produce a flavorful honey.

Baltimore police have released a composite sketch of a possible suspect in the November stabbing and attempted robbery of a man at a gas station in Charles Village. Police said the incident occurred about 5 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 6, in the 2200 block of North Charles St. The 27-year-old victim had been stabbed several times, police said, and has been treated and released from a hospital. Police said the victim and a friend were at the gas station when they were approached by two men who asked for a light.