A Bridge Stilll Stands

Last night, Glenn Solt, project manager for Lehigh County, came to the county committee meeting prepared with a twelve page report, and the engineer who wrote it. They testified that the condition of the Reading Road Bridge has deteriorated, the cost of repairing it has increased, but that the cost of replacing it has gone down. Solt's determined to rid Union Terrace of that old stone arch bridge. Never mind that it was completely rehabilitated in 1980, 156 years after it was built in 1824. Never mind that Hamilton Street Bridge is a quarter block north, and a new Union Street Bridge is being built a half block south.

Michael Molovinsky, an Allentown blogger who has previously written about the bridge, accused the county of exaggerating the condition of the bridge and the cost for rehabilitating it rather than replacing it. Molovinsky said the bridge's historic value is irreplaceable, "Let me be frank: Mr. Solt has no feel for history whatsoever," Molovinsky said. "... This bridge cannot be replaced. It's that simple." Colin McEvoy/The Express Times/June28,2012

This was the first bridge built west of Allentown, crossing Cedar Creek, on the route west to Reading, and one of the last remaining stone arch bridges. Although I would like to see a stake driven through the project, technical legalese demands that I periodically appear and defend our history and culture. The bridge replacement funds were approved years ago, and the matter at hand is a small contract for engineering studies.

reprinted from 2012

ADDENDUM: I'm happy to report that I would continue campaigning for the bridge, and eventually convinced the County Commissioners to save the structure.

Flash From Past

Occasionally, some of the older boys in Lehigh Parkway would get saddled with taking me along to a Saturday matinee in downtown Allentown. We would get the trolley, in later years a bus, from in front of the basement church on Jefferson Street. It would take that congregation many years to afford completing the church building there today. The trolley or bus would go across the 8th Street Bridge, which was built to accommodate the trolleys operated by Lehigh Valley Transit Company. Downtown then sported no less than five movie theaters at any one time. Particularly matinee friendly was the Midway, in the 600 Block of Hamilton. Three cartoons and episode or two of Flash Gordon entertained our entourage, which ranged in age from five to eleven years old. We younger kids, although delighted by the likes of Bugs Bunny, were confused how the Clay People would emerge from the walls in the caves on Mars to capture Captain Gordon, but our chaperones couldn't wait till the next week to learn Flash's fate. Next on the itinerary was usually a banana split at Woolworth's. Hamilton Street had three 5 and 10's, with a million things for boys to marvel at. The price of the sundae was a game of chance, with the customer picking a balloon. Inside the balloon was your price, anywhere from a penny to the full price of fifty cents. The store had a full selection of Allentown souvenirs. Pictures of West Park on a plate, the Center Square Monument on a glass, pennants to hang on your wall, and picture postcards of all the attractions. Hamilton Street was mobbed, and even the side streets were crowded with busy stores. Taking younger kids along was a responsibility for the older brothers, the streets and stores were crowded, but predators were limited to the Clay People on the silver screen.

reprinted from previous years

New Graveside Tears At Fairview

In August of 08, after about a year of blogging on conditions at Fairview, The Morning Call ran the story shown above. I did manage to organize a small meeting between the cemetery operators and the public later that fall. Yesterday I received the following comment, submitted to a posting from that period.

Patti from California has left a new comment on your post "New Graveside Tears":

My family is buried at Fairview and 2 weeks ago I visited and was appalled at the horrible conditions and total lack of maintenance throughout the cemetery. I have been trying to reach Loretta or David most of the summer and was told they had taken an extended trip out of the country. (business must be good) They seem to be back now - but still no way to actually talk to them.

My mother is 97 - plans to be buried there with her parents and my Dad. I could cry at the thought ....

I googled Fairview and was led to your blog. Loretta told me in May I could get our plot maintained if I invested in their endowment for $1000. After seeing the total lack of care there, I feel like I would be throwing the money away. What do other people think or do about this appalling condition?

