In a neighborhood that no longer exists, Allentown's first legal Black liquor establishment had a short tortured run.
McLaughlin's Cafe was on the corner of Wire and Lehigh, at the bottom of the hill. Wire was the street that ran along the Wire Mill, another long forgotten part of Allentown's industrial history. By the mid 1950's, things were getting rough in the old bar. Police became a regular referee as fights and prostitution frequented the establishment. Finally the state liquor board decided to pull their license.
The neighborhood had two complexions. There were the white descendants of the factory workers, and it also was the center of Allentown's small Black population.
Hamp Webb was a popular figure in the Black community. Just outside the straight and narrow, he was courted by the white officials for his influence with his community. Hamp operated unlicensed speakeasies with some success.
In the final days of McLaughlin's, they featured black entertainers from Philadelphia, and even referred to it as the Black & White Club. As McLaughlin's license was being revoked, he negotiated a sale to Hamp Webb.
The Morning Call reported that he fought to secure a license to provide a drinking establishment for his fellow Negroes, where they could congregate without being molested. After a court hearing, he was finally given the license in 1957, and Ham Webb Bar&Grill opened.
Hamp Webb was killed the following year in an automobile accident. While operation of the bar was taken over by his sons, they apparently didn't have local connections to deflect legal citations that came with operating a rough bar in a tough neighborhood. The property and license were liquidated at a tax sale in 1960.
reprinted from April of 2020
Forgotten history. Thank you for keeping this alive.
ReplyDeleteYour blogs deserve to be collected in a book format.
Yes, I second your keeping history alive!!! Lawrence Street WAS a thriving community until Mayor Dadonna decided it wasn't and knocked it all down for "redevelopment" and it's now surrounded by fences to keep the "undesirables" out... too late, they are INSIDE. The folks they displaced, ended up in center city, many collecting multiple "relocation payments" (read taxpayer dollars) but it didn't matter as long as they moved on so the redevelopment could take place. Considerable back slapping ensued for doing such a good job!!! I REMEMBER!!! Another crock financed by our tax dollars very similar to the NIZ we're currently paying for... DEARLY!!! One of the worst things Dadonna did IMHO.
ReplyDeleteI am having trouble figuring out exactly where this bar and neighborhood were located, since I didn't come to Allentown until the 1990s once it was presumably long gone. Was it basically where the parking lots for "Building 21" are now, at Lehigh Street & MLK Blvd? Or south of the Little Lehigh where the junk yard and various dilapidated repair shops are? I'm not sure where Wire Street was. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteIt was on the north side and close to the creek. Houses on one side of the street, the Wire Factory on the other, right along the creek.The streets were on a straight grid, both E&W, N&S, unlike the curving MLK. It was a dense neighborhood, both the streets and their row houses were narrow.
DeleteIf you drive west on MLK and cross Leigh st., you just drove through the Hamp's bar and grill
ReplyDelete