Hess's Department Store was a unique department store that with a combination of style and showmanship became a shopping legend for almost 100 years. Hess's was founded in 1897 in Allentown by brothers Max and Charles Hess. From its start as a dry goods store, it became the downtown heart of Pennsylvania's third-largest city for much of the 20th century. Its reputation was further enhanced by Max Hess's son, a showman for merchandising. Through a series of photographs, many from private collections and seldom seen, Hess's Department Store brings the glory days of Hess's to life again.
Title: Book celebrates Allentown's legendary Hess's store
Author: Kathy Lauer-Williams
Publisher: The Morning Call
Date: 12/14/2008
From its automatic perfume atomizers and talking elevators to the chic models wearing Paris originals as they posed in the Patio restaurant, Hess's was a store that rivaled any.
''Hess's was the beating, thriving heart of Allentown, ' says Frank Whelan of Allentown, co-author of ''Images of America: Hess's Department Store, '' a new book on the history on the downtown landmark. ''It was a unique institution in a unique time.''
The book is published by Arcadia Publishing, which has published hundreds of books on local history nationwide in its popular ''Images of America'' series. It is due out Monday.
''Hess's was always about spectacle, '' says Whelan. ''From when it opened and had the Allentown Band playing Sousa marches, up until the end when everyone came to watch the wrecking ball tear it down.''
The book chronicles the nearly 100-year history of the store from 1897 to 1996 with 190 vintage photographs, many provided by co-author Kurt Zwikl, whose late father William Zwikl was the official store photographer from 1953 to 1981.
Whelan says he was contacted earlier this year by Arcadia to write a book about Hess's. Whelan, who wrote about local history for The Morning Call for 26 years, also was the historian for PBS-39's documentary ''Hollywood on Hamilton: Remembering Hess's.'' Whelan is also director of special projects for the Lehigh County Historical Society, which organized an exhibit about Hess's at the holidays now on display at the society's Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum.
Whelancontacted Zwikl, director of Schuylkill River Heritage Association, who had hundreds of photographs from his father.
Most people associate the heyday of Hess's with the years right after World War II into the 1970s, Whelan says. That's when Hess's became a destination as a ''mini Manhattan at the corner of Ninth and Hamilton, '' with high profile visits by movie and TV stars and political figures, extravagant flower shows, the high fashion of the French Room and the decadent desserts of the Patio that caught the eye of luminaries, like Liberace, who had a standing order for strawberry pie.
Whelan says Hess's became an ''extension'' of Allentown resident Max Hess Jr. who took over the store in 1932.
''He was a showman and Hess's was his gaudy circus, '' Whelan says. ''He was a frustrated Broadway producer and this was his stage set.''
However, Hess also was an astute businessman and Hess's was a successful store.
''Max Hess understood his customers, '' Whelan says. ''Hess's was always a place for bargains. He knew women liked buying a $20 dress in a store that also sold $5,000 dresses.''
Hess also knew how to sell glamour to his customers. He picked Gerry Golden off the sales floor to become the fashion director and then sent him to Rome, Paris and London to bring back the newest fashions.
''It was the early 1960s and there was a lot of glamour connected with fashion, '' Whelan says. ''It was the time of Sophia Loren and Jackie Kennedy. Gerry Golden was the keeper of Hess's image and he brought the international glamour to Allentown.''
Hess also had an uncanny knack for jumping on a trend.
In 1964, the topless bathing suitmade headlines and Hess made sure the store had several in stock. It was a public scandal, but people all came to see the suit.
Hess also lined up visits by rising stars of the times like George Reeves, Troy Donahue and Rock Hudson.
''Hess's became the place you had to be, '' Whelan says. ''Max Hess put Allentown on the map.''
Max Hess also opened the Patio Restaurant, renowned for its oversized pies.
''He created this fantasy of a restaurant but it was a loss leader, '' Whelan says. ''It never never made a penny but it kept people in the store.''
