Home > Baltimore Bars & Clubs > Bar Review > Inside: The Club Charles

The Club Charles is sort of the conjoined twin of the Zodiac restaurant, its hip, smart, affable staff quick to serve the bar's equally hip, smart and affable patrons, many fresh from or destined for the nearby Charles Theatre.

Drinks: There's plenty of booze here to go with the dreamy noir atmosphere: Draft and bottled beer, shots, cocktails—you shouldn't have a problem finding the medicine you need. The bartenders tend to have their own little specialties and if you ask nicely they'll mix up something interesting for you. Word on the street is that bartender Jess' chocolate espresso martini will bring out the femme fatale in anyone. Specials include martini Mondaze, Sierra Sundays and circus Saturday (which occurs the second Saturday of the month).

Decor: Some places try very hard to be different. The Club Charles is not one of those places. It doesn't have to try to be different, it just is. If John Waters and David Lynch were to collaborate on a film, the Charles might be the only set they could agree on. The bar has been around, in one form or another, for 50 years, and you can feel the old Baltimore beauty and mystery in the floorboards. Poe would have been comfortable here. The bordello–red lighting, art deco wall murals and two resident ghosts make this place seem like an absinthe dream. It's a good place to hatch a conspiracy or fall in love…or both. In other words, The Club Charles has charisma. And you can't fake charisma—no matter how hard you try.

Crowd: The Club Charles has a pretty high hipster quotient, but they're cool, friendly people and the place comes off more egalitarian than cliquish. If 60 percent of the crowd is urban hipster, the remaining 40 percent is totally unclassifiable. A recent visit included conversations with a middle-aged couple, a defrocked priest, a Travis Bickle look–a–like and a landscape architect. You'll feel equally comfortable discussing Jean–Luc Godard with some beatnik cinephile or drinking yourself into oblivion all alone.

Insider tips: The Rock-Ola jukebox, like everything at The Club Charles, has a lot of panache. It wins on both style and content, and houses everything from The Velvet Underground to Motown to Cold War Kids. When's the last time you saw a juke with Wire's Pink Flag on it? Impressive.

Bottom line: This is the ideal place to grab a pre⁄post movie drink or just while away an evening drinking Guinness and soaking up the atmosphere. Club Charles has what so many bars try for but can't quite pull off—personality.

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