BETHLEHEM, Pa. – A beloved holiday tradition is returning to the Christmas City.
Three-hundred-sixty-three days a year, the neon red letters on top of Historic Hotel Bethlehem shine “HOTEL BETHLEHEM.”
On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the word “HOTEL” doesn’t appear, and only the word “BETHLEHEM” shines in the night sky.
Hotel Bethlehem
“Through Christmas night, there’s a lot of hustle and bustle in the holiday season,” said Bruce Haines, the hotel’s managing partner, in a news release.
“It’s important for us to take a moment and reflect on what’s truly important. That’s our beloved community of Bethlehem here in Pennsylvania and the miracle that happened in the original Bethlehem more than two-thousand years ago,”
The sign switch-off is a tradition that started decades ago, with the hotel’s management team believing it may have begun as early as the 1950s.
Some hotel employees from that era say management stopped doing it in the 1970s. That was decades before Haines and his partners took ownership and restored the historic building.
Haines caught wind of the old tradition in 2018 when local resident Debbie Helms told him about it.
“I thought it was such a beautiful sentiment that I had to bring it back,” Haines said. “It’s a very special way to celebrate our history.”
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Historic Hotel Bethlehem is located on the site of Bethlehem’s first house.
It is where, on Christmas Eve in 1741, Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf named the town Bethlehem in honor of the place where Jesus was born.
“On Christmas Eve, we attend Christmas Eve Service at Central Moravian Church,” Haines said.
“I just love when we step out onto the church steps and see only the word BETHLEHEM in the night sky. It is the most magical moment of the year and reminds us of the true reason for the season.”