needs advice/opinion/help on moving to Bethlehem

[OneMoreinLV]

Most of the (East and South) Asian families (emphasis on families) tend to live in Bethlehem Township or in Whitehall or Parkland SD. I think there's some community in Palmer Township as well. Thanks to the colleges and to the recent influx from Jersey, there are plenty of Asians in the area, but you will definitely find that people who grew up in the area make some comments you would never hear in Jersey. You probably won't be confronted with out and out face-to-face racism, though there's plenty of that around here too.

There's a relatively high concentration of Indonesians and Malaysians around here. "Relatively high" being in comparison to the general absence of these communities anywhere else. There are definitely Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, and Indian communities as there are almost everywhere. I'm guessing there are Thais, Cambodians, etc. too. There's probably some sort of local community/religious organization for whatever group you might be looking for. But then again, as a single guy, you may not exactly be looking for full-on community involvement. Or maybe you are. Google is your friend for finding these groups.

"South Bethlehem" can mean the area around Lehigh - which is probably not somewhere you want to live, but it also includes the rest of Bethlehem south of the river with a couple of decent complexes and developments. But they're not areas you would walk around. The same iapplies North Bethlehem. There's Downtown, and then there's the whole rest of the city and the township. If you want to have the pseudo-urban experience of walking around to restaurants and cafes and the like, then what you want is the northern part of downtown. Otherwise, you could live anywhere in the Lehigh Valley and it won't make a difference, since you'll be driving, and it's just not that big an area. And note that it's very much a pseudo-urban experience. Things close much earlier, and a lot shuts down when the colleges are on vacation.

[asianboy29]

Thank you very much everybody for the very useful info about the area.
Everybody seems to have the same opinion about North and South downtown Bethlehem. I'll take your advices and look for a place somewhere in North downtown. Anybody knows of any apt condo/townhouse/etc for sale with at least 2br around the area? Is it safe to assume that anywhere North of the river is part of the "nice/safe community". Is there a place which is considered the "times square" of Bethlehem?

Asianboy29

[toobusytoday]

My guess is alot of the Asian people I am seeing in Southern Lehigh came here to work at the new Olympic headquarters in Center Valley. At the library where I work it's not unusual anymore to have 20% of the patrons that visit daily come from an Asian background. I think I might be more conscious of that then most people because my daughter is living in China and we're planning to visit in April so I am always striking up conversations with them. Or maybe the word has gotten out that the library is a great place! Our schools certainly don't have that large a percentage of any minority.

Also, I know several families that have adopted Asian (mostly Chinese) children.

[HookEm']

Good Luck with your move. I am a 32 yr old female moving from Texas! I have been looking at so many towns and cities around MD and PA they are starting to run together! I agree with you on the ideal that Bethlehem seems to have a lot to offer. It has defiantly made its way to the top of my list. Once again, GOOD LUCK!

[jeffvivian]

Bethlehem would be a perfect fit for your lifestyle. There seem to be many people in your situation requesting the Bethlehem area. It just works, no real downside to it at all.

[keithlantz]

I'm around the same age as you, so I know you'll definitely want to live in downtown Bethlehem (northside) or at the Riverport condos on the Southside. The "times square" area is on the northside around Broad and Main Streets. On that corner is the Bethlehem Brew Works (a nice brew pub, restaurant, and lounge with pool tables), and a bunch of other restaurants (Apollo Grill, Edge, Starfish Brasserie, Other Fish Sushi, Billy's Diner, Hunan Inn are all on Broad St.), coffee places, stores, dry cleaners, and banks are in the near vicinity. The Bethlehem Hotel also has a nice restaurant and lounge area with Jazz on Fridays. The is a dance club on Broad known as "40 Below" next to a trendy store called Pop Mart. You can find a number of condo-type buildings within a couple of blocks of this area. One building that has condos is right on Main street and it has a cigar store and a gallery on the street level floor. Other condos are located above the shops on Broad and Guetter Sts (above Rippers pub and Chocolate Lab). This area is also close to residential streets with many duplex- and townhouse-type houses. Go toModerator cut: link removed, advertising is not allowed to search. I think you should be able to find something in your price range. Good luck.