When people drive by the new Dollar General on Walbert Avenue, few will remember fondly the rather non-descript property that was there before. The previous clapboard house faced sideways, with the front yard extending toward what was later a vehicle storage yard for Supreme Auto Body. Behind the new store there are houses, which now have been there for many years.
In 1949, Morning Call readers found out about an armed robbery at a private poker game on Walbert Avenue. At the end of the long yard mentioned above, was a separate rumpus room, where my uncle and his associates played cards. The holdup men burst in with shotguns and made off with over $5,000, some serious money back then.
For a boy growing up in a development in South Allentown, my aunt and uncle's property out on Walbert Avenue was almost country. Along the top of the yard, where those houses are now, was a riding ring. Connected to my uncle's rumpus room, were the paddocks. My aunt was my father's oldest sibling, and her children were over 20 years my senior. By the time of my memories as a small boy, both my cousins and the horses were no longer there.
My uncle owned and operated Arlen Vending, which placed pinball machines and jukeboxes throughout the valley. He belonged to the Clover Club, a men's card playing club next to Hotel Traylor. I know that in this era, he would be a regular at the casino in Bethlehem.
Shown above in lower left of photo is Arlen Vending, a basement storeroom at 443 Hamilton Street. At any one time he would have 5,000 records for sale from the jukeboxes.
reprinted from June of 2020
ReplyDeletemy good buddy lived up toward cedar crest on 24th & walbert. he & I were raging punk rockers. this was in the early to mid 1980s. he lived with is single momhis name was Jon and he had a mohawk (and sometimes a double mohawk) of varying colors. this caused him fame as well as grief. (the later only made him tougher, natch). we started many punker bands together and rehearsed very loudly in his mom’s den over the years, but rarely got complaints from neighbors.
being both a BMXer and skater, he built a half pipe and nailed it to the front of his mom’s house, covering (and rendering unusable) the entire garage.
there was and maybe still is a little market down on walbert at maybe 22nd, on the north side of street.
we would skate or walk down there for cokes and snacks. (skateboarding or walking around the lehigh valley with punk clothes and a mohawk in the early 80s, with the exception of Catty - that town was well into punk) could be like running a gauntlet, and ducking comments from passing cars could easily end up in fights, but that neighborhood was ok. and i was surprised that the ladies who worked there didnt regard him with scorn or fear, but treated him like a kid they’s known since was a baby.
it was a safe spot in a valley that was mostly intolerant of teens with colorful punk hair and big combat boots with nails sticking out all over them like porcupines. and compared to today, that neighborhood market & that neighborhood in general, which had no sidewalks, a horse farm and way less traffic in 1984, was almost ‘the country’ to me, a kid from northside Bethlehem with spiked-out hair, spiked wrist bands and combats boots spray painted blue.