State Of The Evening ...

“I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.”

                   ~ Oscar Wilde  

                                  ~1854-1900

 The State Theatre sparkles like a jewel in downtown Easton, Pennsylvania on a chilly November evening on Northampton Street.

State Theatre, originally known as Neumeyers Vaudeville House and now the State Theatre Center for the Arts, is an historic theatre. The building began to take its present form in 1910, when modified from a bank building to a vaudeville house. The building was extensively modified in 1926, to include a larger auditorium, balcony and lush decorations. At that time it was renamed “The State.” The building is asymmetrical with a cut stone Beaux-Arts style façade and large overhanging marquee.

Beaux-Arts Architecture is a very rich, lavish and heavily ornamented classical style taught at L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris in the 19th century. The term “Beaux Arts” is the approximate English equivalent of  “Fine Arts.”

State Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

 

Candy Kisses ...

“Candy kisses wrapped in paper mean more to you than any of mine

Candy kisses wrapped in paper you’d rather have them any old time

You don’t mean it when you whisper those sweet love words in my ear

Candy kisses wrapped in paper mean more to you than mine do dear…”

                       ~ “Candy Kisses”

         

        ~written & recorded by American

 country crooner George Morgan

                               ~ 1949

                 ~ recorded by Tony Bennett

                                ~ 1961

Where else in the world would street lamps be topped with candy kisses than “the sweetest place on Earth” – Hershey, Pennsylvania!

Chocolate Avenue, which runs past the original Hershey’s Chocolate Factory and is considered to be the main street of the town, is known for its street lamps that are shaped like Hershey Kisses. These unique lamps were first erected in 1963. Some of the kisses are shown as being wrapped, and some as unwrapped, alternating between these two designs. These lamps can also be found on Park Avenue.

Chocolate Avenue was one of the first two streets built in the town of Hershey by Milton Hershey (1857-1945) when he built up the town for his chocolate empire; the other was Cocoa Avenue. The name of the street was picked by Milton Hershey himself. He picked names for many streets in the town that related to chocolate.

I shot this on a recent autumn jaunt to Hershey from the passenger seat of a moving car, as there was no parking on the street. If you’re going to hang out of a car window taking pictures, what better place to do so than the sweetest place on Earth!