The Magic Of Allentown

We who grew up in Allentown during the 50's know that Hess's was a magical place, but did you know that Hess's actually sold magic. The advertisement shown above is from 1941.

By 1915, Allentown sported the Willard Magic Shop on Allen Street. In the 1940's Allentown's own Houdini, Harry Beehrle, started his shop on Hamilton near 4th. Later, after a wave of urban renewal, he would move to 9th and Linden Streets.

I remember Arthur Neimeyer's Fun shop on 9th Street. It was on the corner, below ground level. As I got older, into jr. high school, I rarely went to Neimeyer's, because he really didn't carry club or stage props, no apparatus actually, just the little S.S. Adams & the Robbins' E-Z Magic line, of basically packet magic and/or gag items. So, for magic, there was only one shop at that time (the 1950's) and that was Harry Beehrle's Magic shop, downtown on Hamilton, just up from the train station....... Harry was a gruff curmudgeon type, not kid friendly at all. In his youth he had been an escape artist, Allentown's "Houdini" and there were photos in the shop of him as a young man hanging upside down doing the straitjacket escape, etc., etc. That was where I purchased all my U.F. Grant magic and such. By the time I was in high school, Harry was either ill or had died, ........ I can't remember which, and his daughter was running the shop. notes from a former Allentonian and magician.

In the mid 80's Jim Karol sold magic from his home on Front Street. Years later, Ed White would continue the tradition from his home shop.

reprinted from March of 2020

Ring 32

When I was growing up in the mid-50's, stage magic was still popular. Famous magicians of the day would occasionally appear at the Lyric Theater (Symphony Hall). Local magicians were popular for entertainment at parties. Allentown always had at least one magic shop, back then Beehrle's on N. 9th St. was the local favorite. The valley chapter of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, Ring 32, dates back to the early 1930's. The Brotherhood now numbers over 300 chapters worldwide. Up till about 15 years ago, the local chapter would have a show and dealer convention each year in May. As special effects in movies and television evolved, the wonder of performing illusions, and it's popularity diminished; For a while, until Las Vegas once again put magic center stage. I've always been in awe of the performer posters from the early 1920's, lithography at it's best. They were meant to be exotic, to mystify, to be magic.

reprinted from December of 2008

A Cookie For Old Allentown

About once a year, Mayor Pawlowski gives the boys and girls of the Old Allentown Preservation Association a cookie. Last year, he gave them new historic street signs. Unfortunately, they didn't have much structural integrity, and within 3 hours every one of them was bent. This year we're dressing up the corner where the Association has its office. Brick crosswalks will be added to 10th and Turner, and the the stoplight and other utility poles will be painted a more historic color. The boys and girls have been good. There hasn't been one peep from them about the demolition of the historic mercantile district, and the construction of the Great White Elephant. More important, they're behaving about the traffic cluster that the arena will bring their way, when all the patrons exit at the same time. I see more cookies in their future.

above reprinted from October of 2013

ADDENDUM SEPTEMBER 29, 2023: The boys and girls of the Preservation Association still behave themselves. In current time they have turned a blind eye to both the sale of Zion Church/Liberty Bell Museum and the decaying WPA/art deco post office. Add the Art Museum and Historical Society to the list of deaf and blind. Enjoy your wine and cheese.

Using A Bad Lesson Well Taught In Philadelphia

Back on May 4th, before the death in police custody in Minneapolis, I wrote about Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw.  She instructed the police force not to arrest for minor infractions, like theft and prostitution, during the virus crisis. Large groups of young people were running amok in center city Philadelphia convenience stores,  scooping up everything their backpacks could hold. Meanwhile at City Hall, woke mayor Jim Kenney stayed silent about this decline in civilization. Only after a couple weeks, after a merchant and citizen backlash, did Outlaw and Kenney finally reverse policy.

Philadelphia inner city kids were taught a bad lesson by their police commissioner and mayor. 

Perhaps with that lesson fresh in their mind, some of them may have graduated to the looting this past weekend.

My first reaction to the looting on Walnut and Chestnut Streets was that the police must have stood down. How could looters smash windows and enter a Wells Fargo Bank without being stopped? How could all that theft and destruction only result in 13 arrests Saturday night?

I realize that there are a limited number of police and that Philadelphia is a large city. While I can't pass judgement on the police response, I will on the looters shown above. I do not believe that their thinking centered on George Floyd and institutional racism, but rather about what they could steal.

Here in the Lehigh Valley, the mayors and police chiefs conveyed their commitment to social justice.  But more importantly,  the local protestors expressed their hopes and solidarity in a lawful manner.

photocredit:Steven Falk/Philadelphia Inquirer

above reprinted from January of 2020

ADDENDUM SEPTEMBER 28, 2023:On Tuesday night looters once again had their way in several areas of Philadelphia. In large cities throughout America retailers are closing shop because of everyday shoplifting.

Shootings In What's Not Paradise

Last week on this blog I wrote that it's time to raise the flag for homelessness, since flag raising seems to be a big part of this administration.  Here I am less than a week later correcting myself...IT'S TIME TO RAISE THE FLAG ON PUBLIC SAFETY, THAT IS AGAINST SHOOTINGS AND STABBINGS. I don't literally need to see such a flag flying, but let's not delude ourselves anymore that hope and promise organizations are any solution. WE NEED MORE POLICING.  We need to protect life and limb.  

Instead of the police car passing the double parker, let's start by checking them out. We already know that such citizens don't have much regard for public safety, and probably not much for laws either. Don't worry about culture or offending anybody. If Charles Roca is not up to the task, a new chief may be in order. If Matt Tuerk isn't up to the mission, maybe a new mayor will also be necessary.

illustration by Mark Beyer

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 since 2013