Baltimore's Inner Harbor

A little background information from Wikipedia: The Inner Harbor was chiefly a light freight commercial port and passenger port until the 1950s, when economic shifts ended both the freight and passenger use of the Inner Harbor, such as the Old Bay Line's steamers. Rotting warehouses and piers were eventually torn down and replaced by open, grass-covered parkland that was used for recreational purposes and occasional large events, such as city fairs and the significant 1976 bicentennial visit of tall ships. This initial renewal of the harbor area and its continued transformation into a major cultural and economic area of the city was spearheaded by Baltimore Mayor William Donald Schaefer (1971-1987). Harborplace, the waterfront festival marketplace, officially opened on July 1, 1980. Since being reincarnated as a cultural hub, the Inner Harbor has become the home to many tourist attractions. The two anchor attractions, in addition to Harborplace, are the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the Maryland Science Center.


Although a well-designed and highly successful urban redevelopment project, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor primary purpose is to separate consumers from their money – a festival marketplace of consumption. The businesses located there are all familiar national names: ESPN Zone, Hard Rock Café, Barnes & Noble, Sheraton, Marriott. Any local color the area once had, no matter how gaudy or unpleasant, has been completely squeezed out of the picture.

I framed the above photo so that you can't see the Festival Marketplace of Consumption to the immeidate right.

The 32-story Baltimore World Trade Center (shown above), the world's tallest equilateral 5-sided building, provides a panoramic view from its observation deck, "The Top of the World".

Or so I'm told.

"Interested in going up there?" I asked JoAnna.

As she has a fear of heights, particularly ascending tall building, she didn't answer my question.

JoAnna and Eddie visited the National Aquarium during spring break in March 2004. Andy and I, on the other hand, traveled to Minneapolis to see Wisconsin and Marquette play in the NCAA Sweet 16 at the Metrodome.

In spite of its aggressively commercial nature, Inner Harbor is still a fun place to spend some time, especially when the weather cooperates, as it did during our two hours of walking and 45 minutes of sipping sangria and eating tapas – and watching the passing parade of people from the second-floor dining balcony of La Tasca. We would have been content to sit there for awhile longer and drink another pitcher of sangria, but that would have meant delaying our trip to Havre de Grace, and a visit with JoAnna's brother and his family, until the next morning.


Baltimore is home to the Domino Sugar Corporation. For years, Domino® Sugar has been one of your favorite sugars, its website trumpets. Is this true?