Too hard to keep?

I'm interested in the old breweries of the

Lehigh Valley, particularly in Allentown, and I collect relics of beer companies such as Neuweiler's, Daeufer-Lieberman and Horlocher in Allentown; Seitz and Kuebler in Easton; Widman and Supreme in Bethlehem; Eagle of Catasauqua; and the Northampton Brewing Co., among others. I have I-don't-know-how-many beer trays, as well as bottles, coasters, labels, clocks, thermometers, signs, bottle openers, foam scrapers, ashtrays, matches ... you name it. It's a pile of old junk, yes, but it's junk with a theme.


Why I decided to collect this stuff, I don't know. But I think it has something to do with the old Neuweiler building on Front Street. Something about that elegant eyesore has always fascinated me. Since I first saw the building I wanted to know more about it. That got me interested in the old local breweries, which led to my interest in Prohibition-era Allentown. Then I saw a Neuweiler beer tray in a junk shop and I had to buy it. Then the animal steins. Then, Deaufer trays and ... well, it just snowballed.


Last I heard the city was wrangling with a New Jersey developer over control of the decrepit building, a la the Colonial or Sal's, but to what end I don't know. There always seems to be some nebulous scheme to redevelop the site floating just out of reach. All that's missing is the money. Frankly, I'm afraid, somewhere down the line, maybe before the brewery reaches 100 in five years, it's got a date with a wrecking ball. I don't think there's a grant big enough, a KOZ tough enough or a developer crazy enough to take it on.

While it's still here, here are some nice shots of the inside of the white mammoth from the Urban Exploration Web site, UER. There are plenty more at : http://www.uer.ca/locations/show.asp?locid=23939

Remember this?

If the soldiers ever figure out how to get across that canyon, those hippies will be in so much trouble!

An earworm for you

This diabolical song has been the soundtrack of my life for four days now. It haunts me still. Click here if you dare:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_S699qfY0A&feature=related

Picking at the carcass

Cannons may have served as my rec room for nearly 20 years but it's gone now and it's not coming back. Add it to last year's count of city homicides.

Neighbors in the historic district don't want the downstairs turned into an apartment and new owner Cityline recently withdrew those plans at least temporarily. Ideally, I'm assuming, opponents of that plan would like to see the building deconverted into a single family home.

Is that economically feasible? I don't know, but I doubt it. The cost of the refit is likely to be more than the building is worth. Lehigh County has appraised it at $62,000. Cityline, for the record, is listing it for sale at $125,000, minus the liquor license.

The more likely option may be as a corner store -- or bodega as the real estate listing notes -- retaining the apartment that already exists on the second floor.

I'm pretty sure the neighborhood doesn't want another bar there. I mean these are the same folks who complained about the noise -- right? -- ending the days when you could see the Buzz Band or Zen for Primates on a Thursday night.

A bar's not likely to happen. Cityline wants $200,000 for the license. Add that to the price of the building and you've got a lot of glasses of beer to sell in a neighborhood that appears to be on the brink.

Ultimately I guess I don't care what they do with the carcass; its soul flitted away when it shut down for good in June.









http://www.lehighcounty.org/Assessment/Puba.cfm?doc=ViewProperty.cfm&pin=549782947414&parnum=1




http://lvarmls.rapmls.com/scripts/mgrqispi.dll?APPNAME=Lehigh&PRGNAME=MLSPropertyDetail&ARGUMENTS=-N833661702,-N174328,-N,-A,-N17515266

St. Patrick is hot!

Well, I may have missed St. Patrick's Day, but Paris Hilton and Terrell Owens did not. They are shown here dancing the night away at an Allentown hot spot where they enjoyed green tacos and margaritas.









By the way, T.O., I don't think that's her real phone number.

Puff blog alert!

I was working on something today along the lines of how happy I am that minor league baseball is coming to the East Side, but I was getting so giddy that I was annoying myself and I had to stop. So maybe tomorrow. Until then I'm going to pack up my drum and drumsticks & go get a hot dog. ...

