Federal Hill

Federal Hill will get another beer bar before the end of the year. Called the Brewer's Cask, it will take up Muggsys' old space on Light Street. With 20 beers on tap, the bar is unapologetically going after a specific crowd: "Beer snobbies!" as it says on its website. Its motto is "Love Thy Beer. " Cask's owner Jason Stevens said he started leasing the business after another beer haven, Muggsys's, closed in June. He and a partner " have touched just about every inch of the interior by refinishing floors, bar, kitchen, tables, chairs and just about everything else you can think of," he said in an e-mail.

Just as houses come in all different designs and sizes, so do the families that live within them. The large, end-of-group rowhouse in Federal Hill that belongs to the Johnson family shelters multiple generations. "We are three generations of women, a poodle and two goldfish all living in this home that we decided to make 21st century," laughed Gilda Johnson, who lives there with her 94-year-old mother, Carlyn Johnson, and her 16-year-old daughter, Ce Ce Johnson. This family of women own three residential properties and five parcels of commercial property in Federal Hill.

Selling a house is rarely easy and quick, but the transaction for the three-story end-of-group brick rowhouse at 200 Warren Ave.e in Federal Hill was just that. The property listed and sold simultaneously, closing for $950,000 after being offered at $995,000. Little wonder. The home was built just five years ago in the same architectural style and detail as the older homes around it. Additionally, it is within walking distance to the Inner Harbor and shops and restaurants on Light and Charles streets.

Most visitors walking along the streets in Baltimore's Federal Hill neighborhood cannot resist peeping into the windows of its restored homes and marveling at the variety of interiors lying behind the rows and rows of brick facades. "All of these houses are so different, really," said Pauline Hildebrandt, a 60-year-old retired real estate agent who has lived with her husband in their three-story Charles Street home since moving from Fairfax County, Va., in 2010. "We didn't have to renovate; everything was here.

Everything about Byblos seems cute and simple, almost effortlessly so. The food and decor at Federal Hill's new Lebanese eatery go hand-in-hand; both are charming and down to earth, with shades of the Middle East, and neither assumes too much. It's the kind of restaurant you didn't know you needed until it opened about three months ago, amid the neighborhood's plentiful pubs and sushi spots. Named after the Lebanese city, Byblos is run by the husband-and-wife team of Sami and Hala Tabet.

Through a stroke of good luck and perfect timing, Polly and Terry Smith became residents of Federal Hill six years ago. "We were wandering around town one day and saw the 'For Sale' sign on this house," Polly Smith remembered of the spacious, end-of-group home she now shares with her husband, Terry. "I lived in other cities before, and I have always loved city life. " Just as the couple thought there was no way they could afford the three-story brick home, they were approached by an interested party prepared to buy their Dulaney Valley Colonial home on Loch Raven Reservoir should they ever wish to sell.

City police have charged two women - one who was released from jail recently after prosecutors dropped armed carjacking charges against her - in connection at least four knife-point robberies in the Federal Hill area, a spokesman said.  Officers received a report of a robbery Thursday night at about 7 p.m. in the 900 block of Harden Pl. and a description of the suspects was broadcast to officers. They found the two suspects walking in the 1100 block of Hanover St., said Detective Jeremy Silbert, a police spokesman.  Police arrested Sharticia Bryant, 21, and Keaira Vanzandt, 19, and have charged them in the Thursday robbery.

A fatal shooting is rare along the tree-lined streets that lead to historic Federal Hill park, where residents and tourists take in sweeping views of the Inner Harbor. So it was especially unusual when two people were killed there on consecutive days in the summer of 2008. There hasn't been another such incident since then. Four years later, police say they've solved one of the murders, arresting 32-year-old Dundalk resident Jason Hamel for the June 20, 2008 killing of 35-year-old Keyva Bluitt.  Bluitt was sitting in a vehicle at about 9:15 p.m. when witnesses said they saw several people jump into a blue Toyota and then heard a shot fired.

Police have charged a Federal Hill restaurant owner with rape after a patron said he sexually assaulted her in a bathroom there on New Year's Eve. Matthew Lasinski, 29, was taken into custody on New Year's Day and has been charged with second-degree rape, fourth-degree sex offense, and assault charges in connection with an incident that allegedly occurred after midnight in Blue Agave Restaurante in the 1000 block of Light St., according to police...

Shortly after it was clear the Ravens were headed for the Super Bowl, the massive crowds that had made it to Federal Hill bars poured into the street to celebrate. They jumped up and down, cried, screamed in joy. Strangers hugged strangers, and couples kissed in the middle of the throng. A few people crowd-surfed, and one man climbed into a tree. "Super Bowl, Super Bowl," was the chant. The crowd, estimated in the hundreds, primarily congregated on South Charles Street, outside Mother's Federal Hill Grille and Mad River Bar & Grille.