What I remember

 When I moved to Baltimore.

I loaded up Teemu & a couple suitcases in my Mitsubishi Mirage and drove most of the day & into the night,  out of Nashville and past the Smokies into the Virginias and the mid-Atlantic.  Crazy or brave or probably a little bit of both.
I drank a lot of shitty gas station coffee & wound up at a dingy hotel that didn't mind the cat.  Next day I moved to a decent Red Roof Inn near Towson that had a weekly rate (after checking in & out of a 'family hotel' that was swimming in roached).

I was near a bookstore & a weird 60's looking psuedo-Tudor bar with decent food. I had a few friends in Fairfax.  They introduced me to someone to help me apartment hunt & the recommendation was to head down into the city & see what I liked.

So I took a long bus ride that ended at the foot of Broadway in front of the market in Fells Point.  
I always tell people that Richard Belzer was the first person I saw in Baltimore.  Obviously not entirely true because I'd been to hotels & met up with Tom.

But that was like, my 3rd or 4th night.  I meant to wander around and check out apartments but stepped off that bus and around the corner right onto Thames St and the #Homicide crew filming.  There was the City Pier in all it's glory,  used as both the police station and production facility for the series.  Belzer was walking down the steps.  They were on the other side of the street so I watched for a bit, walking towards Ann St past the Daily Grind, the Waterfront,  Cat's Eye....all the spots I knew from the series.
Finally I sat down in Kooper's for a beer and some dinner.  Met their nice Irish bartender. Probably drank a Rolling Rock, though a DeGroen's Marzen was my usual there in all the years to come.
It was my favorite place in Baltimore.  I eventually meet Kooper, the gorgeous namesake and his sweet chocolate Lab sibling, Woody.  Their owners Pat & Katie, who eventually had twins.  Never wound up working there but we talked about it.
But the Admiral Fell Inn was close by & we had a great relationship.  My boss used to give me gift certificates as a bonus when I'd do a project for him.
I took every one who visited me there and folks I knew from Logan's.  Chris has been.  & mom adored it.  she went there for Sunday brunch without me when I went back to Tennessee for all my furniture.  They were great to her & didn't put peas in their chicken pot pie. Her idea of heaven.
I don't recall any bad service experiences, no matter how busy.

If you know me you know I love Homicide:Life On The Street.  I'm not great at 'favorites' but if I'm honest it is my favorite show ever. There's things I've loved before and since but I always come back to it.
It's interesting to rewatch.  Once in awhile I do the whole series. Usually it's a season or one of the specials - the Fire, Hostages, the Kathryn Bigelow 2 part.  So much of it holds us and many of you now know the likes of Andre Braugher and Melissa Leo from other work. Their line up of directors is unparalleled.
I was a well behaved stalker.  I got on with my life.  I was there for the final season filming & when they did the movie.  I didn't seek out watching them film but I used to run into people.  Giancarlo Esposito stayed at our hotel once in awhile.  Toni Lewis grabbing lunch at the bar. 
Turned out Koopers upstairs space is where cast & crew met up to watch on Fridays.
So what I remember is Clark Johnson heading down the stairs in very Meldrick Lewis duster.  Kyle Secor helping the staff carry food upstairs. 
That sort of thing.

Sometimes I wish I'd tried harder - to maybe work on the show in some way.  But I loved my experiences.  Being an #HLOTS fan is how I became friends with Sean Condon.....well, besides adoring his writing.
I've been looking back at it and some 90s shows as research for a documentary.  As with everything, it doesn't all hold up.  It's sure interesting to watch the change in technology in police procedurals (I got my first cell at Radio Shack in Baltimore).  
There's some performers who now seem overdone and some characters who are as timeless as ever.
Any one who's seen him knows Andre Braugher is a once in a life time talent.  Kyle Secor deserved more recognition for how they worked together.  They got raves for the Adena storyline & always should, along with Moses Gunn.
But season 5 deserved more notice.
Erik Todd Dellums as Luther Mahoney remains one of the best villains ever in television.  His final face off with Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson) is amazing.  I hear that cackle of a laugh and wish he'd get a shot at playing the Joker.  And few people can change gears like Clark Johnson.  I adore an actor who can speak volumes with their face and body & no words.  He is that but also hilarious & outraged in turns.
Just go look at "Deception" (S5E20).  Reed Diamond is great too but over that whole season - the face offs between Lewis and Mahoney are brilliant.


So that's what I remember.  I remember drinking Marzen & eating crab dip & walking around the Harbor & having good work mates at the hotel.  And I remember loving dialogue and discovering new actors and new music.  Chris Tergesen provided genius choices to soundtrack that show.

I don't think I'll ever move back but it's a city I love so very much.  One of my favorite places I've lived.

But I'll sit here drinking my Baltimore Blonde and thinking about a visit.  Soon.  The City Pier building is a hotel now so I can so soak in some of those vibes and remember....