ABOUT THE AVENUE BAKERY AND MUSEUM

 Welcome to The Avenue Bakery & Museum, a beloved fixture on West Baltimore’s Historic Pennsylvania Avenue Corridor—where Community, Culture and Commerce intersect, fueling a Lasting Living Legacy, and opportunities to add YOUR footprint! Take the tour and record your sentiments in our popular Logbook Journals.

Tour buses chart our landscape from all over the country. International groups also visit us.

The Avenue Bakery and its proprietor, James Hamlin, a historian, activist, author, and baker, have been featured on Baltimore’s local networks, including ABC, NBC, CBS, Baltimore's FOX45, NPR, and PBS, and highlighted in various radio and print news outlets. It’s named one of the must-see locations in several magazines, tour guides, and books, such as in 2019’s The 111 Places You Must Not Miss in Baltimore by Allison Robicelli and John Dean (Photographer). “We're number ten on the list,” commented Hamlin. The Avenue Bakery was celebrated as part of a history and visual arts exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Building Museum, titled Flickering Treasures: Rediscovering Baltimore’s Forgotten Movie Theaters by Baltimore Sun’s staff photographer Amy Davis (November 17, 2018-December 1, 2019). Its artifacts now grace the walls of The Avenue Bakery & Museum.

Visit the most historic African American community, dating back to the War of 1812. The Avenue Bakery & Museum showcases decades of lesser-known stories and books—deeper narratives of struggles, triumphs, and rich histories—through presentations, videos/pictures, reenactments, artifacts, and books, exploring entertainment, art, politics, culture, and tenacity. It offers an experience that is more personal and meaningful than most traditional tours.

Also available for sample and purchase are The Avenue Bakery’s famed Poppay’s rolls, soulful, delectable confections, and keepsakes that you can’t get anywhere else. “We feed your face and feed your mind,” commented Hamlin.

Discover the backstory of The Avenue Bakery, established in 2011 to demonstrate that commerce could thrive on this Corridor and that revitalization, not gentrification, must flourish! James Hamlin shares vivid accounts of Jim Crow-era West Baltimore and offers a behind-the-scenes look at the world of local politics, the People’s Voice, and its lasting impact on us today.

ONE PERSON CAN ALWAYS MAKE A DIFFERENCE

My mantra has always been: Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can be achieved.

I want to pave the way for our young people to change their lives for the better. One of the lessons I always want to convey to them whenever they venture across our threshold is that with hard work, determination, and a plan, they can achieve their dreams!

The Avenue Bakery’s grand opening took place on August 15, 2011, to a crowd of community residents, family and friends, elected officials, and media.

Owning and operating The Avenue Bakery turned out to be my next chapter after leaving my job at the United Parcel Service (UPS). I retired from UPS in 2003, after thirty-five and a half years of dedicated service. During that time, I had learned and perfected many business and economic skills that translated into attributes for running The Bakery. It’s another lesson learned that I convey to our youth of all ages. Waste not, want not, and use all the knowledge you’ve acquired.

I earnestly tell them how, except for having a baby, I’ve always been of the mindset that if you can do it—and I need to do it—then I'm going to give it a shot.

I’m grateful!

James W. Hamlin,

Proprietor of The Avenue Bakery & Museum

Did You know

Did You Know that West Baltimore is the most historic African American community in the country, dating back to the War of 1812, when there were more free Blacks here than anywhere in the country.

Did you know that Historic West Baltimore was the heart of the Civil Rights movement? As a matter of fact, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came here to consult with Rev. Wood and the Pastors he attended seminary school with.

CONTACT THE AVENUE BAKERY & MUSEUM

2229 Pennsylvania Avenue,
Baltimore, MD 21217
hamlinbakery@gmail.com

410.225.3881