As Live Arts Theatre prepares to stage Hot L Baltimore, are minds and hearts harken back to a…. more interesting time and place… 1973 Baltimore.
Baltimore harbor 1973: Yes, things were bleak.
(ghostsofBaltimore.org)
The state of Baltimore in the early 1970’s :
Following the Assasination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis Tennessee on April 4, 1968, the Baltimore riot cost the city an estimated $10 million dollars, and order was not restored for over a week.
The city experienced tumult again in 1974 when teachers, municipal workers and police officers all went on strike.
Baltimore’s downtown area at the time was known as the Inner Harbor and had been neglected and was occupied by a collection of abandoned warehouses. The nickname “Charm City” came from a 1975 meeting of advertisers seeking to improve the city’s reputation.
East Baltimore Photography project: View these photos by Elinor Cahn a student at MICA taken as a class assignment on social documentary. More here: http://www.americansuburbx.com/2012/08/elinor-cahn-east-baltimore-documentary-survey-project-1970s-2.html
What they wore:
Early 1970’s fashion was an extension of the 1960’s. Mini skirts were at an all-time high. Hippy clothes were all the rage. Bell bottoms, hot pants, gauchos, and brightly colored clothing was very popular.
This was a bit much for the Older generations, who pretty much stuck to what they word in the previous decade. Tasteful business type clothing.
As the decade progressed, clothing became more glamourous and less formal, with the exception of t-shirts which graduated from underclothes to a good place for a slogan. Jumpsuits, hip huggers, exaggerated bell bottoms and leisure suits were the trend by 1975.
~Come see The Hot L Baltimore presented by Live Arts Theatre at the Belfry Playhouse, (downstairs at Norcross Presbyterian Church), 3324 Medlock Bridge Rd Norcross GA on April 8-23, 2016 Friday/Saturday evenings 8pm, and Sunday matinees 2:30pm.
<a href=”http://cliparts.co/clipart/86028″>Clip art image by Cliparts.co</a>