West Baltimore garage featured in Jim Crow-era ‘Green Book’ envisioned as food hall, coworking space

As Shelley Halstead gazes upon the vacant, disheveled building that once hosted a stop in the “Green Book,” all she sees is potential. “They just want to keep scraping houses and buildings. And I just, I’m a carpenter. Like first and foremost, I’m like, ‘No, let’s rebuild it,’” Halstead said. “I live here. I want to see this thing happen.” Standing last month on a deserted street and bundled up against the cold, Halstead, 53, painted the picture of how she plans to transform 1415 Etting St. from an abandoned eyesore into a community gathering place for the residents of historic Marble Hill, situated in West Baltimore’s Upton neighborhood. The building was once a stop in the “Green Book,” a travel guide featuring businesses that would host Black customers during segregation. In Jim Crow-era America, Black customers risked not just refusal of service, but violence if they tried to patronize certain businesses.