Club History

This week, I was working on taking in revisions and rewriting the history. Below is the product of my re-working it.

Club 4100, a Baltimore icon of the Colts, is a restaurant opened by restaurateur George Coutros in 1958 in Anne Arundel County’s Brooklyn Park (3). Coutros’s experience in restaurants, from his father’s in Greece until he was 22, then coming back to America and opening a restaurant in Baltimore’s Federal Hill, taught Coutros that a big local celebrity would draw in customers. He asked his friend, Johnny Unitas, to come “relax, eat, and be treated like family” and this resulted in the large crowds of the Club’s early years (1). Tom Matte, a former Colt’s running back and back up quarterback, called the club a “safe haven for us” (3).

Coutros helped bring the bar to its height, with Easter dinners and contests like Ms. Club 4100. He also got Unitas involved in these events, and Unitas would come and slip out back, where there used to be a pool, to play with the young kids of the neighborhood (2, 3).

The Club’s walls, upon entering, show the history and the memories of old times, covered in various photographs of Unitas, from both professional sources and his own collection, and also the friends and family of the bar (8). These walls “chronicle the defining people and moments of the restaurant’s history” (1). The Club itself is comprised of a dining area, the bar, and a back room for banquets, wedding receptions, and other large gatherings.

In 1969, Coutros sold Club 4100 to the Spanamanoli brothers, Dino and Manny. They maintained the Club’s sense of place for the customers that were like family. According to regular Paul Federline, “Manny and Dino treated everyone like brothers and sisters. It’s not fake, just for business, it’s real life” (1). The brothers kept the bar going for many years, but on November 30, 2007, they sold the bar to house-flipping husband and wife team, Raj and Meena Harkie (4).

Since the opening, the Club’s filled rooms have dwindled (); there are still faithful customers, like Paul and his wife, Anne, George Mills, as well as others. Despite the lesser number of people, the Harkies are trying to preserve the history of the place. They have not changed anything, and are trying to bring back some traditions, like the Easter dinner. The community response has been pretty receptive; the Harkies have noted that “it’s like a big family in here…everyone is so friendly and will help you anytime” (4).

Works Cited

1. Brown, Geoff. “In the Club,” Baltimore Magazine (February 2006): 139-146
2. Engle, Donna R.. (1996, August 19). George P. Coutros, 83, restaurateur did good deeds :[FINAL Edition]. The Sun,p. 3B. Retrieved May 5, 2009, from The Sun, Baltimore (Special) database. (Document ID: 49514603).
3. Greene, Andrew A. and Stacy Kiehl, “At Club 4100, Memories,” The Baltimore Sun (September 16, 2002) http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/football/bal-te.md.club16sep16,0,3955368.story, accessed February 13, 2009.
4. Harkie, Raj and Meena. Oral History interview. 2009. Interview.
5. Morgan, Jon. (1996, December 22). Not like the old days; Allegiance: Longtime Colts fans who gather monthly at South Baltimore's Club 4100 are having a hard time embracing the Ravens :[FINAL Edition]. The Sun,p. 1C. Retrieved May 5, 2009, from The Sun, Baltimore (Special) database. (Document ID: 49575877).
6. Siegel, Andrea F. (2007, September 3). 4TH DOWN FOR COLTS' HAUNT. The Sun,A.1. Retrieved May 5, 2009, from The Sun, Baltimore (Special) database. (Document ID: 1329649371).
7. Siegel, Andrea F.. (2007, September 7). NO WINNING BIDS FOR CLUB 4100. The Sun,B.2. Retrieved May 5, 2009, from The Sun, Baltimore (Special) database. (Document ID: 1331880581).
8. Van Valkenburg, Kevin. (2007, September 16). 5 YEARS LATER, HIS CITY HAS CHANGED, BUT LOVE REMAINS :MISSING UNITAS. The Sun,D.1. Retrieved May 5, 2009, from The Sun, Baltimore (Special) database. (Document ID: 1337595771).