Hamilton Street was hot and barren on Saturday afternoon. When the elevator opened onto the fifth floor of the BreW Works, I entered the world of cool and hip; It was
Alfonso Todd's Fuzion 2012. Hundreds of people mingled, listened to music, and saw what was new in the Lehigh Valley. Unfortunately, when I left, the cool and hip didn't stick with me.
photocredit:molovinsky
Did you see anybody from the center city in that establishment?
ReplyDeleteNo?
We don't go there.
Ever.
For anything.
@5:54, maybe not in the first floor restaurant, but I did at Alfonso's well attended event on the fifth floor.
ReplyDeleteI'm not the valley's most frequent BW patron, but to the first commenter, I think you are making a pretty disingenuous generalization.
ReplyDeleteI see many people I know who live downtown, at the bar on weekends, at events like weddings in the upstairs room, and eating brunch there on the weekends. Complaints about subsidies aside, the ABW seems to be doing pretty good business drawing both patrons from the neighborhood and from other areas of the City.
Oops, I hit publish my comment too soon.
ReplyDeleteAlso, many congrats to Alfonso on another successful event!
My center city neighbors work at Wal-mart, Cumberland Farms, and Amazon. They are clerks, cleaners, refuse engineers, and scrap pickers.
ReplyDeleteThey change diapers for our aged and insane for $9.00/hr.
None of the affairs on Hamilton St. are attended by my neighbors.
They are continually hammered by city fees and fines that the folks at that party will never see or be affected by.
A night out here would be more like patronizing Winston or Las Palmas, or the miriad of other establishments run by self sustaining proprietors.
You will find the people living here going to the local rivers and traveling to the Basketball courts and futbol fields Or just sitting their porches.
Who owns that fifth floor?
although those building floors were made condominiums, they all appear to still be owned and operated by the fegleys. i did notice that various events were all promoted on flyers within the restaurant by the elevator. although i have issues with various concessions given to the fegleys, including the latest renew or ruse of the KOZ for separate floors, i applaud Alfonso's event, in which I assume he rented the space for the day. although the fegleys have certainly benefited from the unlevel playing field hawked by pawlowski, they have certainly anchored that block, to allentown's betterment.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the accolades, MM, but I didn't do it alone. It was a collaborative effort that included:
ReplyDeleteTARRANTS ALEXANDER BOOKER of POSH LIFE AFFAIRS / www.fountainheadmagazine.com
and
JAY VEGA of HYGH ENTERPRISES / www.hyghenterprises.com!
We all came together to do this AWESOME COMMUNITY EVENT!
And as for ANONYMOUS 5:54AM and LOCAL 8:35 AM comments, you must not REALLY live or BE from A-town because if you DID, then you would KNOW me. This event had local urban Hip Hop artists from all over A-town and the LV; it brought in families from FRONT, GREEN LEAF, TURNER and CHEW STREETS and NOT from the WEST SIDE.
HISTORY LESSON:
I was the "picture man" at CATCH 22 NIGHT CLUB" which was formerly known as THE D.L. for 3 years (I was there when it first opened up) and knew and STILL know the females, dope boys, clubheads, tricks, and everyone under the sun who came through the spot. My pictures earned me a lot of business from "the hood". I did a lot of quincieras, sweet 16's, baby showers, b-day parties, etc. I saw a lot of them grow up, go to jail, get pregnant, have kids, and, now, have their OWN families; but I witnessed others die due to senseless violence over stupid reasons... Anyway, I "flipped" my photography "hustle" into a promotions/marketing business. It was transformed from J. BLACK PROMOTIONS and PHOTOGRAPHY to ALFONSO TODD AND ASSOCIATES / PROLIFICK MEDIA. I have been here for 10 years and I have seen the changes on these streets. And while you may feel you don't NEED or DESERVE to go to places like Allentown Brewworks, I beg to differ. You talk about being hammered by taxes, etc, but WE ALL ARE and MANY come to my events because they all are at QUALITY locations like the A-town Brew Works and they ALL ARE FREE for this very reason! There is NEVER a cost for my events and I have done many of them in A-town over the years. Go to www.alfonsotodd.com and go to EVENTS to see for yourself! But either way, I do this for MY people which are ALL of the people in A-town and beyond...
So, again, I am unsure who you both are but have NO clue.
P.S: AND I am like WINSTONS and Las Palmas because I, too, am a self- sustaining proprietor.
You may represent yourself, but you definitely don't speak for ALL of your neighbors.....
ALFONSO TODD
ALFONSO TODD AND ASSOCIATES / PROLIFICK MEDIA
www.alfonsotodd.com
www.fuzion2012.com
Great article. I was there as a vendor and guest. The event was FREE to the public. It was great to see a culturally mixed group of people. Money spent at the ABW is money that goes back into Allentown, which is a good thing. I think Alfonso should be praised for a great event that he created and promoted for the benefit of small businesses, musical talent, art and the City of Allentown! Congrats Alfonso and the team of people that helped you put this event together!
ReplyDelete