The Full Story

Knotty Pine, a charming bar and restaurant located at 801 South Conkling Street, was first issued its liquor license in 1936. Originally a stag bar, a wall divided the ladies from the men. The wall had a window through which the bartender delivered the ladies’ beverages. Women entered through a back door and could not see the men who stood by the bar, above the trough, in which the men would spit or urinate into. The trough, which is no longer functional, was noted in the City paper as the most eclectic of its kind in Baltimore.

The Borns owned the business for more than 2 decades. The bartenders were all male and wore white shirts and black bow ties. Alice and Fred “Coach” March took over in 1999. At that time there was not a functioning kitchen. The kitchen was previously a storage room and before that a garage. Alice was Knotty Pine’s first female owner. The first change that she made was to take the ladies entrance sign down from near the back door. At this time, beers were 50 cents and mixed cocktails were $2.00.

The night of the 2008 Super Bowl game, when the New York Giants ruined the New England Patriots perfect season, Knotty Pine was engulfed in flames. Ironically, it was also the first weekend of the indoor smoking ban in Baltimore. It was initially thought that a lit cigarette caused the fire, but after inspection it was determined that the fire started in the electrical breaker boxes in the basement. Alice March reported that “the whole building caved in. The fire went through the roof.” They had to rebuild from the walls up. The walls were previously made of knotty pine paneling. The only items that surprisingly survived the fire was the oak bar, in which a previous owner installed baseball cards in the mid 1990’s and the trough below it.

In 2019, current owner Steve Demby replaced the oak bar with a new mahogany bar. He added knotty pine wood planks to the lower sides of the bar in honor of the business’ name and covered the trough, but with clear plexiglass so that it is still visible.  A new modernized food menu was also rolled out around this same time. When the business was temporarily shut down by the government in 2020 because of COVID-19, Knotty Pine was able to survive by the amazing support of its neighbors and gained many new customers through the sale of to-go from its new food menu. Steve also continued the tradition of selling steamed crabs on Sundays throughout the summer, which KP is known for, and in 2023 hosted the first Brewers Hill/Canton/Highlandtown Joint Block party, that will now be an annual event on the last Saturday in April.