The Allentown Apartment Myth, A Molovinsky Thesis

Over and over, people contribute Allentown's problems to center city houses being converted to apartments, as if this occurred recently. Many will be surprised to know that almost all the converted apartments existed for over 60 years. When the GI's returned from WW2, the trend was for small single family houses with small lawns, i.e. Levittowns. The mass conversion of the row houses took place in the late 40's and early 50's, and more less stopped by the early 60's. These "new" apartments were mostly occupied by either singles or childless couples. The tenants were buyers at Hess's and engineers at PPL. Because of them, Hamilton Street remained viable for twenty years beyond the main street in Bethlehem, Easton and Reading. Allentown was voted during this era the All American City. During those 50 years, 1940 to 1990, nobody complained about the apartments or the tenants. 

As the urban poor from New York and New Jersey discovered the clean streets of Allentown, and its moderately priced apartments, a steady influx of new residents arrived daily. These changes were not encouraged by the landlords. Nobody ever purchased a building hoping to replace their conscientious middle class occupants, with a poorer, more problematic tenant base. Various social agencies staked many of these newcomers to the first month rent and security deposits.

 Ironically, more apartment inventory has been added recently, by creating "loft" apartments in former commercial buildings. The Urbanists think they can revitalize Hamilton Street with upper story housing. While the proponents mistakenly think that they will attract a middle class demographic, they are in fact just adding to the total inventory and thus the problem. Beside the urbanists, advocates for low income housing still demand more units. In reality, it's apparent we have an abundance of low income housing. Recently, there has been a trend to built new, center city single housing; attempting to attract a middle class with disposable income to bolster Hamilton Street. Neighborhood parking lots have been sacrificed for this concept.* In fact, we are just building tomorrow's rental houses. Allentown, unlike larger cities, is a horizontal community. There is no reason, geographic or otherwise, which compels the middle class to move to center city.

Allentown would currently be better served with a moratorium on new housing of all sorts in center city. Considering that over 7000 units exist, owned by 5000 different owners, deconversion hopes are unrealistic. Strict enforcement of current zoning standards, concerning square footage, parking, etc. would suffice in reasonably curtailing additional living units. By limiting supply, demand can improve the quality of life for everybody.

 *This post was written in 2009, and the new housing refers to the then new townhouses at 8th and Walnut, and others planned for more Parking Authority lots. Those "new" townhouses have since been sold at auction for 50 cents on the dollar, and are in fact now rentals.

ADDENDUM MARCH 14,2025; Reilly's scattered NIZ financed Strata apartments now approach over 1500 units. While intended for young urban office workers, that demographic apparently still prefers the safety of suburban living. While many Strata units remain dark at night, suburban units approach full occupany. Thanks to taxpayer generosity through the NIZ, Reilly can afford to have them empty, instead of occupied problematically. However, eventually the subsidiary will end, and the problems will begin.

photograph of 10th and Chew Streets, 1948

Growing Up Allentown

Life in Allentown during the 1950's was pretty easy, compared to nowadays. Whether you were an office worker or factory worker,  there were plenty of jobs. Whether you lived in the west end or center city, all the neighborhoods were clean, well maintained and relatively crime free. The school system was the envy of the county, and people finagled to get their children enrolled in it. Allentown High School had championship teams in multiple sports, and the football stadium was one of the most lavish high school stadiums in the country. The park system was the subject of numerous picture postcards. Likewise, downtown was widely known, with Hess's being a destination. All the above attributes would stay in place throughout the 1960's, into the early 70's.

I bill this blog as the intersection of politics and history in Allentown, and the greater Lehigh Valley. Although I will continue to speak out on current events of concern, I suspect that this page will turn more and more to history. Perhaps nostalgia is so appealing because the current reality is so disillusioning. 

Although my archive of older Allentown pictures is extensive, I invited Ozzie and Harriet Nelson to illustrate this post.

reprinted from July of 2016

A Pending Liability

Recently, I revealed that molovinsky on allentown opened a small, unimpressive, low rent office on the Space Coast. Only when there, do you realize the power that Elon Musk and Space X wield. With the Trump/Musk bromance, Musk has been essentially co-running the country for the last couple months. However, this week lays bare the consequences.

Trump's endless talking style sank the stock market on Monday. The market, expecting some reassurance from Trump, took his silence as a confirmation of pending recession. We need this man to spend more time at his country club, and restrict himself to golf talk. Meanwhile, back in Washington, co-President Musk called Mark Kelly a traitor. The last time I checked, Kelly was a hero and astronaut. As Kelly replied, you may own spaceships, but you have never been up in one. The country and world is getting tired of the insults coming from the Trump administration, whether by Trump, Vance or Musk.

