Culture of Allentown, Pennsylvania

The culture of Allentown dates back to its settlement in the 18th century. Religious groups, such as the Moravians, wanted to escape persecution in Europe and settle in the newly discovered land. Lenape Native Americans occupied the Lehigh Valley area. 19th and 20th century immigrants include Germans, Italians, Asians, and more recently, Hispanics, and African Americans. The city's culture is based on the diverse population that lives there.

Allentown, Pennsylvania, 2010

People
Main articles: Demographics of Allentown, Pennsylvania and List of people from the Lehigh Valley

Before the first European settlers arrived, the region that would become Philadelphia was inhabited by the Lenape, a Native American people. Mennonites, Amish, Moravians and Pietists moved to the state during the 17th century, because of Pennsylvania's freedom of religion. A century later, in the 19th century, many Catholics moved to the area from Germany and Ireland. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown is the head of all the Catholic churches in Allentown and the surrounding area.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, Hispanic and African American groups moved from the South into Northeast cities. In the last 10 years, many of these people have moved from New York City and Philadelphia to Allentown and Reading.

Art
The Allentown Art Museum in Allentown

Fine art

The Allentown Art Museum is the city's main fine art institution. Also located in Center City, the Baum School of Art offers classes in making art.

Allentown has some public art scattered around the city. A monument honoring war veterans is located in the middle of Hamilton and 7th Streets in Center City. The city has made an effort to combatgraffiti throughout the city. In an effort to eliminate graffiti, the city has painted murals in some of its city parks and high graffiti locations, given out rewards for turning in people who deface buildings with graffiti and arrested graffiti artists.

Music

The Allentown Symphony Orchestra performs at the Allentown Symphony Hall, located in Center City north of Hamilton Street on North 6th Street. The city also has some citizen bands, which perform at the West Park bandshell. These are: the Allentown Band, the oldest civilian concert band in the United States, the Marine Band of Allentown, the Municipal Band of Allentown and the Pioneer Band of Allentown.

Youth Education in the Arts makes Allentown its home. YEA sponsors The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps, a ten-time DCI world champion, as well as a senior drum and bugle corps, a competitive scholastic marching band circuit, and the Urban Arts Center] of the Lehigh Valley.

Rock and hip hop performances are popular at Allentown's Crocodile Rock. Past and future performers include: Hollywood Undead, Pitbull, Day26, Metro Station, and Fabolous. The city's underground scene – centered around the now-closed venue Jeff the Pigeon gained attention when hardcore punk group Pissed Jeans were signed to Sub Pop and stoner metal act Pearls and Brass signed with Drag City.

Allentown has a large radio market boasting many genres of music.

Allentown's reputation as a rugged blue collar city has led to many references to the city in popular culture:

  • Parts of the 2019 movie Glass were filmed in Allentown at the Allentown State Hospital and elsewhere.[1]
  • The outskirts of the city are the setting for the song "Half-Mile from Allentown" from the Pennsylvania-based group The Chairman Dances.[2]
  • The television production company Medstar Television, which produced the series Medical Detectives from 1996 to 2000, and the series Forensic Files from 2000 on, is headquartered in Allentown. Locations throughout the city have been used as settings for dramatic reenactments of crimes profiled by the shows.
  • The city is the subject of the popular Billy Joel song, "Allentown", originally released on The Nylon Curtain album in 1982. Joel's song uses Allentown as a metaphor for the resilience of working class Americans in distressed industrial cities during the recession of the early 1980s.
  • The X-Files season 3 episode "Nisei", which aired November 25, 1995, is the first of a two-part episode in which character Dana Scully joins a UFO abductee group in Allentown. In the season 4 episode "Memento mori", which aired February 9, 1997, characters Fox Mulder and Scully return to Allentown to follow up with one of the women from Nisei.
  • Allentown is referenced as the secret location of a bomb planted by The Joker in Frank Miller's comic book series, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, published in 1986.
  • Allentown is the hometown of up and coming showgirl Peggy Sawyer in the long-running, Tony Award-winning Broadway musical 42nd Street, released in 1980, and its associated Academy Award-nominated movie. When Sawyer expresses her desire to leave Broadway to return to Allentown, the show's director and entire cast successfully dissuade her by singing the famed musical number "The Lullaby of Broadway."
  • Hiding The Bell, a 1968 historical fiction novel by Ruth Nulton Moore, chronicles the events surrounding the hiding of the Liberty Bell in Allentown in 1777.[3]
  • Allentown was the subject of the 1963 Irving Gordon song "Allentown Jail", which was subsequently recorded by several other artists, including The Kingston Trio, The Lettermen, The Seekers and Jo Stafford.
  • In the 1960 musical Bye Bye Birdie, character Rosie Alvarez is from Allentown. In the song "Spanish Rose," she sings: "I'm just a Spanish Tamale according to Mae/ Right off the boat from the tropics, far, far away/ Which is kinda funny, since where I come from is Allentown, PA."
  • Allentown was mentioned in the song "200 Years Old" on the 1975 Frank Zappa album Bongo Fury.
  • Dorney Park, based outside of Allentown, is featured in the 1968 movie Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows.

