“To me, Hutzler’s was always the A-list store, and I think everybody knew that.” — John Waters, 2009 Oysters, crabs, crops, steel, and shipping—Maryland’s natural resources and industries—are forged into this screen from the now-closed Hutzler Brothers department store building, once a popular destination in downtown Baltimore. When stores around the world closed after the economic crash of 1929, Hutzler’s expanded, injecting money into Baltimore’s economy. In 1932, they opened a new five-story building with black granite walls, steel window grates, and revolving doors in the most up-todate architectural style, Art Moderne. The sleek, streamlined exterior hinted at the technologies available inside, from electric refrigerators to toaster ovens: machines for living a modern life.