I feel sorry for this family, Fairview may have been a well maintained place when the father was buried there many years ago. I believe the cemetery is in better condition than it was two years ago, but that's not saying very much. I will occasionally revisit this topic, to at least continue a small noise on behalf of these families.

reprinted from September of 2009

ADDENDUM: Over the years I have published numerous posts about Fairview Cemetery. Today and yesterday, I revisited the cemetery to cast light on a problem; Allentown's orphan cemeteries. Although Fairview isn't really an orphan, it shares the same issues as the West End Cemetery, in center city. Our esteemed mayor took it upon himself to purchase two unnecessary parcels, ostensibly to add to the park system. In addition to their cost, $1.5 million dollars, there will be upkeep expenses by an already underfunded park system. City hall should instead concentrate on these cemeteries, which have been problematic for decades.

reprinted from November of 2016

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 7, 2017: In the picture above I'm shown walking in Fairview. Over the last decade, in addition to advocating for the cemetery's upkeep, I've made frequent return visits to keep checking on conditions. Starting about five years ago, I noticed new burials toward the rear of the sprawling cemetery, near Harrison Street. It certainly appeared to me that these new burials were on old family plots, probably no longer visited by any descendants. I mentioned my concern to several people associated with other cemeteries. They seemed to share my suspicion, but did not want to get involved. The new burials have continued, and now appear bordering old family plots even closer to the front of the grounds, near Lehigh Street. The current owner claimed years ago that the plot plan for the cemetery was destroyed in a fire. Let this post serve as public notice of what may well be a new problem at a very old cemetery.

Coffee With Emma And Ce-Ce

This blog did not take any overt positions on the recent primary election. Instead of profiling any candidate, I reprinted my piece on Emma Tropiano, The People's Candidate. I believe that Emma has a kindred spirit in Ce-Ce Gerlach. Now, I understand that a lot of people will take exception to my comparison, maybe even Ce-Ce herself.

Because of inaccurate media reports, Emma was falsely portrayed as bigoted. Her memory now unjustly bears that misconception. Most people today who repeat that slander never knew her. Emma was immensely popular, and easily won reelection to city council, election after election. Ce-Ce Gerlach was the top vote getter this primary, receiving almost double the votes of her fellow candidates.

As someone who knew both women, there are many similarities... Both being extremely accessible, down to earth, and making people comfortable.

Emma was energized to work hard for Allentown, as is Ce-Ce. Emma was passionate about the issues she championed, so is Ce-Ce.

I sat in diners having coffee with both of them, many years apart. I think that they would have understood and liked each other.

photo/The Morning Call

An American Hero

This painting, by aviation artist Mark Postlethwaite, based on World War 2, illustrates an actual air battle; Focke Wulf Fw 190D-9 of 14/JG26 flown by Ofw. Werner Zech is intercepted by a P-51 Mustang of the 339th FG flown by Captain Francis R. Gerard, 18th March 1945. Frank Gerard was one of our flying aces, shooting down four enemy aircraft from his Mustang in one battle over Leipzig, Germany. The retired Major General passed away this week (November 2008) and will be buried tomorrow with full military honors.

reprinted from November of 2011

Open Mike

This posting is intended to provide an opportunity to comment on any topic, or on a previous posting.  Anonymous comments were permitted on this post for several hours.

Street Madness In Allentown

Recently, I blogged about a gang of off street vehicles recklessly running stop lights on Front Street, near Bucky Boyle Park.  On Tuesday, I witnessed the same type of activity around 13th and Tilghman. Reports on facebook indicate that these driving violators are roaming freely around center city.  Also yesterday, there apparently was a running gun battle between two cars over a large section of the west end.

The time has come for police chief Tony Alsleben to crack down.  While I understand that the shooting car chases aren't everyday, the herd of off street bikes has become a constant.  At the least, they are guilty of disturbing the peace and reckless driving.

It's past time for a crack down. Worry about conviction rates and civil rights later. Allentown is fast losing quality of life.

Another Lawyer For The Fritzgeralds

If you believe that Pawlowski was color blind when he hired Joel Fritzgerald as police chief, you might as well stop reading this post now.

When the former Allentown police chief's son was arrested for pulling a gun on county detectives, and the chief hired a Philadelphia power attorney to defend him, and then counter sue for racism, I blogged questioning the father's integrity.  Apparently, I'm not the only one to question the father's integrity...He has been fired as chief by his current city, Fort Worth, Texas. Those interested in the current issues in Texas can read about it in the Morning Chronicle article.

