September 2025 – Bolton Hill

The Bolton Hill Bulletin

September 2025

Volume 53 • Number 7

Join your neighbors at the 70th annual Festival on the Hill Oct. 4

Nearly every autumn since 1965, Bolton Hill neighbors have gathered for an all-day celebration, our Festival on the Hill. Held in the 1300 block of Bolton Street and the 200 block of W. Lanvale Street, the festival offers food, crafts and activities for folks of all ages. It benefits those neighborhood organizations that sponsor booths. This year, the Oct. 4 event’s additional proceeds will support the neighborhood Arts in the Parks music program.

Zoning bills could affect parking and rowhouse development in Bolton Hill

A set of five city council zoning bills was introduced this spring as the Housing Options and Opportunity Act. City agencies are studying them before sharing their recommendations with city council, which will then hold public hearings this fall. City council would have to vote on the bills by the end of the year to prevent them from expiring with this year’s legislative session.

Estep Brothers Funeral Home buildings go on the market

After more than half a century in the neighborhood, Estep Brothers Funeral Home has put its historic Eutaw Place location on the market for sale. “The building, not the business, is for sale,” said Jonathan Hibner, who is the funeral home’s director. He said a continuous and seemingly insoluble parking limitation is behind the decision to try to sell after half a century at the corner of Eutaw and West Lanvale St., on Bolton Hill’s southwest corner.

Midtown moves forward with new board, interim director

The new Midtown Community Benefits District and Management Authority Board was sworn in on Aug. 6 by Clerk of the Court Xavier Conaway, and a reorganization has begun with a series of board reviews and staffing changes. That follows the “Yes” vote by property owners in Bolton Hill, Madison Park, Charles North and Mt. Vernon in a March referendum re-establishing the special district.

Lottie Shivers turns 100 and Frank Shivers is on the blue plaque

Lottie Shivers turned 100 a few weeks ago and, to celebrate her long life and the contributions she and her late husband have made to the neighborhood, BHCA’s Blue Plaque Committee gave her a surprise gift: a Bolton Hill Blue Plaque honoring her late husband.

How I spent my summer: Gypsy music, giant drums and late-night dance and revelry in tents

In New York every winter there is a festival where David Byrne of the Talking Heads dances with Gogol Bordello members. Former marching band nerds crowd-surf with their horns. Hipsters mingle with gray-haired ladies. And Balkan and Middle Eastern immigrants line dance with everyone. The Golden Festival is a unique celebration of Eastern European music and dance, which incorporates the Romany community influence embedded in those cultures.

Remembering Bolton Hill’s Dr. Jeremy Walston...

The Banner and The Sun both ran warm obituaries for Dr. Jeremy Walston, 64, a Bolton Hill resident and geriatrician who died of cancer during the summer. He was a world-renowned physician who ran the Human Aging Project at Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for people as they age and better manage the progression of disease in the elderly.

New Views of Old Bolton Hill

This month we are lucky to have several new photos to share, showing Bolton Hill during its “urban renewal” period in the mid-20th century. R. Julian Roszel, Jr. was a president of one of the earlier iterations of the neighborhood association then — instrumental in getting the John Street Park created in 1955. Before the wrecking ball hit several blocks of houses, he had the forethought to grab his camera and snap photographs.

Artist of the month: Linda DePalma’s work is site-specific and anything but utilitarian

Upon entering Linda DePalma’s studio in Woodbury, one of the first pieces to catch the eye is a graceful, lilting and leafy branch, a powder-coated aluminum cut out representing the foliage of a ginkgo tree. There are other pieces like this, the main feature of a large-scale public art piece, “Ginkgo Canopy,” installed at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton. The piece provides both shade and aesthetic interest within the garden’s natural landscape.

Mexican grill to open in Save-a-Lot shopping mall

Bolton Hill’s newest food establishment – a Mexican grill akin to Chipotle – will open in the Sav-a-Lot strip mall on McMechen Street this fall. It’s the latest addition to the neighborhood from the Ranjha family of Ellicott City that bought Maryland Sav-a-Lot grocery outlets nearly four years ago.

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