baltimoresun.com | archive back to 1990

For Turkey Joe Trabert and his wife, Sherry, = moving to=20 Hamilton from Fells Point, where they had rehabbed and lived in a = Chester=20 Street rowhouse, meant getting away from the prying eyes and = questions of=20 neighbors who were more interested in their business than in their = own.=20 Besides, both are collectors and devoted gardeners, and what = caught their=20 eye immediately was Hamilton's eclectic mix of architecture, which = ranges=20 from rambling Victorians to 1920s-era stucco bungalows and large = and=20 comfortable clapboard and cedar-shaked homes.

He collects beer, Elvis, nautical and baseball memorabilia, = opera=20 recordings and movie books. She, a master gardener and gourmet = cook,=20 collects gardening and cook books and ceramic cheese shakers.

Mutually, they collect snow domes, those little gewgaws = that when=20 turned upside down snow on somebody or something inside the glass = bubble.=20 Several hundred fill shelves built in front of an eastern-facing = window=20 that catches the morning light and illuminates them.

They maintain an enormous vegetable garden, share and can = the=20 annual harvest, make pickles in the basement and like = entertaining.

``When folks heard that we were looking to buy a house in = Hamilton=20 they thought we were strange,'' said Trabert, who owned Turkey = Joe's, a=20 popular Fells Point saloon, until he sold it in the early 1980s.

``Actually,'' he adds pointing to his wife, ``She was the = person=20 who wanted to come here more than I did at first.''

``I wanted a house with a driveway, a garage, a three-story = house=20 and a road that didn't have a line down the middle of it,'' she = said with=20 a laugh.

``I kind of think of it as a poor man's Roland Park,'' says = Trabert, who first got to know the neighborhood he likes to = describe as a=20 ``living Christmas garden'' when he was the city's film = commissioner from=20 1987 to 1990.

Minutes from their jobs

Trabert, who is the Maryland Department of Transportation = recycling=20 coordinator and works at Baltimore-Washington International = Airport, likes=20 the fact that he is 25 minutes from work.

His wife, a dispatcher for McAllister Marine Towing of = Baltimore,=20 says she can reach her Clinton Street office in about 15 minutes.

What the couple got in addition to convenience for $81,000 = -- it=20 took two years of concerted house hunting, weekend after weekend = -- was a=20 dark cedar shake Batavia Avenue beauty with a wide front porch = that dates=20 to the presidency of Warren G. Harding.

In addition to plenty of room for their various = collections, they=20 got original woodwork, doors, windows, plaster walls, parquet = floors and a=20 quarter-acre lot.

The Trabert home dates roughly to the transformation of = Hamilton=20 from a sleepy and dusty village to a bustling Baltimore bedroom = community.

Before becoming part of the city in 1918, Hamilton -- which = has the=20 reputation of being a city within a city -- was known to = Baltimoreans as=20 an area of truck farms and vast estates that was ``out the Harford = Road,''=20 a descriptive phrase still uttered by old-timers.

At the turn of the century, Hamilton was nothing more than = a=20 general store, drugstore and a blacksmith shop at the intersection = of=20 Harford Road and Hamilton Avenue.

The village, which remained nameless until a post office = was=20 established in Frank Purdam's drugstore in 1900, took its name = from=20 Hamilton Caughey, a local farmer who owned Fair Oaks.

Streetcar brought change

However, it was the coming of the No. 19 streetcar line on = Harford=20 Road, named for Sir Henry Harford, the last proprietary governor = of=20 Maryland, that opened the area to development.

By 1915, one-third of the area was laid out in house and = block lots=20 and paid firemen supplemented the efforts of the old Alert = Volunteer Fire=20 Company.

Many of the streets that wind, dip and rise through = Hamilton were=20 named for early residents such as: Sefton, Carter, White, List,=20 Hoffstetter, Rueckert, Christopher.

A flourishing commercial district still retains such = longtime=20 merchant fixtures as Laekin's Jewelers, Cooper's Camera Mart, the = Arcade=20 Pharmacy and the Leonard J. Ruck Funeral Home.

``If you're a real Hamiltonian you wanna go to Ruck's when = you=20 die,'' Turkey Joe said with a deep laugh.

Newer businesses and restaurants such as the popular Near = East=20 Bakery on Hamilton Avenue helped ease the loss of Hergenroeder's = Bakery,=20 whose fragrant breads and cakes once kept Hamilton in a permanent = state of=20 caloric overdose.

