Wrapped In A Hot Bun ...

 

“…I fell in love with you and then you went away

But now you’re coming home to stay

Hot dog, soon everything will be all right

Hot dog, we’re gonna have a ball tonight

I’ve got a pocketful of dimes

It’s gonna be just like old times, hot dog …”

        ~ “Hot Dog”

    ~written by Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller

   ~ recorded by the great Elvis Presley

   ~on the 1957 album “Loving You”

Hot Dog! A hot bun, warm autumn sun and the American Flag wrap around a hot dog treating himself to ketchup and mustard atop Yocco’s West at 2128 Hamilton St., Allentown, Pennsylvania on an early November afternoon.

Yocco’s ~ the self-described “Hot Dog King” ~ has been a Lehigh Valley tradition since Italian immigrant Theodore Iacocca founded the original downtown Allentown location in 1922. Area residents, predominantly of Pennsylvania Dutch (Pennsylvania German) descent, had difficulty pronouncing I-a-co-ca and instead pronounced it Ya-co-ca, and the name Yocco’s subsequently stuck. Yocco’s has six locations across the Lehigh Valley.

The Iacocca’s are relatives of the late Lee Iacocca, the American automobile executive and Allentown native who passed in 2019 at age 94. Lee Iacocca graduated with honors from Allentown High School (now William Allen High School, my alma mater), in 1942. He attended Lehigh University in neighboring Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he graduated with a degree in industrial engineering.

For more information on Yocco’s visit http://www.yoccos.com/.

 

A Corner Of History ...

 “I love the nostalgic myself. I hope we never lose some of the things of the past.”

    ~ Walt Disney

     ~ 1901 ~ 1966

 

The historic Hotel Belvidere, built in 1831, in the scenic town of Belvidere, New Jersey on a beautiful mid-October afternoon. I presented the image in sepia to enhance the nostalgic mood.

 

This frame establishment on the corner of Front and Hardwick Streets was originally built as a store and dwelling in 1831 by Chapman Warner, uncle of S. T. Scranton. It was known as “Belvidere House” and the corner room, which became a bar room, was the store portion. Mr. Warner also kept a lumberyard in connection with its store, now “Hotel Belvidere,” which has been recently refurbished with hardwood floors, tumbled marble bathrooms with traditional furnishings and modern amenities. It is family-owned & operated.

 

A Delaware River Town, Belvidere, one of my very favorite places, was established April 7, 1845 and is a charming Victorian town located on the banks of the Pequest and Delaware Rivers. The town’s name means “beautiful to see” in Italian.

 

George Washington traveled through Belvidere at 10 a.m. July 26, 1782 on his way to camp at Morristown.

 

For more information on Hotel Belvidere visit https://hotelbelviderenj.com/.

Phillipsburg's Soldiers & Sailors ...

“Freedom is the last best hope of earth.”

    ~ Abraham Lincoln

       ~ 1809 ~ 1865

~ 16^th President of the United States of America

           ~ 1861 ~ 1865

 

Its patriotic Americana at its finest as Old Glory billows in the summer breeze as valor is celebrated at the Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Monument on a beautiful early July afternoon at Shappell Park, in the historic downtown of Phillipsburg, New Jersey.

 

The monument was erected in memory of the soldiers & sailors of Phillipsburg and vicinity who served in the Civil War 1861-1865.

 

Phillipsburg, a Delaware River Town, was established March 8, 1861 and named for William Phillips, an early settler of the area.

 

According to the Phillipsburg Historical Society, The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument was dedicated May 10, 1906 and stands at the apex or “point” of what was originally known as the “Town Lot” next to the Lovell School Building; known today as Shappell Park. The monument stands approximately 48 feet high and was built of “Barre Granite” quarried from Vermont at a cost of $5,500.00.

 

For more information on the monument visit http://www.phillipsburgnj.org/boards-commissions/historical-society/.