Lord Baltimore Hotel

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will put the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore Hotel into a nationwide pool in an auction of bankrupt properties this fall, hoping that it will bring more visibility and higher bids than have the three unsuccessful bids to sell the hotel.The 440-room downtown hotel remains open and has even turned modestly profitable since the FDIC took over in January. The hotel no longer has any debt, said Rick Guttenberger, the hotel's general manager. Its occupancy rate is projected to be 56 percent this year, he said, up from the 50 percent anticipated in the hotel's budget.

Forty-four years later, what sticks in Wes Unseld's mind is a reception he got on his arrival in Baltimore as the Bullets' top pick in the 1968 NBA draft. Welcoming, it was not. "I was watching TV in my room at the Lord Baltimore Hotel, and this sportscaster, Charley Eckman, came on. He was screaming and hollering that the Bullets were idiots for drafting a slow, 6-foot-7 center from Louisville," Unseld recalled. "Well, Charlie was wrong. I was 6-foot-6. " Then Unseld, the second player picked in the draft, stepped onto the basketball court and took the skeptics to task.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. bought the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore Hotel at auction yesterday for $6.85 million, closing the books on a failed effort to restore the 66-year-old hotel to its glory days.The FDIC put the property up for auction after LBH Associates L.P. of Rockville defaulted on a $16 million promissory note from Bowery Savings of New York. The federal agency will take title to the hotel after a Circuit Court judge in Baltimore certifies the sale.LBH received its original loan in 1985 from both Bowery and Yorkridge-Calvert Savings & Loan of Baltimore, but Bowery bought out Yorkridge's interest in 1986.

Joyce McCartney Ward, an activist in historic preservation causes who helped establish the Irish Shrine in Southwest Baltimore, died of cancer Aug. 4 at her Bolton Hill home. She was 81. Born Joyce McCartney in Baltimore, she attended Garrison Junior High School with her future husband, Thomas Ward, who would later serve on the City Council and later as a city Circuit Court judge. She and Mr. Ward had been neighbors as children. She was a 1947 graduate of Forest Park High School and worked for many years for Dr. Raymond Robinson, a dermatologist.

Marie Victoria Janocha Anderson, a longtime employee of the Lord Baltimore Hotel who once owned an East Baltimore restaurant, died Wednesday of natural causes at St. Agnes Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Ellicott City, where she had lived for about three years. The former Fort Howard resident was 94. Marie Janocha was born on Bank Street in 1908 and attended the Holy Rosary School through the eighth grade. She was married for 22 years to John C. Anderson, a railroad engineer, who died in 1960.

WASHINGTON -- House Republican freshmen, who met in Baltimore a year ago to prepare for their tumultuous first session as the driving force in the Republican-led Congress, are headed back to the city today for a mid-term refresher.This year's Republican retreat at the Lord Baltimore Hotel will be much shorter than the three-day session in December 1994. Thanks to the prolonged budget negotiations and an eagerness to return to the campaign trial, the lawmakers will be in Baltimore for less than 24 hours -- from this evening until tomorrow afternoon.

Morton S. Busick, a well-know Baltimore hotelier and former vice president of the Lord Baltimore Hotel Co., died Sunday of pneumonia at Union Memorial Hospital. He was 92 and a resident of Roland Park Place. Mr. Busick was the last surviving member of his generation of a family that had been associated with Baltimore hotels since the early part of the century. His father, Harry Busick, owned the Caswell Hotel at Baltimore and Hanover streets, which opened a year after the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has put the Lord Baltimore Hotel on the auction block, saying that a partnership led by Rockville developer Saul Perlmutter has defaulted on a $16 million loan that has grown to more than $22 million with back interest.Alex Cooper Auctioneers Inc. will try to sell the building May 15 at noon, said Paul R. Cooper, vice president of the firm. The auction will be held at the site.The historic hotel, built in 1926 and renovated by Mr. Perlmutter in 1985, isn't a stranger to financial trouble, said Mr. Cooper, whose grandfather auctioned off the building more than 20 years ago.The loan was originally made by Yorkridge Savings & Loan Association to finance the renovation but was sold later to a New York thrift.

Joyce McCartney Ward, an activist in historic preservation causes who helped establish the Irish Shrine in Southwest Baltimore, died of cancer Aug. 4 at her Bolton Hill home. She was 81. Born Joyce McCartney in Baltimore, she attended Garrison Junior High School with her future husband, Thomas Ward, who would later serve on the City Council and later as a city Circuit Court judge. She and Mr. Ward had been neighbors as children. She was a 1947 graduate of Forest Park High School and worked for many years for Dr. Raymond Robinson, a dermatologist.

