I'm a tile setter by trade, its fascinating to see the tile of the time in these malls. Thousands of sq ft laid. I imagine the workers who took pride in doing those styles and also how much money those mall tile jobs cost. I imagine mostly union tile setters, coming from all around to stay a few months in hotels to work on those malls, and off to the next one. Thanks for the mall videos, you do great work.
Thank you for this video. We have been running our little shop in this Mall since 1973! and even though it's a corny Mall with it's weird layout, It has the best location in the Lehigh Valley. Also it appears they have been working on the 'new' Weiss Market location too. Can't wait to see the new store. Hopefully we'll be able to hang in there, and be apart of the "upgrade". Only time will tell.
Back in the late 70's my Dad bought one of those big electronic organs with all the switches and stuff here. I got a free flute and annoyed him all the way home with it. lmao
The Mall actually used to be packed in the late 70's / early 80's and was there before bigger malls opened up. I worked at a few places in Westgate (Miscellaneous Bullshirt - A t-shirt kiosk that was in the center of the mall by Subway (which was the Picadilly then), Cardinal Camera (which had a main store up above the supermarket and a kiosk in the center) and Record City (on occasion). The mall used to have interesting stuff, the owner at that time was an ass, but it worked for the time. Since the late 8-'s things slacked off there. Record City closed, but a bigger better record store (Sound & Vision) replaced it. But the owners asked too much for rent and went for the 60-80 crowd instead of the crowd with $, thus the huge decline! I've seen dead malls in other countries get completely revitalized by lowering ren and having smaller stores that were open to young entrepreneurs Selling their own clothing brands, collectibles, imports, etc. Wish Westgate would've gotten a clue and did something similar instead of turning half the mall into a trampoline place that attracts no one. Yeah well.
Just a little info for you...the decline of the Westgate Mall actually started when the Lehigh Valley Mall was built. Westgate survived for quite awhile afterwards, but it was very slowly declining because more of the surrounding community preferred the much larger Lehigh Valley and Whitehall Malls located in Whitehall, PA.
Yeah you know...I visited Lehigh Valley that same day but found it closer to Whitehall (which is what I’m covering this week), and felt it had more of an impact on Whitehall...but it definitely makes sense that Westgate was in the crossfire, too.
I’ve lived in the Lehigh Valley the majority of my life. Grew up in Easton. The Palmer Park Mall is also a small mall, but still seems pretty alive and active except for the Bon Ton closing. It makes sense Westgate would be affected by the Lehigh Valley Mall, but you would think it would have impacted Palmer Park Mall as well. Maybe because it’s a bit further away is the difference.
I owned a nail salon, Luminous Nails, in the "creepy" upper level office suites for 27 years, closing in 2018. The guy you ran into coming out of the bathroom was my client's husband, Brian. LOL 😅 the businesses upstairs were Weight Watchers, the mall offices, a real estate school, a computer parts store, and the public bathrooms you found. At one time the local rock radio station WZZO used to be up there, as well as a daycare, a travel agent and a massage place called Quiet Waters. When John McCain was running against Barack Obama in 2008, he actually had his campaign headquaters in that mall and he stopped by. I got to meet him and shake his hand. Nice guy..mich shorter than I realized. I will never forget the day they were shooting a commercial with him talking to a mom that was shopping at Weis with her child as he chatted with him and they filmed. The whole thing was an act. She and the kid were actors. I ran into them when they were getting their makeup done in those upstairs bathrooms. So many stories and good memories of that mall. Thanks for covering it. Today, the bottom half of the mall is closed off and scheduled for demolition. They kicked out everything from the Chinese restaurant down to the old Bon Ton (now a Weis Market). No more Amateur Athlete, or Subway, or.Payless, or Hawk Music or jewelry store..all gone to make room for a new Starbucks with a drive through, Qdoba Mexican Eatery and something else. The whole back of the mall is coming off and there will be no inside corridor anymore. They also changed the upper section a bit and finally completed the unfinished upper part that said "temporary entrance". It is looking nice.
Cool. I used to go to the Art & Drafting supply store (the big vacant unit along the front). It's just up the road from Bethlehem Steel's HQ which I watched get imploded. They used to have a McCrory's which had the last pay-toilet in the Lehigh Valley. Westgate Pizza is one of the best pizza places in the area. That place is very odd but the interior is unique. I used to stop there for dinner when I drove for mass transit, and some days I'd sit in the middle of the mall and have the entire place to myself.
I live 2 blocks from this mall, my whole life. There was a fire in 77. This.mall.was filled with cool stores. I met every cool 80s rock band in this mall at the record store, or later up stairs at WZZOs orgional.location. Including Ozzy and Randy. Phil Hawk is still there, and some of the other stores.
This is pure art Sal and you have risen to the top of all Mall Explorers and Vlogumentarians on the Tube! I can't even watch guys like Dan Bell anymore Keep up the magic!
I worked at Hawk's Music very briefly last year as a teacher and I have many friends who have worked as music teachers there as well. Phil Hawk is a really cool guy who can talk to you for hours about music gear, and I'm happy he's kept his little outlet alive because every once in a while you find a really cool rare guitar in there or something, likely sold to him from one of us haha.