Angelina's and its famous crab cake has been a staple on = the=20 Harford Road dining scene for years, while the Puerta-Del-Sol, = which=20 opened about a decade ago, has become a lively addition to the=20 neighborhood restaurant scene and is a popular gathering spot for=20 Hamiltonians.

The Puerta-Del-Sol serves Spanish and South American dishes = and=20 offers live entertainment on weekends.

The Mastellone Deli and Wine Shop, on the = Hamilton-Parkville=20 border, has been offering Italian delicacies since 1954, while = Mueller's=20 Delicatessen in the same 7000 block of Harford Road can satisfy = the=20 deepest craving for German wursts or other specialties.

It's not only the proximity to schools, stores, churches,=20 restaurants and other services that accounts for the area's appeal = but=20 also the affordability of housing, which certainly appeals to the=20 first-time or young homebuyer as well as to the most entrenched = longtime=20 resident.

A Realtor with roots

Carolyn Weiss, a Realtor with ERA Eagle Realty in the 6500 = block of=20 Harford Road, not only sells and knows the Hamilton real estate = market but=20 is a lifelong resident of the community.

Her home, a 2 1/2 -story World War I-era frame house on = Rueckert=20 Avenue, near Garrett Heights Elementary School, where she lives = with her=20 husband and raised her family, occupies one of the highest = elevations in=20 the city -- about 335 feet above sea level, From her rear windows, = she has=20 a commanding and sweeping view of downtown Baltimore and the = harbor.

``Almost any type of housing a buyer could possibly want is = available in the Harford Road/Belair Road corridor,'' she said.

``A lot of folks come here to buy a starter home and wind = up=20 staying here forever because they fall in love with the area. With = the=20 average sale price in the mid- to upper $70s, a buyer is getting a = quality=20 home with quality construction. These houses were built to last.''

Weiss, who owned her own real estate firm for 12 years, = likes the=20 ethnic mix, the family aspect of the community and the = convenience.

``Despite the malls which have had an effect on shopping in = Hamilton, everything is still within walking distance and you can = find=20 almost everything you need.''

Her children, a son and daughter, also live in Hamilton.

Sharon Lukowski, her daughter, who lives on Batavia Avenue, = and is=20 married to a docking pilot, fondly remembers long-ago Saturday = afternoons=20 in the now-closed Arcade Theater on Harford Road, and streetcars = swaying=20 to and from Baltimore.

``I never considered moving anywhere else,'' says Lukowski, = whose=20 family includes two boys, ages 5 and 7.

``There are 35 children on the street and I've always liked = that=20 old-fashioned feeling that Hamilton gives me,'' she reports.

Ruth Gilka, 79, who fled across the boundary from = Lauraville 60=20 years ago, has lived in the same Glenmore Avenue bungalow for 60 = years.

There she collects and documents the area's history under = the aegis=20 of an organization that she loosely calls Hamilton Heritage -- = ``it's=20 strictly informal, no formal meetings,'' she proudly says.

At the moment, she is busy gathering data on the local = churches.=20 ``Hamilton is famous for its churches and has nearly everything = except a=20 synagogue,'' she says.

Gilka, who is retired from a downtown dressmaking firm, = says that=20 gathering the area's history, ``keeps me going and young.'' She = claims=20 that people who live in Hamilton are by nature ``witty.''

``I like it here and I have lots of nice memories. Why = move?=20 Hamilton has everything I want.''

Hamilton

Population: 43,678 (1990 Census)

Commuting time to downtown Baltimore: 20 minutes

Public schools: Garrett Heights Elementary, Woodholme = Elementary,=20 Hamilton Elementary and Hamilton Middle

Shopping: Parkville Shopping Center, Golden Ring Mall and = Perring=20 Parkway

Point of interest: Herring Run Park

Zip code: 21214

Average price of a single-family home: $75,000*

*Based on sales during the past 12 months through = Mid-Atlantic Real=20 Estate Information Technologies' multiple listing service

Pub Date: 2/23/97

JED KIRSCHBAUM : SUN STAFF PHOTOS Changes on Harford Road: = The old=20 movie house is now an eye care center. JED KIRSCHBAUM : SUN STAFF = The=20 Hamilton look: Architecture ranges from rambling Victorians to = large=20 clapboard and cedar-shaked homes to these 1920s-era bungalows on = Richard=20 Avenue. Family moment: Sharon Lukowski, here with her son Zachary, = says=20 she likes Hamilton's old-fashioned feeling. SUN STAFF GEOGRAPHICAL = LOCATION OF HAMILTON