Grand Opening

Whew. Let me tell ya, things in Hampden are really heating up this summer. Ha! I don't know why it's fun writing in clichés, but it is. I mean it's also true. I'm writing this at the tail end of a mini-heat wave (do people just not use that phrase anymore?) and I'm trying to edit down a long list of awesome upcoming events just to fit my column size. The Pavement to Prairie Party kicks off July 25 at the ACCE School in the Robert Poole complex, 1300 W. 36th St. More than 300 volunteers, including 200 from the Vans Warped Tour, will be pulling up almost an acre of asphalt and converting the area to turf and conservation landscaping.

Looks Salon and Spa is scheduled to hold a grand opening event July 22, from 7 to 9 p.m., at its new location, 6822 Oak Hall Lane, near Snowden River Pkwy. The grand opening will feature hors d'oeuvres, wine, refreshments and a fashion show. The new, 10,000-square-foot location will feature 25 stations. According to a news release, the space was designed by architect Rob Hoffman, with input from owner Marilyn Petersen and salon manager Briagh Strott, Petersen's daughter. The mother-and-daughter team opened Looks in 1999, on Old Columbia Road.

After two and a half years in the works, Liam Flynn’s Ale House will have its official grand opening Saturday at 4 p.m. Flynn said the bar, which looks like “a traditional ale house," will serve ales predominantly. “We want to specialise in ales, Irish whiskey, and ciders,” he said. It will also carry 15 beers on draft and is planning on adding food by the end of the summer. For payment, the bar will accept BNotes, the local currency, in addition to cash and credit.  Flynn used to run the Pint-Size Pub in Mt. Vernon but closed it three years ago. He’s been slowly renovating the space at 22 W. North Ave since then, employing architectural salvage as one of the main components of the construction.

Six months after its owner started a renovation, Barfly's Pub is finally open. The Locust Point bar, which has taken over Rafters' old space on Fort Avenue, had its grand opening last Friday and has been in opening mode for about two weeks. It has been remade as a casual neighborhood bar with an ample beer menu and several wine options. Already, it's drawing small crowds, even on the Monday night I went. Owner Michael Leeds bills it as an "upscale dive bar," but Barfly's still needs some time to develop the personality of a dive and spruce itself up to be "upscale.

Lenny's Deli added a third location in Harborplace a few months ago, and just last week it threw itself a grand opening. Lenny's still operates in Harborplace and Owings Mills, but this expansion wasn't without its risks. So far, so good, says reviewer John Lindner, who discovered there a praiseworthy Reuben. Here's what else Lindner found at the new Lenny's Deli , which, I'm happy to pass along, serves breakfast all day.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake attended the grand opening of Lenny’s Deli in the Pratt Street Pavilion at Harborplace today. This was the happy pavilion. The announcement today that original tenant Phillip Seafood was leaving this Fall made the Light Street Pavilion made that the sad pavilion. The mayor, according to the an account in the Daily Record, learned of Phillips' closing while attending the grand opening at Lenny's. Lenny's opened in April into what used to be the bottom half of La Tasca , which still occupies the upper level.

It's the opening of the year, so far. Chazz: A Bronx Original opens Friday in Harbor East. If you haven't received your VIP invitations, don't panic. The grand opening isn't until June 23. But the "soft opening" will give Baltimore diners (think of them as preview audiences) a chance to see the first results of the collaboration between the Oscar-nominated actor Chazz Palminteri and the Vitale family, the owner's of Aldo's in Baltimore'sLittleItaly. Pizza mavens will get a first taste of the restaurant's "Bronx-style" pizza, which will be baked in a customized coal-fired oven.

A Virginia-based electrical engineering firm is opening a 43-employee office in Baltimore with plans to expand in the next few years. M.C. Dean Inc. said it will have a grand-opening event next week at its new facility, a former warehouse on Ostend Street in the city's Sharp-Leadenhall neighborhood. The company expects to increase its employment there to as many as 75 jobs in the next two years. jhopkins@baltsun.com twitter.com/realestatewonk Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

Don't miss it --- H&M is opening in the Harborplace pavillion on Thursday, May 19. Major fans of the Swedish store will want to be in line well before the doors officially open at noon, as Andrea K. Walker reported in today's paper. The store will be giving the first 200 people in line both an H&M t-shirt as well as an 'Access to Fashion Pass' worth from $10 to $300. The store promises additional giveaways as well. This location will carry all the company's lines, including men's, maternity and children's.

Gino Marchetti , the Hall of Fame defensive end for the Baltimore Colts, is bringing his beloved burgers back to Baltimore after a 20-year hiatus. Marchetti, 84, opened his first fast-food joint on North Point Road in 1959, at the height of his football career. By 1982, when he sold the chain to Marriott International for $48 million, there were 469 Gino's franchises nationwide dishing up the popular Gino Giant, a two-fisted meal with a special pink sauce that gourmands still rave about today.