I grew up near this mall. It should be mentioned that there was a large fire in the late 70s that destroyed a large part of this mall. Never was a great mall, kind of quirky. The much larger Lehigh Valley Mall was built in the late 70s and became the focal point for mall shopping at the time. Lots of great memories in Westgate Mall. Westgate Pizza is still great.
I worked here for several years while the Bonton was still open. I still live 5 minutes away. The kay jewelers is gone, Payless is gone, I've seen no external construction on Bonton, the outside sign is still up. Not sure if the Weiss is still planning to move or not. I never go to the bonton end anymore. Occassionally I run to the liquor store, but once the hallmark closed I generally go elsewhere for everything. With wegmans and giant close by, that Weiss cant hold a flame!
This is pretty fascinating. I worked at Hess’s Westgate in high school and then again after college. I was part of the team that transitioned the store to The BonTon. The Westgate Mall has had a lot of businesses in and out over the years. Now it’s just a shell. There is nothing there. I could never figure out why they couldn’t put something lasting there. It’s such a good location.
George's used to be quite the store. They had a running water wheel in the back by the seafood area which fascinated me as a child, and also the best PA Dutch crullers and other bakery items. Free coffee used to bring in the older crowd, and at one point George put some green astroturf down with a few picnic tables for seniors to meet up and socialize. I think he even had an electronic organ with a player at one point, so you could be shopping while oldsters cut a rug in the middle of the store. George's also had dozens of 4-H pictures, ribbons and awards up on the exterior walls, so he must have been a big supporter. When I was in college someone decided to redecorate the seafood area by hanging a rope net from the ceiling with papier-mâché fish and starfish in it. Somebody made a mermaid out of -- I kid you not -- a blow up novelty doll with shimmering green fabric around its legs made up as a tail. I remember laughing when I saw the mermaid looking down through the net with with a fixed, open-mouthed expression of surprise. The conversion to King's did away with the mermaid, the water-wheel, the free coffee, the excellent bakery, and all the regulars who used to frequent the place. Where the interior hallway takes a dog-leg between George's and Hess's there used to be a huge mural on the wall showing steel-making, very much in the old WPA style. I can't seem to find any pictures of it online, but I remember it well.
I was at the west gate mall back during the winter. It was pretty dead when I went. Sky zone was busy as usual, the pizza place had business and Weis was doing good business, but the rest seemed dead. There were even homeless sleeping in the benches inside the mall.
Lived for 20 years just two miles from this mall, moved away in 2009. This mall always felt both quirky and comfortable to me, it’s a place I shopped at many times. I had to laugh when you walked down that hallway and you thought the bathroom was creepy. I never felt that way. Just saw it as retro 70s, I guess I’m a 70s gal. Bethlehem was a wonderful place to live. Thanks for the nostalgic walk through the mall, it really hasn’t changed much since 2009.
Bethlehem person here! Right now it's just about the same, Westgate's usual dead self. I'm not sure if the Skyzone is open yet but the Westgate Pizza has been. My favorite Westgate memory was of the 90s/2000s era collectable/memorabilia(?) store Clymers who's owner was notorious for ripping off children with horrific one-sided Pokemon card trades. This was wonderful, thank you for exploring our depressing skeleton of a baby mall!
We love to go to the Chinese Buffet in this mall. They we "walk off dinner" by walking the mall. It is on a hill so this is quite a work out. Unfortunately, there is no longer much to visit inside the mall. Really hope they revitalize this mall.
I grew up within walking distance of this place, pretty surreal to see it on youtube. I bought my first pokemon cards here at Climber's. I opened a holographic charizard there and got so excited I threw up and clogged their toilet. The huge empty space with the windows in the baby mall used to be Art + Drafting Connection, one of the nicest art supply stores I've ever been to. The owner did drawing lessons for super cheap, dude was so nice he complimented my ham-fisted scribbles of dinosaurs. Westgate Pizza's garlic knots are mind blowing. Those upstairs offices are haunted as FUCK. Me and my boyfriend tried making out in the bathroom once but it was too unsettling. There was this eerie feeling we weren't suppose to be in that place or know it exists. Like we glitched outside the map boundaries in a video game. If you want to see an even MORE cursed baby mall, check out the Whitehall Mall. It's only 15 minutes from Westgate. No not the nice big Lehigh Valley Mall, the liminal zone across the street with the quarter kiddie rides that are powered by the lost hopes and dreams of children that are now adults and work at Perkin's.
I grew up with this mall. I believe last year they remodeled a large part. They closed off sections - near main entrance, there used to b a I think Pepperidge farm in the 80’s, nail salon in the 2000’s. Across from that was a 5 and dime with a lunch counter - long gone. In the upper areas by Weiss, it used to be enclosed. They opened up that area. Used to have a great art store n a pet shop across from it where there were usually kittens. In the 80’s I remember there being this very 60’s/70’s style restaurant. I don’t remember the name of it tho but it was very elegant for being in a mall. All woodwork n stuff. I probably won’t b there anytime soon now as my mum moved to a nursing facility near Philadelphia (she lived at Manorcare nearby for over a decade), n I’m in nyc. Well see. Never know where life takes u. Thanks for this tho!
The most recent things I have heard are that the Weis remodel of Bon Ton started late last year, but Covid shut down construction in PA for a couple of months. The old Hess service center will most likely be demolished and turned into a Weis fuel station. I'm not aware of any specific plans for the rest of the property.
