501 N. Calvert Street, former home of The Baltimore Sun

For 68 years, this massive, six-story brick building at 501 N. Calvert Street, with a skywalk and connecting parking garage 1 block to the north, was home and headquarters to The Baltimore Sun, the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in Maryland and for a long time, one of the most influential daily newspapers in the U.S.

A modern structure opened in 1950, and which Baltimore Architecture Foundation founder Walter Schamu once described in a 2018 article as having “kind of an industrial aesthetic,” the building once housed all of The Sun’s writing, printing, publishing and distribution operations. In 1992, The Sun moved its printing and packaging operations to Port Covington, 3 miles away. In mid-2018, The Sun moved its newsroom and business operations completely out of this Mt. Vernon location, to join its other operations in Port Covington.

At its heyday, The Sun ran 8 foreign bureaus as well as bureaus in NYC, Washington, DC, and San Francisco, giving rise to its 1983 advertising slogan, “The Sun never sets on the world”. It published a morning (The Sun) and evening edition (The Evening Sun), with separate staffs for each, and a Sunday Sun magazine. In the 1990s and 2000s, upheavals in the news industry led to the closing of The Sun’s foreign bureaus and downsizing of its foreign reporting. The Evening Sun published its last edition in 1995, and dramatic reductions in Baltimore Sun staff followed.

Local writer and Baltimore native Lisa Wiseman described for me some of her experiences working at the 501 N. Charles Street location between 1989 and 1996, first as a Sun intern, then an editorial assistant in the Features Department (Arts & Entertainment); and as a freelancer for many years thereafter. She recalled that the building was filthy, housed rats, and its elevator would frequently break. Still, she fondly recalled her time at The Sun as a “good time to work there” alongside various legendary figures in American journalism, writing, TV, and Baltimore (and Mt. Vernon) culture. To name a few: Alice Steinbach, first female reporter at The Sun to be presented a Pulitzer; Laura Lippman, mystery writer; David Simon, Laura’s husband and creator of TV’s “The Wire” and “Homicide: Life on the Street”; and Donna Crivello, chef and restauranteur (co-owner of Cosima, perhaps better known here for the Mt. Vernon hub of her “Donna’s Coffee Bar & Café,” a staple of Mt. Vernon life between 1992 and 2010).

Among Lisa’s favorite memories: visiting various Baltimore nightclubs and bars while covering the local nightlife scene, and having the opportunity to do unbiased reviewing of these venues prior to the age of “Yelp.” She also described enjoying the opportunity to interview many “up-and-coming” comics and entertainers, including some famous ones, such as Hulk Hogan and Chris Rock. She remembered most of her interviewees as being “very sweet” (Hogan) and “so nice” (Rock). Lisa also recalled spending a lot of fun times with other Sun staffers at The Bridge, a diner then located down the street; and at Louie’s Bookstore Café, then located at 518 N. Charles Street, a rather “weird” but locally famous, favorite neighborhood hangout where all the Sun journalists brought interviewees to lunch. Also, Lisa fondly remembers, during the time when the building’s printing operations were still onsite, she could feel the floor shift when the printers fired up, even on the 5th floor where she worked.

Written by Lois Tuttle