rolanni | The Ayrabs find a home. Maybe.

Back in 2005, the City of Baltimore, aka my Old Hometown, in its Infinite Wisdom(tm)*cough* declared the historic Ayrab stables on Retreat Street a Menace and a Danger and condemned the joint. At that time, the City promised the Ayrabs that it would help them rebuild. In earnest of its promise, the City first moved the horses to Bowie Race Track in Prince George's County, which was...stoopid, even for municipal work, then to Pimlico Race Track, which was...somewhat less stoopid, and finally to tents under the Monroe Street Bridge. The Mayor of Baltimore then announced that the Ayrabs needed to pull themselves together, write a business plan, and get a loan; the City was through coddling them.

The Ayrabs are part of my childhood. They were for a hundred years or more the primary source of fresh fruit and vegetables for the people living inside the deep city. I still remember hearing them come down the alley, the clop of the pony's hooves, the guy singing out for STRAWberrrEEs, CANlope, KOHN! FRESH kohn!

So, anyway, I was sad, when I learned the Ayrabs had been evicted from Retreat Street (which isn't a street at all, but a grubby alley down in a neighborhood you really don't want to be walking in), and hoped that the City would make good on its promise. Mind you, it wasn't really a surprise to find that the City hadn't made good on its promise, 'cause Baltimore is...not a promise-keeper, historically. Especially not the promises that it may from time to time make to its less-than-completely-white citizens.

Well, it turns out that the B&O Railroad Museum has offered to lease the City a choice bit of land for $1/year if the City will build the Ayrabs a permanent stable there. It appears as if the deal will be going down, though one should never underestimate the capacity of the City of Baltimore to weasel out of commitments.

Read all about it here (with thanks to

kinzel for the link). And do watch the video. Dat man, he do talk lak home, so he do...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Being a sport/hobby carriage driver myself, (probably the only reader of Duainfey that has been in a carriage driving accident,a turnover BTW) I find this situation fascinating. Are the Ayrrabers a religious order like the Amish? Since Maryland's official state sport is jousting, one would think they would find equine attractions worth supporting.

Sue H

I covered a horse-and-buggy accident back when I was a roving reporter, and it was terrible. One of the passengers broke her back and had to spend some time in a brace; the driver got off with a broken shoulder. The horse had become entangled with the buggy, broke a leg, and was shot at the scene.

Are the Ayrrabers a religious order like the Amish?

Not that I know of, though the work seems to stay within certain families. If you watched the video, you'll have heard Manboy say that he raised his five children to the trade.

Since Maryland's official state sport is jousting, one would think they would find equine attractions worth supporting.

Well...Jousting is a sport for rich, white people. The Ayrabs provide a service to the blue collar and outright poor (mostly) non-white neighborhoods in the city. The fact that the City originally relocated the horses to Bowie Race Track, miles and miles and MILES away from the neighborhoods of the Ayrabs' customers, is sort of a testimonial to the City of Baltimore's Epic Cluelessness.

I am on a carriage driving list (the CD-L)and here is another persons memory of the Arrabers
Sue H

Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:05:14 -0500
From: Laurie Neely <li1wing@verizon.net>
Subject: Re: Baltimore Arabbers

Oh this is such cool news! The Arabbers are such a part of Baltimore.
For generations, the answer to something like "mmm..good melon;
where'd you get it?" was "I bought it off an Arabber." :-) And in
addition to veggies, there were other tradesmen I remember into the
late 60s, like the rag man and the scissors sharpener man, who would
come through the alley at my in-laws house (in Highlandtown for those
who knew Baltimore then) singing their calls. The scissors sharpener
just had a bell...a gong really, but the rag man would sing out "Rags!
Rags! Old rags!" as he drove his pony through the alley. And my
favorite was always the watermelon man's song "Waaatermelon, red to
the rind....and if y'don't believe it, jes take a bite o' mine" and
he'd cut a plug out of a melon for you to taste.
OK. I'm old; right.
Anyway, back in the day, a lot of Arraber pony carts were decorated up
with colors and fringe and stuff, and I've been thinking how much I'd
like to acquire one eventually for Nick...the white, pony mule I got
from Jodi Lante. Wouldn't he look cute put to an Arabber cart full of
veggies or flowers in a commercial class?

Laurie Neely and Nicky (huh? You want me to do what?)

The Ayrabs find a home. Maybe.

Arabbers

Re: Arabbers

no subject