In the past few years, the brick by brick building that Edd Dicker would play every Sunday night as a child has collapsed and collapsed.

Although the memories of his grandfather and the bar at the helm of the Glendon Hotel are shining brightly, it is heartbreaking to watch this neglected building fall apart with Dicker and his family.

Now, the staff plans to complete the work and demolish the hotel this month.

Dicker's grandfather Ed Casey bought the building in 1954 with two relatives, Jim Doran and Sam Buscemi. Casey is a Glendon City Councillor who grew up in Philipsburg and has been involved in businesses in the area.

Dickel said that the first floor of the hotel is a bar and attached kitchen, where bar food, hamburgers, hot dogs and "a lot of clams" are served. The Casey family lives on the second floor, and there are rooms on the third floor.

This 1950s photo shows Ed Casey, the owner of Glendon, in a hotel bar. The building is planned to be razed to the ground this month. Photo courtesy of Edd Dicker | for lehighvalleylive.com

When asked to describe the bar, Dick can visit it from memory. He said that through the front door, there is a jukebox and a cigarette maker on the right, and a shuffleboard game on the left.

Right in front is a pool table, in the far corner of the bathroom is a pinball machine and other game machines, and on the right is a wrap-around bar.

"It's dark, like all bars," Dickel said.

On the right is the kitchen and walk-in freezer.

Dick’s earliest memory is when he was 10 or 11 years old, about 1976 to 1977. Dick, his parents and two sisters will head to the hotel on Sunday night.

His step-grandmother would spend a whole day cleaning, while Dick's mother and her would sit down and chat, and Casey and Dick's father would go out.

Dick said that he would get a roll of quarter coins, and he would have about four hours alone when his sisters were watching TV. When he was young, Dick could play pinball and billiards to his heart's content, and when he grew up, "public telephones have become very important."

At the end of the evening, the family will stop at Jimmy's house on the way home.

In early 1987, Dick's grandfather was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The hotel was sold to its last owner, Albert Rutherford, for $110,000. Two months later, Casey died of cancer at the age of 69.

Dick lives in Alamucci, but as he grows, he travels back and forth in the Easton-Phillipsburg area. He follows the story about the Glendon Hotel and its future "as anyone in the world can follow closely."

He said: "It is heartbreaking to watch this house with so many memories decay as the building is sold, and then... nothing happens." "I have witnessed the complete decline and destruction of that period of history. ...Just watching it slowly die."

Part of the building has collapsed, bricks and debris are scattered on the street, and all three floors on the left side of the building are exposed.

"What you see is not only history being destroyed, but also your childhood memories," Dick said.

In the past few months, Dickel said he has been revisiting everything that happened there and looking for old photos. He remembered to get the Polaroid OneStep camera and went to the hotel.

"We may have taken hundreds of (photos)," he said. "If we can't find one of them, I will be cursed."

The Glendon Hotel, taken in November 2015. Rudy Miller | For lehighvalleylive.com

When he learned that the old Sprite logo had been stolen, Dick joked that he must first assure his relatives that it was not him.

"It must be a two-person operation. You can't get there (to the third floor) without help," Dick said.

He urged the thief to return the sign or find someone to help the authorities find it.

"That belongs to Glendon. It belongs to history," Dick said.

Dick and his sister wanted to say their personal farewell, not to the walls and windows, but to a family history they could see and touch. They are working with construction companies to try to get a last glance before the demolition begins.

Dicker thought the staff would find a surprise at the back of the hotel.

Dickel said that an underground bar was built in the back, but the wall collapsed and the room was enshrined. He said that the room was full of old bottles of all kinds; his father would fish out some of them with a pole.

Only those who live there know.

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Sarah Cassi can be contacted at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com.

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