My issue with Fritzgerald was that he was specifically hired in Allentown to increase racial harmony, not incite discord. The Fritzgerald family had no issues with such affirmative action when senior was hired. They had no issue with favoritism or nepotism when junior was hired as a guard at Lehigh County Prison. Although his son's power attorney managed to get him acquitted from the gun charges, the counter suit was totally inappropriate for the son of this police chief.  The court also found the racism  charge baseless, and dismissed the suit.

I understand that some may find my perspective on this situation offensive;  However, this blog is not meant to comfort.

When asked about his dismissal from Fort Worth,  Fritzgerald replied that he's hiring a lawyer. 

ANNOUNCEMENT: In September of 2007, I introduced Open Mike to the local blogosphere. Readers could comment on any topic they chose. To celebrate this blog's 12th birthday, I am reintroducing the feature this coming Friday. In 2016, to enhance accountability, I eliminated anonymous comments. The Open Mike posts will allow anonymous comments until 7:30PM.

Martin Tower Dust

Bob Novotnack, emergency management coordinator for Bethlehem, said officials don’t expect any lingering air quality problems(from Martin Tower implosion). He said it’s too early to tell, but the dust was expected from the concrete of the building, but nothing out of the ordinary. What Bob doesn't say that there is nothing ordinary about imploding a 21 story building. On the contrary, it is one of the taller buildings ever imploded. If that isn't enough to worry those concerned about what they inhale, how about the air quality monitoring?  Rather than be performed by Bethlehem or Pennsylvania, the monitoring was done by an outfit working for the developers.

Locally, the only media concerned with this health issue was Bethlehem blogger Ed Gallagher, on his Bethlehem Gadfly.

Novotnack concluded by saying “Coming down just like it was supposed to, and dust being controlled right now, and cleanup taking place, it couldn’t go any better for the city of Bethlehem,”   I don't know about the City of Bethlehem, but for the residents of Bethlehem and the Lehigh Valley, some assurance that there would be no future health consequences was sorely lacking.

ANNOUNCEMENT: In September of 2007,  I introduced Open Mike to the local blogosphere. Readers could comment on any topic they chose. To celebrate this blog's 12th birthday, I am reintroducing the feature this coming Friday. In 2016, to enhance accountability, I eliminated anonymous comments. The Open Mike posts will allow anonymous comments until 7:30PM.

The People's Candidate

In the late 1970's, neighbors would gather in the market on 9th Street to complain and receive consolation from the woman behind the cash register. Emma was a neighborhood institution. A native Allentonian, she had gone through school with Mayor For Life Joe Dadonna, and knew everybody at City Hall. More important, she wasn't shy about speaking out. What concerned the long time neighbors back then was a plan to create a Historical District, by a few newcomers.

What concerned Emma wasn't so much the concept, but the proposed size of the district, sixteen square blocks. The planners unfortunately all wanted their homes included, and they lived in an area spread out from Hall Street to 12th, Linden to Liberty.* Shoving property restrictions down the throats of thousands of people who lived in the neighborhood for generations didn't seem right to Emma. As the battle to establish the district became more pitched, Emma began referring to it as the Hysterical District.
Emma eventually lost the battle, but won the hearts of thousands of Allentonians. Emma Tropiano would be elected to City Council beginning in 1986, and would serve four terms. In 1993 she lost the Democratic Primary for Mayor by ONE (1) vote.

Her common sense votes and positions became easy fodder for ridicule. Bashed for opposing fluoridation, our clean water advocates now question the wisdom of that additive. Although every founding member of the Historical District moved away over the years, Emma continued to live on 9th Street, one block up from the store. In the mid 1990's, disgusted by the deterioration of the streetscape, she proposed banning household furniture from front porches. Her proposal was labeled as racist against those who could not afford proper lawn furniture. Today, SWEEP officers issue tickets for sofas on the porch.

Being blunt in the era of political correctness cost Emma. Although a tireless advocate for thousands of Allentown residents of all color, many people who never knew her, now read that she was a bigot. They don't know who called on her for help. They don't know who knocked on her door everyday for assistance. They don't know who approached her at diners and luncheonettes all over Allentown for decades. We who knew her remember, and we remember the truth about a caring woman.

