A retired Baltimore City police detective now creates unique holiday gifts adorned with paintings of local landmarks ranging from Ravens Stadium to Fort McHenry.
Tom Matarazzo?s gift store, Razzo, is in the heart of Hampden on 36th Street, known to locals as “The Avenue.”
He paints mostly Maryland scenes on crab shells, candles and door and window screens, which reflect his life growing up in Baltimore.
Matarazzo worked long hours steaming crabs at his family?s seafood restaurant. He left the family business at age 21 to become a Baltimore City police officer.
After retiring in 1998, he worked in private security for a few years before finally recognizing his calling as an artist. He started a gift shop with a friend and then opened Razzo.
“I definitely wanted to be an artist as a kid, but I couldn?t because of the [family] business. It took a while until I was retired and could afford to start my own,” Matarazzo said.
His shop?s key items are the door and window screens he paints with colorful scenes. There are lighthouses, beach scenes and Baltimore icons such as the Patterson Park Pagoda.
From the 1930s to the 1950s, painted screens were trendy all over Baltimore. They dwindled when air-conditioning replaced the need for open windows. But Matarazzo said his guests still purchase the screens out of nostalgia.
Other standout items are his crab-shell Christmas ornaments.
“My father died at 79, but he?s probably laughing right now that I?m still working with crab shells,” Matarazzo said.
He paints shells with everything from Yoda to the classic Baltimore expression “hon.”
Sometimes he has to describe what a “hon” is to out-of-towners, he said.
“A hon is a throwback to the late ?50s, early ?60s, with a beehive hairdo, sunglasses, too much makeup,” Matarazzo said.
“It?s gaudy and tacky and people love it,” he said.
One local guest said she brings visitors from out of town to Razzo to show them what the city is like.
“It really opens up conversation all about Baltimore,” said Nancy Keates, of Baltimore, a regularshopper at the store.
Matarazzo?s wife, Angie, said her husband?s transition from detective to artist has been “absolutely wonderful.”
“I don?t have to worry about him going to work anymore,” she said.
