Baltimore City has a six public markets. Think of them as indoor farmers’ markets with permanent vendors, mainly but not exclusively, food stands.
The iconic place. The crown jewel and largest is Lexington Market. It has been in operation since 1782! A wonderful new building has been completed and opened next door to its about 70-year-old predecessor. All credit to the Baltimore City government for making the investment and the commitment.
My recollections. In 1971, I started to work for C&P Telephone, about 6 blocks from Lexington Market. I parked at the Lexington Market Garage. It had the cheapest downtown parking, and I needed to re-pay my student loans. $19 per month for the roof. I’d walk thru the Market in the morning and get a Danish from one of the bakery stands. After work, I’d walk back thru the Market and buy the ingredients for my supper from the butcher, seafood, and produce stands. Some days at lunch, my colleagues and I would walk to the Market for lunch, usually a sandwich from one of the deli stands. You could get a shoeshine, get your shoes repaired, get keys made, and my favorite and a testimony to Baltimore’s quirkiness, a stand that sold fresh ground horseradish and ice cream sandwiches made with fresh waffles.
It’s a funny world. 70+ years later, our place in Baltimore is 3 blocks from Lexington Market and 3 blocks from where I started with C&P. I paid off my student loans and now pay $170 per month for underground parking.
The iconic place within the iconic place. One of the stands in the Market, both old and new, is Faidley’s Seafood. It has all things seafood, from crab cakes to rock fish to freshly shucked oysters and everything in between. Even muskrat. 😊 It’s been in operation since 1886. Today’s owner is the granddaughter of the founder … and she was there today. I chatted with her husband, Bill, one day while waiting for my order and learned he was a Navy officer on a destroyer in WWII. It’s that kind of Smalltimore place.
I just enjoyed some of Faidley’s great Maryland crab soup for dinner.
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