Ah, Art and Drafting Connection was a fantastic store, I used to get plastic models and model paints there. That pet store also had a super friendly resident golden retriever that always took a nap in the entryway so you had to step over it.
Baby Mall! What a nice little place! I hope they do the reno's and keep it going! I really like the closing music, before the Spiderman 79 outro music! I think I actually saw that when i was a kid! Thanks Sal!
Haha, I remember this late 1970s Spiderman short lived series. The actress Chip Fields is the mother of actress Kim Fields who starred as Tootie in _The Facts Of Life_ (which premiered in 1979).
Damn, that theme to the '78 Spider-Man show is groovy as hell. Got me dancin' in my chair. This reminds me of a similar place near a hotel where a couple of conventions are held in Atlanta. Said hotel has a skyway that goes to it.
I live near this mall. I always thought the most ironic thing about this mall was the fact the AA hotline for the Lehigh Valley was right above the liquor store. You can only find things like this in dead/dying malls. :)
Grew up within a short walking distance and stayed in the neighborhood for years, so I knew this mall quite well at one point. There was McCrory’s for the entirety of my childhood (80s). Same woman with HEAVY makeup worked their for years. I got root beer floats and hamburgers there all the time. Hawks Music - a significant place for me and my family - was located at the opposite end of the main strip. Also, J’s Subs and Westgate Pizza (now larger and further down the mall). Record City had poster board of NYC with a scene from the original King Kong on the storefront. Bookarama had a half-naked picture of Bridgette Bardot hanging on the wall (no joke). Can’t remember the name of the restaurant near the old Hawks (“The Bethlehem Restaurant”?), but every booth had green stained glass above the back cushion. All I remember was getting chocolate milk there as a kid, and that the place was very dark inside. And of course, the king of them all, The Beef House. Had my first beer there 21 years ago. Sadly, long since closed. That and the massive steelworker mural formerly in the center of the mall are etched in my brain.
I've been here once since the Bon Ton closed to buy a bottle of wine at the Wine and Spirits. The place is pretty much dead and feels run down. I try to avoid it when ever possible mostly because the extremely large pot holes in the parking lot. My opinion is if you can't take care of the parking lot, there probably isn't much for me to see or purchase on the inside.
I used to drive past this mall for work between 2011 and 2015. That mall pretty much remained unchanged for those years. Cute little mall. Also that Bagel place, Johnny's Bagels is really good. Loved stopping there for breakfast once in awhile. The Leigh Valley sure is an odd place because in within a 30 minute drive (less with no traffic) there is this mall, Palmer Park, South Mall, Lehigh Valley (plus the mall opposite side of it), and all of them are still open.
THANK YOU FOR THE VIDEO, SAL! I have been waiting for a "dead mall bigwig" to FINALLY visit Westgate. I live within earshot of the mall. My grandparents regularly visited Bon-Ton there every Saturday morning after breakfast when I was a kid. I also used to take clarinet lessons in the former Hawk Music location while in elementary school. Still go in there on a regular basis - in fact, I JUST booked my haircut at the Outlooks for Hair there earlier today! One more note about the mall - my great-great-grandparents owned farmland over on nearby Macada Road. From the info I gathered from other family members over the years, Harold S. Campbell purchased their land in the early '60s...BEFORE acquiring this very patch of land on Schoenersville Road. In short, the Westgate Mall was originally intended to be built on their land.
I also grew up in Bethlehem on the 70s and 80s. Everyone's right about Westgate pizza. We got it at least once a week for years. I think the same man, Dominic, still owns it. What happened to the abandoned Dempsey's diner building?
Back in the day, this mall would be packed with sports card vendor's tables in the middle of the hallways on the weekends. This mall was always packed before online shopping became a thing and the rents started going way up
Only the Bon Ton could have had a location in a mall like this. I don’t know what else to say other than this mall is sad. It’s stuck in the 70’s. Never updated. Oh yes, and my theory. Once the roof leaks and the buckets follow, there’s no hope. I’d love to know what the occupancy is like now? Nicely shot as always.
Was always a great place, till BonTon went under. But Weis is still very busy. It would make total sense for the old, shabby and very small Weis to move to Bonton's old location. But I haven't seen anything about that yet. Johnny's Bagels still rules, though!
I was there 2day, it's really sad a handful of customers in the mall, I went 2 Weiss supermarket that is also declining sadly.7/1/2020 it's a matter of time😪
i lived near this mall from 2001 to 2009. while it had more store when I moved there, it was always a bit depressing. the layout was weird too. half mall, half strip mall with enclosed walkway. by the way, that walkway had been there much longer than you were told. back then, that whole section was full. vacancies were in the full mall section. the second floor was always scary. i hated going up there. even though the mall wasn't great, it did have some good store in it. i can't remember the names anymore, but there was a chinese buffet, west gate pizza (which was at a different location back then), the bagel place (under a different name then), an art supply store, a music/instrument store that supplied lessons all come to mind. kings was laid out strange, and it was small, but it was nice and convenient as well. it was great for basics and avoiding crowds. weis is ok, but over priced for my wallet. of course i always loved hess. their flagship store in downtown allentown was an experience. they tried a few facelifts over the years at this mall. they helped the look, but not the stores or traffic. it's a very strange location too. it's more like a neighborhood shopping center. especially with the lehigh valley mall and other larger malls and shopping centers so close. there are a few strange malls like this in the lehigh valley. the south mall in allentown, the whitehall mall in whitehall, and the trexlertown mall in trexlertown. i should mention that at one time the whitehall mall was fully enclosed. why they changed it, i haven't got a clue. but all of them were nice to shop at. it's been over 10 years since i've been to any of them, so i have no idea what they are like now.
