Posted by Ryan Hill at 05:14:33 PM on October 19, 2006
Total Comments: 1
You probably know by now about Wired Gallery and Cafe opening on Main Street in Bethlehem, but I'm hoping you haven't dismissed the place as just another storage room for silly things you'll never be able to afford. I was in the gallery last week and was given a mini-tour of the cafe, which opens tomorrow night, and I finally saw the cool, laid-back gathering place for the masses I had been missing since college.
Wired is a long overdue piece of the Main Street puzzle. The area has always been my favorite Friday/Saturday night destination (one note: it helps that I live only blocks from the area and can stumble back home in less than 15 minutes), but it, like the rest of the Lehigh Valley, made me feel like the 20-somethings weren't part of the plan. The only affordable restaurants on site remain Tortilla Flat and Bethlehem Brewworks, but the Flat closes relatively early leaving the Brewworks to be crowded with pretty much every single person who wanted to hang out in the area; that can get old fast. Add this to the fact that the Moravian Bookshop shuts its doors at 6pm ON A SATURDAY, and one can see that the majority of Main Street caters to upper middle class 30-to-60-somethings looking for an array of stores to empty their fat wallets at and not the 20-somethings local politicians claim to want staying in the area after they graduate from Lehigh or Moravian.
Wired Cafe will only close at 6pm on Sundays; they'll be open until 9 on weekdays and 11 on Fridays and Saturdays, tomorrow night being the grand opening. There will be live music and food from Bethlehem vendors, including Johnny's Bagels, Chocolate Lab and Starfish Brasserie. The obligatory wi-fi connection is also in place. As for the gallery, it goes farther to making art accessible than most of the galleries that have taken up shop on Bethlehem's South Side, and actually includes *gasp* affordable photography! Pictures of local landmarks, like the PPL Building and Martin Tower, can run for as low as $25.
All this being said, I do hope that Wired will eventually extend its hours even further into the night once they see some success and realize people will be there past midnight if they're allowed to. My favorite places to escape to during college were any one of the numerous cafes just like Wired that were open into the early morning, if not all night, where there were countless others needing an escape from their claustrophobic dorms. Having a place like Wired could keep those college kids in town for years after they get diplomas.
-Ryan
