When I discovered last week that the signature club for its marque, The 190 SL Group planned their international meeting just two hours away in Bethlehem, PA at Steelstacks, the amazing venue created from the bones of the late, great Bethlehem Steel Plant, I determined to attend for a CC Outtake.
Dad owned a silver 1959 Mercedes 190SL for about 20 years. We had a lot of fun with it, especially on our 80 mile round trip commute, which included cruising over NY Route 6 accompanied by the great live radio of legendary comedy team, Bob & Ray on WOR during the evening drive. The car and the humor that beamed out of the Blaupunkt served to bond father and son. I”m older now than he was then, and I cherish that time in the Mercedes with him.
I was born in Bethlehem, as were my brothers and both parents. The Steel, as it was known locally, was the 600 million pound gorilla in everyone’s room. You either worked there or were related to someone who did. Dad’s father, Clarence Koch, too independent and skeptical to be drawn into a newly formed union, crossed the picket lines during the bloody strike of 1941, and Dad tried out steel working for a short time, too, making extruded files in the rolling mills before being drafted into the Seabees in ‘43. (Photo: Bethlehem Steel, 1935, Walker Evans, Library of Congress)
The Steel is part of family lore. Its sheer length, at one time over seven miles, is greatly reduced, but, like an industrial age Acropolis, there is magnificence in its decrepitude. We moved out in 1956 and were spared the vision of the industry’s death, but we later watched with amazement as Bethlehem reinvented itself as the cultural nucleus of the Lehigh Valley.
The old plant, rusting and drooping, was transmuted from eyesore into art center by installing smooth new access roads, renovating key buildings and giving it a hip name.
Oh, and also by building the Sands Casino next door, on the site of the old rolling mills. Steelstacks uses as it’s symbol the four huge blast furnaces which were once the heart of the mill. They jut into the sky like a quartet of de-spiked iron ladies, bodies welded, rolled and extruded of the stuff once made there.
On its own, the venue is wonderfully photogenic.
Put a car in front of it, and you’ve got cover art.
I have seen Pittsburgh’s transformation over the years, since I have relatives there, but was not aware of Bethlehem’s. Steelstacks looks like quite an impressive venue, and it is a highly appropriate place for a car show, especially for Detroit iron.
The tie-in between classic cars and the steel industry, along with those beautiful, uniquely American Rust Belt images and your personal history with this area make this one of my favorite CC posts. I’ve never been to Bethlehem, but made my first trip to Pittsburgh about a year and a half ago and was impressed and inspired by what I saw there. Places can be reinvented without removing their legacy.
And then there’s Johnstown, which was never really able to get its act together, even with Jack Murtha shoveling all that pork into the town. Unfortunately, our Bethlehem Steel site is being used by a couple of mini-steel firms doing specialty work and not doing all that well with Murtha gone.
Oh well, next weekend is Thunder in the Valley, which is the one time of the year the town comes alive. Harley’s mandatory, and you can keep that Jap crap in the garage where it belongs.
“I’m older now than he was then….”
Bless you, Barry Koch, you got me a little choked up even before clicking on the rest of the story; that thought seems to go through my mind almost daily nowadays.
That said, your essay was a pleasure to read–and I had no idea about the Bethlehem “repurposing.”
Fascinating stuff, and great photo/artwork.
7 miles long? That counts as a big industrial site by any standard. Is it all now abandoned and being used for other things?
Over here, the nearest equivalent would be Sheffield, in Yorkshire. Much reduced from its heyday, but still producing some high value, high quality speciality steels and alloys
Whether it is abandoned is a matter of how you look at it. Since the empty buildings are considered “preserved” as left in 1995 when the last of it was closed down, one way to look at it would be to consider it all to be a huge exhibit. I don’t know much about access, but I would love to get inside some of the enormous structures. Patrons of the Sands Casino, which occupies a nice chunk of the old real estate East of the Minsi Trail Bridge (site of confrontations during the 1941 strike) have a great view of the old blast furnaces. Next time I get down there, I hope to photograph more of the remains, which are extensive.