Hess also was responsible for the 45-foot tall lighted sign that dominated Hamilton Street from 1947 to 1973.
''It was the biggest sign of its type between New York and Chicago, '' Whelan says.
The sign was removed when the mall enclosure was installed on Hamilton Mall in 1973.
When Philip Berman took over Hess's in 1968, he shifted the focus from stars to political figures and many politicians, including Jimmy Carter and Hubert Humphrey, made campaign stops at the store.
In the 1980s the store was sold to Bon Ton which closed it in 1996. It was torn down to make way for a PPL office building.
''Hess's had a unique relationship to the community, '' Whelan says. ''For a generation it represents their their childhood. That's why is caused so much hard feeling when it was torn down. It was a cultural icon and there a lot of emotions tied to it.''
THE DETAILS
What: The story and vintage photos of the nearly 100-year history of Hess's in Allentown, written by Frank Whelan and Kurt Zwikl.
Cost: $21.99
Info: http: //www.arcadiapublishing.com .
Book signings:
4: 30-7 p.m. Monday, Lehigh Valley Visitors and Convention Bureau, 840 Hamilton St., Allentown
5-7 p.m. Wednesday, Louie's Restaurant, 2071 31st St., Allentown
6-8 p.m. Friday, Liberty Bell Museum, 622 W. Hamilton St., Allentown
7-9 p.m. Dec. 23, Moravian Book Shop, 428 Main St., Bethlehem
11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 27, Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum, 432 Walnut St., Allentown
3: 30-5 p.m. Dec. 27, Liberty Bell Museum, 622 W. Hamilton St., Allentown
Also available: ''Postcards of America - Hess's Department Store, '' a set of 15 vintage photo postcards, $7.99.
Title: History of Hess's Department Store Told in New Book
Author: Staff Writer
Publisher: WFMZ-TV
Date: 12/15/2008
While the history of Hess's Department Store is on display in a temporary exhibit at the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum in Allentown, it will live on forever in a new book released today. Images of America: Hess's Department Store was compiled by Frank Whelan and Kurt Zwikl and published by Arcadia Publishing.
It's available on-line and in many local book stores. The book, complete with many old, seldom-seen pictures, describes Hess's as a unique department store with a combination of style and showmanship that made it a shopping legend for almost 100 years. It was founded in 1897 in Allentown by brothers Max and Charles Hess. Over the year's, the company's flagship store at 9th and Hamilton streets in downtown Allentown would play host to a who's who of celebrities and politicians, including Jimmy Carter, Johnny Carson, George Reeves, Hubert Humphrey, Lassie, and Rock Hudson. Perhaps one of the most popular features of the store was its basement restaurant, The Patio, famous for its towering strawberry pie.
Over the years, Hess' would grow to include nearly 80 stores before its demise in the early 1990s. Bon-Ton bought Hess's flagship store, but declining sales and a growing cost to operate the massive building, prompted the company to close it in January 1996. The building would stand empty for the next four years before PPL tore it down and replaced it with a modern office building.
The subject of the book came easy for its authors. Frank Whelan contributed to a TV documentary about Hess's. He's currently director of special projects at the Lehigh County Historical Society. Kurt Zwikl is a former state representative from the Lehigh Valley and former chair of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. His late father, William Zwikl, was the longtime photographer for Hess's.
The Hess's exhibit at the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum, 423 West Walnut Street, Allentown, features dozens of old photos, a recreation of the store's famous French room, Hess's turn-of-the-century horse-drawn wagon, and some of its crystal chandeliers. "I remember as a little girl going to Hess's and being mesmerized by the beauty, the chandeliers, twinkling lights, huge trees," said Jill Youngken, curator of the interactive exhibit. The museum is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10AM until 4PM and Sundays from 11AM through 4PM through December 31. After January 1, the hours will be Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10AM until 4PM and Sundays from noon until 4PM through January 11. Admission is $6 for adults, $3 for children. Members are admitted free.
