Day 5: Steel Factory

2026-02-11

Hello! Some context is needed for this photo, I think.

I was fortunate enough to take a day trip to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Along with being a city of universities and casinos (a pretty weird combination, honestly), Bethlehem is also the host city of MusikFest, an annual free music festival.

I didn't go to the festival (I actually got there the day after it ended), but I still took a detour to visit the venue grounds. I'll say, they clean up well — there were some banners and signs of MusikFest 2025, but standing there after it all closed down, I wouldn't have imagined more than one million people cheering for music here. Because MusikFest is not in a typical music venue.

It's in an abandoned factory.

Now, I'm definitely not the authoritative source on Bethlehem Steel. All I did was pull old news sites and user-generated Wikipedia articles. Mainly the Wikipedia articles. (It's my digital home away from home). But from my understanding, Bethlehem Steel was a huge economic driver for the city and was an icon of American industry (especially for the military). Its decline, due to international competition and failure to meet pension commitments, led to bankruptcy in 2001.

The factories and headquarters were not demolished, however; the areas were renovated, and the original plant became "an arts and entertainment district" (this is where the casinos come in, by the way).

You can still walk around the main manufacturing plant today — they even have staircases leading up to a high view so you can peer inside one of the warehouses.

That's how I got this photo. And as for why: there's so much to say here. It's a snapshot of history, of the economy, and of modern-day tourism.

Finally, I've got some new music recommendations. This time, I'm picking a song from an artist who played at MusikFest 2025. Well, sorta. A tribute band to Phish played various jams, and while it's been publicly archived on YouTube, honestly go listen to the original album it's better.

Thank you for visiting this blog! Special thanks to the newsletter subscribers; you get this photo a week before the internet does :-).

Cheers,
David