Lessons From The PigPen

Billed as the Lehigh Valley's #1 Entertainment Complex when it opened in 2009, life was short for the sports bar which hoped to capitalize on the nearby baseball park. Don Cunningham honestly said that 72 home baseball games are not enough to support a business year round. How about 40 home hockey games? Another local bar owner said of Cola-Coca Park, "They have everything in there that they need. Nobody in the area really prospered from the ball field." PigPen owner Les Bartholomew cited the casino as his downfall, and their deep pockets to attract entertainment. The reality of competition, and few home matches, will create a barren night scene in Pawlowski's little apple. The unique state tax funding mechanism will allow the barren buildings to meet their debt service, but images of middle class patrons walking the streets of downtown Allentown, will be limited to few nights, and architectural renderings.

The Star Of David

Although Jewish heavyweights in the 1930's occasionally wore the Star of David on their trunks, like Abe Simon, none was more famous than Max Baer, and he wasn't really Jewish. Baer's father was half Jewish, and he was raised as a Catholic. After moving to N.Y.C. to be trained by Jack Demsey, he adopted the Star to fight Max Schmeling, Hitler's boxer of choice. Defeating Schmeling in 1933, set Baer up for a Championship fight with Carnera. Baer, who had a reputation as a party animal, was never the less a notoriously hard hitter.

Shown in the ring with the giant Primo Carnera, Demsey stands behind them. Baer would annihilate Carnera and hold the title for one year until the famous fight with the Cinderella man, James Braddock.
Baer's son, Max Jr, would become famous as Jethro Bodine in The Beverly Hillbillies. There's more, Max(Sr.) had a brother, Buddy, who was 6'7".....

reprinted from February 2010

The Water War

Wednesday evening Dan Poresky sent a news release to the alternative and main stream media. Although associate Bernie O'Hare got it to press, molovinsky on allentown had already turned off the power. Also today, The Morning Call catches up with Poresky's petition. Meanwhile, yesterday and last night, the uninformed commented on O'Hare's blog. Not to impose on their opinion, but a few facts are in order:

1. City Clerk Mike Hanlon had no choice but to accept the petitions. Over double the required amount were submitted, with criterion used by the administration's solicitor, which was more demanding than the charter actually required.

2. Dan Poresky has been the main energy behind a group effort.

3. There are viable alternatives to the lease, but neither the mayor, or his council will consider them, because they will involve a tax increase. Without the alternatives, homeowners will pay much more for water, lose control of it's operation, and have a tax increase soon enough anyway. The lease behooves pawlowski and council politically, but hurts the homeowners.

If the picture of the monkey and computer offends any of you who comment on O'Hare's blog, I apologize, but I don't know what kind of computers you monkeys have.

USS Arizona

Built at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Commissioned in 1916

Modernized in 1929-31 at the Norfolk Navy Yard

Bombed and Sunk on December 7, 1941 in Pearl Harbor, with the loss of over 1100 crewmen

reprinted from December 2011

When Boxing Was King

Although my fascination with boxing from the 1930's began with a family connection, was fed by a curiosity about the many Jewish boxers, the real hook is my love of black and white photography. Some of the best photographers of the era aimed their camera's at the ring during those years. Shown here is a boxing portrait of Izzy Jannazo. This tough welterweight fought the best, from Barney Ross to Sugar Ray Robinson. These photographs are from the Harry Winkler Collection, now housed at the University Library of Notre Dame.

Tony Chavez was the first New Mexican to fight for a title. He moved to Los Angeles to train for his lightweight title fight with Henry Armstrong. Harry Winkler assembled these amazing images while working as the Los Angeles correspondent for Ring Magazine.





Freddie Miller won 210 fights out of 250, between 1927 and 1940. This featherweight champ had two of his most famous fights with Abie Israel.

reprinted from July, 2010

Guns and Ammo

Yesterday, both Bernie O'Hare and I had posts about the shooting in South Bethlehem. Also yesterday, Paul Carpenter had a column on the same occurrence. Carpenter gave Morganelli credit for his courage using the term Culture concerning the shootout, but then batted the topic back and forth so much that he drew no conclusion. Carpenter wondered if Culture referred to young Hispanic males? Morganelli said no, just young in general. I think that Morganelli's Culture referred to young males in a lower social economic demographic, and assorted wannabes, exploring hipness. An extended comment section on O'Hare's blog revealed another culture, which I call Guns and Ammo. That's a reference to a popular magazine specializing on both those items. These are the 2nd Amendment advocates, the NRA members, and assorted gun right advocates. In that world when it comes to bullet caliber, bigger is much better. They have successfully lobbied for the right to carry in most states. The gun industry has responded with a large assortment of small light weight guns, designed for concealable carry, in high calibers. One middle class, self described liberal, anonymously stated that he carries a 45. Although he may feel that this caliber is necessary, and although he may be well trained in it's use, an unintended consequence is millions of lightweight, high caliber weapons in the hands of untrained, undisciplined people, with a chip on their shoulder and a hot head. Thirty high caliber shots were fired last weekend in the South Bethlehem gun battle.

$100 A Week

In 1935, a Jewish boy earning $35 a week carrying 300 pound blocks of ice, was offered three times more to fight; win, lose or draw. For one hundred dollars a week, Jock Whitney, British aristocrat and sportsman, owned Abe Simon. Abe won his first 14 fights, 12 by knockout. On his climb to fight Louis in 1941 he would knock out 27 opponents, including Jersey Joe Walcott.

reprinted from September 2009