As Allentown eagerly awaits the opening of the Cosmopolitan Restaurant and banquet facility on 6th Street, lets go back in time. Before the former Sal's Spaghetti House was demolished on that parcel, preservationists from Bucks County saved the historic sign. Had the couple been somewhat more familiar with Allentown's history, they may have realized that the sign was neither very historic or iconic.
Before Hamilton Street was bi-sected architecturally by the now gone canopy, the street was lined with large neon signs, many of which were much more elaborate than Sal's; That sign became historic by default. Interestingly, the Sal's sign for most of it's
business days, said Pat's. Pat's and the sign go back to the mid 1950's. In the late 70's, the business was taken over by Sal, and the P and T were simply changed to an S and L. But time goes on; Sal's family is now in the sauce business and have a most interesting website. Congratulations to Mayor Pawlowski and Myron Haydt for bringing the Cosmopolitan to 6th Street; May they have the success that both Pat's and Sal's enjoyed.
1963 Pat's advertisement courtesy of Larry P
Hamilton Steet watercolor by Karoline Schaub-Peeler
I remember the spaghetti at Pat's as
ReplyDeletebeing wonderful. I grew-up down the street at 6th and walnut. I ate there more times than I can remember.
Now that memory is kicking in I remember being disappointed when it changed hands, though I went to Sal's a few times. History and memory-- some bittersweet in their consolations.
frank
With this heat MM is doing his best to freeze over hell with this shout out to the mayor!
ReplyDeletegary, contrary to some assertions, i am really non-partisan. i have complimented pawlowski on several occasions; for calming the atmosphere after the police accident at 7th and chew, also for the cell phone ban. in this case, i was critical of certain aspects of the cosmopolitan development; now that it's built, mostly with private financing, he like wise deserves the compliment.
ReplyDeleteMike, the sign has been saved (as in not thrown out), but not restored. At one time, there was some discussion of restoring many of the old neon signs from Allentown's past and even putting them up on one block somewhere in the downtown. This is a good idea that never had the funding. If you want to start a campaign to restore these signs so that people can enjoy them, go ahead.
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