Baltimore Or Less

Enjoying the Christmas spirits

By Gadi Dechter (Baltimore Sun, 12/26/2006)

In a rowdy Bolton Hill tavern, they argued over whether the black bile spewing from kung-fu hero Jet Li’s mouth was really chocolate sauce or chewing-tobacco juice.

Down at a Fells Point watering hole, the debate was also juice-related: whether to stick with the 2002 Joel Gott zinfandel or sample the 1986 chardonnay from Cakebread Cellars.

Over National Bohemian beer and popcorn, stuffed lobster and Chateauneuf-du-Pape, two rather different groups of urban dwellers spent Christmas Day in an untraditional, but quintessentially Baltimorean, setting: the neighborhood bar.

“I figured years ago that there were other people like me out there, who did not have anything to do or anywhere to go,” said Mount Royal Tavern bartender Mick King, who has been hosting a “Kung-Fu Christmas” party in the Bolton Hill dive bar for five years.

Continue reading “Baltimore bars and their patrons celebrate Dec. 25 in a unique way” at The Baltimore Sun.

Related:

• The late Mick King (left) hosting Mount Royal Tavern’s “Kung Fu Christmas.” — The Baltimore Sun
• Friends of the Mount Royal Tavern — Facebook.com
• Meet eccentrics: Mt. Royal Tavern (photo) — The Baltimore Sun