Vote Against Prohibition

Fell's Point still looks somewhat the same as it has for the last 200-plus years. Some of the houses have oval plaques with a year inscribed, telling how long they've been standing, and many of the commercial buildings seen in early 20th century photographs of Thames Street are still recognizable even through decades of cosmetic changes. While comparing some of those old photos, I began to notice the large outdoor advertisements and how, once the trend of painting them fell out of fashion, they were left to fade, too unimportant to even remove.

Circa 1918

This one is unique to the painted signs around Fell's in that it's not an advertisement. Well, not outright, anyway. It might have been put up by a brewery, I suppose, but if so, the message is less an advertisement than it is a warning that you might not be able to buy their beer, or anyone else's, should this message be ignored.

Since the 18th Amendment was proposed in December of 1917 and was ratified in January of 1919, this was likely painted in the year between. That's pretty fascinating.

For about a year, I've been trying to restore this sign, which is on the northern corner of Broadway and Shakespeare,  but the owners of the building won't give me permission. Actually, they won't acknowledge me at all.

"I just rent from them," said the woman who runs the gift shop, "I've given them all your messages but I never get any answers." I get the same statement from the people at the real estate business next door: they're sending along my message but the owners either don't understand what I'm doing or, more likely, just don't care.

I met with members of The Baltimore Bartender's Guild, a group dedicated to preserving the legacy of their trade, and they quickly agreed to fund the restoration of the Vote Against Prohibition sign.

"We've actually tried to get permission before," says the bartender at Rye, located across Broadway Square, "no one ever got back to us."