Royal Avenue

BEFORE MORE time passes and this story gets buried in the closet of forgotten deeds, I bring forth Officer Bonnie T. Low of the University of Baltimore campus police. Attention must be paid. Two weeks ago, during an afternoon rush hour, Low acted quickly and probably saved a couple of people who were unaware of the danger they were in.Low, on duty at a university parking lot, saw a cab traveling up Cathedral Street near Mount Royal Avenue -- and it was on fire. Smoke was under it, smoke behind it. Flames lapped at the doors.

HAVRE DE GRACE -- Isn't it, like, just awesome the way young people on American high school and college campuses have embraced and refined the new digital technology?Take the Maryland Institute College of Art, which some of its neighbors wish you would.There, just as the daffodils were coming into bloom, assorted six-foot fingers suddenly sprouted from the earth in the median strip of Mount Royal Avenue. One of them appeared to be wearing a condom. It was a subtle blending of art and science.

Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, kicked off Baltimore's 13th Artscape festival last night, playing to a crowd estimated at 120,000. It was the largest crowd for an opening night of the festival, organizers said.Her performance was the centerpiece of the first night of the annual weekend of music, food, crafts, exhibitions and literary events. Organizers predicted that a record number of people would attend the three-day festival.The crowd packed the entire main stage area in front of the old Mount Royal Station Building and spilled out into Mount Royal Avenue.

ARTSCAPE '93, Baltimore's annual celebration of the arts, takes place 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday and noon to 10:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday outside the Maryland Institute on Mount Royal Avenue. Baltimore City Public Works Director George G. Balog yesterday announced several changes in traffic patterns in the area that will be in effect during the three-day festival. Some of the changes went into effect Monday.CLOSURES (through 11 a.m. Monday)Already in effect: The 1200 block of Mount Royal Avenue, curb lanes only; 1300 block of Mount Royal Avenue, median (left lanes)

Last year was a banner year for Mount Vernon, the neighborhood surrounding the city's premiere square. The Hackerman House was renovated to accommodate the Walters Art Gallery's Asian collection. The Waterloo Place apartments added the choice of spanking new residences to an area where historic town houses dominate. And the Peabody Institute began the conversion of three decrepit town houses in the 600 block of North Charles Street into an elderhostel for senior citizens taking music-related courses.

If one could trace the annual Maryland Institute faculty exhibits over, say, the past 30 years or so, one would probably find some significant changes and equally significant survivals -- painting has survived as a discipline, for instance, but 30 years ago it was probably mainly abstract instead of mainly figural.From year to year, however, one tends to notice certain constants and a few little blips of surprise. The show reflects a good, solid faculty which surely in turn reflects an equally solid curriculum.

Artscape '91 will give Baltimoreans their 10th annual rendezvous with the arts tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, but it will tie up traffic around the Maryland Institute on Mount Royal Avenue, city transit officials said.Exhibits and booths will be open from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. tomorrow and noon to 10:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.Street closures* Cathedral Street from Preston Street to Mount Royal Avenue until 6 a.m. Monday.* North and southbound Mount Royal Avenue from North Avenue to Maryland Avenue until 11 a.m. Monday.

Artscape '91 will offer art and entertainment for the whole family this weekend.Whether you're looking for visual arts, poetry or short-story readings, music, crafts, things for the kids to do or just lots of good food you'll find it along Mount Royal Avenue from 6 to 10:30 p.m. Friday and from noon to 10:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.Musical entertainment primarily will be at two locations: Decker Stage, in front of Mount Royal Station Building, and Fox Stage, on Mount Royal Avenue, between Lanvale and Lafayette streets.

TODAYNoon: Registration for building with Tyco Super Blocks (lobbyLyric Opera House).1 p.m.: Go Global! International performances for children presents African storytelling (Decker Auditorium).Art-Ventures Children's Activities Tent features art activities promoting literacy until 8 p.m. (AAA Parking Lot, Fox Building).Creative landscaping for children using 100,000 Tyco Super Blocks (lobby, Lyric Opera House).1:30 p.m.: Family Performance Tent features "Wacky Hats" paper-plate sculpture workshop (AAA Parking Lot, Mount Royal Avenue)

The Maryland Institute College of Art stands atop Mount Royal Avenue like a white marble wedding cake.This 1908 art school is one of the crowning landmarks of Bolton Hill, a building modeled after a Florentine palace.This summer, after two years of renovation and $5 million worth of construction work, the institute's most remarkable building dazzles once again. And, as ever, it's filled with young students who impart a sense of humor to this stately and serious building.This grand art school/palace at Mount Royal and Lanvale Street is worth a visit.

University of Baltimore and Maryland Institute College of Art officials are focusing attention and money on the areas adjacent to Baltimore's Penn Station with a goal of wresting a more attractive and recognizable neighborhood from parking lots and random, underused spaces. They have identified a spine along Mount Royal Avenue, from North Avenue to Calvert Street, as a unifying corridor the two educational institutions can enhance. They are thinking beyond trees and new curbs to apartments and shops, a joint student-community recreation center and, in their distant dreams, a soccer field above the Jones Falls Expressway.