* Because the designated Historical District was so large, it has struggled to create the atmosphere envisioned by the long gone founders. Perhaps had they listened to, instead of ridiculing, the plain spoken shopkeeper, they would have created a smaller critical mass of like thinking homeowners.

reprinted yearly since 2010

ANNOUNCEMENT: In September of 2007,  I introduced Open Mike to the local blogosphere. Readers could comment on any topic they chose. To celebrate this blog's 12th birthday, I am reintroducing the feature this coming Friday. In 2016, to enhance accountability, I eliminated anonymous comments. The Open Mike posts will allow anonymous comments until 7:30PM.

Upcoming Election And The Morning Call

When I ran as an independent for mayor in 2005, the reporter assigned to cover the election already didn't care much for me, because of my conservative positions on various previous issues. Back then the Morning Call was more arrogant about their dominant position as the conveyor of local news. When I proclaimed that Allentown was becoming a poverty magnet, which wouldn't be making Allentown a better place, it was pure heresy. The message was considered so politically incorrect, that the reporter had no flack from his editor about underreporting on my campaign.

I don't believe that any of the current candidates for mayor can complain about the coverage.  Each candidate was both profiled and interviewed.  In addition to the print copy, there were also video clips.

photo from 2014, shirt from 2005

The Trains Of Union Street

Up to the late 1960's, Union Street, between the Jordan Creek and Lehigh River, was  crossed by numerous train tracks. In addition to the main tracks for the New Jersey Central and Lehigh Valley Railroads, the area hosted many sidings for the industries that once huddled along this historic river front area.  There was a small rail yard with five sidings between the UGI gas storage tank, which dominated Allentown's skyline, and Allentown Meat Packing Company.  The photo above dates from the late 1940's.  The map below from the early 1930's.



Small rail yard on bottom left of map. Allentown Meat Packing was the former H.H. Steinmetz Co. in 1932.

reprinted from 2017

Just Out Of View And Gone In Allentown

The photo above means a lot to me, for the things just out of view and now gone. You're at the crossing tower on Union Street, near 3th. There's another gate stopping the eastbound traffic, which has backed up toward the Jordan Creek. The same train has also blocked traffic further down the line, at Basin Street. It's the early 1950's and the tracks from the two rail lines, Lehigh Valley and Jersey Central, cross here.  At the end of Union Street you can make out my father's market, Allentown Meat Packing Company. The whole side of the building is a sign, painted directly on the brick in red and silver, Retail Meats, Wholesale Prices. You'll pass Morris Black Building Supply and The Orange Car before you get there. You'll also have to cross another set of tracks, which was the Lehigh Valley old main, before they built the Railroad Terminal over the Jordan Creek, at Hamilton Street. Our commercial past is now consigned to memory and future urban archeology.

reprinted from December of 2013

Allentown Meat Packing Co.

My grandfather lived on the corner of Jordan and Chew, and butchered in a small barn behind the house. He would deliver by horse and wagon to his customers, corner markets. The house is still there, the barn, long gone. My father, and one of his brothers, acquired the H.H. Steinmetz packing house in 1943. Operating as Allentown Meat Packing, by 1950 they closed the slaughter house, and converted the front of the plant into a meat market open to the public. That continued to 1970, when it was leased to an operator who sold meat by freezer full packages. In 1975 the building was torn down, as part of a long term lease agreement with A&B, who wanted the space for parking. The photo was taken just prior to demolition.

The Butchers Of Allentown

photograph by Bob Wilt

A&B (Arbogast&Bastian), dominated the local meat packing industry for almost 100 years. At it's peak, they employed 700 people and could process 4,000 hogs a day. The huge plant was at the foot of Hamilton Street, at the Lehigh River. All that remains is their free standing office building, which has been incorporated into America on Wheels. Front and Hamilton was Allentown's meatpacking district. Within one block, two national Chicago meatpackers, Swift and Wilson, had distribution centers. Also in the area were several small independents, among them M. Feder and Allentown Meat Packing Company.

Allentown Meat Packing was owned by my father and uncle. The area was criss-crossed with tracks, owned by both LVRR and Jersey Central. All the plants had their own sidings. This is an era when commerce was measured in factories and production, not just relocated office workers.

