NEWS
By Elizabeth Large | June 21, 2009
The success of eating places in the Village of Cross Keys has been spotty at best. The hotel no longer has a fine-dining restaurant, and its coffee shop doesn't have the cachet the old Village Roost did. The popular Cross Keys Deli disappeared. Donna's managed to survive the bankruptcy of the bookstore it was in, and even flourish finally; but it wasn't easy. Truffles & Tea closed. And I'm not even sure I've named all the places that have come and gone. So why do I think the new Village Square Cafe, which has just started serving dinner, could make it?
NEWS
June 11, 2009
SATURDAY Dan Deacon: Baltimore's own Maniacal Music Minister always throws one heck of a party. This Awesome Summer Blowout of the ever-popular TaxLo dance party featuring eccentric pop music composer Deacon is sure to be a smash. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. 8 p.m. Sonar is at 407 E. Saratoga St. Call 410-783-7888 or go to sonarbaltimore.com. Children's event: From WMAR's children's program The Kinderman Show, Kindersinger will perform as part of the Port Discovery Children's Museum's Super Saturday: Super Summer Time!
NEWS
By ELIZABETH LARGE | April 29, 2009
It's not too late to dine green. Last week's Top 10 Tuesday on Dining@Large was Top 10 Restaurants to Celebrate Earth Day. Here's my list in alphabetical order: 1 Dogwood Cafe in Hampden. Owners Bridget and Galen Sampson are known for their eco-consciousness and good deeds - and the food is good. 2 Elevation Burger in Harbor East. The all-natural, organic version of fast food, plus veggie burgers if you insist. 3 Feast@4East in Mount Vernon. A very personal dining experience, emphasizing local ingredients.
NEWS
By Andrea K. Walker | November 30, 2008
Samantha Harris is probably the envy of every fashion-minded women or giddy teenager. She spends every working day in the mall. After working in marketing at Owings Mills Mall, the Mall in Columbia and Towson Town Center, she was promoted earlier this month to general manager of Mondawmin Mall and The Village of Cross Keys in Baltimore. Harris takes over Mondawmin as it finishes a $70 million renovation that includes the addition of a Target. She admits that it can take a lot of self-control to work so close to racks of pretty shoes, expensive perfumes and designer jeans.
NEWS
By Scott Calvert | November 23, 2008
Gangsta Granny's getting no love. No signal 10s, no flags, no regulars. In plain English: No customers and no money. Now the sleepy scene outside the Doubletree Hotel in North Baltimore seems to promise more of the same. "Nothing's moving," she says with a weary sigh, edging onto University Parkway. It's just after 10 in the morning, but Lucy Davis, aka Gangsta Granny, has been on the job six hours already. So far it is shaping up as a so-so day, maybe worse. For cabbies like her, that's life nowadays.
NEWS
By Andrea K. Walker | July 9, 2008
Facing financial pressure, the owner of the Village of Cross Keys shops is seeking a buyer for the upscale North Baltimore retail center at a challenging time. Chicago-based General Growth Properties is looking to sell or find equity partners for several of its 200 properties throughout the nation as it faces looming debt and mortgages that need to be refinanced in the coming months, analysts said. The company told The Wall Street Journal in April that it was trying to pay off $27 billion in debt and was approaching pension funds and life insurance firms as partners.
NEWS
By Frederick N. Rasmussen | July 5, 2008
For nearly four decades, Ruth Shaw eschewed the stuffy formality of traditional women's clothing and sold the trendiest lines at her boutique in Cross Keys. This year, she sold the boutique bearing her name to Ray Mitchener, her longtime buyer and manager. Shaw said her love of daring and offbeat fashions drove her to open the boutique. "I like natural fibers and linen, for instance. A little whimsical humor in clothing helps too," she said, adding: "I never bought what my customers wanted.
NEWS
By ARIANE SZU-TU | June 5, 2008
TOWERING TALENT The grand opening of the newly remodeled Bromo Seltzer building approaches. Modeled after the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy, the famous Bromo Seltzer clock tower has undergone renovations to convert its offices into studios for visual and literary artists. The renovations, which were completed at the end of last year, transformed the 97-year-old building into 12 floors of artist studios. Today is the first chance for the public to see the interior since the renovations ended.
NEWS
By ELIZABETH LARGE | May 7, 2008
People keep asking what's going to happen to the space where Edward Kim's Soigne and then Sly Fox Pub were, and now I have the definitive answer. Assuming all goes well. The owner of the Bicycle, Nicholas Batey, is in the process of buying the building at 554 E. Fort Ave. Renovations will begin soon on the first and second floors; and this fall Ullswater, named after a lake in the English Lake District, will open. No, it won't serve British food. Batey had a poster of the lake when he first started out, and he just likes the name.
NEWS
January 30, 2008
Chocolate class -- Get ideas for easy-to-make chocolate desserts at Williams-Sonoma stores Sunday: at 10 a.m. in Cross Keys, 70 Village Square; at 2 p.m. in Towson, 825 Dulaney Valley Road; and at noon in Annapolis, 1705 Annapolis Mall. Free. Reservations are recommended. For more information, call 410-435-6020 for Cross Keys, 410-847-9021 for Towson and 410-571-0589 for Annapolis. Mediterranean stews --Learn to make Mediterranean stews at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Donna's in Columbia, 5850 Waterloo Road.