Hey! I've lived here all my life and frequented this mall quite often! Due to covid, the inside mall has closed down, and Weis has yet to move forward with relocating. If you have any questions feel free to ask!
This is maybe 2 miles at the most from where I grew up. It has been a few years since I was there. I think it was right before Bonton closed. I took my Mom over and we walked around a bit after stopping in a little jewelers to get her watch fixed. It felt sad then compared to when Hess' was there.
This mall had a large art store don't remember the name, (the owner retired and the store closed), it had a Thrift Shop I think it was a Goodwill, there was a Chinese Buffet Restaurant that was alright. In the hallway by Weis there was a Vacuum Cleaner Store.
I never heard of Baby Mall or Mallway before, but I have heard Mini-Mall. I live out here in the midwest, Indiana, and at least here we call em mini-malls.
Mall babies! We make our dreams come true! Mall babies! We'll do the same for you! When your room looks kind of weird. And you wish that you weren't there... Just close your eyes and make believe, and you can be anywhere!
Reminds me of the early 70s malls I saw as very young kid. Seeing the music store was a kick since my family ran 2 music stores, 1 in a mall, n haven't seen 1 in a mall since the mid 90's. In fact there's very few music stores anywhere near where I live, n few of those not in the 1 monolithic n very sleazy chain.
OH MY this is what people looked like before the Plague of 2020..... Sorry I couldn't help it. It is insane walking into malls at times. I worked at one twice in my life and WOW it is way different now than it was when I worked there in 2000-2001 and then again in 2003-2004
I had my nail salon, Luminous Nails, upstairs there in suite 208 for 27 years. Other businesses up there were the mall offices, a mail order computer store, Weight Watchers, and a real estate school. Years before, there had also been a daycare up there, WZZO the radio station, and a massage place called Quiet Waters. I loved being up there. I had one of those big windows that looked out over the parking lot. I was directly above the liquor store. I closed in 2018. There is still nothing in my former location.
Oh, I vividly remember the live-action Spider-Man from '77. I was a sophomore in high school, and was utterly shocked when I first heard about it. Special effects? Yeah, right. Not that special. But back then, I sure didn't care! Anyway, great installment as usual Sal. Many thanks!
You should see it today. It’s terrible. An abandoned project never started. A bulldozer should destroy the mall any day now. Only a miracle would save this.
Weis took over half the Hess's space and sealed it off from the mall interior. The section behind they didn't use was aquied by LVHN Muhlenburg the hospital next door to use as a staging and storage facility for the entire Hospital network. Mulenburg is there Bethlehem hospital the main is in Allentown.
Baby-Mall? Mallway? sMall? Whatever, this place is adorable.
"sMall", now THAT'S a term.... Hope it is as good as it sounds.
Mini-mall.
It's cozy. It is nice to see smaller malls being toured by you.
All I can think of is that video where the guy is all singing "Its not a mall its a Mini-Mall!"
Mallghettini Salfredo?
I'm a tile setter by trade, its fascinating to see the tile of the time in these malls. Thousands of sq ft laid. I imagine the workers who took pride in doing those styles and also how much money those mall tile jobs cost. I imagine mostly union tile setters, coming from all around to stay a few months in hotels to work on those malls, and off to the next one. Thanks for the mall videos, you do great work.
Thanks for the kind words!!! I shoot the tile just for folks like you!
Thank you for this video. We have been running our little shop in this Mall since 1973! and even though it's a corny Mall with it's weird layout, It has the best location in the Lehigh Valley. Also it appears they have been working on the 'new' Weiss Market location too. Can't wait to see the new store. Hopefully we'll be able to hang in there, and be apart of the "upgrade". Only time will tell.
"Well they're closing all the factories down-
Out in bethlehem they're killing time-
Filling out forms-
Standing in line.."
Back in the late 70's my Dad bought one of those big electronic organs with all the switches and stuff here. I got a free flute and annoyed him all the way home with it. lmao
The Mall actually used to be packed in the late 70's / early 80's and was there before bigger malls opened up. I worked at a few places in Westgate (Miscellaneous Bullshirt - A t-shirt kiosk that was in the center of the mall by Subway (which was the Picadilly then), Cardinal Camera (which had a main store up above the supermarket and a kiosk in the center) and Record City (on occasion). The mall used to have interesting stuff, the owner at that time was an ass, but it worked for the time. Since the late 8-'s things slacked off there. Record City closed, but a bigger better record store (Sound & Vision) replaced it. But the owners asked too much for rent and went for the 60-80 crowd instead of the crowd with $, thus the huge decline! I've seen dead malls in other countries get completely revitalized by lowering ren and having smaller stores that were open to young entrepreneurs Selling their own clothing brands, collectibles, imports, etc. Wish Westgate would've gotten a clue and did something similar instead of turning half the mall into a trampoline place that attracts no one. Yeah well.
