What Happened ?- the place was packed

Famous old place in need of a serious makeover and parking.

That what happens when manager yells at customers and doesn't honor advertised promotions. Surprised it took so long.

It's hard for potential tenants to invest big money refurbishing the place when they can't buy the building.
Mr. Rupert needs to redo the building himself to attract good tenants.

The place was disgusting... dirty, poor service, nasty food.

On the nights they were supposed to have $1 draft beer. they only used 12 oz cups and usually they would always say their draft beer was "broken" and sell you a $3 bottle instead.

It was extremely intimidating at times because they had 8 gorilla sized bouncers staring at you all the time.

It was only a matter of time and I'm surprised it lasted this long.

It just has not been the same since the Perry Inn closed. The building needs major remodeling and a fresh look.

Perhaps looking past ones own insecurities and worries about what a live music venue should be might be in order here to better see what Surf City DID provide. I did provide local musicians a place to play. A place to grow a following. It did allow patrons a place to see local music and the cost ) compared to going downtown or elsewhere) was quite reasonable by comparison. The true tragedy here is that there is nothing to replace that for music lovers in the area. If you need a more shiney, hipper or spiffier surrounding, I might suggest going to the avenue or anyone of a thousand "trendier" places along the water, or at one of the shopping areas around town...but then you will just bitch about the prices.

I'm sure it will be a CVS, Rite-Aid, or Walgreens. We need more pharmacies.

The surfer logo and font is cool, though.

HA HA HA HA, that is too funny, and sadly probably true

We definitely need a live music venue in the area.

Good live music and imbibing are two things Democrats and Republicans can agree on.

Also, there's live music at local churches. Perry Hall UMC has folk music nights.

And then there are all of the White Marsh venues, weekly concerts at The Avenue, etc. it doesn't stop!

Perry Hall needs an old time crab house with cement floors, buckets of beer with the O's, Ravens or local sports on the tube.

I had my sons baptism upstairs at surf city and it was a nightmare. My wife was told to shut the f**k up, and then the owner starts cursing while we're taking all our stuff out because they had a band coming. They also made us pay more then stated at first. I'm happy its closed. I would love to see somewhere I can take my kids though. Something like a chuck e cheese would be amazing. But it all depends on the staff as well.

Emily, None of those venues you mentioned bring a "Full-Band" experience...Mostly what you find there is Acoustic stuff and Duos/Trios

Hey Greg Kuta, my wife and I agree with you 100%. We are originally from Highlandtwon, where most bars had cement floors, buckets of beer, sweet corn on the cob, and the O's, Ravens, etc. Kahler's on Old Philadelphia Rd. is close. They have all of the above, a large deck, and you bring your own beer, wine coolers. And the crabs are big and heavy. !!

I saw Greg Kuta play in Surf City...sorry to see a local son lose a local venue

I think a nice blues/jazz club would work very well at that location.

I may be wrong, but i don't think there is a high demand for a blues/jazz club

I remember when the place was called Apples back in the 1980's.
I will never forget the large, professionally-made sign on the side door:

"NO BUCK KNIVES, CHAINS, OR GUNS ALLOWED"

You can imagine the clientele being catered to.

Oh my, the good old days.

Here's a link that supports Bromwell Inn being there, I wish I had exact dates - http://happyhours.citypaper.com/baltimore/places/197420-Bromwell-Inn-North-Perry-Hall

I worked at the Bromwell Inn...it was definitely there! Also, when it changed over to the Perry Inn. That was around 1987-88 or so.

Bromwell Inn was on the corner of Belair Road and Fullerton Avenue (below the Beltway) in the late 70's and early 80's. I played softball every Tuesday (in season) at Fullerton Park during those years, and after the games we always ended up at the Bromwell Inn.

I used to DJ there when Mary and Tom owned the place. It was a fun place to play and we had a good following - everyone loved the classic rock and southern rock. A few fights but nothing that bad. Just everyone enjoying rocking out...

I must be the oldest one here because I had my first job in the late sixties working for Mr & Mrs Kahl in Kahl's Restaurant. It was a nice family atmosphere with good food. I guess when the Kahl's retired and sold the place no one else seemed to be able to make a go of it there.

Not a surprise in the least. If you look at the bartender's response to my review of the place, you'll see the attitude of the ownership/staff made it very apparent they were doing you a major-league favor even waiting on you.

That sucks. It was a great "dive" bar with cheap prices - I would drink my Jack and waters cheap - everyone else wants $10.00 a drink.

We loved Megan the bartender - she rocked!

Bill Paulshock from Bill's Seafood needs to hook up with Ruppert and have a Bill's Crab Shack ro Bill's Crab House. However, Ruppert needs to increase parking...that's a must.

As a PHHS grad of 1982, and growing up in PH, my first memories of this hole in the wall...was Apples!!. Bromwells was on Belair and Fullerton. I've played ball and frequented alot of places around the area, but when Ruppert bought it, the atmosphere went to hell. I've also been to a few Maryland Liquor Board shin-digs upstairs and the food sucked. Ruppert needs to put "his" own money into it, and make it nice again. When the Kahls owned it!!

