Pennsylvania Station

Commercials for Amtrak's Acela ask, "What's your destination?" The answer better not be Baltimore. Late last month, without fanfare, Amtrak began running two Acela Express trains that bypass Baltimore, snubbing the city that was home to the nation's first railroad line in 1830. The new express trains run between New York and Washington with only one stop - in Philadelphia. This is just what Baltimore needs: In a sweltering summer, with the homicide numbers climbing with the mercury, Amtrak has made it a little harder to get out of town.

When Clark Gable first visited Baltimore in 1929 to perform in David Belasco's "Blind Window" at the city's Ford's Theater, nobody met him at Penn Station. No reporter requested an interview, and no photographs were taken. No fans mobbed him as he made his way to a Charles Street taxi.The Sun's drama critic wrote of his performance, "Clark Gabel does excellent work as convict No. 27." But having his name spelled wrong in the newspaper and the playbill wasn't the only indignity Gable suffered.

An article in Sunday's editions about the Central Light Rail Line extension into Pennsylvania Station did not correctly identify the former B & P Railroad as the Baltimore & Potomac.The Sun regrets the errors.Pub Date: 8/19/97

An article in Sunday's editions about the Central Light Rail Line extension into Pennsylvania Station did not correctly identify the former B & P Railroad as the Baltimore & Potomac.The Sun regrets the errors.Denis R. Cournoyer's eyes grew wide as he studied the blueprints before him.After comparing the draftsman's strokes with a topographic map of Baltimore, he rushed out to a parking lot off Mount Royal Avenue to confirm his worst fears."Holy Mary and Joseph," said the engineer.What Cournoyer and his staff were being asked to do in spring 1993 was build a connection from Baltimore's Central Light Rail Line to Pennsylvania Station.

Planes, trains and buses will be operating today in Baltimore. But expect fewer of them.And, travelers, prepare for delays.Baltimore-Washington International Airport is scheduled to have one of four runways cleared of snow and open. But passengers -- including the 50 or so stranded there -- should check with their airlines to determine the times for arrivals and departures.Airline passengers should expect some flights to be canceled; the airport usually handles 600 to 650 flights a day when all four runways are open, officials said.

My journey has ended where it started, on a wooden bench in Baltimore's Pennsylvania Station.I have traveled by train from Baltimore to Los Angeles and back: three days going, three coming, with a monthlong layover to visit with family.There have been many stops along the way, in one-room train stations and in modern commuter hubs. Some depots were little more than platforms at a roadside. In others, Spanish tiles and Western art spoke of regional history.Large or small, old or new, the stations had much in common: the drama of arrivals and departures, played out daily in waiting rooms and at track side.

Thomas A. Lilly, a Lutherville entertainer, travels throughout metropolitan Baltimore frequently and spots all kinds of signs for roads and traffic. But one sign he seldom sees is for Pennsylvania Station.That's in stark contrast, he said, to the many signs for Baltimore-Washington International Airport on the Beltway, Interstate 95 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway."But what about directions to the train station?" Mr. Lilly asked. "We dropped off a friend intent on taking in the sights of the Big Apple, and the first sign [for the train station]

An article in yesterday's editions of The Sun gave an incorrect phone number for the Penn Station Sensation benefit on Dec. 2. The correct number is 633-5789.The Sun regrets the error.Torta rusticana and lobster to go at our Pennsylvania Station? How about a glass of merlot before catching the Yankee Clipper?You've got to be kidding.Rail travelers used to Baltimore's strictly no-frills terminal, where the food choices had been confined to a menu of ham sandwiches and coffee, are being confronted daily by a culinary selection that might make Martha Stewart look twice.

Question: What Baltimore landmark was visited by Queen Mary, Babe Ruth, Clark Gable, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Jimmy Carter?Answer: Pennsylvania Station.We don't attach the rosy aura of history to Baltimore's main Amtrak station.But it is time this 1911 work of solid and honest architecture was given some applause. Thanks to writer-historian Frank Wrabel, there's now a concise, well-documented history of Baltimore's fine old passenger station.His 51-page article, published with excellent color and black-and-white photos, is called "Terminals, Tunnels and Turmoil, the History of Pennsylvania Station -- Baltimore."

With Baltimore's light rail system finally drawing substantial numbers of patrons, Intrepid Commuter is beginning to hear questions arise.When will they build the extension to Hunt Valley? To Baltimore-Washington International Airport? To Pennsylvania Station?In October, the Federal Transit Administration approved environmental-impact statements for all three extensions, paving the way (if you transit advocates will pardon the expression) for ,, the Mass Transit Administration to build them.

