The Apex, Baltimore’s last X-rated movie theater, will go to auction next week, leav- ing Charm City residents without a public venue to view pornographic films — and making filmmaker John Waters, who called it ‘a wonderful place,’ unhappy. Waters says driving by the East Balto. ‘landmark’ always makes him feel ‘a little bit better.’
STARTS OFF THIS WEEK
Apex on the block
What is Baltimore to do?
First “The Block,” which offer- ed every variation of ecdysi- ast-driven entertainment one could possibly imagine, got decimated after the retirement of Blaze Starr — Charm City’s very own entrepreneurial burlesque queen.
Now the city’s last X-rated movie house is going on the block — the auction block — and Baltimore for the first time since de-censorship will have to do without adult-film availability in a public venue, possibly forever.
The Apex Theater is the last of its kind in these parts to go: it will be auctioned off by A.J. Billig & Co. next Friday (a week from tomorrow). Since the Earle and Rex became churches, the Apex has been the city’s only adult-movie location, on South Broadway just above Fells Point, near the corner of East Lombard Street.
This is news you need to know, of course; or, put more succinctly, “Need-To-Know News,” a daily compendium inaugurated this week by Voice of Baltimore as a service to our readers. Each weekday, Monday through Friday, VoB is now running aggregations of the top news stories everyone in Charm City needs to know to start their day.
Each entry concludes with a link to the full news story from whence it came, so you can “Read More” should you choose to do so.
Beginning with Tuesday’s compendium, each aggregation is followed by the previous day’s stories; all you have to do is scroll down.
But to read this week’s compendiums in their entirety you’ll need to scroll UP from where you are on this page. As of 4 a.m. Friday, they’re now above this entry.
Click on “Read More” to see all five days’ compendiums. Then return to the main page (by clicking on “Home,” under “Main Menu” at left) and scroll down to read Columnist David Maril’s latest “Inside Pitch” offering, which runs exclusively on Voice of Baltimore’s pages every weekend.
On the way you’ll see our story on Padonia Ale House’s “Pumpkin Palooza,” an event scheduled for this Saturday in Timonium featuring 17 pumpkin-flavored beers and ale for just $10. Yum!
Next, following Dave’s column, you’ll run across Reporter Sara Heilman’s piece on Baltimore Colts legend Tom Matte’s appearance at a mini-golf tournament in Perry Hall to benefit the Ed Block Courage Award Foundation, and fight against child abuse.
After that is VoB’s coverage of You Can’t Stop Murder, a “Book of Cop” on crime in Baltimore that we’ve just co-published with Baltimore True Crime, co-written by WBFF Fox45-TV Investigative Producer Stephen Janis and retired Homicide Detective Stephen Tabeling.
Click “Previous Entries” at the bottom of the page for that and other stories on the VoB site. Or check “Top Stories” at the left-side margin for links to our 10 most recent articles.
— Alan Z. Forman
alforman@voiceofbaltimore.org
TO READ THE FIVE “NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS” INAUGURAL WEEK COMPENDIA (Mon. Sep. 30 — Fri. Oct. 4), click here
