Faith Baptist Church (Allentown)

There is a small church on the 200 block of N. 12th Street, which is served by a humble man, Pastor Robert Hargrove. Pastor Hargrove has been ministering to his flock at Faith Baptist Church for over 40 years. Years ago, when I managed buildings in the neighborhood, I had the privilege of meeting the pastor and seeing his concern for others. While his congregation was small, his outreach in the neighborhood was large. In addition to running a summer program for local kids, his church door was always open for those in distress.

While his formal congregation was mostly Black, it seemed that most of his outreach helped the poorer whites in the surrounding blocks.

Over the years he kindly allowed me to conduct a few community meetings at the church, on topics such as Fairview Cemetery and the removal of bus stops.

While the large churches with the politically astute leaders get most our attention,  many people in need often turn to the small neighborhood churches, such as Faith Baptist.

reprinted from December of 2019

A Hammer From 7th Street

The other day I noticed a ball peen hammer head for sale.  It was stamped 521 N 7  Allentown PA   Although I've seen machinist stamp their tools with their initials and even work ID numbers,  usually a stamping like this means that the hammer was made at 521, or at least sold there.  Allentown has a long tradition in iron, steel and hardware.  In the next block, C.F. Wolfertz, knife maker, was in business from 1862 to 1989.

Although I have yet to identify the hammer head,  521 has its own story.  Over the years many people lived in the apartments over the store. Although I won't mention people by name, there were births, deaths, accidents, robberies,  marriages and arrests.  Although the walls don't talk, the newspaper archives do.

Over the years many people worked in the storeroom, in many businesses.  In the mid 1940's, Clements Variety Store had about everything,  but I suspect the hammer is from before then. In 1958 a business called Niagara offered a good living to good salesman, but apparently you had to apply before learning what you sold.  I suppose not that many people applied, because the storeroom was for rent in 1959.  By 1961 Melody Organs gave the space a try.  However, by 1962 you could buy a whirlpool by Jacuzzi there. In 1963 a dry cleaner gave it a shot.  The 1960's must have been slow on 7th, because the space was again vacant in 1964.

In 1971 the building was offered for sale at $22,500.  Filmlab operated there throughout the decade and into the 80's, until they moved up to the corner on Liberty. Today that storeroom, at 445, is owned by Peter Lewnes,  current 7th Street Development Director.

Back at 521,  rough times were coming again. In 1991 Unique Treasures opened. Apparently, the merchandize wasn't unique enough, because by 1993 it was the People's Choice Store.  They were ahead of the times by about 25 years, and were dispensing marijuana, until the police thought better of it.  Years later, in 2012, a barber shop fronted for an after-hours club in the basement.

Peter Lewnes is doing a terrific job  managing the street. Over the decades I had many favorite eating spots on 7th Street.  I look forward to the continued development of the street,  and I will learn more about that hammer.

reprinted from May of 2020

Allentown Parking Authority 2023

Today I planned on running a reprinted Parking Authority post, with an addendum about increased enforcement in the west end.  However,  I came across an older facebook piece by community activist Julian Kern, he reported...

So I found out from a confidential source that the Allentown Parking Authority has instated a daily quota their officers must meet every day. They must now write 100 tickets per day. Not only will this affect the officers but it will affect the residents of the city because now officers will be pushed to write more tickets. Former executive director Tamara Dolan said at a city council meeting that the APA does not have a quota or push their officers to write tickets but that they push for compliance. Well now they have a quota so don't be surprised you see more tickets being issued. I certainly have no problem believing that there is a quota, regardless of what the Parking Authority may say. In the past I have documented them being less than honest about surveys they falsely claimed to have conducted. .Julian Kern May 8, 2018

The Parking Authority was created under less than meritorious circumstances. Old timers may remember when three meter maids, working for the police department, monitored the parking meters in golf carts. Downtown was still busy back then, and three people were enough for the shopping district. However, when the owners of Park & Shop decided the heydays were over, they prevailed upon the city to buy the lots...and the Allentown Parking Authority was born, to bail those influentials out from under those parking lots. Since then, they have grown into the beast that preys upon the citizens of Allentown. 

