Honfest

Sporting a towering black wig and sparkling red eyeglasses, Dominic Motto surveyed the scene in Hampden yesterday and proved he knows a Hon when he sees one. "The original ladies are in polyester, leopard print and their own beehives -- unlike mine," said the 34-year-old Mount Vernon resident, who joined thousands of Baltimore residents and tourists for the opening day of the 14th annual HonFest -- a celebration of Baltimore's idiosyncratic cultural heritage....

It was the time of year to walk down the Avenue to celebrate the garish glory of being a Baltimore Hon - a riot of leopard skin and hairspray. In an annual street festival that has blossomed over a dozen years, thousands swarmed Hampden's main shopping district along West 36th Street yesterday for HonFest. The North Baltimore neighborhood, once a tight, blue-collar enclave heavy with Formstone, has lately become the city's center of retro chic. "Hon," of course, is a kitschy echo of the diners, shops and other haunts where generations of cheerful women in beehive hairdos have greeted customers with "What'll you have, Hon?"

Jacqueline Grab had no idea what she was in for. She'd heard about HonFest and thought it sounded fun, though a little puzzling. "I didn't know what a `hon' was," said Grab, who moved to Towson two years ago. "I'm from the U.K. The Baltimore hon is a new thing for me." As many Baltimoreans know, the HonFest, held yesterday for the 10th year on the Avenue in Hampden, is the perfect place for the uninitiated to learn about - and see firsthand - all things hon. "They're colorful, crazy and a lot of fun," Grab decided shortly after arriving.