The Mohican Markets

Once, before the malls, there were three thriving cities in the Lehigh Valley, and some merchants would have a store in each of the downtowns. Some of the buildings still exist, and have been reused; the Allentown Farr (shoe) Building is now loft apartments. Two of three Mohican Market buildings, famous for baked goods, no longer exist. The Easton location, on S. 4th St., was victim to fire. The Allentown store now is the parking lot behind the new Butz office building. The Mohican Markets were owned and operated by Bernard Molovinsky. Below is the Mohican recipe for chocolate chip brownies, revealed for the first time in 35 years.(you may want to make less brownies)
Chocolate Chip Brownies
#1 Yield (2) Pans.
5lbs. Sugar
2lbs. M.F.B
2oz. Salt
8oz. Glucose
2oz. Milk Powder
2lbs. Egg Whites(1qt.)
8oz. Water(1/2 pt.)
3lbs. 8oz. Cake flour
-----------------------
#2
2lbs. Chocolate Chips
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#3
4lbs. Dough
4oz. Sugar
4oz.Cocoa
8oz. Water(1/2 pt.)

Place no.1 in small machine bowl and mix smooth. add no.2 to no.1 and mix until chips are well incorporated.
Remove 4 lbs. of dough and mix with the sugar, cocoa and water
Deposit into Baking sheets with no.3 on top to make marble effect.
Bake - 375 degrees

reprinted from September 25, 2007

ADDENDUM: My family also owned a meat market across the street from the Easton Mohican called Melbern Meats. On my way to lunch in the square every day, I would visit a friend who worked at the Iannelli chicken and cold cut stand in the 5&10 on Northampton Street.

The People's Candidate

In the late 1970's, neighbors would gather in the market on 9th Street to complain and receive consolation from the woman behind the cash register. Emma was a neighborhood institution. A native Allentonian, she had gone through school with mayor for life Joe Dadonna, and knew everybody at City Hall. More important, she wasn't shy about speaking out. What concerned the long time neighbors back then was a plan to create a Historical District, by a few newcomers.

What concerned Emma wasn't so much the concept, but the proposed size of the district, sixteen square blocks. The planners unfortunately all wanted their homes included, and they lived in an area spread out from Hall Street to 12th, Linden to Liberty.* Shoving property restrictions down the throats of thousands of people who lived in the neighborhood for generations didn't seem right to Emma. As the battle to establish the district became more pitched, Emma began referring to it as the Hysterical District.
Emma eventually lost the battle, but won the hearts of thousands of Allentonians. Emma Tropiano would be elected to City Council beginning in 1986, and would serve four terms. In 1993 she lost the Democratic Primary for Mayor by ONE (1) vote.

Her common sense votes and positions became easy fodder for ridicule. Bashed for opposing fluoridation, our clean water advocates now question the wisdom of that additive. Although every founding member of the Historical District moved away over the years, Emma continued to live on 9th Street, one block up from the store. In the mid 1990's, disgusted by the deterioration of the streetscape, she proposed banning household furniture from front porches. Her proposal was labeled as racist against those who could not afford proper lawn furniture. Today, SWEEP officers issue tickets for sofas on the porch.

Being blunt in the era of political correctness cost Emma. Although a tireless advocate for thousands of Allentown residents of all color, many people who never knew her, now read that she was a bigot. They don't know who called on her for help. They don't know who knocked on her door everyday for assistance. They don't know who approached her at diners and luncheonettes all over Allentown for decades. We who knew her remember, and we remember the truth about a caring woman.

* Because the designated Historical District was too large, it has failed, to this day, to create the atmosphere envisioned by the long gone founders. Perhaps had they listened to, instead of ridiculing, the plain spoken shopkeeper, they would have created a smaller critical mass of like thinking homeowners, who then could have expanded the area.

The Night They Shot Emma Down

There was a time in Allentown's past, during the Heydt Administrations, when neighborhood groups had great influence. Special parochial interests prevailed; the neighbors of Muhlenberg College got the city to past special restrictive zoning against student renting(unconstitutional,shame on the college for laying down), Rental Inspections Law, in effect creating two classes of property owners, West Park Historic District, against the majority of homeowners wishes, etc... yes it was an effective machine which even resulted in the election of two members to city council, Pam Varkony and Tom Burke., everyone was happy, the mayor got support and the neighborhood associations got special considerations., There was only one fly in the ointment, the one and the only EMMA TROPIANO. She always voted for the "people" and what she considered fair. She delayed the passage of these measures, and was punished on Oct. 16, 2001. Invited to a candidate's night, she was confronted with special "yes or no" questions designed to specifically humiliate her. She refused to acknowledge that she was delinquent in taxes and had a building declared unfit (two recent developments from property she inherited) The Morning Call reporter was more than glad to answer for her in the next morning's paper. That was the end of Emma's career. It was also the end of decency in Allentown's political arena. She served 16 years on City Council, aided thousands of citizens, and earned my lasting respect.