The parking lot at the northeast corner of Charles Street and Mount Royal Avenue is due to become the University of Baltimore's new law school building. Attorney and Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos has made a major gift to the school, and the Abell Foundation is backing an architectural competition for the very visible downtown crossroads. I can recall when this corner was not a parking lot but contained shops and businesses, all of which were far from glamorous. They were part of the fabric of the upper Mount Vernon-Belvedere neighborhood and were handy little parts of city living.

Note: Events free. Other events take place on and off site. Go to artscape.org for more information. Music Main Stage: 1400 Cathedral St. at Mount Royal Avenue / National, international and regional artists. *4 p.m. tomorrow: Mia Miata, soul *5:30 p.m. tomorrow: Groove Stu, neo-soul *8:30 p.m. tomorro w: Roberta Flack, soul *1 p.m. Saturday: Reverb, a cappella *2 p.m. Saturday: Kia Heath, R&B *3:30 p.m. Saturday: JSoul, R&B *5 p.m. Saturday: Rye-Rye, DJ Class and K-Swift, hip-hop *7 p.m. Saturday: Mario, R&B *8:30 p.m. Saturday: Dru Hill, R&B *1 p.m. Sunday: 3 the Hard Way, roots *3 p.m. Sunday: See I, roots/reggae *4:30 p.m. Sunday: SOJA, reggae *6:30 p.m. Sunday: The Wailers, reggae Saturn Stage: Mount Royal Avenue (near Mosher Street)

Numerous streets near the Maryland Institute College of Art will be closed as workers prepare for the Artscape celebration that begins Friday, according to the city's Department of Transportation. Dolphin Street between Mount Royal Avenue and Howard Street closed on Friday and will remain shut to traffic through 5 p.m. July 22. Starting 7 a.m. today through July 22, these streets will be off-limits to traffic: * The northside and southside curb lanes of Mount Royal Avenue from North to Maryland avenues.

A male driver and his female companion were fatally shot last night on a Bolton Hill street in what police believe was a road rage confrontation. The names of the victims, both described as adults, were being withheld pending notification of family members, a police spokesman said. Witnesses told police that about 6 p.m., a man and woman in a white Ford Crown Victoria were involved in a verbal dispute with two men in a green Volkswagen Jetta while the vehicles were westbound on West North Avenue not far from Mount Royal Avenue, said Agent Donny Moses, the spokesman.

Music Sun/Live! Stage 1400 Cathedral St. at Mount Royal Avenue Today noon --Carl Filipiak, jazz 1:30 p.m. --Charles "Big Daddy" Stallings, blues 3 p.m. --TBD 4:30 p.m. --Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, soul/blues 6:30 p.m. --Michael Franti and Spearhead, roots reggae United Way Stage Mount Royal Avenue near Lafayette Street Today noon --Guy Robinson and Friends, contemporary gospel 1:30 p.m. --Junkyard Saints, zydeco 3 p.m. --Mikey Jr. and...

Sun/Live! Stage 1400 Cathedral St. at Mount Royal Avenue 4 p.m. -- Thomas Williams, soul 5:30 p.m. --Sharon Thomas, rhythm and blues/jazz 7 p.m. --Fertile Ground, neo-soul 8:30 p.m. --Teena Marie, rhythm and blues/soul United Way Stage Mount Royal Avenue near Lafayette Street 5 p.m. --The Jarflys, rock 6:30 p.m. --Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, bluegrass 8:30 p.m. --Citizen Cope, alternative rock University of Baltimore Stage University of...

Street closures, parking limits are under way for Artscape The Baltimore Department of Transportation has begun closing streets and restricting parking around the Maryland Institute, College of Art, in preparation for the annual Artscape weekend July 21 through July 23. Officials are urging people who attend the celebration of the arts to use public transportation. The Light Rail has a stop at Mount Royal Avenue, which is on the festival grounds, and will have extended hours that weekend.

On Thursday, June 29, 2006, ALFRED M. WALPERT; beloved husband of Ferne Walpert (nee Levin); loving father of Bonnie Abadie, of Portland, OR, Sara Foster, of Marble Head, MA and David Walpert, of Los Angeles, CA; loving father-in-law of Bill Abadie, Sam Foster and Gail Walpert; devoted brother of Eileen Levy, of Atlanta, GA and Harold W. Walpert, of Baltimore, MD; beloved grandfather of Meg Foster, Rachel Foster and Eliza Walpert. Services at SOL LEVINSON & BROS., INC., 8900 Reisterstown Road at Mt. Wilson Lane, on Friday, June 30, at 11 A.M. Interment Arlington Cemetery-Chizuk Amuno Congregation, 4300 N. Rogers Avenue.

On Tuesday June 27, LYNN VINOCUR KREIL (nee Weiss); loving wife of Eduard Kreil of Lake Placid, NY; beloved mother of Dr. Leigh Vinocur of Owings Mills, MD and Laurence Vinocur of Redondo Beach, CA; loving grandmother of Max Gold. Services at SOL LEVINSON & BROS., INC., 8900 Reisterstown Road at Mt. Wilson Lane, on Friday, June 30, at 12 Noon. Interment Har Sinai Cemetery, Garrison Forest Road. Please omit flowers, contributions in her memory may be directed to Chana, a program of the Associated Jewish, Charities, 101 W. Mt. Royal Avenue (21201)