Category:Bill Daniel's Music Factory, Allentown, Pennsylvania

Bill Daniel's Music Factory (3220 Hamilton Blvd) was in the Dorneyville section of Allentown. Daniels opened the club in July 1967 along with his son John who worked in the kitchen. It initially started out as a beef and beer joint featuring live banjo music as its top draw. Daniel's son convinced his dad to try bringing in local rock bands. Daniels then started concerts on Tuesday nights and they became an instant success and for the next 30 years was THE place in Eastern Pennsylvania for many local and national bands. The place was like a continuous party, a boy-meet-girl atmosphere. Most everyone was a regular, everybody knew everybody. It was always packed, every night of the week. The club was the ultimate place to hang out. Billy Joel had a private party at the club after his 1975 Allentown concert. ZZ Top would hang out there after their Allentown Fairgrounds shows.

But the club had a long history before that. The club actually dated back to 1935 as the "Club Rio", a big band nightclub which was then out in the fringes of Allentown at Dorneyville Crossing. Didn't even have an address at the time. In 1941 the owners opened a second location in downtown Allentown on the second floor of 734 Hamilton Street, calling it the "Rio Chaim Club", so people who lived in the city could enjoy the atmosphere of the club due to the shutdown of the Allentown-Dorneyville trolley system due to wartime transportation restrictions. The Allentown club closed in November 1946. In 1952 Club Rio was sold and it became the "Royal Palms Restaurant", a sit down dinner place that a lot of business groups and organizations met at. In 1964 it sold again, become "LuConda Nightclub", where bands played at night. That only last a year because in 1965 it became the "Crossroads Tavern", with bands and Go-Go girls.

In July 1967, Bill Daniels bought the club. Daniels was a native of Reading, and a past president of the Berks County Tavern Association. He renamed it the "Bull and Barrell". He kept the Crossroad Tavern's Go-Go girls. In May 1969, he renamed it "Cesar's Palace", keeping the same format along with the Go-Go girls. On Tuesday nights, rock bands would perform which became a success, then it became the Rock Palace in July 1972. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, rock music was at its peak. Many local bands performed at Bill Daniels. The club was very popular with many 'regulars' and always packed, every night of the week. Upstairs from the concert floor, a seperate disco, "Bill's Apartment" opened in 1973 which provided a disco dance floor for recorded music. In the early years, Daniels hired attractive women to dance in the "Apartment", to provide a "playboy-type atmosphere".

Not only was it a prime place to perform for local bands, it was also a great place to hang out at. Billy Joel had a private party at the club in 1975 after a concert at Muhlenberg College; ZZ Top did the same after performing at the Allentown Fair. In 1979 the club's name was changed to Bill Daniels Music Factory, reflecting the popularity of dancing to recorded music as well as live acts.

Bill Daniels died in December 1985, and after his death the club was renamed "Bill Daniel's G. Willikers". However the rock band era was passing and the club closed its doors in March 1987. The club was sold and subsequently torn down and replaced in January 1989 by the Dorneyville Motor Inn. Howard Johnson's took it over in 1992.