Drag Races And Such At Dorney Park

Dorney Park is celebrating it's 125th Anniversary, as noted by The Morning Call. A landmark that old, has provided memories for five generations. As a teenager in the 1960's, friday nights at Castle Rock, a dance hall from the twenties, were literally a Freddy Cannon moment. Park admission was free, and there were many attractions which no longer exist, most victim to fire. In addition to the dance hall, there was also a roller skating ring and a stock car race track. The picture above was part of a large neon sign on Hamilton Blvd., on the northwest corner with Cedar Crest Blvd.

In 2007 John Travolta,dressed in drag, portrayed Hollywood's version of Hairspray, initially made by campy underground film maker John Waters, and shot at Dorney Park in 1988. Travolta's part was originally played by a less wholesome, real life female impersonator named Devine, who died shortly after the movie was released.

In my father's time, you could get the trolley at 7th and Hamilton and take it to Dorney Park. Through the 1980's, you could still drive on the road which went right through the middle of the park. Now, combined with a water park, Dorney has become a regional attraction. Busloads of children and families come from New York and elsewhere, but it will always remain a rite of passage for local youngsters.

reprinted from May of 2009.

UPDATE: The large Dorney Park sign stood on the northwest corner of Hamilton and Cedar Crest.  Historic stone homes,  including the former King George Inn, stood on the other three corners. The intersection was called Dorneyville. At the Dorney Sign there was a diagonal road which also entered the intersection,  and the sign pointed to follow that road to the amusement park.

The Valley Of Cronyism

On Thursday I was a guest on Lehigh Valley Discourse, WDIY's program hosted by Alan Jennings. Despite some distractions, I was able to bring up one of Lehigh Valley's biggest problems, cronyism. Cronyism and sacred cows run the valley. An Op-Ed piece in this weekend's Morning Call illustrates the point. Because they hire veterans, Nestle is lauded for its plans to build another large plant, this one in central Pennsylvania. Their Lehigh Valley plant is at capacity for water usage. Of course hiring veterans sounds like a good thing, but sucking the water out of Pennsylvania to fill plastic bottles all over the world is a problem.  The Op-Ed is essentially a public relations piece for Nestle, presented as an editorial.

Here in Allentown we face higher water prices because LCA wants to implement a back door price hike, by increasing the residential billing cycle. (each bill contains a minimum charge, effectively resulting in an increase) We are in essence subsidizing the profit margin of Nestle and other commercial users.

Nestle was bought to the valley by Don Cunningham, now director of Lehigh Valley Economic  Development Corporation. Apparently, the Morning Call has no problem with a Nestle feel good editorial piece, but try and submit something critical about the local sacred cows and cronyism to the paper. Expect no reply, much less seeing it printed.

Allentown's Corner Markets

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 2012.  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.

Allentown's Mysterious Millennials

The Morning Call has been running an article now for over a week wondering what millennials want in  downtown Allentown.  Another article mentions that another restaurant is closing, and that J.B. Reilly has built a dozen new buildings, but must keep trying different pieces to find ones that fit.  The articles don't ask how come he can afford to keep looking for pieces that fit,  or how come the newspaper keeps promoting every new attempt to find the right piece.  For these questions you are limited to this blog.

Reilly can keep building and trying because it's not his money, it's ours.  The paper keeps promoting the phenomenal as revitalization, because they also are not as they appear.  They are just tenants in their former building, now owned by Reilly.  The paper is printed in Jersey City and I conclude might even be for sale itself.

The closing restaurant is Grain, and the article tells us that millennials want open spaces,  not tight narrow ones.  I remember when the space was the successful Federal Grill, and then it was considered cozy.  The truth is pretty simple..  There are too many restaurants and not enough millennials.  One would think that by now there would be... After all Reilly built hundreds Strata apartments, and The Morning Call tells us that they're all filled with waiting lists.  Go figure?

Meanwhile the paper continues to ignore my letters and others which criticize any policy of the sacred cows which they protect,  be it the NIZ or The Wildlands Conservancy.

ADDENDUM:  Mr. O'Hare and I spar tonight on WDIY 88.1 FM at 6:00PM. He has sociopathically taken to attacking me as a racist because he didn't like some comments by others on my blog, I don't obsess about Trump, and I oppose double parking. I understand that he is chummy with the Northampton Judiciary, but I didn't realize that they made him judge and jury. Yesterday he wrote about Better Angels, he clearly isn't one. Although he's preaching to the choir on a NPR station, I interrupt this bully with some truths.

