In 1910 Allentown’s 19th Street was a runway for first airplane to fly over the Lehigh Valley. In 1928 it was at the center of the decades suburban land boom crowned by the construction of the 19th Street Theater, a Jazz Age gem that was to put the region on the map. 
And it is still happening on 19th Street and all over the West End. On April 27th Damien C. Brown, current president of the West End Alliance, told Allentown Rotarians all about it.
And then there was the fateful night in 1958 when Lehigh County detectives arrived to confiscate from the theater the scandalous French film “And God Created Woman” that was to make its female star Bridget Bardot a household name. The detectives brought it back once the Lehigh County district attorney had removed the seven “good parts.”
And it is still happening on 19th Street and all over the West End. On April 27th Damien C. Brown, current president of the West End Alliance, told Allentown Rotarians all about it.The Alliance is a 501c3 organization dedicated to the development of Allentown’s West End Theater District a neighborhood that is located between 17th and 22nd Streets and Liberty and Washington Street. In the 1950s Allentown’s Civic Theater, founded in the 1920s as the Civic Little Theater made the 19th Street theater its permanent home.
Brown noted that the Alliance works closely with the local merchants and others to keep the district vibrant. He mentioned two major events, The World Of Food Festival held in September and the St. Patrick’s day Parade that goes through the district that brings attention to the district.
“It is a way of bringing the community together,” said Brown. There is also a 5K race that attracts both runners and spectators from across the region. The Alliance also publishes a newspaper West End Living, 7,000 copies four times a year. No there are no pictures of Bridget Bardot.
Currently the Alliance is working on a program to hang decorative lights on the various buildings in the district. The West End Alliance is now offering grants to neighborhood property owners who are interested in the linear white lighting used for the "Light our Block" effort. For more information, email Damien. It is yet another way of building excitement.
