Back in the day, when the town had three department stores, the major decisions affecting Allentown's future were made at the Livingston Club. Harvey Farr would meet Donald Miller and John Leh at the Club for lunch, and discuss acquiring more lots for Park & Shop. The bank officers of First National and Merchants Bank would discuss loans with the highly successful merchants, many of whom had stores in all three major Lehigh Valley cities. As the heydays wound down, likewise the exit plans were made there. The City of Allentown acquired the Park & Shop lots, becoming the Allentown Parking Authority. Leh's became the Lehigh County Government Center.
The new oligarchy consists of much fewer men, they could all meet at a small table in Shula's, and be entertained by watching street people arrested. The former 1st National Bank location is now a new Reilly building. The former Livingston Club building is now a parking lot, and future site to another Reilly building. Shula's is also a Reilly building....
reprinted from August of 2015
UPDATE February of 2019: Dear readers, I found the demise of older Allentown depressing, and new Allentown painfully boring.... Shula's, referred to above, didn't last... of course referring to an alley as an Art Walk, didn't make it so. In spite of the Morning Call (now also a Reilly building) compromising its journalistic integrity to outright promote the NIZ district, it remains a sterile collection of new tasteless buildings.
UPDATE MAY 25, 2023 5:36PM: The Morning Call has become considerably less subservient to the NIZ, and filed Right To Know requests during the past year concerning tax revenue information.
The plight of Allentown, is the reality of all major cities in the U.S.. Much of it began with the advent of social engendering of the country by the federal government.
ReplyDeleteIt is still going on and creating a divided population of suburban and rural vs urban populations. The cities are doomed to decay, does anyone believe this can be tuned around? Of course, many actually believe this is progress and how it should be..
Have you been anywhere? America’s largest cities are booming like never before. Many smaller ones too.
DeleteYou mean booming crime and dysfunctionality. Yes the big cities also have the worst schools, and highest rates of poverty. Whatever progress was made in the cities in the nineties and early on into the new millennium has been undone and people are now fleeing these same cities in record numbers.
DeleteMaybe just a few more bland apartment buildings will help?
ReplyDeleteMM - I think you’ve inadvertently come up with a nickname for someone in Allentown:
ReplyDeleteJ.B. Reilly, the “Baron of Bland”
I was lucky to serve the businesses of Center City during the 1970's till 1981 as the last Wholesaler for Freeman's Dairy.
ReplyDeleteBy the way who lives in these "bland" apartment buildings that are going up ?? They look empty to me.
The Livingston Club kitchen, was one of my accounts, as was the refer. under the bar in the Lounge on the first floor......PJF
Center City started to deteriorate around 1978, with more drugs and crime occuring
There are very few profiteers of this ponzie scheme. My thoughts are how much derivatives are being sent to the original writer as well as those rewriting this zone law.
ReplyDelete