Feb 7, 2014

The Beatles Concert at Convention Hall

In the summer of 1964, when I was 17, I took a bus from the old terminal on S. 6th Street, to California. I had a letter from the manager of Trexler Orchards, asking his associate in Oxnard, California, to give me a job in the lemon orchard. That manager also owned a carwash, and gave me a job there instead.  I rented a small cabin at the end of a backyard, they were built during the war to provide extra housing for the G.I's. After two months at the carwash, I was rescued by a former Allentonian. His father had moved the family years earlier, to work at the Western Electric plant in Hawthorne. Kenneth was about five years older than me, and he and his friends prided themselves on gate-crashing. In my few weeks there we crashed several concerts and Disneyland. I returned at the end of summer, in time for the Beatles concert in Atlantic City. Putting my new delinquent skill to work, I vaulted over the turnstile and ran into the seating section. If the Beatles sang or not, I couldn't tell you, the screaming made it impossible to know.  Kenneth became an accomplished celebrity photographer, among other things. He passed away several years ago, and his family returned to Allentown to spread his ashes in Lehigh Parkway.

5 comments:

  1. Mike.

    Being younger than you my only recollection of this time period is that my older sisters liked them so I didn't and dismissed it entirely.

    Scott Armstrong

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  2. Mike

    Sorry for being off topic. The dam busters are back.

    http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-lehighvalley/northampton-borough-council-members-angered-over-proposed-dam-demolition/-/132502/24343928/-/w4ej5mz/-/index.html

    X

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  3. @6:56, yes, i saw that article and applaud the northampton council members. allentown lost a chunk of the parkway's beauty and magic for naught. pawlowski and city council should be ashamed of themselves, and the new park director should apologize, for lobbying on behalf of the wildlands self serving conservancy, when he hadn't yet even seen the park himself.

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  4. I love this story, MM! I imagine you as you appear in your profile picture having this adventure - maybe you should post a picture of your 17 year old mug so I can have the correct perspective. You sound like you were quite the rebel. I like it! Were you the only male in the audience at that concert??

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  5. monkey momma@8:31, yes, unfortunately for my parents, i was rebellious, to say the least. you're correct that there were not many males there. i recall being shocked by the girl's screaming.

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