Just a little info for you...the decline of the Westgate Mall actually started when the Lehigh Valley Mall was built. Westgate survived for quite awhile afterwards, but it was very slowly declining because more of the surrounding community preferred the much larger Lehigh Valley and Whitehall Malls located in Whitehall, PA.
Yeah you know...I visited Lehigh Valley that same day but found it closer to Whitehall (which is what I’m covering this week), and felt it had more of an impact on Whitehall...but it definitely makes sense that Westgate was in the crossfire, too.
I’ve lived in the Lehigh Valley the majority of my life. Grew up in Easton. The Palmer Park Mall is also a small mall, but still seems pretty alive and active except for the Bon Ton closing. It makes sense Westgate would be affected by the Lehigh Valley Mall, but you would think it would have impacted Palmer Park Mall as well. Maybe because it’s a bit further away is the difference.
At 10:07 you can see Martin Tower, the high rise in the distance. It was imploded on 19 May 2019.
I noticed that too, not to mention BonTon and Payless are both out of business now. Im curious when he filmed this
I owned a nail salon, Luminous Nails, in the "creepy" upper level office suites for 27 years, closing in 2018. The guy you ran into coming out of the bathroom was my client's husband, Brian. LOL 😅 the businesses upstairs were Weight Watchers, the mall offices, a real estate school, a computer parts store, and the public bathrooms you found. At one time the local rock radio station WZZO used to be up there, as well as a daycare, a travel agent and a massage place called Quiet Waters. When John McCain was running against Barack Obama in 2008, he actually had his campaign headquaters in that mall and he stopped by. I got to meet him and shake his hand. Nice guy..mich shorter than I realized. I will never forget the day they were shooting a commercial with him talking to a mom that was shopping at Weis with her child as he chatted with him and they filmed. The whole thing was an act. She and the kid were actors. I ran into them when they were getting their makeup done in those upstairs bathrooms. So many stories and good memories of that mall. Thanks for covering it.
Today, the bottom half of the mall is closed off and scheduled for demolition. They kicked out everything from the Chinese restaurant down to the old Bon Ton (now a Weis Market). No more Amateur Athlete, or Subway, or.Payless, or Hawk Music or jewelry store..all gone to make room for a new Starbucks with a drive through, Qdoba Mexican Eatery and something else. The whole back of the mall is coming off and there will be no inside corridor anymore. They also changed the upper section a bit and finally completed the unfinished upper part that said "temporary entrance". It is looking nice.
Cool. I used to go to the Art & Drafting supply store (the big vacant unit along the front). It's just up the road from Bethlehem Steel's HQ which I watched get imploded. They used to have a McCrory's which had the last pay-toilet in the Lehigh Valley. Westgate Pizza is one of the best pizza places in the area. That place is very odd but the interior is unique. I used to stop there for dinner when I drove for mass transit, and some days I'd sit in the middle of the mall and have the entire place to myself.
I live 2 blocks from this mall, my whole life. There was a fire in 77. This.mall.was filled with cool stores. I met every cool 80s rock band in this mall at the record store, or later up stairs at WZZOs orgional.location. Including Ozzy and Randy. Phil Hawk is still there, and some of the other stores.
This is pure art Sal and you have risen to the top of all Mall Explorers and Vlogumentarians on the Tube!
I can't even watch guys like Dan Bell anymore
Keep up the magic!
I worked at Hawk's Music very briefly last year as a teacher and I have many friends who have worked as music teachers there as well. Phil Hawk is a really cool guy who can talk to you for hours about music gear, and I'm happy he's kept his little outlet alive because every once in a while you find a really cool rare guitar in there or something, likely sold to him from one of us haha.
Thank you for doing my hometown mall!!
heyo neighbor!
Such an adorable little place!
Will baby malls have miniature escalators? 😁
I can't find info on the current shortest, but the smallest escalator in the U.S. was previously only about 3-feet.
I grew up near this mall. It should be mentioned that there was a large fire in the late 70s that destroyed a large part of this mall. Never was a great mall, kind of quirky. The much larger Lehigh Valley Mall was built in the late 70s and became the focal point for mall shopping at the time. Lots of great memories in Westgate Mall. Westgate Pizza is still great.
I worked here for several years while the Bonton was still open. I still live 5 minutes away. The kay jewelers is gone, Payless is gone, I've seen no external construction on Bonton, the outside sign is still up. Not sure if the Weiss is still planning to move or not. I never go to the bonton end anymore. Occassionally I run to the liquor store, but once the hallmark closed I generally go elsewhere for everything. With wegmans and giant close by, that Weiss cant hold a flame!
That mall was awesome! As much as I love the Forest Fairs and Gwinnett Places, smaller malls like this totally deserve some credit!
This is pretty fascinating. I worked at Hess’s Westgate in high school and then again after college. I was part of the team that transitioned the store to The BonTon. The Westgate Mall has had a lot of businesses in and out over the years. Now it’s just a shell. There is nothing there. I could never figure out why they couldn’t put something lasting there. It’s such a good location.
this is my hometown mall, i live a 5 minute walk away! it's so weird seeing footage with both an open Bon Ton and Martin Tower in the background :')
And Payless Shoes now..
