Jan 24, 2012

Allentown's Vanishing History


A reader sent me the above image last night. It looks down the hill from 7th and Hamilton, north, toward Linden Street. He has been attempting to locate the old Lafayette Radio store on 7th street, because of a pleasant memory from his childhood. By my day, the store had moved onto the southern side of the 700 block of Hamilton Street. History is quickly succumbing to the wreaking ball in Allentown. All the buildings shown above, on the left or west side of 7th Street, have been knocked down for the arena. Most of the buildings on the photo's right side are also gone. I suspect the few remaining ones will be gone soon, as they have been recently purchased in speculation of the Transformation Phrase 2, the Event Center. With the departure of Salomon Jewelry, Tucker Yarn remains Hamilton Street's last remaining business from the glory days. It's first store, on 7th Street, can be seen on the left side of the above photo.

The above image can be found in Doug Peters' Lehigh Valley Transit

4 comments:

  1. I was going to say "Hey! That's Tuckers!"

    I drove all the way from Washington, Warren County, to Tucker's to learn how to do intarsia knitting. I was in love with a Star Wars freak (I know, first warning sign...lol) and I wanted to knit him a scarf with the logo.

    They taught me right there - and didn't charge me a dime. They were so very kind and their yarn selection is amazing.

    I know it's been around since the dawn of man, and it's really neat to see a photo from "back in the day" - thanks!

    Pamela

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  2. @ Mr . Molovinsky . As a hypothetical question , what would your reaction be if the city said it wanted to install and fund a transportation infrastructure project with the size and cost of the old trolly car system ?

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  3. john.jay, the question is too hypothetical for me. as you may know, the transit company was started privately, with general trexler being a primary investor. i would support a massive replacement of allentown's water pipes, which date back 100 years.

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  4. If wishes were horses....

    Alfonso Todd

    www.5minutes2shine.blogspot.com

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