Retail Meats, Wholesale Prices

In a previous post about my father's meat market, Allentown Meat Packing, I give a brief history of the business. There were not many retail businesses on lower Union Street, before the Hamilton Street Bridge. The Orange Car was there because of a railroad siding, which could provide fresh fruit from Florida during the winter. Allentown Meat Packing had previously been a slaughterhouse and wholesale meat packer. A former cooler facing Union Street was converted into a store room. The ceiling still had the rails where sides of beef once hung. Although supermarkets were beginning to affect the butcher shops, the independents survived till the mid 1960's. He would place a small ad every week in The Morning Call. His customers came from all over the city, often having to wait 15 minutes as long freight trains crossed Union Street. In addition to meat, he sold some canned goods, lined up on shelves behind the meat cases. The hours were long and the work was hard. Today's supermarkets have once again installed butcher meat cases, in addition to the open self service displays. Those cases are there to make you think that you're in a butcher shop.

2nd and Hamilton

Up to the mid 1960's,  before Allentown started tinkering with urban redevelopment, lower Hamilton Street still teemed with businesses. The City had grown from the river west,  and lower Hamilton Street was a vibrant area.  Two train stations and several rail lines crossed the busy thoroughfare.  Front, Ridge and Second were major streets in the first half of the twentieth century.  My grandparents settled on the 600 block of 2nd Street in 1895, along with other Jewish immigrants from Russia and Lithuania.  As a boy, I worked at my father's meat market on Union Street.  I would have lunch at a diner, just out of view in the photo above.  The diner was across from the A&P,  set back from the people shown on the corner.  A&P featured bags of ground to order 8 O'Clock coffee, the Starbucks of it's day.
please click on photo
photocredit:Ed Miller, 1953
reprinted from September 2012

A Case Of Favoritism

New York Fashion was one of Hamilton Street's most successful merchants. The side by side store fronts in the 700 block were packed floor to ceiling with merchandize. Relocated by the arena to 7th Street, they spared no expense in renovating a distressed property and creating that street's new shopping destination. The new store, large as it is, is also packed to the brim. Space doesn't allow displaying each shirt on hanger, but shirts are neatly stacked by size and color. I showed the proprietor my blog post yesterday about the Archive store's monopoly on uniform vouchers,  and the supposed reasons for it submitted by comment. He could only shake his head and say It's favoritism. Although I will not reveal what they spent on uniform inventory,  it was a substantial investment. They literally have thousands of school shirts in stock, in every size and color. They also have a full inventory of pants, socks, belts, shoes and all items specified by the new school policy. They have serviced customers who couldn't find what they needed at the Urban/Archive store(s). This story gets more unfair. They invited school officials to see their inventory and approve them for vouchers. Although a representative came to the store, they never heard back. It's a case of favoritism.

Ted Kohuth Next Police Chief

The new police chief will be Ted Kohuth. This coming Thursday, October 3, the public can meet the four finalists, but why isn't clear to me. If Pawlowski didn't care for your opinion about the water you drink, or the air you breath, why would he care who you prefer for police chief? Kohuth is well qualified and was a good choice.

Allentown School District Gets F In Business Ethics

Although the students have been responding well to the new uniform dress policy, molovinsky on allentown has learned that the School Administration has been misbehaving. School vouchers for the uniforms, which up to 25% of families have requested, can only be used at one business, New York Urban or it's sister store, Archives, both owned by the same party. Urban/Archives happen to be a City Hall favorite. All other merchants, some even displaced from Hamilton Street by the arena, will not be reimbursed for the vouchers. The unlevel playing field is nothing new to City Hall, but it's sad to see it employed by the School District. One merchant gets to stay on Hamilton Street, receive grants, and now have over 4,000 customers* sent to him, while everyone else has to compete in the free marketplace. Only in Allentown. 

*25% of 17,000+ Allentown school students

Tom Muller Spits On County History

Tom Muller demonstrated yesterday that he would gladly sacrifice part of Lehigh County's history to take advantage of any political opportunity. This past year Lehigh County Commissioners decided to spare the historic Reading Road Bridge, after the county already had replaced fourteen other bridges. The Reading Road Bridge was built in 1824, and is the oldest stone arch bridge in the county. In 1980 the bridge was totally rehabilitated, and a pedestrian walkway was added along it's southern side. Both the Hamilton Street and the Union Street bridges are less than half a block away, on either side. The historic stone arch span compliments the adjoining Union Terrace Amphitheater. Earlier this week, Penndot decided to close the bridge. Although nothing has changed about the bridge recently, they arbitrarily decided to downgrade all bridges with a 3 Ton weight limit to a closed status. This closed status also effects Reading Road's younger sister bridge, Schreiber's Bridge, built in 1828. Since Schreibers had been carrying the load for the closed 15th Street Bridge under construction, I'm sure the City of Allentown will challenge Penndot, rather than use the closure as a political prop. Yesterday, Muller repeated, word for word, language used last winter to justify replacing the bridge,  a brick shell filled with rubble, dirt and rocks, is insufficient against the hydraulics of Cedar Creek, of course it has been sufficient for 189 years. In a unguarded moment last year, the county project manager Glenn Solt, told blogger Bernie O'Hare that these old bridges are filled with crap. I don't know about the bridges, but it certainly applies to the politicians seeking to advance themselves at the expense of our history.

Bernie O'Hare also has a post on the bridge, although I find it somewhat misinformed.