Media
See also: List of newspapers in Pennsylvania, List of radio stations in Pennsylvania, and List of television stations in Pennsylvania
Headquartered in Center City Allentown, The Morning Call is among the 100 largest circulation newspapers in the United States.[4]

Allentown's media includes print, web, radio and television outlets. Allentown has two daily newspapers, The Morning Call and The Express-Times, and numerous weekly and monthly print publications. Allentown has the 68th largest radio market in the United States by Arbitron.[5] Stations licensed to Allentown include WAEB-AM (talk, news and sports), WAEB-FM (Top 40 music), WDIY (NPR and public radio), WHOL (tropical music), WLEV (adult contemporary music), WMUH (Muhlenberg College campus radio), WSAN (Fox Sports Radio and Philadelphia Phillies broadcasts), WZZO (hard rock music) and others. In addition, many New York City and Philadelphia stations can be received in Allentown.

Allentown is part of the Philadelphia television media market.[6] WFMZ-TV Channel 69, based in Allentown, has studios and a transmitting site atop South Mountain. WLVT-TV, also based in Allentown, is the local PBS affiliate. The major Philadelphia-based network stations serving Allentown include: KYW-TV (CBS), WCAU (NBC), WPVI-TV (ABC) and WTXF-TV (Fox). There are also other network and local television stations.[7][8][9]

Cuisine
Main article: Cuisine of Allentown, Pennsylvania

Allentown is influenced by cuisine from the Pennsylvania Dutch, Hispanic and Latinos, and Philadelphia. Allentown has a local variant of the Philly cheesesteak, and local pizza parlors. Pennsylvania Dutch foods like head cheese, liver pudding, sous, chow-chow, apple butter, and others are available at some diners across the region. Ethnic food types represented include Dominican, Puerto Rican, West Indian, Japanese, Italian, Lebanese and Syrian. Fast food and restaurant chains have established a presence in the Lehigh Valley due to the growing population. A regionally-famous hot dog chain, Yocco's Hot Dogs, maintains several restaurants in the city.

Annual events

The Great Allentown Fair and Mayfair are held in Allentown annually. Musikfest is held annually in neighboring Bethlehem, and Das Awkscht Fescht is held in nearby Macungie.[10]

The Lehigh Valley Spring Home Show and the Lehigh Valley Auto Show[11] are held at Stabler Arena in Center Valley. The AAA minor league affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, plays its home games from the beginning of April through the end of September each year at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown.

The Drum Corps International Eastern Classic has been held for over thirty years at J. Birney Crum Stadium, bringing together the top junior drum and bugle corps in the world over two nights of competition.

Recreation
The first drops of Dorney Park's Steel Force and Thunderhawk rollercoasters in Allentown
Lehigh Valley Mall in suburban Allentown

Amusement Parks & Zoos

Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom is the area's main amusement park, since Historic Bushkill Park closed in 2006. The Lehigh Valley Zoo and the Trexler Nature Preserve are the two zoos in the Lehigh Valley. The William F. Curtis Arboretum is the area's arboretum.

Museums

Allentown is home to these museums:

Shopping
Main article: List of shopping malls in the Lehigh Valley

The Allentown area is home to many shopping areas and a few indoor malls. Many national stores can be found here as well as regional chains.

Golf

The Lehigh Valley is home to several golf courses. Saucon Valley Country Club hosted the 2009 Women's U.S. Open. Allentown is home to a high quality city-run golf course, the Allentown Municipal Golf Course.

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See also

References
  1. "Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson spotted in Allentown while in town for filming of 'Glass', The Morning Call, November 1, 2017, retrieved February 22, 2019
  2. "The Chairman Dances' Bandcamp page". September 7, 2018.
  3. Hiding The Bell by Ruth Nulton Moore Westminster Press, 1968
  4. "2007 Top 100 Daily Newspapers in the U.S. by Circulation" (PDF). BurrellesLuce. March 31, 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 4, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
  5. "StationRatings.com – Allentown/Bethlehem, PA". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
  6. "TV Market Maps". Echostar Knowledge Base website. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
  7. "About WFMZ-TV". WFMZ-TV official website. Archived from the original on May 23, 2008. Retrieved June 8, 2008.
  8. "About Us". WBPH-TV official website. Archived from the original on June 17, 2008. Retrieved June 8, 2008.
  9. "Home Page". WLVT-TV official website. Archived from the original on June 15, 2008. Retrieved June 8, 2008.
  10. http://www.awkscht.com/
  11. http://glvautoshow.org/
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