Shown above is the parking officer I used to call the Producer. I suppose by now he's probably retired, it's a photograph from 2009 or so. He's giving street cleaning tickets on 16th St., just off of Allen 

St.. Never mind that the city hadn't even plowed the snow yet! 

Over the past 15 years I have written many posts on the Parking Authority and their abuses. Those so interested can use the search engine on this blog's sidebar (web version) and type in Parking Authority. I often portrayed the Authority as Frankenstein's monster, preying on residents, people voting, and even parents picking up their school children.

So, in the meantime, don't forget to pay your tickets!

ADDENDUM:  Mr Kern's quote was actually from May of 2018. I modified the post to clarify that his quote isn't current. Nevertheless, the complaint about recent harassment by the Authority in the west end is current. Quotes and complaints about the Parking Authority can never really be out of date.

link to more Parking Authority posts

An Allentown School Primer

While Morning Call readers learned yesterday that Allentown School superintendent Russ Mayo would not be seeking another contract, molovinsky readers already knew that since early last week. However, today's post is a lesson in recent history. Before Mayo, the superintendent was John Zahorchak. The board that hired him thought very highly of themselves for that choice. Zahorchak was former Secretary of Education under Rendell. What the board didn't realize was that while the Rendell administration was a case study in cronyism, it was not concerned with expertise. Zahorchak came to town and turned the school system inside out, and upside down. He instituted every new concept ever written in the education magazines. Among one bad move after another, he transfered Allen High's very effective principal to desk job on Penn Street. In wake of the mess, the board was then glad to hire Mayo, who was familiar with the system before the chaotic changes.

Allentown School System has been suffering from the same problems which affect all urban systems with high poverty rates.  Why the board thinks that a new superintendent will change the parameters of that reality escapes me.  The district just announced that there will be another year with no tax increase, which would be considered welcome news in most communities.

Now some older history;  Shown above is Dorothy Taliaferro, as pictured in the 1920 Allentown High School yearbook.  Dorothy was a vocal supporter for woman suffrage, and hoped to become a doctor. She was the first Black girl to graduate from Allentown.  Although Dorothy did not fulfill that career ambition,  she had two younger brothers who did become physicians.  The family lived at 450 Union Street, which was later demolished in one of Allentown's misguided urban renew projects.

Thanks to Dan Doyle for loan of the 1920 Comus.  

reprinted from 2016

ADDENDUM JANUARY 12, 2023: While Dorothy above was the first Black to graduate Allentown, Russ Mayo may well have been the last white superintendent. As I reported in previous posts, the current school board seems obsessed with race. Recently, the NAACP accused a white board member of "sporting" a Hispanic married name, to deceive the voters. Two white members have just resigned from the board, although not for racial reasons. However, race may well become an issue with their replacements.  As a former delinquent myself at Allentown High, I can assure the board that we never knew or cared who the superintendent was....he didn't have to look like us. Furthermore, we never even knew that there was a school board.

Allentown's First Black Bar

In a neighborhood that no longer exists, Allentown's first legal Black liquor establishment had a short tortured run.

McLaughlin's Cafe was on the corner of Wire and Lehigh, at the bottom of the hill. Wire was the street that ran along the Wire Mill, another long forgotten part of Allentown's industrial history. By the mid 1950's, things were getting rough in the old bar. Police became a regular referee as fights and prostitution frequented the establishment. Finally the state liquor board decided to pull their license. 

The neighborhood had two complexions. There were the white descendants of the factory workers, and it also was the center of Allentown's small Black population.

Hamp Webb was a popular figure in the Black community. Just outside the straight and narrow, he was courted by the white officials for his influence with his community. Hamp operated unlicensed speakeasies with some success.

In the final days of McLaughlin's, they featured black entertainers from Philadelphia, and even referred to it as the Black & White Club. As McLaughlin's license was being revoked, he negotiated a sale to Hamp Webb.