George's used to be quite the store. They had a running water wheel in the back by the seafood area which fascinated me as a child, and also the best PA Dutch crullers and other bakery items. Free coffee used to bring in the older crowd, and at one point George put some green astroturf down with a few picnic tables for seniors to meet up and socialize. I think he even had an electronic organ with a player at one point, so you could be shopping while oldsters cut a rug in the middle of the store. George's also had dozens of 4-H pictures, ribbons and awards up on the exterior walls, so he must have been a big supporter.
When I was in college someone decided to redecorate the seafood area by hanging a rope net from the ceiling with papier-mâché fish and starfish in it. Somebody made a mermaid out of -- I kid you not -- a blow up novelty doll with shimmering green fabric around its legs made up as a tail. I remember laughing when I saw the mermaid looking down through the net with with a fixed, open-mouthed expression of surprise. The conversion to King's did away with the mermaid, the water-wheel, the free coffee, the excellent bakery, and all the regulars who used to frequent the place.
Where the interior hallway takes a dog-leg between George's and Hess's there used to be a huge mural on the wall showing steel-making, very much in the old WPA style. I can't seem to find any pictures of it online, but I remember it well.
George’s also had a lot of free samples!
I was at the west gate mall back during the winter. It was pretty dead when I went. Sky zone was busy as usual, the pizza place had business and Weis was doing good business, but the rest seemed dead. There were even homeless sleeping in the benches inside the mall.
Lived for 20 years just two miles from this mall, moved away in 2009. This mall always felt both quirky and comfortable to me, it’s a place I shopped at many times. I had to laugh when you walked down that hallway and you thought the bathroom was creepy. I never felt that way. Just saw it as retro 70s, I guess I’m a 70s gal. Bethlehem was a wonderful place to live. Thanks for the nostalgic walk through the mall, it really hasn’t changed much since 2009.
Bethlehem person here! Right now it's just about the same, Westgate's usual dead self. I'm not sure if the Skyzone is open yet but the Westgate Pizza has been. My favorite Westgate memory was of the 90s/2000s era collectable/memorabilia(?) store Clymers who's owner was notorious for ripping off children with horrific one-sided Pokemon card trades. This was wonderful, thank you for exploring our depressing skeleton of a baby mall!
We love to go to the Chinese Buffet in this mall. They we "walk off dinner" by walking the mall. It is on a hill so this is quite a work out. Unfortunately, there is no longer much to visit inside the mall. Really hope they revitalize this mall.
Nice little PA mall. Thanks Sal
I grew up within walking distance of this place, pretty surreal to see it on youtube. I bought my first pokemon cards here at Climber's. I opened a holographic charizard there and got so excited I threw up and clogged their toilet. The huge empty space with the windows in the baby mall used to be Art + Drafting Connection, one of the nicest art supply stores I've ever been to. The owner did drawing lessons for super cheap, dude was so nice he complimented my ham-fisted scribbles of dinosaurs. Westgate Pizza's garlic knots are mind blowing. Those upstairs offices are haunted as FUCK. Me and my boyfriend tried making out in the bathroom once but it was too unsettling. There was this eerie feeling we weren't suppose to be in that place or know it exists. Like we glitched outside the map boundaries in a video game. If you want to see an even MORE cursed baby mall, check out the Whitehall Mall. It's only 15 minutes from Westgate. No not the nice big Lehigh Valley Mall, the liminal zone across the street with the quarter kiddie rides that are powered by the lost hopes and dreams of children that are now adults and work at Perkin's.
I grew up with this mall. I believe last year they remodeled a large part. They closed off sections - near main entrance, there used to b a I think Pepperidge farm in the 80’s, nail salon in the 2000’s. Across from that was a 5 and dime with a lunch counter - long gone. In the upper areas by Weiss, it used to be enclosed. They opened up that area. Used to have a great art store n a pet shop across from it where there were usually kittens. In the 80’s I remember there being this very 60’s/70’s style restaurant. I don’t remember the name of it tho but it was very elegant for being in a mall. All woodwork n stuff. I probably won’t b there anytime soon now as my mum moved to a nursing facility near Philadelphia (she lived at Manorcare nearby for over a decade), n I’m in nyc. Well see. Never know where life takes u. Thanks for this tho!
The most recent things I have heard are that the Weis remodel of Bon Ton started late last year, but Covid shut down construction in PA for a couple of months. The old Hess service center will most likely be demolished and turned into a Weis fuel station. I'm not aware of any specific plans for the rest of the property.
I've lived here all my life! The little diner was next to the dime store called Newbury
I remember the Pepperidge Farm store. (And Pepperidge Farm remembers.) There also used to be a ladies' clothing store called Ladybug.
@@principals16842 Do you mean Hickory Farms?
Ah, Art and Drafting Connection was a fantastic store, I used to get plastic models and model paints there. That pet store also had a super friendly resident golden retriever that always took a nap in the entryway so you had to step over it.
Ameteur Athlete is a great skate shop!
Another Awesome video! This one made me happy and sad at the same time. Thanks Sal.
What a quirky little hodge-podge mall,I really like it!Totally unique.
Enjoyed this! Thanks and can't wait for next week!
Baby Mall! What a nice little place! I hope they do the reno's and keep it going! I really like the closing music, before the Spiderman 79 outro music! I think I actually saw that when i was a kid! Thanks Sal!
