Up to the mid 1960's, before Allentown started tinkering with urban redevelopment, lower Hamilton Street still teemed with businesses. The City had grown from the river west, and lower Hamilton Street was a vibrant area. Two train stations and several rail lines crossed the busy thoroughfare. Front, Ridge and Second were major streets in the first half of the twentieth century. My grandparents settled on the 600 block of 2nd Street in 1895, along with other Jewish immigrants from Russia and Lithuania. As a boy, I worked at my father's meat market on Union Street. I would have lunch at a diner, just out of view in the photo above. The diner was across from the A&P, set back from the people shown on the corner. A&P featured bags of ground to order 8 O'Clock coffee, the Starbucks of it's day.
please click on photo
photocredit:Ed Miller, 1953
reprinted from October 2015
I don't remember the trolly's but I have fond memories from my father who lived in Catasauqua and used to hitch [illegally] rides to Allentown. The A&P store was one of the last memories of that age and I remember George {Bucky} Boyle's cafe.
ReplyDeleteI still grind my own 8-O'clock coffee at Giant. I know people who don't drink coffee but still love the smell of freshly ground beans. Love the throw-back threads, MM.
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