🍦Latitude 38° really wants to be a hotel

Good morning, Annapolis. And happy 17th Anniversary to Pip’s Dock Street Dogs – one of the least pretentious (and most delicious) joints in all of Annapolis. Rather than try to make up something great here, we’ll just quote superstar Navy QB Blake Horvath: “17 years of greatness 🐐”

In today’s Naptown Scoop:

Let’s get to it.

— Ryan Sneddon

Apple Camp: Create a Superhero to Help Others on iPad

It’s time to activate imaginations and tap into the power of creativity with Apple Camp: Create a Superhero to Help Others on iPad. In this 90-minute session, kids will work together using iPad to design superheroes and send them on a mission to help others. They’ll share their talents and ideas as they take photos, draw, use emoji, and more to create a superhero crew with Freeform and Apple Pencil Pro. Free at your local Apple Store, designed for ages 6–10. Devices provided.

The fun doesn't stop there. Discoveries: The Library at the Mall is hosting free July events including Family Yoga, A Dino-Sized Magical Circus!, Pickling and Canning 101, a Hamilton Sing Along, and a Teen Theatre Workshop focused on scriptwriting.

See the full events calendar.

Now playing…

🍸 Classic Theatre of Maryland presents Tartuffe in the garden at Reynolds Tavern, Tuesday nights through August 25 – including tonight. Molière's con-man comedy (say that five times fast) plays under the stars; seating opens at 6:30 for dinner, curtain at 7:30. Tickets run $61–$89 with a $25 food-and-drink minimum, so come hungry.

Up next…

🎹 Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre presents Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, July 2–25. The open-air stage at the City Dock follows a Brooklyn songwriter named Carole Klein on her way to becoming Carole King. Thursday through Sunday at 8:30, tickets $32 – and you'll know every song before the band finishes the intro.

🔪 The Talent Machine presents Curtains, July 10–19. A 1959 Boston whodunit where the leading lady drops dead on opening night and a theater-obsessed detective takes the case. The company's teens stage it at AACC's Pascal Center; tickets are $20.

🎭 The Colonial Players present their 10-Minute Play Festival, July 17–26. Seven brand-new plays from local writers, written for this short-attention-span world, all for $10 at the East Street theater-in-the-round.

🌳 Compass Rose Theater presents A Midsummer Night's Dream, July 31–August 9. Shakespeare's tangle of lovers and fairies, staged outdoors in the gardens where you follow the actors from scene to scene.

🐰 Children's Theatre of Annapolis presents Alice in Wonderland Jr., July 24–25. The summer camp closes with two shows – Friday at 6:30 and Saturday at 10 AM – starring kids ages 8 to 14 tumbling down the rabbit hole.

Stories with ($) require a third-party subscription.

Team Naptown Scoop Coast 2 Coast 4 ALS progress: $12,363/$20,000

Contrary to popular belief, the building with the H is not the hospital emoji. It’s a hotel. The hospital is 🏥

And we say that because Harvey Blonder, the owner of the City Dock restaurant Latitude 38°, has renewed his efforts to turn his restaurant into a hotel. At the June 18 joint meeting of the Annapolis Planning and Historic Preservation commissions, Blonder’s architect, Peter Fillat, showed renderings for a three-story, 84-room “luxury boutique hotel” on the same site as Latitude.

This hotel shouldn’t be news to anyone. Blonder’s been trying to get it approved since 2015. City Council nixed the height change last year. Mayor Jared Littmann told the Capital that he’s not passing judgment but that it’d be convenient if construction happened concurrently with City Dock.

Stories with ($) require a third-party subscription.

We've all said it.

"I'll do it next weekend." Except you won't.

I know because I've promised my wife I’d clean the gutters for fourteen weeks and counting. But what if one of Maryland's top homebuilders maintained your home?

Tasks would always get done (on time) and more importantly, they'd get done right. Well, I've got news for you.

After 19 years, Delbert Adams is now offering its renowned Gold Seal Services in Annapolis.

From repairs to routine upkeep, Gold Seal Services takes the hassle out of homeownership. No more "next weekend." No more hours on YouTube learning how to flush a hot water heater. Just trusted expertise maintaining your home.

Get in touch today to learn about a personalized Gold Seal plan.

If you couldn’t tell, we’re having a great time with Naptown Scoop Dinner Club. And so are our members. But we’ve heard your feedback. You want to sit with people your own age. Maybe our age-matching algorithm isn’t as smart as we thought. We’ve got a solution.