City officials plan to unveil a multiphase plan today to transform a 100-acre arts and entertainment district north of Pennsylvania Station into a $1 billion "cultural crossroads" for Baltimore over the next three decades. Mayor Sheila Dixon is set to endorse the initiative for the Charles North renewal area, which is centered on the intersection of Charles Street and North Avenue and includes the state-designated Station North arts and entertainment district. The Charles North Vision Plan includes 1,900 residences, 557,000 square feet of shopping space, 300,000 square feet of office space and 4,700 parking spaces in the area roughly bounded by St. Paul Street on the east, 20th and 21st streets on the north, Howard Street and Falls Road on the west and the Jones Falls Valley on the south.

It has taken more than 30 years to see the void at Eutaw and Camden streets filled with the new Convention Center hotel. But it happened in 2007, a year when it seems that projects appeared in brick and steel after years as just ideas. The west side of downtown Baltimore had plenty going on this year. So much happened that it caused me to recall nearly 35 years ago when the grand old Hotel Joyce was ripped apart. A wrecker sold some of its stained-glass windows to a neighbor of mine who outfitted his Lovegrove Alley carriage house with stuff from the hotel that once faced Camden Station.

What is it about public art that sparks such passionate debate? It usually begins with a generous impulse: to honor a prominent citizen, beautify the city, show respect for the importance of art in our lives. But the process of deciding just what art to put where frequently inspires strong disagreement - contention that, on reflection, has obvious roots. Public art is meant to provoke, to enlighten, to provide new ways of seeing the world around us. To be successful, an artist must have freedom to create.

Commercials for Amtrak's Acela ask, "What's your destination?" The answer better not be Baltimore. Late last month, without fanfare, Amtrak began running two Acela Express trains that bypass Baltimore, snubbing the city that was home to the nation's first railroad line in 1830. The new express trains run between New York and Washington with only one stop - in Philadelphia. This is just what Baltimore needs: In a sweltering summer, with the homicide numbers climbing with the mercury, Amtrak has made it a little harder to get out of town.

NEW YORK - As subway riders poured into Pennsylvania Station, a police officer stopped Ahmed Mohammed and asked him to open his backpack. The Pakistani-born engineer, who was visiting New York with his family, shrugged and agreed to the search. He looked embarrassed as the officer quickly examined its contents - T-shirts and presents purchased at Macy's - and then waved him through the turnstile. Heading for the rush hour train, Mohammed was angry. "We all want to feel safe, after what happened in London," the 29-year-old tourist said.

The federal government will contribute $1.7 million for projects in Baltimore to extend the Jones Falls Trail from Pennsylvania Station to Woodberry and restore historic Mount Royal Station, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. announced yesterday. The 2.75-mile Jones Falls Trail extension will link Penn Station and the Woodberry Light Rail stop and provide "a great way to get around Baltimore," Ehrlich said in a written statement. The trail segment, which will cost $1.6 million, will wind through Druid Hill Park.

City officials approved the sale of Baltimore's historic Railway Express building yesterday to developers who plan to put 30 loft-style apartments in the former parcel post office. Railway Express LLC will pay the city $1.2 million for the building at 1501 St. Paul St. under the deal approved by the Board of Estimates. The official purchase price is $2 million, but the city has granted an $800,000 credit toward that price because of environmental and structural problems with the building.

In the heart of Baltimore's year-old arts district near Pennsylvania Station, a shuttered city elementary school is going from drab to dressed up for tomorrow's daylong sidewalk festival. Art student Michele Clark, one of those chosen for the public art project, applied a rectangle of fabric festooned with pastel colors to a piece of plywood boarding up a window of the former Mildred Monroe Elementary School in the 1600 block of Guilford Ave. Clark, 21, a senior at Maryland Institute College of Art, said the design she created, reminiscent of her native Georgia, was a deliberate counterpart to February's chilly skies.

They converged from all over town yesterday to stand on the new Charles Street bridge, drinking white wine, swaying to live jazz music and watching a Korean dance troupe kick off a long-anticipated event -- the official reopening of Baltimore's main thoroughfare. "We're ready," said Dan Gilbert, a Midtown neighborhood leader, as he stood on the bridge during a lively block party last night. "I think the area will really pop now." The new bridge opens today after an oft-delayed construction project detoured traffic from one of the city's most crucial passages for three years, splitting the street in two. After a ribbon-cutting ceremony today, Charles Street will become whole again and traffic will be able to navigate north past Pennsylvania Station.

Bring in the artists for an emergency operation: urban revival in one of Baltimore's most forlorn patches. At the request of Mayor Martin O'Malley, a small army of artists is to descend today on a bedraggled, crime-ridden area of midtown Baltimore for the opening of the city's new Arts and Entertainment District. The debut arts district, called Station North, is the latest experiment by officials to try to improve run-down city neighborhoods. "As another mayor told me, artists are the Marines of economic development because they'll go where others won't," O'Malley said.