Haha, I remember this late 1970s Spiderman short lived series. The actress Chip Fields is the mother of actress Kim Fields who starred as Tootie in _The Facts Of Life_ (which premiered in 1979).
Damn, that theme to the '78 Spider-Man show is groovy as hell. Got me dancin' in my chair.
This reminds me of a similar place near a hotel where a couple of conventions are held in Atlanta. Said hotel has a skyway that goes to it.
Allentown once had an incredible downtown, but the Whitehall, Lehigh and Westgate malls killed it.
When I saw the guy that played Spiderman back in '78 I remembered the show. I like the ending music too.
I live near this mall. I always thought the most ironic thing about this mall was the fact the AA hotline for the Lehigh Valley was right above the liquor store. You can only find things like this in dead/dying malls. :)
The music store with the knock-off Strats lives on!
Grew up within a short walking distance and stayed in the neighborhood for years, so I knew this mall quite well at one point. There was McCrory’s for the entirety of my childhood (80s). Same woman with HEAVY makeup worked their for years. I got root beer floats and hamburgers there all the time. Hawks Music - a significant place for me and my family - was located at the opposite end of the main strip. Also, J’s Subs and Westgate Pizza (now larger and further down the mall). Record City had poster board of NYC with a scene from the original King Kong on the storefront. Bookarama had a half-naked picture of Bridgette Bardot hanging on the wall (no joke). Can’t remember the name of the restaurant near the old Hawks (“The Bethlehem Restaurant”?), but every booth had green stained glass above the back cushion. All I remember was getting chocolate milk there as a kid, and that the place was very dark inside. And of course, the king of them all, The Beef House. Had my first beer there 21 years ago. Sadly, long since closed. That and the massive steelworker mural formerly in the center of the mall are etched in my brain.
I've been here once since the Bon Ton closed to buy a bottle of wine at the Wine and Spirits. The place is pretty much dead and feels run down. I try to avoid it when ever possible mostly because the extremely large pot holes in the parking lot. My opinion is if you can't take care of the parking lot, there probably isn't much for me to see or purchase on the inside.
I used to drive past this mall for work between 2011 and 2015. That mall pretty much remained unchanged for those years. Cute little mall. Also that Bagel place, Johnny's Bagels is really good. Loved stopping there for breakfast once in awhile. The Leigh Valley sure is an odd place because in within a 30 minute drive (less with no traffic) there is this mall, Palmer Park, South Mall, Lehigh Valley (plus the mall opposite side of it), and all of them are still open.
THANK YOU FOR THE VIDEO, SAL! I have been waiting for a "dead mall bigwig" to FINALLY visit Westgate. I live within earshot of the mall. My grandparents regularly visited Bon-Ton there every Saturday morning after breakfast when I was a kid. I also used to take clarinet lessons in the former Hawk Music location while in elementary school. Still go in there on a regular basis - in fact, I JUST booked my haircut at the Outlooks for Hair there earlier today!
One more note about the mall - my great-great-grandparents owned farmland over on nearby Macada Road. From the info I gathered from other family members over the years, Harold S. Campbell purchased their land in the early '60s...BEFORE acquiring this very patch of land on Schoenersville Road. In short, the Westgate Mall was originally intended to be built on their land.
I also grew up in Bethlehem on the 70s and 80s. Everyone's right about Westgate pizza. We got it at least once a week for years. I think the same man, Dominic, still owns it. What happened to the abandoned Dempsey's diner building?
Still abandoned
It is about to become a credit union
Back in the day, this mall would be packed with sports card vendor's tables in the middle of the hallways on the weekends. This mall was always packed before online shopping became a thing and the rents started going way up
That’s such a cool memory. Would’ve loved to have seen that.
Only the Bon Ton could have had a location in a mall like this. I don’t know what else to say other than this mall is sad. It’s stuck in the 70’s. Never updated. Oh yes, and my theory. Once the roof leaks and the buckets follow, there’s no hope. I’d love to know what the occupancy is like now? Nicely shot as always.
nice to see a music store like that without giant GOING OUT OF BUSINESS signs in the windows.
We used to have a 'mall-way' in my hometown. However, it was torn down in the 80s, because a larger mall was built only 6 years after it opened.
The new Weis is decent. Must say that I didn't stroll through the rest of the property. Ill see it soon, however.
The Weis is still in the middle of the mall, an the Bon Ton is still empty.
That 2015 'renovation/add-on' umm... just.... amazing 🤨
Was always a great place, till BonTon went under. But Weis is still very busy. It would make total sense for the old, shabby and very small Weis to move to Bonton's old location. But I haven't seen anything about that yet. Johnny's Bagels still rules, though!