reprinted from June 2, 2007

ADDENDUM: BILLY GIVENS RECOGNIZES EMMA

Sal Panto Says

Sal Panto and I have been having words on the blogosphere, both here and on Bernie's O'Hare's site. Panto, Easton's Mayor, doesn't like what I'm saying about his Lanta Plans. Before I go too far explaining the story, I should make a couple of confessions. I have referred to Sal as a retread; Easton tends to recycle it's mayors. I have referred to the coming High School Sports Museum as the Al Bundy Hall of Fame.

Sal Panto says:
Oh one other thing, you will be eating your Al Bundy comment about the National High School Sports Hall of Fame in a month or so when some exciting announcements will be made. Just another example of you being confused by the facts (in this case you don't even have the facts becasue all of them haven't been released yet.)

In Easton, Lanta is to build a transfer terminal several blocks away from the square and Northampton Street, as Allentown did at Sixth and Linden. Easton, like Allentown, has no destination stores in it's downtown. However, when people have to wait for their transfer bus, they will shop if the store is right there, and they're waiting anyway. When the transfer stops were removed from Hamilton Street, business there declined 40%. Although buses still stop on Hamilton and adjoining corners, the riders will not make an additional stop to shop in the stores; They will not interrupt their ride to the transfer point. There is a big difference, commerce wise, between a bus stop and transfer stops. Panto doesn't understand this difference. He keeps repeating that the buses will still stop on Northampton Street.

Sal Panto says:
Again the facts -- there will still be bus stops on Northampton Street. Transfers will be at the new transportation center.

Sal says that I criticize him, but do not take him up on his offer to come to Easton and hear his patter in person. More important, I suggested that Sal come to Allentown, and speak to a few merchants on Hamilton Street; In twenty miles and twenty minutes, he could learn what will happen to the Easton dollar stores, which now depend on the current bus transfer stops.

I hope when they bring Sal out of mothballs for the third time, he will invite me again.

No Dutchmen Need Apply

Mildred and Milton are upset. They lived and worked their entire lives in Allentown. They both started working in sewing factories after high school and spend their working lives there. During the late 60's they owned their only car, and always lived in apartments. They never sought any help from the government, their culture taught them to make it do, use it up, wear it out and do without. When they heard about these new apartments overlooking the Lehigh, they thought that would be a nice reward for a life of hard work. They were told it would take years,years they don't have, to get on the list. Its hard for them to understand how brandnew comers to the area, who don't even speak English, go to the head of the line. They don't know about the poverty pimps, the social organizations, funded by grants; The professional advocates who know what buttons to push, who make a career out of political correctness. Maybe we need a Pennsylvania Dutch American Organization.

reprinted from June 26, 2007

A Vanishing History

Most of you know it as the Phoenix Building, a sprawling old factory building on Race Street, between Hamilton and Linden. When in opened in 1881 as the Adelaide Silk Mill, it was the largest in the world. By 1928 Allentown had over 140 textile factories; it was the second largest industry and employer in the region, only behind assorted metal fabricators.

There is an interesting editorial* in today's Morning Call. As efforts continue to brand the area Lehigh Valley, Josh Friebolin ponders the loss of local history and culture. Josh may share my frustration with the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum. Last year I reported that Frank Whelan, a local historian who was formally with the Morning Call, was laid off by the Museum. The current director, not from the area, is an expert on Abraham Lincoln. The show on the famous President, although not a local topic, was understandable. The Museum now has a show on reducing electricity consumption, based on it's experience. I can understand the topic for the Da Vinci Science Center, but our local Historical Society?

I would like to see a show on the local needle trade industry. The last remaining factories have closed. Thousands of people in this area worked in the sewing factories. The remaining testimony and artifacts are quickly disappearing. What will future researchers be able to uncover, when our Historical Society is too cosmopolitan to document our own past?

* this well written piece does not appear on mcall under the opinion section, but is misplaced under sports

ADDENDUM: ALLENTOWN AFTERTHOUGHTS PICKS UP THIS POST, AND RICH FLAGG INFORMS OF A NEW ERA IN THE LOCAL APPAREL INDUSTRY