Sid’s Ranch House Tavern (ca. 1957 - 1973) 1741 E. Baltimore Street

Sid’s Ranch House Tavern occupied a building that had been converted into a movie theater during the first part of the twentieth century. It had been the Teddy Bear Parlor ca. 1908 - 1919, and the Mickey until 1920 or ‘21.[1] Sidney Silverman, a retired boxer turned bartender,[2] opened his tavern in the late 1950s.[3] It became a popular neighborhood hangout for people of different races, and it had a reputation for racial trouble.[4] According to one Lumbee patron, Mr. Silverman “had a habit of every time the Indians would get in fights there, he would bar ‘em from the bar for a while. Wouldn’t let no Indians come in his bar…He’d do it for a while and then he’d open up. I guess he missed our business, and he’d open up and let ‘em back.”[5] Mr. Silverman likely sold the property at 1741 E. Baltimore Street to the City during Urban Renewal and it was razed.

1. Robert Kirk Headley, Jr. A History of Movies in Baltimore (University Park, Maryland: Robert Kirk Headley, Jr. 1974), 127-128.

2. "Street Fighter Given Long Count of 60 Days in Jail." The Sun (1837-1993), Jul 29, 1959. https://search.proquest.com/docview/540473285?accountid=34685.

3. Personal communications with Jeanette W. Jones and Edward Mattison, September 20, 2019. Also see
Legal notice 2 -- no title. (1960, Jun 06). The Sun (1837-1993) Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/542276150?accountid=34685

4. See Races mix in bar row. (1966, Jun 27). The Sun (1837-1993) Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/539592911?accountid=34685

5. Rev. Redell Hammonds, phone interview with Ashley Minner, December 12, 2018, transcript.