I was there 2day, it's really sad a handful of customers in the mall, I went 2 Weiss supermarket that is also declining sadly.7/1/2020 it's a matter of time😪
The spider man intro music didn’t have to go that hard
It slaps harder than I could ever imagine
i lived near this mall from 2001 to 2009. while it had more store when I moved there, it was always a bit depressing. the layout was weird too. half mall, half strip mall with enclosed walkway. by the way, that walkway had been there much longer than you were told. back then, that whole section was full. vacancies were in the full mall section. the second floor was always scary. i hated going up there. even though the mall wasn't great, it did have some good store in it. i can't remember the names anymore, but there was a chinese buffet, west gate pizza (which was at a different location back then), the bagel place (under a different name then), an art supply store, a music/instrument store that supplied lessons all come to mind. kings was laid out strange, and it was small, but it was nice and convenient as well. it was great for basics and avoiding crowds. weis is ok, but over priced for my wallet. of course i always loved hess. their flagship store in downtown allentown was an experience. they tried a few facelifts over the years at this mall. they helped the look, but not the stores or traffic. it's a very strange location too. it's more like a neighborhood shopping center. especially with the lehigh valley mall and other larger malls and shopping centers so close. there are a few strange malls like this in the lehigh valley. the south mall in allentown, the whitehall mall in whitehall, and the trexlertown mall in trexlertown. i should mention that at one time the whitehall mall was fully enclosed. why they changed it, i haven't got a clue. but all of them were nice to shop at. it's been over 10 years since i've been to any of them, so i have no idea what they are like now.
Those signs outside the mall is radical!
Hey! I've lived here all my life and frequented this mall quite often! Due to covid, the inside mall has closed down, and Weis has yet to move forward with relocating. If you have any questions feel free to ask!
Do you have any word on what will happen with the office building?
This may sounds stupid but I would probably spend most of my time at the music shop. I wish more malls had them.
Me too!!!
Robert F. Simon’s real name was F. Robert Simon, but he thought it was best to not F. around too soon… 😂
Looks like there's a lot of potential here, if they could just figure it out, Liked,,StaySafe
This is maybe 2 miles at the most from where I grew up. It has been a few years since I was there. I think it was right before
Bonton closed. I took my Mom over and we walked around a bit after stopping in a little jewelers to get her watch fixed. It felt sad then compared to when Hess' was there.
This mall had a large art store don't remember the name, (the owner retired and the store closed), it had a Thrift Shop I think it was a Goodwill, there was a Chinese Buffet Restaurant that was alright. In the hallway by Weis there was a Vacuum Cleaner Store.
The art store was Art and Drafting Connection. The thrift store was actually a VIA thrift store.
Great video sal, I hope you can make it to South Mall in Allentown PA
Me too!!
I never heard of Baby Mall or Mallway before, but I have heard Mini-Mall. I live out here in the midwest, Indiana, and at least here we call em mini-malls.
Mall babies! We make our dreams come true! Mall babies! We'll do the same for you!
When your room looks kind of weird. And you wish that you weren't there... Just close your eyes and make believe, and you can be anywhere!
Could this be the start of a Lehigh Valley Crown American circuit?
Reminds me of the early 70s malls I saw as very young kid. Seeing the music store was a kick since my family ran 2 music stores, 1 in a mall, n haven't seen 1 in a mall since the mid 90's. In fact there's very few music stores anywhere near where I live, n few of those not in the 1 monolithic n very sleazy chain.
Thanks for watching!!
OH MY this is what people looked like before the Plague of 2020..... Sorry I couldn't help it. It is insane walking into malls at times. I worked at one twice in my life and WOW it is way different now than it was when I worked there in 2000-2001 and then again in 2003-2004
Has anyone taken the elevator by the liquor store? Want to see whats on the second floor
I had my nail salon, Luminous Nails, upstairs there in suite 208 for 27 years. Other businesses up there were the mall offices, a mail order computer store, Weight Watchers, and a real estate school. Years before, there had also been a daycare up there, WZZO the radio station, and a massage place called Quiet Waters. I loved being up there. I had one of those big windows that looked out over the parking lot. I was directly above the liquor store. I closed in 2018. There is still nothing in my former location.
In Germany they made movies out of the Spiderman Series. It's so trashy but I love them
Oh, I vividly remember the live-action Spider-Man from '77. I was a sophomore in high school, and was utterly shocked when I first heard about it. Special effects? Yeah, right. Not that special. But back then, I sure didn't care!
Anyway, great installment as usual Sal. Many thanks!
Man, I loved that show. Hadn't thought about it in decades
did the payless shoes went out that mall monton too?? just wounder ty for showing this video that guy suprise you too
Frankenmall. It's a mall made of other pieces of retail establishmemts.
Sal you should check out the history of Frandor mall in Lansing that opened in 1954. Just for shits and giggles.
Spiderman credits in Dukes of Hazzard Bold.
I got my first cat there.
Cool video 👍👍👍👍
It sucks to see a once thriving store like Bon Tons go out like that.
I need to put this on my list but sal can you do the Coventry mall
Added to my list!
Is it just me, or are (North, South, East, West)gate names the most common mall names?
I live in Hamburg PA and my mom works at a Kings Turned Weis
1:11 *feat Phillipsburg Mall!
The Bon Ton is gone, so there is no anchor store,
I’m liking the shorter video.
Come to Ford City Mall!
Missed it again
Decent mall for a Baby Mall
Is this an Inclosed strip mall?
I live around ther
Yay westgate
The Bon * Gone
Looks like Minecraft
Cute 😀
😎
You should see it today. It’s terrible. An abandoned project never started. A bulldozer should destroy the mall any day now. Only a miracle would save this.
👍
Weis took over half the Hess's space and sealed it off from the mall interior. The section behind they didn't use was aquied by LVHN Muhlenburg the hospital next door to use as a staging and storage facility for the entire Hospital network. Mulenburg is there Bethlehem hospital the main is in Allentown.