There was a time in the 1940s when Baltimore?s so-called “milk bars” were such a problem that the City Council made a law designed to cast out their”evils.”
Called “milk bars” because they served nonalcoholic drinks ? allowing them to stay open between 2 and 6 a.m. ? the bars were ordered to have curfews after a 1947 grand jury report found them to have “objectionable features and evils.”
A Baltimore City Council subcommittee Thursday voted to repeal that curfew, calling the law a relic. The measure will now go to the full City Council for a vote.
“This is an antiquated statute,” said City Councilman James Kraft, who proposed repealing the curfew as part of his effort to eliminate superfluous laws. Kraft, D-1st District, said current zoning laws would better regulate milk bars, should any reappear in Baltimore.
But Sgt. Derrick Lee, of the Baltimore Police Department?s legislative affairs unit, cautioned against axing the old law.
“If one were to come back, we?d want to have some power to govern it,” Lee told council members. “… When milk bars were open, they were very problematic for the police department. Now we have very few, if any. In fact, I don?t know of any.”
City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke said she recalled days when “milk bars” in Mount Vernon were a serious problem.
“How do you confront establishments that don?t have a built-in curfew because of the liquor laws?” she asked. “We found [the law] useful in Mount Vernon back in the day.”
If the full council repeals the curfew, zoning officers, rather than police officers, would enforce violations, Lee said.