I’m not going to come right out and tell you we’re brainstorming a 55+ Club. But I’m not not going to tell you we are either.

And if we were creating such a hypothetical new club, it wouldn’t be just dinner. It’d be all kinds of experiences, some you can’t get anywhere else in Annapolis.

So we wanted to ask you. If we were to create such a club (and again, I’m not saying we are 😉), would you take 13 seconds to let us know what kinds of experiences you’d find fun? Click below to let us know (55+ only please).

Stories with ($) require a third-party subscription.

Fifty-three years ago this week, the Bay Bridge stopped being a one-bridge bottleneck (and started being the two-bridge bottleneck it still is).

The original span opened in 1952. The parallel westbound span broke ground (water?) in May 1969 and opened to traffic on June 28, 1973. That's a little over four years of hard work and $148 million (~$1.1 billion in today’s dollars), to string up the 4.3 miles of steel and concrete that is the bane of every drive to the beach.

Sounds kinda old, right? The state of Maryland thinks so, too.

Last winter, the MDTA preliminarily approved a plan to tear down and replace (not in that order) both spans with new wider and higher spans. Don’t get too excited yet, though. We’re expecting a final decision this fall and design work isn’t expected to begin until 2028. Construction will follow in 2032.

Stories with ($) require a third-party subscription.

🚴‍♂️ The Ride Continues – Coast 2 Coast 4 ALS is stoked to announce that it raised more than $50k on Friday at Champions for the Cure in Chicago. Rex is back on the road fueled by deep dish pizza and Italian beef. According to the GPS tracker, he’s about to pass through Marion, IN where I once got sick on a 2-week work trip. Let’s hope he fares better in the City of Champions. Meanwhile, Coast 2 Coast has just $150k to go to reach its $500k goal and Team Naptown Scoop has officially crossed $12k! Will you help us hit our $20k goal?*

🌸 Bloom Town – Oyster Flower Co has opened a brick-and-mortar shop at 914 Bay Ridge Road, trading its event-floral roots for a retail space stocked with flowers, gifts, garden supplies, tabletop pieces, cards, and books. Summer hours are Monday 10–3 and Tuesday through Saturday 10–5, closed Sundays and the Fourth of July.

🏗️ West Street Switch – The old Sir Speedy print shop at 90 West Street has a new owner in a fitting line of work. Associated Builders and Contractors' Chesapeake Shores chapter – the construction trade group headquartered next door at 100 West – paid $1.3 million for the 2,500-square-foot building and plans to renovate it for its growing operational needs. Sir Speedy closed last year when owner Matthew Franko retired.

⚽ Win or Go Home – The US men reached the World Cup's round of 32 and face Bosnia and Herzegovina tomorrow, with a spot in the round of 16 on the line. We refreshed our watch guide per your suggestions, so hopefully no more dud viewing experiences. Sorry about that.

Stories with ($) require a third-party subscription.

87 🌡️ 72 | ☀️ | 2% ☔ | 💨 S 14 mph (12 knots)

94 🌡️ 77 | ☀️ | 10% ☔ | 💨 S 9 mph (8 knots)

💧🌡️ Water temperature = 79ºF
Temperature readings taken from the mouth of the Severn River the night before publication

🌳 🎵= Outdoor concert

49 West | Unified Jazz Ensemble | 7–9:30 PM
The Admiral’s Cup | Daphne Eckman | 7–10 PM
Captain’s Daughter | TBA | 5–7 PM
🌳🎵 Chronic Sailing | Shelby Morgan | TBA
Middleton Tavern | Nicky Stacy | 6–9 PM
Pirates Cove | Hardly Know Her | 6–9 PM
The Point | Kavoossi | 5–8 PM

49 West | Dave Chappell & Friends | 5–7 PM
49 West | Open Mic | 7:30–10 PM
Brian Boru | Aaron Hawkins | 6–9 PM
Galway Bay | Irish Trad Music Session | 8 PM
Killarney House | Kevin Lee | 6–9 PM
Pirates Cove | Loose Change | 6–9 PM
The Point | Bryan Ewald | 5–8 PM
Rams Head On Stage | The Marshall Morlock Band | 8 PM | Tickets
Rams Head Tavern | Chris Sacks | 9 PM
Stan & Joe’s Saloon | Christopher Dean | 9 PM

Thanks for reading Naptown Scoop today. If you found something useful, please share it with someone who is taking a trip to Slovenia this summer.