King Of The Gypsies

According to my mother, a Gypsy king was buried in Allentown in around 1960*, she knew about such things. She was born in Galgo, Hungary, an area of Transylvania, now part of Romania, near present day Gilgau. In Galgo, the Jews and Gypsies lived on the edge of town. In the early 20's, my grandparents, along with their Gypsy neighbors, came to Bethlehem to work at the Steel. On weekends, to make extra money, my grandparents would open their house and show Hungarian movies. None of their relatives, Jew or Gypsy, save one cousin, survived the nazis... even the cemeteries were desecrated. As you can see from the document above, my grandfather earned his citizenship the hard way.

reprinted from 2008

*my research indicates that I remembered the story wrong, and that it was a prince who was buried in Allentown, after drowning in a local motel pool.

The Mad Men Of Allentown

Back in the day, the titans of Allentown would fill the five barberchairs of the Colonial Barbershop, 538 Hamilton Street. That was when the town had three department stores. That was when Wetherhold and Metzger had two shoe stores on Hamilton Street. That was when Harvey Farr would meet Donald Miller and John Leh at the Livingston Club for lunch, and discuss acquiring more lots for Park & Shop. By 1995 all that was gone, but Frank Gallucci, 82, would still give some old timers a trim. The Colonial Barbershop property, closed for many years, has been purchased by J.B. Reilly. It is my pleasure to present this previously unseen portrait of Gallucci, toward the end of his career.

photocredit:molovinsky

reprinted from previous years

Sacred Cows Safe In Allentown

When I started this blog back in 2007, the first Morning Call person I skirmished with, Mike Miorelli, is now the new Editor-In-Chief. Miorelli had removed attribution to my blog in a story about the school district, even though the reporter had included it. Since that time, several of my posts have been borrowed without attribution, but things got worse... The Morning Call has ignored two large scoops reported on this blog: Department heads of Lehigh Valley Health Network had offices above the arena, so that the state taxes on their payroll checks could be funneled to J.B. Reilly. The South Whitehall Commissioners allowed The Wildlands Conservancy to attempt to undo the voter's referendum on Wehr's Dam, by challenging the state's favorable inspection report on that structure.

In an article about the changes at the Morning Call, they credit the retiring editor, Terry Rang, with investigative journalism....In their dreams... they didn't even recognize a mayor giving out crooked contracts for 13 years.

dissident blogger Molovinsky at Wehr's Dam, photo by Michael Adams

Shopping Around The Corner In Allentown

Needless to say that when I was a kid downtown Allentown was bustling. There was nothing that you couldn't find or buy on Hamilton Street. The mercantile district was so vigorous that it could support stores and businesses two blocks out in either direction. Across the street from the Earl Theater on 8th Street, the Look Steak Shop did a hardy business. Also in that block was Stangl's Jewelry, Goodin's Optical and a hearing aid business.

It is a little difficult to recognize those businesses in the photograph above. While the city and newspaper was lauding the progress of the upcoming arena, I was documenting the demolition of the city's history. The buildings were not the only victims. The last group of owner operators were also roughed up by the city...I also documented that.

I apologize to those of you who are happy season ticket holders at the new arena. While you can read about the progress at numerous other sites, including the city web page, City Center Realty, and The Morning Call, this blog commenorates the past.

The Demolition of Allentown

In addition to three major local department stores, Allentown also sported three national chain five and dimes. Two of these emporiums stood side by side on the 700 block of Hamilton Street; F.W. Woolworth and McCrory. Those discount stores of their day sold everything, including souvenirs of Allentown and even Hamilton Street. The large buildings remained intact all these decades, still hosting national chains. Although Family Dollar and Rite Aid have other locations in Allentown, their demolition closes the chapter on Allentown's retail history. The two photographs were taken from the same location, sixty years apart. Click on images to enlarge.

reprinted from February of 2012

No Damn Molovinsky Letters

Early last week I submitted the following letter to the Morning Call.

I read with great amusement South Whitehall Commissioner Tori Morgan's statement that placing an Open Space referendum on the ballot is a "fantastic idea". Ms. Morgan permitted the Wildlands Conservancy to contest the condition of Wehr's Dam with the state. That inappropriate interaction has complicated fulfilling the 2016 referendum that was meant to preserve that iconic structure. A referendum doesn't mean much if the elected officials are not sincere about following through with the voter's wishes.                      Michael Molovinsky 

The last letter of mine published by The Morning Call was in October of 2016, prior to the Wehr's Dam referendum. At the time, it took me two weeks to persuade the paper to publish the letter. The letters' editor refused, but I went over his head to the newly appointed publisher assigned by the Tribune Corporation. While the paper solicits self serving public relations patter by our elected and appointed officials, it censures citizen protest.