In 1953 you could escape the crowds on Hamilton Street by walking down beyond the third department store, Zollinger Harned, to the 500 Block. The malls in Whitehall were still two decades away, and Hamilton Street was where the Lehigh Valley shopped. Although the photograph above shows a trolley and a bus, the last trolly would run in June of that year. South side Allentown was bustling with Mack Truck and General Electric. The first supermarket, FoodFair, opened that year on Lehigh Street, now the Parkway Shopping center. In addition to the three department stores, downtown Allentown boasted three five and dimes and five movie theaters. Ike was our President, and Brighton Diefenderfer was our mayor. In the scene above,
Man In The Dark is playing at the Colonial Theater. In that 3D movie, a criminal
gets a second chance if he submits to an operation to excise the criminal portion of his brain. In 2012, could we give our elected officials that option?
reprinted from May of 2012
When American cities were a nice place to live, visit and shop in.
ReplyDelete1953 Hamilton Street was pretty great but they didn't have a Da Vinci Center! Speaking of which, has anyone seen the new facade yet? The architect should have their license revoked. It looks like a new Home Depot with the orange paint trim. If they added some pink accents, it would look like a huge Dunkin Donuts. Its easily the ugliest new building in the NIZ, worse than the Pat & Heather Browne Building at 6th & Linden at the old Morning Call site.
ReplyDeleteHA ! Most of the new NIZ buildings look like crap compared to what has been designed for similar sized cities around the country.
DeleteI remember supermarkets prior to 1953. Giant on N 7th near Tilghman and the A&P Atlantic and Pacific also on 7 th near Green Street. Shopped with my Mom and Dad.
ReplyDeleteGreat photo. I have one taken on the last day of trolley service, featuring a trolley, bus, and auto. A real transition time.
ReplyDeleteAlways a pleasure to read your articles
ReplyDelete