SOS In The News

Browsing in Bethlehem: Tidy Brick on a Foundation of Steel

By MICHELINE MAYNARD

Published in the NY Times: September 17, 2004

N Bethlehem, Pa., the abandoned steel works stand like an Alexander Calder nightmare - skeletal, spooky and weirdly mesmerizing. Dark, angular buildings, where 30,000 people once worked at coke ovens, blast furnaces and sheet mills, loom vacant for block after block, more than three miles in all. Above the locked gates, a clock is permanently stopped at 11:30, halted with the plant, which produced its last steel in 2001.

On the other side of the city, across the swift-flowing Lehigh River, shoppers and café goers mingle in a historic district of tidy brick buildings, and drivers hunt for parking spots on picturesque hilly streets. Moravian College, founded in the 1740's, has a green and serene downtown campus. Nearby, young families have restored regal century-old houses built by executives of Bethlehem Steel.

And on a hill far above the old plant, the main campus of Lehigh University, looking down from Gothic stone towers, offers up a steady stream of lively students to keep the old town young.

"A lot of people hear Bethlehem and think, ooh, ick, it's a depressed area," said Dana DeVito, the general manager of the Moravian Book Shop on Main Street. The store she runs is a prime example of what changes their minds. In business since the 1740's, it has gone beyond its venerable roots to include not just the traditional well-stocked bookstore, but a collection of entertaining boutiques good for hours of browsing. Ms. DeVito, who moved here a decade ago from New Jersey, said that she herself was surprised at first by the town's contrasts.

But they make an intriguing combination for a day-tripping sightseer. Bethlehem, conscious of its yin-and-yang appeal, is trying to complement its pretty historic district by developing a National Museum of Industrial History at the old steel plant. The Smithsonian Institution is committed to an affiliation, but the city has to raise the money.

In the meantime, a drive along Third Street, from Stelko Boulevard to Broadway (Route 378), conveys the hulking plant's sheer brooding immensity, communicating what the loss of the old manufacturing behemoths meant to the economic life of Rust Belt towns. Anyone who ventures down a service drive around back of the fenced-off buildings in search of an open gate, however, will quickly be confronted by a security guard racing up in a white sport utility vehicle.

THE most comprehensive view is from the Minsi Trail Bridge over the Lehigh, which runs right through the complex and allows a look deep down inside the plant, at acres of desolation.

The lighthearted district at the other end of the bridge is the perfect counterpoint. The Moravian Book Shop's boutiques sprawl for nearly a full block, offering wares from the latest kitchen gadgets to hip greeting cards to Crabtree & Evelyn toiletries. Stacked in the bookstore itself - where authors frequently stop by - are wooden blocks with sketches of city buildings. The one that sells fastest, Ms. DeVito said, depicts Bethlehem Steel.

Just up Main Street, Johnny's Bagels and Deli has handmade bagels and a big variety of sandwiches. Also on Main, Granny McCarthy's Tea Room features a meaty Celtic breakfast on Saturdays, along with a lunch menu and a full selection of teas, but is best known for its white-chocolate-laced scones.

On street signs and the facades of old buildings are variations on the Moravian star, a round center with 26 spikes - remembrances of the German Protestants who founded the town. More stars, with twinkling lights, come out at Christmastime, when Bethlehem capitalizes on its name with a festival of seasonal activities, concerts, church services and holiday foods.

The town's early history is retold at the Moravian Museum on West Church Street, a collection of old buildings including the Gemeinhaus, a large structure that was built in 1741 and is a National Historic Landmark, as well as a cemetery and an herb garden.

Back on the north side of the river, climbing up a long slope above the old mill, modest houses built for steelworkers hug tight to each other, differing mostly at the the rooflines, where some have cupolas and gingerbread. Still farther up is the park-like 1,600-acre Lehigh campus, with vistas from sidewalks and terraces. Lee Iacocca, the automotive executive who was born in nearby Allentown, went to Lehigh and in 1988 returned to give the university the Iacocca Institute, dedicated to global competitiveness in manufacturing.

Down below on Third Street, west of the steel complex, a fledgling arts district is anchored by Monsoon, a gallery on East Third Street with an eclectic mix of colorful modern art and sculpture from local, national and international artists.

Rounding out the day with dinner in Bethlehem means choosing not just a place, but an era. One downtown choice, the Sun Inn, was built in 1758 as a way station for visitors and still serves traditional American food. Another, the Apollo Grill, represents the modern side with a streamlined interior and a full menu including more than two dozen appetizers. Many diners make two or three of them a whole meal.  

Mill Town on the Lehigh

FROM Manhattan, take the Lincoln Tunnel or the George Washington Bridge to the Garden State Parkway south. Head west on Interstate 78 to Route 22 west, then south on Route 378 to Exit 3 (Center City) in Bethlehem. At the stop sign at the top of the exit, make a left onto Third Avenue. At the next stoplight, turn left onto Broad Street to enter downtown Bethlehem, north of the Lehigh River.