Yong Taing had just been through a divorce around the time he moved to Hampden, near the start of the pandemic.
“I was going through a major world of change,” says Taing, an information technology specialist for the Space Telescope Science Institute at The Rotunda. (Taing and his team were instrumental in the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope last December.) “I was trying to rediscover myself, and trying to find a community to take me in. Hampden did that.”
Before long, Taing—who locals may ocassionally spot cruising around in his bubblegum-pink car—became a well-known face in his new neighborhood, initiating softball meets, a board game club, and a knitting group for residents.
He even got the ultimate Hampden symbol, a pink flamingo, tattooed on his chest. It’s now on display for all to see in the 2023 edition of the Boys of Hampden calendar—the fundraising initiative in which mostly male Hampden business owners bare their birthday suits for pin-up-style photos in support of the Hampden Family Center, a nonprofit that works to offer residents a number of community resources.
Taing, who once received help from the program and currently sits on its board, has two shots featured in the annual calendar—whose theme for 2023 is all about the liberating act of “Movin’ Forward.” Photographed this year by Baltimore and New York-based photographer Chris Comfort, the bright and bubbly issue represents a shift from black and white to color in the wake of the pandemic.
“The main goal is to make every day you look at this calendar a happy and bright day, starting from January 1 all the way to December 31,” explains Dave Scherr, the owner of K&S Associates on Falls Road, who has organized the project since it debuted in 2016. “That’s why we made this, to make people happy.”
An array of local models, including Papi’s Tacos owner Charlie Gjerde, participated in what both Scherr and Taing agree is the spiciest spread yet. “This one tops them all,” says Scherr. “We get risqué for charité.”
Though bawdy, the calendar is not without nuance. “I really enjoyed walking through the community and looking for places that we represent, but would also make great visuals,” says Taing, a Boys of Hampden first-timer.
While most models had the luxury of posing in the confines of a business space, Taing’s photos were shot in public—one in front of Hampden’s celebrated mural of Killer the cat, and the other outside of his workplace at The Rotunda. “Trying to do a risqué shot in public was a bit nerve-racking,” Taing recalls, “but I wanted to have fun with it.”
After all, as Scherr says, that’s the whole point.
To celebrate the Boys’ big comeback, anyone who picks up a copy in person at either K&S Associates, Falkenhan’s Hardware, or Papi’s in Hampden (the $26 calendars are also sold online) can get theirs signed by one of the models.
“We want the people of Hampden to embrace the calendar,” Scherr says, “because it is their calendar.”