The Union Street Train Tower

The Union Street crossing was a busy place. It was located between the Jordan Creek and south 3th Street. Virtually all the train lines serving Allentown converged here. The Lehigh Valley Railroad's old main line also crossed Union Street further east, toward the Lehigh River. Allentown was at this time served by two train stations, the Lehigh Valley Railroad Station which was built over the Jordan Creek, and the New Jersey Central, which still stands as a closed restaurant and bar. This photograph, from 1930, is first in a series which will chronicle both the demise of our railroad era, and manufacturing base. Today, the tower is long gone and only one track survives. It is used by a private short line operator.



reprinted from June 2013

Rumble On The Radio

In 2014 Alan Jennings invited Bernie O'Hare and me to join him on his radio show, Lehigh Valley Discourse.  The station manager refused to archive the show,  and Jennings quit in protest against the censorship.  Move ahead four years, and Alan is back on public radio at WDIY.  For his first new show he again invited both O'Hare and myself.  However since that first appearance, O'Hare has developed hostility toward me,  for pointing out some aspects of his blog operating manner.

Since O'Hare and I both accepted Jennings' invitation,  I assumed that he was putting his hostility aside for the show.  Less than halfway into the taping he pounced on a word which I had mispronounced. I then noticed that he has a legal pad full of my blog quotes, and notes pertaining to them.  He accused me of hosting a hate blog based on a reader comment, which I didn't reply to.   Although O'Hare knows that I prefer not to debate in the comment section,  he delighted in taking his example out of context.  Ironically, Jennings wanted to talk about Trump's hostility and incivility, but seemed somewhat oblivious to O'Hare's hostility unfolding right in front of him.

I appreciated Alan's invitation, and although Bernie's attacks and my replies might make for an interesting show, O'Hare's behavior was unnecessary.  Hopefully this show will make it through the archive procedure,  and Alan's new run on the show will be well received.

ADDENDUM: Occasionally, someone says something rich in irony,  especially if they maliciously enjoy weaponizing words.  Such was the case on last week's taping, when O'Hare accused me of misogyny. In early 2016 O'Hare wrote...Whether I agree or disagree with her on this or that, I must say Susan Wild has been a breath of very fresh air in Allentown. She was put into a nearly impossible situation, and has reacted with integrity and honor. People with my history tend to bring the profession down, but someone like Wild can rescue a democracy in peril. He continued praising her for almost two years. Toward the end of 2017 he wrote...She has handled herself with integrity and a sedulous nature that kept the ship of state from foundering. With O'Hare, friendship seems to trump truth. When Wild put out a mailer about his friend Morganelli that O'Hare didn't like, the truth changed. When I pointed out that he did a 180 on Susan Wild, and essentially called her a whore, he tried to deflect away the truth of my observation by claiming that my statement was misogynistic. By May of 2018 O'Hare was accusing Wild of bashing little people to benefit hospitals...All of the regular people she screwed over 30 years will be contacted. 

O'Hare thinks that his readers are a weak minded jury that he can bully and manipulate at will. He delights in playing up to local judges and the district attorney. When one of his anonymous readers took him to task last primary, O'Hare replied...Sign your name so we know who to sue 

          Show will air Thursday July 12th at 6:00PM WDIY 88.1 FM

                                                             PODCAST OF SHOW

A Crime By The Wildlands Conservancy

photo by Tami Quigley

The top photo shows the Robin Hood Bridge, before the Wildlands Conservancy demolished the little  Robin Hood Dam, just downstream beyond the bridge. The dam was only about 10 inches high, and was built as a visual effect to accompany the bridge in 1941. It was the last WPA project in Allentown, and considered the final touch for Lehigh Parkway. Several years ago, the Wildlands told the Allentown Park Director and City Council that it wanted to demolish the dam. The only thing that stood between their bulldozer and the dam was yours truly. I managed to hold up the demolition for a couple weeks, during which time I tried to educate city council about the park, but to no avail. If demolishing the dam wasn't bad enough, The Wildlands Conservancy piled the broken dam ruble around the stone bridge piers, as seen in the bottom photo. I'm sad to report that the situation is now even worse. All that ruble collected silt, and now weeds and brush is growing around the stone bridge piers. I suppose the Wildlands Conservancy considers it an extension of its riparian buffer.

The Wildlands Conservancy should be made to remove, piece by piece, all the rubble that they piled around the bridge piers, despoiling the bridge's beauty. City Council should refrain from ever again permitting The Wildlands Conservancy to alter our park designs.

ADDENDUM JULY 9, 2018: It has been five years since the dam's destruction in 2013, and the bridge piers look more disgusting than ever. While Allentown has the third Pawlowski appointed park director taking orders from the Wildlands Conservancy, we do have a new mayor. Hopefully, Ray O'Connell will wrestle park system decisions back to the city.