It would be nice if someone sat Donald and Elon down, and told them how to behave. However, when you combine an ego maniac with the world's richest man, it's a power couple hard to contend with. The tariff war with Canada already has us the losers. I wrote previously that Trump won't be an asset in the mid-terms. Let me correct myself...by the primaries he'll be a liability.

ADDENDUM: This isn't an easy post to illustrate, with Trump the sideshow never ends. I just watched Trump and Musk hawking Teslas in front of the White House. Who could have imagined that? 

The Corner Market

Although I doubt that there will ever be a show at the Historical Society, or brochures at the Visitors Bureau, perhaps nothing encapsulates the history of Allentown more than the corner grocery stores. Allentown proper, is mostly comprised of rowhouses built between 1870 and 1920, long before the era of automobiles and suburban supermarkets. Most of the corner markets were built as stores, and over the years many were converted into apartments. Up until the late 1940's, there may have been well over a hundred operating in Allentown. Some specialized in ethnic food. The bodega at 9th and Liberty was formally an Italian market. Live and fresh killed chickens were sold at 8th and Linden, currently H & R Block Tax Service. A kosher meat market is now a hair salon on 19th Street. The original era for these markets died with the advent of the supermarket. In the early 50's some corner stores attempted to "brand" themselves as a "chain", as shown in the Economy Store sign above. That market is at 4th and Turner, and has been continually operating since the turn of the last century. Ironically, as the social-economic level of center city has decreased, the corner stores have seen a revival. Most of these new merchants, many Hispanic and some Asian, know little of the former history of their stores, but like their predecessors, work long, hard hours.

ADDENDUM: The above post is reprinted from 2009.  The sign shown above has been removed or sold. When my parents were first married, they lived next door and would patronize the same store.  My grandparents lived nearby on the corner of Chew and Jordan Streets.

ADDENDUM 2: the Economy Stores sign shown, apparently came from an early A&P format in 1912 when they leased small stores. If this particular store was such an A&P, or just dressed later with a reused sign, I have yet to determine.

ADDENDUM APRIL 12, 2024: When I took the photo back in 2009, I was friendly with the long time owner, from having managed apartments in that neighborhood. Both she and the enamel sign are now long gone. When I told the current owner that members of my family have been coming into that same store for over a hundred years, he looked at me as if I was from another planet. There are very few long time store owners that I still know.

Small Town Pizza Blogger

Last week started with me expressing my frustration as an independent in Trump's World, and ended reporting on a confrontation about our non-profit sector in Allentown.

While I applaud the border enforcement, the Musk DOGE is a disaster. Chainsaws and sledgehammers are not precision tools. The Measles outbreak is an unfortunate coincidental statement on the theatrical nature of the cabinet appointments. So far, two cabinet heads have supposedly balked at Musk's involvement. If this was Trump's first term, I'd hope that he would be growing into the office, but we know from experience that there will be no learning curve. It was from that first term and January 6, that I could no longer vote for him. 

I don't think that the midterms will bode well for the Republicans. I believe that MAGA had an underestimated cult aspect, and with Trump not on the ballot in 2026, many of the red hats will stay home. 

Here in A-Town, I expect that the tension between Promise Neighborhood and some who feel that the promise has not been kept, will continue. On a side note, I asked a member of the minority community how they feel about Ed Zucal's campaign. The response surprised me! There apparently is some concern that if both Zucal(for Allentown mayor) and Roger MacLean(for county executive) both win, we'll have a police like state?(They're both former APD) I don't see that as a realistic concern, but then again, I'm coming from a different perspective.

Promise Neighborhoods and Its Critics

An outspoken critic of Promise Neighborhoods, Johnny Gomez, aka Whatss Tea,  has used his Facebook page to question the non-profit's operation. 

This is not the first post critical of Promise Neighborhoods on this blog. Batts appeared on the local scene at the height of wokeness, and seems to have prospered from the virtue signalers. He was gifted with over a $mil of state funding from Gov. Josh Shapiro. 

The complaint from other activists and non-profits is that Batts is getting the lion's share of funding, but not providing an appropriate amount of service for it.

ADDENDUM MARCH 11th: There appears to be a reconciliation between Whatss Tea and members of Promise Neighborhood. This post has been modified accordingly.