1501 Guilford Ave, more commonly known as the Copycat Building, is an artists' studio and living space in Baltimore, Maryland. The building was built in 1897 as a manufacturing warehouse, but today it has become home to the city's creative class and continues to be a creative landmark of the Station North Arts and Entertainment District. In order to save manufacturing companies inside the building from moving out, Charles Lankford bought the Copycat Building in 1983 from a previous owner for the sum of $225,000. The building was nicknamed "the Copycat" due to a billboard advertising for the Copy Cat printing company that stood on its roof for years. At the time, it housed a variety of light-industrial tenants. The Copycat Building was also home to The Wham City Art's Collective, former home to Baltimore artist Dan Deacon, Blood Baby, Santa Dads, Videohipos, Ed Schrader, Jimmy Joe Roche, and others. In addition to hosting local and touring acts Wham City hosted live stage performances, including of their interpretation of Beauty And The Beast, and held the first Whartscape Festival in the building in 2006. The related group Wham City Comedy also maintains a studio at the Copycat, where filmmakers and comedians Ben O'Brien and Alan Resnick produce and direct works, including the infomercial parody Live Forever as You Are Now with Alan Resnick, which was produced for Adult Swim. Bands that have performed in the warehouse include: Grimes, Fat Day, Lightning Bolt, Mac DeMarco, Future Islands, Black Forest/Black Sea, Japanther, Wolf Eyes, Gravenhurst, Robotnicka, The Death Set, Matt + Kim, Anathallo, Nautical Almanac, Long Live Death, The USAISAMONSTER, Need New Body, Porches, Landed, Rapdragons, Dan Deacon, Dead Mellotron, Yukon, Muscle Brain. Today, the Copycat is still home to many young artists, musicians, filmmakers, and professionals looking for a large space to live, create, study, and live in the city. There are many residents who utilize their living spaces to host art and music-related events. Bands and other performers that have lived and/or performed in the building: Abdu Ali, Aghost, Alternate Seduction, Avocado Happy Hour, Avocado Mountain, Happy Mountain, Baby Gap, The Babysitter's Club Mountain, Bad Soap, Bastet, Baraka, Baleen Relay, the Bel-Air Shitter, Bent Bread, Benjie Loveless, Bread Bender, Bon Appetit, Bored Control, Brooks Kossover, Brother Simon, Chiefs Hat, Chris Martinelli and Tropical Punch, The Church of Stop!, Crab Rangoon, Craft Service, Crumb, Crystal Mountain, Crystal Rainbow, Dan Deacon, Deathcube, Do While, Dope Body, Double Dagger, Each Other, Each Others, Ego Reduction, Encino Qdoba, Encino Thug, Exposed Wall, Eye Lid, Ezra Winter, Focal Plane, Four Pounds of Bacon, Frank, Goblin Mold, Gotta Go to Work, Grayson James Brown, Greydolf, Hexspeak, Holy Ghost Party, GWAR, Impress, In Every Room, Kirby Adams, Kisses ft. Oskar & Guam, LandSpeedRecord!, Lee B. Freeman, The Libyan Suite, Life, Male Tuxedo Aggression, Mayonnaise Commercial, Mountain Mountain, My Father's Ass, Nicky Smith, No Name, Odwalla88, Painful Dad, Peanut Butter Balloon, Peanut Butter Mountain, Pet Rock, Pilar Diaz, Poppy Downs, Rainbow Mountain, Rainbow Crystals, Rainbow Rainbow, Rapdragons, Red Exit, Republican Noise, Richard Demerol, Roomrunner, Run DMT/Salvia Plath, Savage Suns, Semya, Sharp Shitter, Sleepover, Smoke Like A Raven, Soda Brain, Smart Growth, Soft Cat, Sun Club, Sword Prom, TRNSGNDR/VHS, Turnip Bay Audio, Turnip Bay Coast Guard Marching Band, Turnip Bay Corps of Engineers, Turquoise Cats, Used Tire, Weekends, Wild Furby, Jim Winters, Wolfpack Jazz, Wooden Invalid, and Yawn. Photographers, painters, and sculptors as well as artist's models also make the building their home.
