Parks
The City of Allentown has one of the best park systems in the country.
Much of the city's park system can be attributed to the efforts of
industrialist Harry Clay Trexler. Inspired by the City Beautiful movement in the early 20th century, Trexler helped create West Park, a 6.59-acre (26,700 m2) park in what was then a community trash pit and sandlot baseball field in an upscale area of the city. The park, which opened in 1909, features a bandshell, designed by noted Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer, which has long been home to the Allentown Band and other community bands. Trexler also facilitated the development of Trexler Park, Cedar
Parkway, Allentown Municipal Golf Course and the Trout Nursery in Lehigh
Parkway. Trexler was also responsible for the development of the
Trexler Trust, which to this day continues to provide private funding
for the maintenance and development of Allentown's park system.
Mayfair Festival of the Arts
Mayfair Festival of the Arts, an arts and crafts festival established in 1986, is held each May at Cedar Beach Park in Allentown. The Great Allentown Fair
runs annually, in early September, on the grounds of the Allentown
Fairgrounds, where it has been held since 1889. The first Allentown Fair
was held in 1852, and between 1852 and 1899 it was held at the "Old
Allentown Fairgrounds," which was located north of Liberty Street
between 5th and 6th streets. The J. Birney Crum Stadium plays host to
the Collegiate Marching Band Festival, held annually since 1995, as well as other marching band festivals and competitions.
Local Attractions: Liberty Bell Museum
Local Attractions: America On Wheels
America On Wheels is an over-the-road transportation museum located in Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania in the United States.
The 43,000 square feet (4,000 m2) museum offers over 23,000 square feet (2,100 m2) of exhibit space divided into three main galleries and several smaller exhibits.[1] The museum houses rotating exhibits on the second floor. Also on the second floor is the HubCap Cafe,[2] and a vehicle art gallery featuring artists such as Bill Bravo.[3]
The museum's collection features over 75 bicycles, motorcycles, automobiles and trucks in exhibits telling the story of people and products on the move from the days of the carriage to the vehicles of tomorrow.[1]
The museum also houses the archives of Mack Trucks.
Allentown In Pop Culture
Allentown's reputation as a rugged blue collar city has led to many references to the city in popular culture:
- Allentown is mentioned in the 2011 movie The Hangover Part II when Ed Helms sings a cover of Billy Joel's song "Allentown".
- Allentown is mentioned in the song "Fed to Death" by indie rock band Say Anything. It is the opening song on their 2009 album Say Anything.
- Allentown is mentioned in the 2008 movie The Wrestler as a location where Mickey Rourke (playing Randy "The Ram" Robinson) had wrestled leading up to his comeback.
- Allentown is where the Free Armies and the U.S. military first meet in combat in the fictional comic series DMZ Comics, launched in 2005 by DC Comics.
- On August 10, 2003, CNN broadcast Achieving the Perfect 10, a critical documentary about the Parkettes National Gymnastics Training Center, located in Allentown.
- The TV 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 1990 dark comedy film, I Love You to Death, directed by Lawrence Kasdan, is based on an attempted murder that happened in 1984 in Allentown.
- Allentown's Dorney Park was a film location for John Waters' Hairspray, released in 1988.
- 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.
- 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."
- Allentown is mentioned twice in the 1970 Frank Sinatra song "The Train," which appears as the first song on his album Watertown.
- Allentown was the film location for much of James Neilson's film Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows, released in 1969.
- 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.[69]
- 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 is mentioned in the 1957 book, On the Road, by Jack Kerouac.
Local Attraction: Crayola FACTORY
To view a short video on The Crayola Experience™, click here.
Notable Natives
Allentown is the birthplace of, or home to, several notable Americans, including:
- Thom Browne, fashion designer
- Frank N. D. Buchman, founder of the Oxford Group and Moral Re-Armament religious movements
- Leon Carr, Broadway composer and television advertising songwriter
- Michaela Conlin, actress, Fox's Bones
- Gloria Ehret, professional golfer, winner of the 1966 LPGA Championship
- Peter Gruner, professional wrestler known as Billy Kidman
- Tim Heidecker, star of Adult Swim show Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
- Lee Iacocca, former chairman of Chrysler Corporation
- Keith Jarrett, jazz musician
- Michael Johns, health care executive and former White House speechwriter
- Brian Knobbs, former professional wrestler
- William Marchant, playwright and screenwriter
- Ed McCaffrey, former professional football player, Denver Broncos, New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers
- Lara Jill Miller, voice actress, Cartoon Network's The Life and Times of Juniper Lee
- Andre Reed, former professional football player, Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins
- Matthew Riddle, professional UFC mixed martial fighter
- Jerry Sags, former professional wrestler
- Amanda Seyfried, model and actress, The CW's Veronica Mars, HBO's Big Love and the films Mamma Mia! and Dear John
- Andrea Tantaros, political analyst and commentator
- Christine Taylor, actress and wife of actor Ben Stiller
- Donald Voorhees, Emmy-nominated orchestral conductor
- Lauren Weisberger, author, The Devil Wears Prada
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