PPL Center, Allentown, Ghid vizitatori și ce de văzut în apropiere

The PPL Center is an indoor arena at 732 Hamilton Street in downtown Allentown, Pennsylvania, with about 8,500 seats. It opened in 2014 and is home to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms ice hockey team. It also hosts concerts and other events, so it is one of the busiest spots in the city centre.

The story behind it

The arena stands on the 700 block of Hamilton Street, between 7th and 8th Streets. Hamilton Street is Allentown's main downtown artery, and for most of the 20th century it was the city's principal shopping district, lined with department stores and shops.

When the PPL Center opened in 2014, it gave that block a new purpose. Where shoppers once crowded the pavements, hockey fans and concertgoers now arrive in the evening, and the arena sits at the centre of the city's effort to bring people back downtown. It is a good example of how a main street keeps changing with the people who use it.

What to look for

• Look at the arena's frontage on the 700 block of Hamilton Street and notice how a large modern building fits into a street of older commercial architecture.
• Walk the stretch between 7th and 8th Streets and picture it as the heart of the city's shopping district for much of the last century.
• On a game or event night, watch the crowds spill out onto the pavement, which shows how the block works today.
• Glance up and down Hamilton Street to see how the buildings around the arena mix old and new, a sign of a downtown still reinventing itself.

Tips for your visit

• You can see the outside at any time, and ten minutes is enough for a look. Going inside normally means having a ticket for a game or event, so check the current event schedule.
• Evenings on game or concert nights are the liveliest time. For a quieter look at the architecture, come by day.
• The arena is on Hamilton Street, so it is easy to combine with a walk through the rest of downtown Allentown, with cafes and restaurants close by.
• Wear comfortable shoes if you plan to link it with other downtown stops. The area is flat and easy to cover on foot.

See it on a quest

The Ghost Hunt in Allentown passes the PPL Center as one stop on a longer walk through downtown. The app tells you about each place as you arrive and sets a puzzle based on what is in front of you, so you look at the street more closely. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group.

The Murder Mystery: Death in the Shadows in Allentown also takes you past the arena. You reach it on foot as part of a route through the area, hear about it on the spot and solve a puzzle there. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group.