Thames Street

About a month ago the Thames Street Tavern opened a very nice, newly renovated upstairs dining room. Fells Point restaurants seem to acquire a patina almost immediately -- you don't expect them to look this new and fresh. The dining room is being solAbout a month ago the Thames Street Tavern opened a very nice, newly renovated upstairs dining room. Fells Point restaurants seem to acquire a patina almost immediately -- you don't expect them to look this new and fresh. The dining room is being sold as having the best waterfront view in Fells Point, and I won't dispute it. When the windows are open, and a breeze is blowing through the tree right outside, and you can watch the little boats coming in . . . well, almost anything would taste good.

So far, so good.Preliminary plans for the development of the former AlliedSignal chemical plant, perhaps the most attractive -- and certainly the most troublesome -- tract on the Inner Harbor, have been presented to the City Council for approval. Unlike some other major schemes for the Baltimore waterfront, the proposal received largely upbeat reviews from potential neighbors, who have participated in months of negotiations over the proposal. By and large, they like what they see, though some have reservations, and some remain opposed to the planned development of the peninsula that marks the entry to the Inner Harbor.

Few development projects at highly sensitive locations have had the preliminary attention accorded to the site of the old AlliedSignal chemical plant on the Inner Harbor. Instead of dropping a wrapped package at City Hall's doorstep, AlliedSignal and its local advisers have held extensive negotiations -- involving real give and take -- for 10 months. Not everyone between the harbor and Fells Point is satisfied, but so far, so good.The AlliedSignal rendering calls for a mixture of housing, offices, shops and public facilities on the 27-acre site.

Standing at the foot of Broadway, you sense immediately that you are in a historical area. The port alive with activity, the old houses, storefronts, and warehouses, the mix of people and land uses, the sheer density all suggest an earlier time, before automobiles and suburbs. Walk along Thames Street, turn into one of the narrow side streets, and imagine it lined with the homes and shops of tailors and blacksmiths and shoemakers, with small grocery and drygoods stores, with boardinghouses and taverns and coffeehouses.

Brown's Wharf, Fells Point. Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays to Wednesdays; 8 a.m. to 3 a.m. Thursdays to Saturdays. Call 276-5751.Rosalie Spence, owner of the Deli, is a familiar face. Visitors to the Brown's Wharf shop quickly recognize her from the days when she sold hot pretzels and popcorn at the Brokerage and in Fells Point. Now she sells Belgian waffles, raisin nut logs, bagels, breakfasts, sandwiches, salads and desserts at a friendly storefront on Thames Street.The Deli just opened three weeks ago, so it's not without new business pains -- a wait here, no seafood salad there -- but don't let that stop you from trying the healthy-sized combination sandwiches that come with creamy coleslaw and chips ($5.50)

On Thames Street, where you couldn't move from point A to point B without blockers in front of you at the Fells Point Festival, the old guy pointed east toward Boston Street and said he'd lived there for 45 years.''Of course,'' he said, ''the neighborhood's changing now.''''Changing?'' somebody asked.''Yeah,'' the old guy said thoughtfully. ''The young people are coming here now, and they're all moving into these new condoms.''''Condominiums,'' a woman said softly. ''You mean condominiums, don't you?

Because of the crush of people, there were times yesterday when it looked as if Thames Street might break off from the city's mainland and fall into the harbor.Where there weren't people, there were beer taps. The Fells Point Fun Festival delivered everything it promised -- fun and people of good cheer. This is the city's greatest annual gathering of people.The weekend's warm, flawless weather seemed to bring out the whole world under the age of 30. Saturday's crowd was estimated at 90,000.