The Morning Call's Lost Memory

A lead story in today's Morning Call features the temporary construction jobs created by the arena, which will end by 2014. Although the article was written by two reporters, and included proud quotes from the city's community development director, none of them know or appreciate the thousands of jobs that block provided for over 100 years. The Palace of Sport and False Hope is not being build on previously vacant land, but on Allentown's mercantile history. While the reporters wrote about what the job means to one construction worker, they never showed the same sensitivity toward the displaced former merchants. Ironically, over the years, those 34 demolished buildings  provided the paper with many advertising dollars. We will see how revenue comes to The Morning Call from the arena.

CastleRock

CastleRock took place in the cavernous Dorney Park dance-hall, Castle Garden. The "Garden" was built in the early 20's and hosted all the famous big bands of that era. By the late fifties it was called CastleRock. The Philadelphia recording stars, such as Frankie Avalon and Freddy Cannon would routinely perform. By my teenage era, in the early mid 60's, it was mostly disc jockeys. The Park was free, no admission. Pay to park, and maybe a buck or so for the dance-hall.







By then the nightclub tables shown in the photograph were gone, and sitting was around the sides. There were no shootings, and rowdiness was restricted to sneaking on a ride without buying a ticket. The dance-hall overlooked the lake, it was destroyed by a fire on Thanksgiving in 1985.

Reprinted from January 2010

Allentown 1951

1951 was a good year for Allentown. Industry found the combination of location and work ethic conducive to production. Western Electric had built their new plant on Union Boulevard in 1948. General Electric joined Mack Trucks on the south side. General MacArthur himself visited the fair that year. Hamilton Street benefited from a retail genius, Max Hess. When the Allentown High basketball team won the state championship that year, the celebration took place late that night, at 7th and Hamilton. Although Lehigh Valley Diary was built in the late 1940's, there was very little way out on 7th Street. The Allentown Cardinals played at the stadium, Breadon Field, now occupied by the Lehigh Valley Mall.

Allentown 1950

Sixty years ago downtown Allentown hummed. It was fueled by the vision of people who developed empires, not cookie cutter ideas from the National Magazines for Bureaucrats, like the arena. Shown here is the Transit Office and depot at the side of 8th and Hamilton. General Trexler had been a principle in the Trolley Company, which also built the 8th Street Bridge, to connect Allentown with points south, all the way to Philadelphia. In addition to being the terminal for the Philadelphia bound Liberty Bell, it also fed the merchants of Allentown with thousands of shoppers from its many Allentown routes. The shoppers now sit on the cold steel benches at the Lanta Detention Center on 7th Street, as the non-visionaries prepare to demolish the center of town, to build a monstrosity.

The light and shadows reveal that this is an early morning photo. In a few hours 8th and Hamilton (behind the trolley) would be clogged with shoppers                                                               reprinted from December 2011

Weigh In On 1948

1948 was a good year for Allentown and the Lehigh Valley. Mack Trucks, Lehigh Structural Steel, General Electric and almost all factories were going full steam. President Truman stopped by to give a speech. The Allentown Cardinals played the first game in their new ballpark, Breadon Field. The baby boom was going full tilt:



The school district unveiled Lehigh Parkway and Midway Manor Elementary Schools and the new professional style football stadium. Donald Hock was Mayor, and although the last beer was being brewed on Lawrence Street at Daeufer Brewery, the Paddock joined many new restaurants opening that year. Photo's from Dorney Park in 1948.

reprinted from July 2009

2019 In Allentown

Ed Pawlowski is in the second year of his fourth term, an unprecedented record in Pennsylvania. Although people refer to him as the little Daley, a reference to his Chicago roots, he has never gained support outside of the Democratic stronghold of Allentown, which he rules without debate. The bloom is off the rose at the arena; 2018  showed only twenty three events beside the home hockey games, and most of them were poorly attended. The remaining merchants, in the adjoining blocks, resentfully refer to it as The Dead Zone. Although the new arena complex manager, and the new police chief, promise to work together to better safeguard the patrons upon departing, suburbanites continue to fear the place, and rightfully so. The Reilly Apartment Tower, once conceived as a hotel before being built in 2013, is receiving the national HUD award for providing in house daycare for single mothers. Cynthia Mota, president of City Council, promises to work with Aqua America about the water rates, currently highest in United States. City Center Two, vacant since being constructed in 2014, will become the new City Hall in 2020. In separate studies, prepared by both the Administration and City Council, taxpayers are expected to realize significant savings by the move. The current City Hall will become administrative offices for the Lehigh County Prison, one of the fastest growing correction institutions in the country.