... which reminds me of a joke: One night I went to Cannons for a beer. After about half an hour I realized that I had left my accordion on the back seat of my car. I rushed outside, but I was too late. My driver's side back window was smashed. I looked in and now there were two accordions on the back seat.

Didn't say it was a good joke.

James

I didn’t understand about half of what you said or why you hung your suit in the barn. After I asked three times without understanding the answer I figured I’d let it drop. Didn’t want to be rude. And I didn’t get your explanation when I almost tripped over a big rock that appeared outside our back door one morning. Later, Mary said it was a “fairy stone” you put there to ward off whatever the little people might have in store for a couple of Yanks.

But I understood you just fine when you pestered the musicians in the Lighthouse Pub to “play an IRA song.” Or when you wouldn’t let me order a Bushmills because it was “Protestant whiskey.” No point in mentioning that Bushmills was owned by the same multinational that owns Guinness. This was a conflict that, though always much discussed as I was growing up, I was never a party to.

You wore that same barn suit at the Pierre when we all went to the huge wedding in New York a few years later. You looked a little out of sorts. You were a long way from your rocky little farm in Fanad. We asked the waiter to bring you a Guinness and I think they had to run down the street somewhere to find one. We always wondered what they charged for that can of beer.

The last time we saw you was in the rearview mirror, waving and walking after our tiny rented car down the lane on our way to Derry. (Wouldn’t call it Londonderry, especially around you.) We’d spent the day -- a “soft” November morning to you, cold and wet to us -- on your farm drinking tea and later a Guinness. You showed us old family photos and your buildings and your animals and your assorted rusted farm stuff. I don’t think anything I saw there had a motor. It always amazed me that you worked those hilly acres by hand.

We ran to close your gate as an army of sheep advanced down the lane. Ringo, the dog, couldn’t contain himself. As we got into the car you mumbled something about how we had to leave so that we could come back again.

It never occurred to us that that would be the last time we’d see you.

You were a devoted son, caring for your mother until her death. To us, you were friend, a guide, a willing caretaker for our family’s property and a first cousin once removed. We were, as you put it, your people and you were ours.

Rest in peace, James Friel.

Simpler times ...

... How I miss them

Wedding announcements

For more, http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=840_1202328007&c=1

I want a monkey stein!

For some reason I stopped collecting Neuweiler steins a few years ago. Oh, now I remember why -- money. I couldn't afford to. But I was looking at some ghostly photographs from inside the old Neuweiler Brewery recently on an urban explorer web site and the next thing you know I'm Googling for steins. Not much luck. This is the monkey stein. I'd passed on it a couple of times way back when and wish now that I hadn't. I still can't afford it, but I want a monkey stein!

Bert O'Bama

NBC News reprimanded a graphics employee responsible this week for flashing a picture of Osama bin Laden while MSNBC's Chris Matthews was reporting on Barack Obama.

"This mistake was inexcusable," MSNBC said.

"We didn't mind the picture of Bert," MSNBC said, adding that its apology to the Obama campaign did not extend to the Muppet. "We love Bert and we stand behind Bert."

The Obama campaign noted the network's apology and said, "We're cool with Bert as well."

What's all this fuss about Riverdance?

Guest blog by Miss Emily Litella

What's all this fuss I keep hearing about Riverdance in Easton?

All this complaining about those nice Irish dancers? I just don't understand it. And why are they trying to put them in a flood plain? All of those beautiful costumes will get ruined! And how are we supposed to hear that nice Irish music with all those noisy LANTA buses coming in and out and in and out? I just don't understand it! And another thing, they paid all that money and now they want a smaller Riverdance? That's just not fair! I'm so angry I just don't know what else to say. Thank you.

High heat

Roger Clemens' former trainer Brain McNamee told congressional investigators last week that he injected the pitcher's wife, Debbie Clemens, with human growth hormone in 2002.

Mrs. Clemens, a left-hander, had her best season that year with 14 wins, including a two-hit shutout over the Marlins.

Before her breakout year, baseball experts said, she threw like a girl.

Yes, sleep well my little one ...

... so that I may suck out your tiny brain