People often speculate as to why Bethlehem now is a destination, while, too often, Allentown is considered a place to avoid. The long answer will not fit within this short post, but here may be a few reasons. Bethlehem had two downtowns, on both sides of the river. While downtown Allentown certainly was the premier shopping area for the Lehigh Valley prior to the malls, it may have become a victim to over-planning. In the late 60's, early 70's, Allentown attempted to compete with the suburban malls by building a canopy on Hamilton Street. The viability of Hamilton Street was extended for a few years, but the magnetism of Hess's could well have been the reason. Bethlehem also built a pedestrian mall on Broad Street, but the historical quaintness of Main Street remained. Although the commerce in its southside business district languished, the architecture remained. By the time Allentown removed the canopies in the late 90's, the architecture of its buildings had long been bisected and altered. As historical became chic, Bethlehem profited from having done less in the past.
Its southside business district is a time capsule, architecturally unchanged since the turn of the last century. It now is becoming a mix of boutiques and bistros in a fashionable historic setting. Last, but not least, Bethlehem benefited from consistency of developmental leadership. While Allentown has had a succession of Economic Directors, Tony Hanna, with benefit of his institutional memory, has led Bethlehem for many years.
Shown at the top is pop up photo matches from the 1930's, promoting Julian Goldman's Fine Clothes For The Family on the South Side, East Third Street. Also shown is Tony Hanna, along side of the former Goodman Furniture Store.
above reprinted from April of 2010
ADDENDUM JANUARY 26, 2021: Allentown lost most its historical mercantile district with the arena and new NIZ office towers. They are without architectural merit.
What makes a vibrant and prosperous downtown is the fact that people with disposable incomes choose to actually live there or the surrounding neighborhoods.
ReplyDeletePolicies that push glitz over safe clean and a welcoming environment and also as a potential return on investment will always fail.
It seems the leaders of Allentown, with 50 years of failure, have not figured that out is amazing.
While Allentown has a history of urban renewal failures, the current one is unprecedented in real estate...Private property publicly financed. One man keeps building, regardless of occupancy, because his debt service is being paid by our diverted state taxes.
ReplyDeleteMike, public property privately owned and operated by design of rearranging the Z in Harrisburg.
ReplyDeleteWe almost never seek dining, entertainment,or drinks downtown, it is just depressing and anonymous. The only good place the Bay Leaf closed so that's that for us. We do frequent all of the above in Bethlehem routinely.
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