The Market House at City Dock initiated me into Annapolis life.
Twenty-some years ago, I?d marvel at the fresh fish and raw oysters while listening to locals mull the merits of Middleton?s black bean soup versus the drive across the Severn River for Cantler?s crabs. Years later, I?d stroll down Main Street from my office to order a thick Dill Havarti sandwich at Sammy?s Deli. There were imported cheeses and fresh baguettes at The Big Cheese and crazy potato logs ? they call them steak fries now ? at the Machoian Poultry stall. I always smiled that you could buy potato logs on the waterfront in Annapolis.
Annapolis? Market House suffered another painful setback this week, when four businesses disappeared into the night, following two others that closed in October. But Waterside Pizza, American Grill, Gourmet Commissary and Sophisticated Sweets didn?t bail out on Annapolis; Annapolis bailed out on the Market House a few years ago.
“It will never be again,” lamented Judy Schwartzberg, who with her husband, Bob, owns Sammy?s Deli and The Big Cheese. Their businesses are located in a bright storefront a block off the market. But they spent 10 years in the market before losing their lease. “It?s just a part of history that was stolen from the people because their voices were not heard,” she said. “It was a lighthouse. It was a beacon. It was a place where people said, ?I?ll see you at the Market House.? ”
The Market House was created by the General Assembly in 1683 and has been at its current location, smack dab in the center of City Dock, since 1858. By the turn of the last century, it was worn down, but still as comfortable as the old, overstuffed family room couch.
It was still a cultural center, scruffy as a waterman, windblown as the sailors in the town?s Wednesday night races. When Tropical Storm Isabel flooded City Dock in September 2003, seven feet of water flowed through the market, and the physical problems mounted. But the tenants moved quickly to reopen the market within weeks for the fall boat shows and began discussing more permanent repairs.
And then it was over. Some bean counters determined that such a prime location at City Dock warranted a different breed of stores. The tenants lost their leases in 2004, and upscale grocer Dean & Deluca supposedly stepped into the picture. Some old-timers lamented that such a high-end market at home in Georgetown was wrong for City Dock. But some of the town?s younger leaders marveled that another trendsetter was joining the Asian fusion restaurants and martini bars becoming fashionable up on West Street.
Dean & Deluca never materialized ? some kind of misunderstanding, officials said at the time ? but the city already had sent the seafood and cheese stalls packing.
And so the city leaders gave us doughnuts, pretzels, ice cream, pizzas and ? most inexplicably ? a bank in the Market House. It became a mediocre mall food court in a town built on a Colonial and maritime foundation.
There are still a few decent stalls left, including Vaccaro?s Italian Pastry Shop Inc. from Little Italy, but the soul of the city is missing.
The city leaders didn?t recognize that value can?t always bejudged in profits per square foot. Sometimes value is the spirit of a cultural center that spreads in immeasurable ways through the business district and beyond.
The other day, Bob Schwartzberg pulled out some envelopes filled with petitions signed in 2004 by 22,000 residents and tourists to maintain the local landmark and the vendors who were around before Isabel. “That didn?t have any impact on the city,” he said. “They had already made up their mind.”
It?s true you can?t keep history alive forever. The Market House Web site tells of Native Americans who used to sell half-pints of “cure-all” for 50 cents there. It says the 1897 Market House stall fees ranged from $18 to $30 a year, or 10 cents a day. And it reminds us that the Annapolis downtown area was the country?s first National Historic Landmark District.
But sometimes change is not the best course.
Judy and Bob Schwartzberg were looking to expand their business and already had located another storefront when the city stopped corresponding with them and the other stall owners of 2003. So they would have moved anyway, they said.
But the other day, amid a steady flow of lunch customers, the talk at The Big Cheese and Sammy?s Deli was the nearly-empty market down the street. “I?m an Annapolitan,” Judy Schwartzberg said, “so I?m sad.”
