The Great White Hope

Jack Johnson was the first black man to hold the World Heavyweight Championship, in an era which did not celebrate such an accomplishment. A former champ, James Jefferies, was induced by $100,000 in 1910 to come out of retirement to challenge Johnson. Jefferies was called The Great White Hope. The story became a movie in 1970, starring James Earl Jones. By the time Joe Louis became champion three decades later, although the resentment was gone, he was still referred to as the Negro Champion and the Brown Bomber. A promo for Abe Simon's first Louis fight even refers to Simon as The White Heavyweight. Simon certainly was no bigot, his trainer for the fight was none other than the great Jack Johnson himself.

Buyer's Remorse

The video above was sent to me as a preview of the campaign by the Republican Jewish Coalition, which I support. It's not clear to me if the advertisement will be aired for the general public, or targeted specifically to Jewish groups. Barack Obama received 78% of the Jewish vote in 2008.

Before The Queen

The original hanger and tower at Queen City Airport were built as part of the war effort,  and dedicated as Convair Field on October 10, 1943. In 1928, the Chief of the Reading Police flew to Allentown to attend the fair, landing at Mitchel Field. Despite Mayor Pawlowski's efforts to sell Queen City, the Lehigh Valley Airport Authority has decided that the south side airfield will continue it's aviation tradition, and even expand it's hanger capacity. Pawlowski, who previously declared July Privatization Month, then suggested that the Airport Authority should at least privatize the Queen's operation.

The 37th Sport, Grass Parking

The theme of the SportsFest coverage on Sunday was that 36 different sports were being played at one location, CedarBeach Park. Anybody who drove up either Ott or Hamilton Street knows that records were also broken in Grass Parking. Rented security personnel continued directing vehicles to the meadow just west of the swimming pool, and up to the tree planted area toward Hamilton Street, until every square foot was jam packed. I'm conflicted about parking on the grass. Although MayFair through Sportsfest is certainly rough on the grass, it's only two months of the year, and thousands of people are served by the events. I do find it environmentally hypocritical to park on the grass, but institute a no mow zone denying access and view of the stream. Perhaps the Park Department should conduct a public input meeting on these issues. Could you imagine a meeting with citizens and the Park Department, without paid consultants, and projects which cost $millions?

Saving The Queen

The Old
When I grew up on Liberator Ave., I would walk up Catalina Ave. toward school, which was at the end of Coronado. The streets were named for the Vultee-Consolidated WW2 planes, and the neighborhood was next to the airport built as part of the war effort. Vultee Street was built to connect the hangers with the Mack 5C plant, which was given over to Vultee-Consolidated for plane part manufacturing. Today this small airport is known as Queen City, and is threatened by Mayor Ed Pawlowski.

1944 was the first full year of the operation for the company's Allentown, Pennsylvania factory. Consolidated Vultee handled over $100M in wartime contracts at their Allentown plant where they produced TBY-2 Sea Wolves, components parts for B-24 Liberator bombers and other essential armaments and products for the war effort.

Pawlowski covets this unique part of our history to expand the tax base. What he doesn't understand is that more housing or commercial space is not in Allentown's best long term interest. Unfortunately, long term interest is not a term understood by our current leadership. There is a whole development of started houses off S. 12th St. and Mack Blvd. which were never completed. There are filled in foundations on 8th Street, also never completed. More housing is the last thing both the real estate market and school system need. Likewise, the existing commercial sector has been struggling to maintain an acceptable occupancy rate. Queen City airport is an unique asset to Allentown. If LVIA does successfully expand, a separate airport for small planes is very desirable for safety. Considering Pawlowski's predetermined objective, I question whether he should have been appointed to the LVIA Board.
The New
I wrote the above several years ago. Last week The FAA has reiterated their requirements for selling Queen City, and such a sale remains totally unfeasible. Pawlowski says that he won't give up; He never meet an Allentown asset that he didn't want to sell. Although Airport Board Chairman Tony Iannelli conceded that it's time to move on, his quote is disturbing. "I totally understand the mayor's goal here, but unfortunately the hurdles are too high and too many." Tony, if you agree that the mayor's short sighted goals are in the best interest of the Airport Authority, and that it's unfortunate that you can't sell Queen City, then it's unfortunate that you're Chairman of the Authority. The recent FAA letter also prohibits Pawlowski's planned sale of the fire training tower to Lehigh Valley Health Network. Pawlowski claims that if the Hospital cannot expand their lab on Lehigh Street, that they will relocate to the suburbs and that Allentown will lose hundreds of jobs. He hasn't expressed the same concern about suburban offices relocating to Hamilton Street's NIZ.

The Sunday Drive

My family wasn't much for recreation. My father worked six days a week, from early morning till early evening. We did go for a long car ride on Sundays. Back then gasoline was cheap, and having no destination wasn't thought of as wasteful. Children were more content to sit in back seat and look out the window, now they want a video screen in the vehicle.

Even children's play then involved more imagination and interaction. Howdy Doody was just a puppet on strings,who spend most of his time talking to an adult, Buffalo Bob, can you imagine?

 Sitting in that back seat in the mid fifties, I might well had

my "coonskin" hat with me. Fess Parker was a genuine American hero. It mattered little if he played both Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, both were king of the wild frontier. The ride probably lasted for two hours and then we would go to a restaurant to eat dinner. Compared to now, there were very few restaurants.

My mother would cook all the other meals that week, and we probably ate out more than most. Supermarkets were the new rage in food shopping, but the butcher, baker and candle stick maker were still going strong. If my father headed west or south, chances are we ended up at Shankweiler's Hotel, famous for chicken and waffles. They were at the intersection of Old 22 and Route 100. The building still exists and currently is a bank. The family also owned another hotel on Route 309. Both locations also operated adjoining Drive-In movies.

If my father headed north or east, we would end up at Walp's, which was on the corner of Union Blvd. and Airport Road. Walp's was a much more urban place. While Shankweiler's was an old country inn, Walp's was built as a modern restaurant. I enjoyed those rides, they were a learning experience.

reprinted from March 2010