I PRESSED the buzzer on the No. 3 bus to let me off on Cathedral Street. I had found time to revisit some of my favorite old downtown neighborhoods. I speak of the places where Baltimoreans did their shopping for so many years, and still do, if not exactly as in 1960. But then, as we shut down an old year, and embrace a new one, what is exactly the same?

I walked up Read Street and spotted the ancient Brexton, the Victorian apartment house where Wallis Warfield, the future Duchess of Windsor, lived with her mother long ago. It is now encased in scaffolding; some owner is finally taking care of this wonderful, if demanding, Baltimore treasure. Its pointy turret caught the late December sunlight. And it sent a message of the hope I look for at this time of year. I think the Brexton has been vacant and home to only pigeons for the last two decades. Maybe, in 2003, some families will move in again.

In a few minutes I was treading down Howard Street and before long I was greeting old friends and catching up on all sorts of news. I thought to myself, is there any spot in our grand city where you won't meet a friend?

By now I had spent a little more time than I had budgeted in these conversations. The iris-blue-orange sky was backlighting the church steeples, the old theaters, the 19th-century stores and homes in a highly theatrical manner. Old Baltimore never looked better. I was proud to see some care and attention was arriving in this area, an address that had resisted a beauty makeover for a long time. And yet, for Baltimoreans, what streets hold more memories and shared experiences than these? I often recommend that Baltimoreans who have not been to Howard and Lexington streets go back and see what's happening there. Shopping is not dead there. Plenty of people are still carrying bulging bags. And there is still a frenetic street life that reminds me of 19th-century sketches that appeared in old newspapers. This is surely not a suburban mall parking lot.

I arrived at the old Stewart's department store, whose renovation progress I've been watching for more than a year. All the pieces are coming together. In the last few weeks, the new dark green show windows have been installed, along with some fine marble trim. Now all the place needs is a tenant to fill its broad floors.

I got to thinking of how far Baltimore has extended the boundaries of its downtown. For a city that dropped a third of its population since 1960, we've enlarged our downtown core. It now seems to extend from the Canton waterfront up along Howard Street to the area around the Lyric. That's a lot of office space -- and new apartments -- to occupy.

I loaded up on goodies at Lexington Market and took note of its new signs and interior makeover. Some designer has taken old Baltimore and Maryland canning labels and enlarged them as murals. I never thought I'd see a Gibbs packing house motto stretched across the market walls, but then I never thought I'd hear streetcar bells at Howard and Fayette again.

While the work on the Hippodrome continues, I was heartened to spot a delighted audience spill out of the Mechanic Theatre this December Saturday. There were parents and children and grandchildren. I wondered to myself: Is it possible, in this city that constantly works on rebuilding itself, that maybe, before long, we'll have another batch of theaters filled up on matinee days, the way they were when the bright lights shone at the New, the Stanley, the Century and Keith's?