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| Baltimore loves Harbor News and Harbor News loves Baltimore. Take a look at some of the great articles written about Harbor News.
We went to Harbor News, 1010 Aliceanna Street, 410-244-5140, for a magazine and came out with a birthday present: a leather-bound atlas from Graphic Image. We used to raid Whole Foods for our “of course we remembered your birthday” loot, but that was before we found Harbor News with its Original Crown Mill vintage journals in yellow, orange, and blue; Japanese and Italian treats such as sodas and sparkling waters; and crème-filled wafers and Pretz snacks. Plus, the bawdy and hilarious Naughty Betty, Sock Monkey, and Selfish Kitty greeting cards rival those at any stationery shop.
Perhaps it's provincial of us, but almost two years later, we're still giddy over the fact that Baltimore has its own quality big-city standalone newsstand at last. Harbor News' spot on an unassuming corner on the edge of Harbor East makes it a destination rather than a fall-by for us, but we make the pilgrimage regularly to pick up obscure music mags, art journals, a coupla pounds of several different international flavors of fashion mag, and newspapers from all over, as well as the usual trash-mag suspects and big-circ slicks. We sometimes feel bad that we spend more money on mags than, say, books, but Harbor News' selection makes it a no-brainer.
We need magazines and newspapers like we need air, but we never look forward to writing up this category. See, Baltimore hasn't had a good stand-alone newsstand in, well, we couldn't tell ya, and while we usually manage to fix up at the various megabookstore racks, we don't always get off. And aren't good newsstands one of the hallmarks of a happenin' city? Thanks to the recently opened Harbor News, however, Baltimore now has an independent stand that rivals the chains for comprehensiveness and exceeds them in depth and taste, and boy are we excited to tell you about it. In addition to the usual suspects (your Vanity Fair, your Atlantic, your Dwell, your Mass Appeal), Harbor News goes deep. Looking for a copy of Al-Ahram in Arabic to go with your NASCAR Weekly? Check. Six different flavors of international Vogue? Check. Japanese surfer mags, in Japanese? Check. Harbor News has literal walls of good periodical reading, and it's open early (7 a.m. on weekdays, 9 on weekends) and stays open until 9 p.m. The only thing the big chains have over Harbor is big comfy chairs, but then again, this ain't a library.
At the end of her very busy week, Savvy loves nothing more than playing hooky from her Friday evening plans with a full bottle of wine, a fully loaded TiVo and a basket full of magazines. While Savvy would love to say that she tucks in with The Economist, her tastes in reading run a little more US and a little less Utne. Until Harbor News moved to Inner Harbor East (1010 Aliceanna St., 410-244-5140), Savvy suffered with nary a proper newsstand in sight. But thanks to Harbor News owner and fellow mag junkie Christina Cieri, who stocks more than 3,000 titles from across the U.S. and around the world, Savvy can now indulge her passion for everything from Harper’s to Harpers & Queen.
Baltimore finally has a real newsstand! Harbor News, which opened on May 8, has already become a hotspot for the city, which until now lacked a comprehensive news center. Harbor News carries three thousand foreign and domestic newspapers and magazines, and owner Christina Cieri can special-order periodicals requested by customers. “I’m into getting what you want,” she says. Cieri, an Anne Arundel County native who worked in New York for several years as a producer for commercials and radio, opened the newsstand in Baltimore so that she could work at something she loves while providing the city with a service it needs. The store carries standards like The New York Times and Glamour, plus international publications like Chinese newspaper World Journal, French paper Le Figaro, the Japanese edition of home decor magazine Elle Deco, and Italian architecture magazine Interni. Open Mon–Fri 7 a.m.–9 p.m., Sat and Sun 9 a.m.–9 p.m. 1010 Aliceanna Street; 410-244-5140; www.harbor-news.com. |
BALTIMORE MAGAZINE, BEST OF BALTIMORE 2007
CITY PAPER
CITY PAPER
STYLE MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006
THE URBANITE, AUGUST 2006,