Anybody who buys The Morning Call on Monday knows what slim pickings is. The paper is produced on Friday, with a one man weekend crew, to cover the police blotter. There's hardly enough paper to cover the bottom of a bird cage. That leaves the
news junkies forced to read garbage like this. Even the blogosphere is slim pickings. Bernie O'Hare, arguably the dean of local blogging, says that I'm lazy and preoccupied with choo choo trains. I actually haven't done a choo choo post in over six minutes, that's how long it took me to read the paper this morning. Truth to be told, I am fascinated with how much Allentown has changed within the last 50 years, and the railroads are a good metaphor. In my youth, the city was serviced by rail branch lines with dozens of sidings, supplying many industries with raw materials, to produce products distributed all over the country. Those industries fostered a large middle class, and a high standard of living. We were the truck capital of the world, we were home to the first transistors, and a retail legend. The tower shown above in 1963, and the gas tank in the background, were on Union Street. Although they are both now gone, this lazy blogger will continue to combine history, news and commentary for those of us who still remember a different era.
reprinted from November of 2013
Reprinted from 2013? At least the Call puts it’s Monday paper together only 3 days prior. Slim pickings indeed.
ReplyDeleteI guess I’ll have to buy my own police scanner.
:)
anon@5:25: your snipe does provide a lead-in to an addendum. Although the paper no longer has a newsroom, Both O'Hare and I have been producing a weekday blog for over fifteen years. I never promoted myself as a "news" site, rather history and local politics, with commentary on that interplay.
ReplyDeleteAbout the trains; My Uncle Ken Fegley was a conductor/break men along with my Father in law Roy Christ for Conrail in Allentown.My Brother in Law Roy Christ worked for Bethlehem Steel,My Father work For Lehigh Valley Dairy.yes there were alot of companies in the Valley back in the day.That had a very big population that kept the center city stores there Now it's snotty people who are uppity or entitled people who are there and don't care about the past they only care about themselves and what they can get for next to nothing.Oh and Mike I like Choo Choo trains too.
ReplyDeleteI Love "Choo Choo" Trains too !!....Grew up riding on "Steamers"
ReplyDeletein the '40's & '50's in the Northeast. Then from San Antonio Texas to Cheyenne Wyo,. attending Military Communication Schools HA! The Good Ole Days"......PJF
What a perfect representation of Americana Allentown and the Lehigh Valley were during the first 40 years after World War II. I wish I had lived here then instead of a town in New Jersey.
ReplyDelete