Sweet looking cars. I’ve always liked the 300SL and the 190SL.
Excellent
Well done, very enjoyable. Thanks, Barry.
I love old abandoned industrial site like that; ghosts of a very different era. very nice to see it kept just for that purpose. Maybe they could find a way to have some totally benign smoke come out of the chimney? 🙂
I love exploring modern ruins, Paul. There are quite a few excellent sites out there regarding either wholesale community ruins (usually rust belt cities), abandoned shopping malls, ‘ghost’ locations like amusement parks, asylums, etc.
I think my interest/fascination was piqued as a kid when we frequently passed by this small garage built into a hillside in my little cowtown up north. One day I rode my bike all the way up there and poked around, discovering two old late-40’s Cadillacs passing the time. I spent at least 2 hours exploring the cars and garage.
Here are just a few of the many sites. Some of the architecture and workmanship are exquisite…
https://www.flickr.com/photos/detroitderek/sets/72157601861458499/
http://www.abandoned-places.com/
http://weburbanist.com/category/architecture/abandonments/
Meanwhile, having traversed through that part of Pennsylvania to and from college in the late 70’s when the decline was in full swing, it’s great to see Bethlehem, Allentown and a host of other towns able to reformulate somewhat and become stable if not vibrant communities. It’s a beautiful part of the country.
Having the 190SLs gives a sense of the scale of the steel plant, even in closeup view of the cars. Between this story, the 55 Chevy, and the Rambler wagon story, it’s clear your parents got good cars and knew what to do with them.
We do have lots of fodder for “Cars of Our Lives”, Rich. I’ll be posting more stories as Paul allows.
Thanks for all the kind words, everyone.
I am within a mile of a great abandoned building as I write this. It’s the former “German Masonic Home” on Western Highway in Tappan, NY:
http://www.scoutingny.com/inside-an-abandoned-masonic-hall-in-tappan-ny/
The Emperor has new clothes in the City of Steel.
I’m sorry, that car isn’t that pretty, neither is the.. Ahh.
I have been to the Bethlehem Steel facility or what remains of it. Very haunting.
Reminds you when America was a super power, but not so now. The steel is coming from Brazil and Asia.
There has always been a strong car culture in eastern Pa – I grew up next door in Allentown and lots of friends Dads worked at the Steel – getting to tour it in operation as a school kid in the 50’s and 60’s was truly an amazing day – watching red hot liquid steel being poured out of massive equipment and glowing rolls of steel being formed was an impressive experience.
I still see original and restored autos from the past driving in everyday traffic in the area when I visit and as a teenager lots of us drove old cars to high school – a 1936 Packard in my case – and although we all admired the new Mustang, GTO and Corvette models most of us drove cars from the 30’s 40’s and 50’s and wrenched on them every weekend in someones driveway.
Looks like a great car show for the 190’s and there are some great shows almost every week somewhere in the area – the Macungie Awkscht features the Chrysler 300 this year and should be awesome.
http://www.awkscht.com/featuredcar.html
When I bought my first everyday car, I made a special trip to PA from Orange County, NY to dig one up, because I knew the reputation that Northeastern Pennsylvanians have for taking care of their stuff. Even people in tiny duplexes and row houses had well manicured lawns. The working class had a feel for their place in life, and did the best they could to respect their neighbors’ and their own possessions.
I came back with a nice ’67 Chrysler 300 Non Letter sport coupe and it served me well for a couple of years.
Dad found an amazing car in that area, too. It was promised him by its owner for 20 years, and kept in a his detached garage with no burglar alarm. It was a 1931 Packard Model 840 Super Eight Convertible Victoria with a body designed by Raymond Dietrich (one of just 4 made), and it was in primer… brushed on primer.
But, that’s a story for another time.
What a fascinating relic of a time gone by; beautiful as a ruin but tragic that the industry once at the center of a city and a region has disappeared. Nicely written.