One by one, in Scranton, Easton, and Wilkes-Barre, hotels of the Americus vintage, closed and were boarded up. The Americus, a white elephant, although a dollar short and a day late, stayed open. Enter new Mayor Ed Pawlowski, self-designated real estate expert. He decided because the hotel owner was controversial, and had been demonized in regard to other properties, he could execute a forced sale. In 2007 Pawlowski erected a scaffold around the building, declared it unsafe, and ordered the existing merchants to vacate.
photocredit:molovinsky
reprinted from April of 2008
ADDENDUM JULY 31, 2023:In 2009 Albert Abdouche secured the building by tax sale. He has preservered and the landmark is up and running, both as apartments and a hotel. While new merchants now occupy the old 6th St. storefronts, there are those of us who remember a jewelry store from Allentown's past.
" He decided because the hotel owner was controversial, and had been demonized in regard to other properties, he could execute a forced sale."
ReplyDeleteIf Ed had acted sooner perhaps the Colonial Theater would not have been reduced to a field of gravel ...
anon@9:02: If Ed, and Roy before him, hadn't "acted out" against Mendelson, the theater could have been saved. They and their echo chamber, The Morning Call, vilified Mendelson and his properties. When they went to tear down the Colonial the demolition crew could barely budge it...with a new roof it would have been good for another 100 years.
ReplyDeleteOH YES... THE COLONIAL WAS ABOUT TO FALL DOWN!!! B/S!!! Just like the Americus was... And, yes, both are built better than brick shite houses... but they're unsafe... several people in this town need a few size 12's up their you know where!!!! They always get their way in this babyland town!!!
DeleteAren’t politicians great????
ReplyDeleteMichael, Thank You for bringing some much needed reflective Memories, and Sanity, to these crazy upside down times we are living in today. This Beautiful Old City still has many good years left in her.....If we can "clean-out" City Hall, and Council, and put in some really responsible people, who still believe in Allentown.....PJF
ReplyDeleteIn other PA cities a grand old movie house downtown has become the centerpiece of restoration and a cultural center, i.e. Easton, Lancaster, York. But not Allentown. I was unaware of the beautiful auditorium of the Colonial until the wall on the Court Street side of the building was demolished and the beautiful original columns and trim that was covered up by the pressed metal grids of the 60s renovation was exposed to view. What a waste of resources and a loss of history.
ReplyDelete