City HS was once one of the two premier public high schools in Baltimore, the other being the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (Poly for short). City has unfortunately and regrettably declined, a perfect example of the public schools failure. Poly OTOH continues to thrive (perhaps its most famous alumnus is H L Mencken). Two of my B-I-Ls are City grads; I went to Poly.
A former coworker of mine went to Poly (early 1960s?). He described it as a rigorous curriculum, and said that some local employers would specify that only Poly (and maybe City) grads need apply. That was from a time when High School actually taught everything that most people would need to know.