Molovinsky On Allentown occasionally takes a break from the local political discourse to present local history.  My grandfather came to Allentown in 1891 and lived in the Ward on 2nd Street. By the time my father was born in 1917, they lived on the corner of Chew and Jordan Streets.

reprinted from previous years

Growing Old Waiting For Cedarbrook

Although the state mandates prisons, and no such mandate exists for nursing homes.  I believe that a sacred covenant exists between the county and its elderly, to maintain Cedarbrook. Northampton has a very old prison and a modern nursing home. Here in Lehigh County, we have a modern high rise prison, and a very old nursing home. Prisoners in Lehigh County have nicer amenities than the patients at its nursing home. What's wrong with that picture, what's wrong with those priorities?

County Commissioners have been studying renovating Cedarbrook since 2011.

Former County Executive Tom Muller had a  plan in 2014 to renovate a wing of Cedarbrook into private and semi-private rooms. His analysis had the project paying for itself within three years, by attracting rehabilitation residents. Instead of pursuing that viable turn around project, the Commissioners instead explored the sale option. Had the commissioners implemented Muller's plan, the proposed renovated wing would have already paid for itself.

Now, five years later, and the commissioners are still dropping the ball in regard to our elderly.  Some of the current commissioners even ran on a Cedarbrook platform.  While new federal regulations now require private bathrooms,  the commissioners just voted to go ahead with shared bathrooms, and apply for a federal waiver.  I've become skeptical about their intentions... Could voting yes on an unacceptable plan be just another way to continue ignoring Cedarbrook and our older residents?

photo by K. Mary Hess

The Fountain Of My Youth

Just west of the Robin Hood Bridge is a fountain which quenched the thirst of my summer days. Built during the WPA era, it overlooked the creek. Although the water was turned off years ago, so now is the view. The weeds and assorted invasives growing are not a riparian buffer. Science says that a buffer has to be 25feet wide to be of any value. A reader described this thin strip of wild growth as neglect, masquerading as conservation. All it does is block both the view and access to the waterway. It denies our current citizens the beauty and experience for which the parks were designed. Although the Wildland's Conservancy would like you to believe that the Allentown Parks are there to be wildlands, in reality they were designed by landscape architects, to provide the citizens of Allentown with what Harry Trexler called serenity. He did also appreciate conservation, but for that he created the Trexler Game Preserve, north of Allentown. There are places in the parks which can accommodate the riparian buffer zones, without compromising the intended public experience of waterway view and access. Riparians could be created and maintained in the western side of Lehigh Parkway, between the pedestrian bridge and Bogerts Bridge. In Cedar Park, the riparian section could be in western side, between the last walking bridge and Cedar Crest Blvd. It's time that the parks were given back to the citizens of Allentown. They are not funded, or intended by our tax dollars and the Trexler Trust,  just to be a venue for the Wildland's Conservancy to harvest grants.  Let a child again giggle by the creek's edge. Let us get back our intended park experience.

reprinted from August of 2013

ADDENDUM: I have lobbied the park department to leave the creek accessible in a couple small areas in Cedar Park.

A Modest Park Proposal

In around 2005, Allentown's park system suffered a major setback. The park and recreation departments were combined. In 2006, out of towner Pawlowski's out of towner managing director hired an out of towner with a background in recreation to be park director. Subsequently, they hired two more directors with an identical background.

Before this recreation obsession, Allentown respected the traditional park system, as designed by Harry Trexler.  Older residents could drive through Trexler Park, and park their car right by the duck pond.

Currently, in all of Cedar Park, there is only one bench by the creek.  The creek banks during the summer are overgrown by the riparian buffers, as dictated by the Wildlands Conservancy. I have lobbied the new park director* to add one more bench, certainly a modest proposal by any standard.

*The park director is a local, with an appreciation of Trexler's legacy

City Hall Promotes Reilly's Apartments

The time has come for the City of Allentown to officially define its relationship with J.B. Reilly's City Center Realty. The company is a  privately owned real estate portfolio.  Allentown's taxpayers are actually subsidizing Reilly, by making up state taxes being diverted to finance his buildings. It is entirely inappropriate for the current edition of Adventure Allentown magazine to feature and promote Reilly's apartments. On page 20-21, Reilly's 520 Lofts is described as upscale with a distinctly creative urban vibe accented with graceful nods to Victorian motifs. Did we pay the city's communication director to write that, or was that copy provided by Reilly's staff?