Forty-four years later, what sticks in Wes Unseld's mind is a reception he got on his arrival in Baltimore as the Bullets' top pick in the 1968 NBA draft. Welcoming, it was not. "I was watching TV in my room at the Lord Baltimore Hotel, and this sportscaster, Charley Eckman, came on. He was screaming and hollering that the Bullets were idiots for drafting a slow, 6-foot-7 center from Louisville," Unseld recalled. "Well, Charlie was wrong. I was 6-foot-6. " Then Unseld, the second player picked in the draft, stepped onto the basketball court and took the skeptics to task.

A melia Earhart's name is back in the news these days with the recent release of the Hollywood biopic "Amelia," starring Hilary Swank as the ill-fated flier, and Richard Gere as George Putnam, her husband, publisher and public relations executive. Critics have not exactly given soaring reviews to this film treatment of the pioneering aviator's life and accomplishments. "The filmmakers spend so much time turning her into a dopey romantic figure that they never give her the animating, vital will or even much of a personality that might explain how a Kansas tomboy turned Boston social worker took to the skies and then, through her deeds and words, encouraged other women to chart their own courses," Manohla Dargis wrote last month in The New York Times.

Elizabeth B. Paynter, who had been the secretary to the president of the Johns Hopkins University and was later a Rouse Co. manager, died of complications from pneumonia Sunday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. A former resident of the Keswick area of North Baltimore, she was 91. Born Elizabeth Beidler and raised in Oakville, Pa., she moved to Baltimore after attending business school. She worked in the manager's office of the Lord Baltimore Hotel before becoming secretary to George Boas, a Hopkins philosophy professor.

Thirty years ago a friend told me The Sun was looking for a restaurant critic. I was young and fearless, and I decided to try out for the job by writing a couple of columns. In my wildest dreams I never imagined I would still be writing about crab cakes and cheesecake well into the next millennium. My first column was published on March 30, 1973. It's a small coincidence that today is three decades later to the day, but it's started me thinking about the changes in the Baltimore food scene over the years -- and the changes in me as a restaurant critic.

Marie Victoria Janocha Anderson, a longtime employee of the Lord Baltimore Hotel who once owned an East Baltimore restaurant, died Wednesday of natural causes at St. Agnes Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Ellicott City, where she had lived for about three years. The former Fort Howard resident was 94. Marie Janocha was born on Bank Street in 1908 and attended the Holy Rosary School through the eighth grade. She was married for 22 years to John C. Anderson, a railroad engineer, who died in 1960.

FRANK LIDINSKY, who collects records, is himself something of a broken one, but I kind of like him that way. Almost every year at this time, he slips me a little reminder of what happened on this date in Baltimore history: The Beatles came to town. The Beatles. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Paul McCartney's band before Wings. John, Paul, George and the luckiest drummer boy who ever lived. They appeared at the then-new Arena (nee Civic Center) for two shows on Sept. 13, 1964. It was the biggest thing to happen to downtown Baltimore since the Great Fire of '04. It was certainly the biggest thing that ever happened to Frank Lidinsky, who was there.

Alvina E. Daley, 85, elementary school teacher Alvina E. Daley, a retired elementary school teacher, died Monday of Alzheimer's disease at Stella Maris Hospice. She was 85 and lived in Canton. She was a first-grade teacher at Sacred Heart of Jesus parochial school in Highlandtown in the 1950s and taught at Blessed Sacrament School in Charleston, S.C., until her retirement in 1975. Born in Baltimore, the former Alvina E. Ruggiero was reared in Canton and attended Patterson High School.

BALTIMOREFor more Baltimore convention information, call the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association at (410) 659-7300 within Maryland or (800) 343-3468 from outside Maryland.* May 22-25 Associated Public Safety Communications Officers, Hunt Valley Inn. Contact: Weldon Hale. Expected attendance: 350* May 22-26 Optical Society of America, conference, Baltimore Convention Center. Contact: Larry Lottridge. Expected attendance: 5,500* May 24-27 Association of Food and Drug Officials, Omni International Hotel.

Morton S. Busick, a well-know Baltimore hotelier and former vice president of the Lord Baltimore Hotel Co., died Sunday of pneumonia at Union Memorial Hospital. He was 92 and a resident of Roland Park Place. Mr. Busick was the last surviving member of his generation of a family that had been associated with Baltimore hotels since the early part of the century. His father, Harry Busick, owned the Caswell Hotel at Baltimore and Hanover streets, which opened a year after the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904.

PARTY ANIMAL alert -- the next couple of months are filled with such a variety of parties that there is something for every taste and purse. Nothing like socializing to beat the winter blues, so take a look and make a reservation. And perhaps I'll see you there!FEBRUARY:7: CARNIVALE, Mardi Gras Bash, Belvedere Hotel, 1 East Chase St.; gaming tables, auctions and dancing with the Paint & Powder Club as host; benefits the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation; 8 p.m.; $55; (410) 771-9000.7: First Greater Baltimore Chapter Lacrosse Hall of Fame Induction Celebration, Marriott Hunt Valley Inn, Interstate 83 and Shawan Road; cocktails, dinner ceremony; 7 p.m.; black tie preferred; $65; (410)