Bedrock Billiards in Bank Building in Baltimore

Pardon the alliteration - I can't help myself.

Now that I'm working on the West Side of downtown Baltimore, I'm discovering new things to photograph. Having worke for some years near the Inner Harbor, on the East Side, this area has been terra incognita to me. But as it turns out, there be no dragons here, nor, for that matter, nearly as many architectural turkeys as on the East Side.

This fin de siècle bank building, its bank long defunct, now houses Bedrock Billiards. I haven't been inside, but I understand it's basically a bar-and-grill/catering place with pool tables, dart boards, and even two shuffleboard courts.

This photo looks manipulated, as if I desaturated everything but the sign. But in fact, this is pretty much the way I saw it on a gray morning last week. The contrast between semi-cheesy, colorful sign and the elegant gray stone carvings is what attracted me as I ambled up West Baltimore Street.

To set this photo in its context, here is a photo I found on Flickr.com that shows the Little Bank that Was.