Central Pennsylvania Nesties
phreerose
member
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What can you tell me about Allentown PA???
My best friend's husband just got offered a job there and it looks like he's going to accept it. Only catch is neither of them have ever been to Allentown and my friend is a little upset and nervous about the whole situation.
He will likely move within a month and rent studio to live in for awhile and she'll follow after the new year. They will find an apartment until they decide if it's someplace they want to stay. She's a massage therapist and will need to build up a new client base.
What areas should they look into living? They don't need to be exactly inside Allentown but probrbly with a 45 minute drive.
What's the city know for? Any other good facts or tibits?
Re: What can you tell me about Allentown PA???
I have a lot of family that live in Allentown, but I don't know the area that well to give advice. It is coming along. My grandparents lived in Breinigsville and it was a nice area. I have a friend in Macungie which is pretty nice too from what I've seen.
There is a song (I think Billy Joel) written about Allentown, haha. I'm not 100% sure what it is known for, but that area and areas around it used to be steel mining areas, until the companies went out of business. I can only tell you what I've seen. I have a friend who lives there now and I will see if she would be willing to come on and give you some info for your friend.
It is definitely going to be A LOT different than Brooklyn, if that is where your friend lives too. It will be a big adjustment for her. It isn't a "city city" area. That area is also known for the PA dutch (where as further south is known for the Amish).
My BIL and SIL live in Allentown. My SIL grew up in Macungie. H and I considered moving there, too, before he decided to apply to a city government job that required us to live in Philadelphia.
It's a relatively small town, with lots of locally-owned shops and restaurants. If they live IN Allentown, they'll want to stay away from the western side. Crime is a bit higher there.
Whitehall, Macungie and Emmaus are nice towns just outside of Allentown. There's a rather large mall in Whitehall with all the usual chain stores and department stores.
There's an amusement/water park in Allentown - Dorney Park. There are local baseball teams (men and women) to watch - cheaper than major league sports. There are also a couple of colleges (Lehigh, Muhlenberg) for college sports.
There's ALWAYS something going on at the Allentown Fairgrounds - expos, concerts, there's a farmer's market.
They just built a casino in Bethlehem.
I can recommend a REALLY nice real estate agent if they decide to stay. I'm usually on the Pets board, you can page me there.
I'm Abby's friend who lives outside of Allentown. We like it here, I'm originally from NJ and DH is from northern central PA. There are a lot of people from NY and NJ living here so she'll have no problem fitting in. The biggest issue will be missing family/friends back home. Otherwise there is no reason not to love it.
The area is actually made up of 4 small cities(Easton PA, Bethlehem PA, Allentown PA, and Phillsburg NJ) and a lot of small towns around them. They have a daily bus service into NYC, so visiting you should be easy. This area is a car driven culture, we have decent bus service but they don't run frequently enough IMO. We have a small airport(ABE) which offers commuter flights, not sure if any of the carriers goes to Rochester NY. They do offer decent cheap fares so she should look in to it.
There is as pp mentioned there is always something going on. Lots of festivals. We have a bunch of colleges. We've got a minor league baseball and football team. The Philadelphia's Eagles hold their training camp here. If they are in to the outdoors Jim Thorpe is not far it has great natural beauty and is well know as a spot for bicycling, hiking, rafting, and swimming. Blue Mt. is close by for skiing, and the rest of the Pocono mountains are close as well. There are lots of parks. For the arts you've got the State Theater in Easton and the festivals. Okay we might be a little low on the arts but it's an easy trip into NYC for the day(I recomend driving in to Jersey and taking the train).
There are 2 main highways, both run East/West. Rt. 22 is north of the cities, and Rt. 78 is south of the cities. 22 is old and kind of nasty if they have to make a commute on it daily. Rt. 78 is newer and the traffic is much lighter(it gets nasty when driving a few miles in to Jersey if your friend looks that way for work). Diving in the cities can be confusing since you'll find weird turns and one way roads. But if you get lost I use the PP&L building to orient me.
Please warn them some of the entrance ramps to Rt. 22 are short so it's common to see people stopped at the bottom of the ramp. And yes the locals around here will even do this on ramps that have enough distance so be extra careful. I almost creamed someone when I first moved over since I did not expect them to come to a complete stop.
You've got three major shopping areas. Phillsburg(in Jersey), Saucon Valley(this is the upscale outdoor shopping mall), the Lehigh Valley Mall.
Housing wise, I'd avoid anything in the cities. They have nice neighborhoods but I don't knew it well enough to tell you what's a good area and what isn't. Whitehall, Emmas, and Macguie are all good areas to live in. We lived in Whitehall before we bought our house. If they've got kids the Parkland school district is one of the best.
I hope they loves it here like we do. And if you've got any spefic questions I'm sure Abby will tell me to check out your post.
I don't have much to add but since your friend is a massage therapist she might want to check into networking with any mind/body studios (Pilates and Yoga) in the Allentown area. She might want to also look about anything at Lehigh Valley Hospital since some hospitals hire massage therapists OR they have fitness facilities for their employees that might hire someone or it would be a great place to just drop off business cards since I know from working in a fitness facility we get asked for massage referrals alot.
ditto pp about the shopping...The Shoppes at Saucon Valley is really nice and if she wants higher end shopping than its not too far of a drive into NJ to some of the larger, higher quality malls. My DH used to play pro roller hockey so we went through the Allentown/NJ area alot so I always made mental notes where the good malls were...LOL.
I went to college in the area and I think that the previous posts summed it up very well. It's a nice area and has a lot to offer. I wouldn't live in the different cities if I were to choose, but the smaller towns are very nice. I drove from Easton to Lehigh Valley Hospital for an internship regularly and I much prefer the commute on 78 over 22. I used both roads a lot going back to home and going to the different malls, etc but for a daily commute I agree that 78 would be better.
DH and I were just talking about it last week how much we miss that area. We started dating my first year of college and we had a lot of time to explore and really get to love the area.
Good luck to your friend!