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Remember: Saylor's New name is:

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Saylor's New name is:

Visiting Saylor’s restaurant today I had a chance to speak to the new owners son. He let me know that the place will be renamed THE WEST SIDE DINER and that it will be open 24 HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. They are planning to open in a few months. This is very exciting news!

(Pictures will be added soon!)



The Auto Zone has found a potential home at last on the corner of 15th and Tilghman on the former site of Ruhe Pontiac. That is the same Auto Zone that at one time tried unsuccessfully to build on the site of the former Saylor’s restaurant and the site of the former Shanty. Auto Zone sure has a bunch of persistent folks working for them don’t they?

At the very least, it will put people to work and it is a much better location than the two they tried to build on 19th street. At the same time though, to paraphrase Mayor Pawlowski in the Morning Call, Do we really need another car parts store a block away from another one?

There is good news here though folks. The site of the defunct Saylor’s restaurant is becoming active again.

Thank God for that.

The long list of restaurants that Allentown has lost, filled with names like The Village Inn, The Shanty, and Walp’s, will not get Saylor’s as an addition. The West Side Diner will live on.

The possibility of a new, vibrant restaurant could be a boon for the revitalization of 19th street. It will bring people into the area, it will increase foot traffic and most importantly it will bring new light to an area that has been growing ever darker over the last few years. An addition like that to the street might give those streetlights some feet to shine on.

These days, places like Applebees, TGIFridays, Carrabbas, and Ruby Tuesday have laid claim to the restaurant establishment of Allentown. The stalwarts that remain strong against this culture eating cancer of chain restaurants like Wert’s Café or the newly reopened Ruffino’s need our business more than ever.

The aspects that define community are diverse and long but none are more important than what we eat and the way we eat it.

Choosing a dinner at a chain restaurant is a choice for a cultureless future and a zeitgeist created in a boardroom miles away by a brain trust.

The new restaurant at 19th and Tilghman will stand in the way of the change that has been polluting our city for many years now. I hope that they can serve as an example for potential new restaurant owners in our city. Bethlehem has done it. Bethlehem is full of independent, local restaurants with strong customer bases and, you know what, there aren’t any Applebee’s on Main Street over there.

Welcome to Allentown, West Side Diner.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Capri said...

Amen!

May 14, 2009 at 4:57 PM  
Blogger Lehigh Valley Transplant said...

I couldn't agree with you more. I did a double take though - I think there's a place on Schoenersville that is also called the West Side Diner (correct me if I'm wrong).

May 14, 2009 at 5:56 PM  

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