The Morning Call reported that he fought to secure a license to provide a drinking establishment for his fellow Negroes, where they could congregate without being molested. After a court hearing, he was finally given the license in 1957, and Ham Webb Bar&Grill opened.

Hamp Webb was killed the following year in an automobile accident. While operation of the bar was taken over by his sons, they apparently didn't have local connections to deflect legal citations that came with operating a rough bar in a tough neighborhood. The property and license were liquidated at a tax sale in 1960.

reprinted from April of 2020

Boxing Eggs

When I was a little boy, I would work at my father's meat market, boxing eggs. The job was pretty straightforward. I would take eggs from a big box, and put them in small boxes with folding lids, each of which held a dozen. If I did a whole crate without breaking an egg, I did a good job. The real adventure was the drive to the shop. We lived just off Lehigh Street, and would take it all the way to Union Street. The many landmarks are now gone forever, only remaining in my camera of the past. Shown above in 1952, is the portion of Lehigh Street near the Acorn Hotel, which is not visible in the photograph. Before reaching the Acorn, you drove under The Reading Railroad bridge overpass, which recently has been dismantled and removed. That line served the Mack Plant on S. 10th Street. Just beyond the area pictured, the Quarry Barber railroad spur also crossed Lehigh Street, at the bridge over the Little Lehigh Creek. That line also crossed S. 10th, and served Traylor Engineering, now known as the closed Allentown Metal Works. Just last week Mitt Romney was there, to rebuke Obama's former visit to the site. Mayor Pawlowski is now rebuking Romney, but none of them really know anything about its past. A half block away, on overgrown steps built by Roosevelt's WPA, a thousand men would climb home everyday, after working at Mack and Traylor. Freight trains, on parallel tracks, from two different railroads, were needed to supply those industrial giants.

After my father rounded the second curve on Lehigh Street, we would head up the steep Lehigh Street hill. It was packed with houses and people. At the top of the hill, we would turn right on to Union Street. Going down Union Street, Grammes Metal was built on the next big curve. Grammes made a large assortment of finished decorative metal products. Beyond Grammes were numerous railroad crossings. The Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks crossed Union, as did the Jersey Central and several spurs, near Basin Street. It was not unusual to wait twenty-five minutes for the endless freight trains to pass. A two plus story tower gave the railroad men view and control of the busy crossing. A few more blocks and we were at the meat market, in time for me to break some eggs.

reprinted from July 2011

Stephen Colbert School Of Journalism

The marriage between news and entertainment isn't new, but it's now polygamous, with opinion and politics. With the Stephen Colberts and Jon Stewarts, pundits are comedians, and comedians are pundits.  Both parties, left and right, are the brunt of the other sides' jokes.

This merging of politics, humor and ridicule did the country no good. People have become so polarized that they think that the other side deserves the derision.

I have no delusions that we will revert back to more separation between news and entertainment... That paste isn't going back into the tube.  There is no longer any separation between news and opinion. On the contrary, down the road today's broadcasts might look scholarly. Instead of beautiful blondes, perhaps the news will be delivered by a dummy and ventriloquist...and we won't know the difference.

Zooming In On Allentown's Past

Today I assigned our aging staff photographer to document the demolition of the 1st National Bank building. He only took two photographs, complaining that there was no water spray to control the dust. For a building supposedly encumbered with asbestos, one would think that the pedestrians of Allentown deserved better treatment, but of course the upscale people have yet to arrive. Regular readers have been hearing about Lehigh Structural Steel on this blog. If you click on and enlarge this closeup, you can clearly see Lehigh Structural Steel Allentown is stenciled on this main beam. Imagine a time when an Allentown centered bank used steel beams made in Allentown for its headquarters in center square. We will be lucky if the beams used in the new building are made in the U.S.A.

UPDATE: A Morning Call video shows water being sprayed during the demolition. The spray person may have been on lunch break yesterday when I visited the site. 

reprinted from October of 2012