Understand that Allentown's other investors do not get featured in city publications, nor should they. Understand that Reilly has successfully appealed his tax assessments, and is paying less than the construction costs. Understand that promoting his apartments over that of other investors is totally improper.

Free Speech In Our Political Climate

I'm a sucker for historical markers. Whenever I see one, I stop and read it. The marker shown above is on a brownstone on E. 13th Street, in NYC.  I wasn't familiar with Emma Goldman.  For her free speech she was arrested several times, imprisoned, and eventually deported back to Russia, from where she emigrated as a young woman.

A Democrat candidate for Northampton District Attorney lost supporters and her campaign manager because in 2016 there was a Donald Trump sign on her side door.

The Trump Derangement Syndrome is so strong that anything less than totally hating him is considered consorting with the enemy.  When the result of a differing political opinion has such a consequence, is freedom of speech impeded? I believe that indeed it may be.

A facebook friend posted that Trump and his corrupt family have to be surgically removed from our Government. I no longer believe we can wait until 2020. Writing that about another president, in another time, might have been considered seditious.

We have entered a period where any present or even past consideration of Trump is the sole litmus test for a candidate.

Misguided Molovinsky On The NIZ

According to The Morning Call, $32.84 million $dollars of state taxes was diverted last year to pay the debt service on J.B. Reilly's growing empire of center city buildings. While this was over 90% of the $36.3 million diverted, Jaindl's got $2.1 million, and Butz got 3/4 of $1 million. The Morning Call headline referred to developers. NIZ articles always refer to developers. In reality, the NIZ should be called JBR, that would be much more accurate and truthful.

As someone who went to city hall meetings with the former merchants of Hamilton street, I can tell you that there was no truthfulness about the whole deal. Strawbuyers threatened former building owners with eminent domain, and Reilly bought up downtown. The Allentown Parking Authority even offered its lots for sale, so that development would even be cheaper for the developers.

I sat on the stage at WFMZ debating Mike Fleck about the ethics of the NIZ. The Morning Call's Bill White wrote that I was misguided. Reilly now owns the Morning Call building, and Mike Fleck is in prison.

Supermarket Comes To Allentown

The concrete monolith still stands five stories above Lehigh Street at the Parkway Shopping Center. Currently it sports a clock and a sign for St. Luke's medical offices. It was built in 1953 as the modernistic sign tower for Food Fair supermarket, which then was a stand alone store. Behind it, on South 12th Street was the Black and Decker Factory. The shopping center would not be built to decades later, connecting the former supermarket to the bowling alley built in the 60's. Food Fair was started in the 1920's by Russian immigrant Samuel Friedland in Harrisburg. By 1957 he had 275 stores. 1953 was a rough year for the butcher, baker and candle stick maker; the huge supermarkets were too much competition, even for the bigger independent markets, such as Lehigh Street Superette; it was further east on Lehigh, now the site of a Turkey Hill Market. The sign tower also remains at the 15th and Allen Shopping center, which was another stand alone Food Fair. That parcel remains an independent supermarket. Food Fair would eventually absorb Penn Fruit, which had a market on N. 7th Street, then turn into Pantry Pride. When the Food Fair was built, there was as yet no 15th Street Bridge. Allentown only connected to the south side by the 8th Street Bridge and the Lehigh/Union Street hill. (stone arch bridge, near Regency Tower, was route to West End) Allentown was booming and Mack Trucks were rolling off the line, a block east off Lehigh Street, as fast as they could build them. The factories on S. 12th st. are now flea markets. Mack Headquarters is being sold to a real estate developer. Perhaps those concrete monoliths are the monuments to better times, by those of us who remember.

reprinted from June 2009

Sign Of The Times

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.

1963 Pat's advertisement courtesy of Larry P
Hamilton Steet watercolor by Karoline Schaub-Peeler
photo of Sal's sign by molovinsky                                                 

reprinted from 2010