My fiance and I went in there 2 times, and each time we were very disappointed. Who serves drinks in little plastic cups, like they used to use @ the catholic school fairs. That place was a joke. The owner is/was a joke. I hope whatever goes in there is better than surf city. 2 thumbs down surf city.

I think Bill Paulshock should consider a Crab House. He could be open from April to November, unless the demand was there for a year round crab house. Parking is defiately a problem that would need to be addrssed before any business could be a success in that space.

this place was disgusting. filthy dirty inside and drugs (cocaine specifically) were being ran through the place like no other. a friend of mine was drugged at this place and another was overcharged by $200 on his credit card total. i am glad to see this place go.

I was only there once when it was Surf City. It took 10 minutes to get my first drink. the hard part was to get the attention of the bartender who clearly didn't want to be on that side of the bar. $4.75 for a domestic beer? Then up to the concert hall. Rude bouncers yelling because I didn't know the rule - even though the door was open, I was not allowed to go upstairs. A $7.00 cover for a no-name band...really? You would have to pay me a lot to play upstairs...or carry my gear up for me. It was better when the previous people ran the bar. They had great bands, no cover and it was always packed. No wonder Surf City only lasted a year.

That place has a great potential with the right management. I can't remember what it was called before Surf City, but I was surprised when they closed. They always had a crowd, and good music. The stage was big and there was still plenty of dance space. They were nice people too. You never had to wait for a drink and prices were reasonable. Sadly, the upstairs went un-used. That is a hard room to rent. It should be an apartment. Hopefully, someone with some business savvy will rent it and turn it around to be a nice venue for live music.

Someone should call Robert Irvine from Restaurant Impossible for a menu and restaurant makeover!!

This place was great when Mary and Tom owned it. It was professional all the way around. Then then she and Tom wanted to movie it where Santoni's was when it closed because it would be all on one floor with lots of parking but they couldnt get the liqour liscence to go with them it stayed with them where they were. So they stayed put as long as they could. This was back in 99 and business was still very good. Lots of parties upstairs, respectable bartenders, (I mean a Calvert Hall teacher bartender there on the weekends who is now an assistant pricniple for pete's smith's sake!) and hot college girls working as servers. There would be many kids there for prom, and moms on mothers day where they all got flowers. The after church crowd. The upstairs had been the same for the last 20 years as far as everyone i know says. Slowly the good cooks (Rick, Carlos ) took better paying jobs else where when Geroge Balog took over as "the bearded bumbler" as the staff and customers called it. Some people loved Mr. Balog and he treated those who were loyal to him great. Sure he may have not had a good business sense, I mean the guy had told tables to "eat and get the hell out" after complaining about a temperature of a steak, "I don't need your money!"
Mr. Balogs real reasons for buying the restaraunt prolly had more to do with his embezzelment charges he had when he ran the city with Schmoke, more than anything else He sold it to Eric Uttenrither, a drunk.by 2010 S City was a only a shell

Eric killed off the business that Geroge had on life support since 2003. Its amazing that it held on as long as it did really. The only constants were the bar crowd, and few loyal restraunt employees. It was still a great social place during this time. I can clearly remember at 7 o clock the news channels 13 would get turned down, and the Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden would get turned up. It wasn't uncomon to hear WHFS on in the bar during this time and was a really enjoyable play for young people. Unfortunatly, Ruppert put no money into the building and Mr. Balog had to pour a small fortunre into the place just to sell it. It amazingly passes inspection (I'm not saying GGB payed anyone off. I'm not saying....)!
The real problem was the buliding was falling apart, and there was so many diverse crowds that were so different. to the older generation in the day it was thier vodka tonic place or whatever. By night fall it was an alternative rock crowd who wanted to escape the rap music at bj's pub down the street. But slowly during this time most of the quality staff that remained finished college, (hot college girls replaced by over the hill 40 and 50 yr old severs stuck in the 80s that hung around because they had nowhere else to go, the good cooks moved on the coorporate positions, and after the restaraunt was sold Eric had a bowling ball behing the bar, a inner city thugs as a kitchen staff, and and owner walking around every day with a beer in hand at 1o am.

So the Perry Inn and Pub both Mary and Tom's Walzenbach and Geroge G. Balogs attracted pretty much the same crowd. When Eric Uttenrither had it he turned it into pee wees play house and partied every day until the money beer and coke ran out. Its sad to say that one man destroyed place so rich in community history.
I am personally saddened that it is closed. I grew up there. Met my wife there. Had my grandfathers funeral reception there, and Mister Balog was great and respectful to my family. Like I said, he was a brilliant lawyler, and he had a huge heart. Its just that Geroge was so tierd from being up to 4 am every night after doing the money and emptying the machines every night. Then being there at 9 am again to open. On a man in his 60s this takes its toll over the course of 4 years.
There are many different groups of friends who have fond (and not so fond!) memories of the Perry Inn and Pub. It is a part our lives in perry hall. But I am personally glad it has closed. Its a chapter of my life that is now in the past, but man that place has so many memories and strong feeling attached to it. Met so many friends there- that was the motto back in the late 90s "where old friends meet new friends" and it was so true.
Surf City was blue paint slapped on and cheap sign, fish tanks gone, restaurant now gutted,but no bearded older gentleman. good outlet for rock music sure, but the heart of place the good people- had moved on with life. Surf City? NO,this is the P.I.P!