The Livingston Club, Allentown's Benevolent Oligarchy

Back in the day, when the town had three department stores, the major decisions affecting Allentown's future were made at the Livingston Club. Harvey Farr would meet Donald Miller and John Leh at the Club for lunch, and discuss acquiring more lots for Park & Shop. The bank officers of First National and Merchants Bank would discuss loans with the highly successful merchants, many of whom had stores in all three major Lehigh Valley cities. As the heydays wound down, likewise the exit plans were made there. The City of Allentown acquired the Park & Shop lots, becoming the Allentown Parking Authority. Leh's became the Lehigh County Government Center.

The new oligarchy consists of much fewer men, they could all meet at a small table in Shula's, and be entertained by watching street people arrested. The former 1st National Bank location is now a new Reilly building. The former Livingston Club building is now a parking lot, and future site to another Reilly building. Shula's is also a Reilly building....

reprinted from August of 2015

UPDATE: Dear readers,  I found the demise of older Allentown depressing, and new Allentown painfully boring.... Shula's, referred to above, didn't last... of course referring to an alley as an Art Walk, didn't make it so.  In spite of the Morning Call (now also a Reilly building) compromising its journalistic integrity to outright promote the NIZ district, it remains a sterile collection of new tasteless buildings.

History Of Union Terrace

The area now known as Joseph S Daddona Lake and Terrace has a rich history. The stone arch bridge dates back to 1828.  If Lehigh County had its way, the bridge would be gone now. I'm proud to have played a large part in saving it.  The park consists of the former city ice skating pond, and the WPA amphitheater.

This blog previously featured the train of Union Terrace, which was near the end of the former Barber Quarry Branch line... Talking of tracks, shown above is the freight station of the Allentown and Reading Traction Company.  Their trolley would go under the Dorney Park roller coaster on its way to Kutztown.  Many of you would know the freight building many years later, as the store and home of Joe and Ann Daddona.

reprinted from April of 2013

French Hill

French Hill went straight up from the old mill along the Nashua River, in Nashua, New Hampshire. It was always a poor neighborhood, housing mill workers and immigrants going back over a hundred years. Almost all the buildings on the narrow streets were wood, except the churches. The name came from the many French Canadians drawn there to work. I lived on the Hill during the early 1970's, on the top floor of a triplex.

The old wooden three unit was heated by gas space heaters and the whole building would rumble and shake when a vehicle came down the street. In the morning I would walk down the hill, through the mill property and over a pedestrian bridge to the old main street, where I worked in a photography store. A google search tells me that the neighborhood now houses street gangs. Nashua is right over the border from Massachusetts, yet I would have never imagined such urban problems reaching so far north.


The above post is a reprint from 2010.  Years ago I also never imagined Allentown having gangs,  nor the shootings and stabbings which are now occurring.

Allentown's 6th Ward

When my grandfather first arrived in Allentown, he lived in the Ward, on 2nd. Street. It was around 1895, and the neighborhood was full of immigrants. Some groups came from the same area in the old country, most noticeably the Syrians, from the village of Amar. They were members of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, a Christian minority in a Muslim country. The congregation of St. George's Church on Catasauqua Ave., largely is descended from those immigrants. Well known names in Allentown, such as Atiyeh, Haddad, Hanna, Makoul, Koury and Joseph are among their members. They were among one of the first groups to organize, and those organizations still exist. The photo above was organized by the Syrian American Organization in 1944. Note that Jewish, on the left, is treated as a nationality.

click on photo to enlarge

reprinted from previous years

Moving Allentown's Freight

The Lehigh Valley Transit, in addition to moving people on the trolleys, also moved freight. In Allentown, the freight house was behind Front Street, near the former A&B meat plant. The Kutztown and Reading Trolley Company also had a freight house in west Allentown, which would decades later become the home of former mayor Joe Daddona, at Union Terrace.

UPDATE: Forty five years later, in 1951, we're back at the freighthouse. Notice that a window has been added on the building's side, with only the memory of the earlier sign still present. In another year, both passenger and freight service are gone, with the end of the trolley era.

reprinted from December of 2013

Defending Zion

With the election of two Muslim congresswomen, one of which is Palestinian, Israel as the oppressor is a front and center topic.

Most of all the world loves to read about a Jew bashing Israel. Al Jazeera routinely uses Jewish writers for that purpose. They're not that hard to find, the far left and Jews go together, like pastrami and rye bread.  They portray themselves as progressive and anti-zionists.

Over the years, the Morning Call has featured numerous anti-Israel columns.  While the writers change, the tradition continued.  The letters are often signed at the end associating the writer with some organization that sounds sincere about peace, but in reality, is anti-Israel.

Israel is low-hanging fruit. Jews have been portrayed as greedy for two thousand years, so why shouldn't they also be land grabbers?

In reality, Israel is eager for a sincere partner in peace.  Their withdrawal from Gaza was only met with the election of Hamas, and its dedication to Israel's destruction.  By the way, that's not Tel Aviv shown above, but Gaza City.

No Valentines At Parkland High In Florida

Today is the one year anniversary of the mass shooting at the High School in Parkland, Florida. Their congressman, Ted Deutch, who is a Bethlehem, Pa. native, is hoping that the proposal for universal background checks can pass a house vote. A proposed counter amendment, that domestic violence victims can buy a gun with no background check, shows how irrational the gun debate has become. 

Being a right leaning independent, my blog audience tends conservative. Yesterday's post, supporting Mark Kelly for senate, illustrated the divide on this issue. Electronic background checks only take a few minutes to complete, when purchasing a gun. Although true that this measure will not prevent shootings in itself, there is no reason not to vet everyone before they purchase a lethal weapon.

As an avid supporter of the 2nd amendment, I do not buy the NRA's slippery slope argument. I believe that I can best protect my gun rights by conceding that some regulations can be rational, such as mandatory background checks.

Giffords and Kelly on Capital Hill

Issues With The NRA

I'm a supporter of the 2nd Amendment. Although that is a right which I defend, as an engaged citizen I appreciate living in a society of laws. There are rights and laws, and we can all live within them. I do not blindly consider every regulation as a curtailment of my rights, or as a slippery slope which will erode them, as does the NRA.  I can exercise my rights in a responsible manner, without purposefully provoking those who feel differently about this issue.

Each November the NRA sends its current and former members a card telling them whom they should vote for in their district, to protect their 2nd Amendment rights. Although their member magazine often features hunting rifles, the organization must also think of their members as sheep, who should only care about one issue. As Americans we should guard our right to own firearms,  but never tolerate being told how to vote.

I support Americans For Responsible Solutions, the group started by Mark Kelly and  Gabby Giffords.  They both value their right to own a fireman,  but appreciate the need for greater controls against irresponsible ownership.

Shown above is a 38 special, gifted upon Frank Sinatra by the Miami Beach Police & Firemen's Association.  

reprinted from February of 2018

UPDATE FEBRUARY 13, 2019: Former astronaut and fighter pilot Mark Kelly has announced his candidacy for Arizona's senate seat as a Democrat. Although I tend conservative, Kelly is a Democrat who has my support.