When Laini Abraham graduated from college, the last place she ever saw herself coming back to was Easton.
"The real honest version is I came back after traveling and thought I'd stay long enough to make money so I could leave again," says the Easton native. "I didn't realize how beautiful it was here. I fell in love."
Fast forward 10 years and Abraham is one of the town's strongest proponents, founder and publisher of a travel guide series, "Laini's Little Pocket Guide." The series focused on Easton and now includes Bethlehem. An Allentown guide is in the works for next summer.
"I was tired of hearing people say there was nothing to do in Easton," Abraham says. "I felt like if people knew where stuff was, there'd be an increased comfort level with the Downtown area."
"I realized there was this whole community living and working Downtown and I loved it. I fell in love and it's a weird area to fall in love with."
Ghost town
"I didn't like it here when I left for college," Abraham recalls. "When I left in 1990, Downtown Easton was very depressed. The circle was a ghost town."
Abraham grew up in Palmer Township and graduated from Easton Area High School in 1990.
A photographer by nature, she began shooting images of city life when she returned; places that were familiar, yet begging to be rediscovered. She says the city's progression has been an amazing one to witness. Her photographs turned into a postcard series under the name Community Cards & Books.
Her business and her work as art director for Lehigh Valley Magazine and the Elucidator helped lay the groundwork for her pocket guide series.
First run
Her first guidebook hit shelves in 2007, and its third annual update is due this fall.
It was population growth -- people returning to the Easton area and city dwellers making the Lehigh Valley their home -- that fueled the need for a travel guide to the area.
"I got tired of seeing those flimsy maps and poorly done guides people would make from outside the area. I wanted a better representation of Easton," she says.
Each edition is a mix of photographs, history and recommendations for local arts, dining and music venues. The Easton edition even has a driving feature on how to maneuver Centre Square without an accident.
It took a year and a half of work and a lot of research to get the series off the ground. Abraham paired her photos with writer Elinor Warner's words for the first book. The project has grown over the years to include a team of more than 20.
"It was the hardest thing I've ever done selling ads for something that didn't exist," Abraham says of the guide's beginning. "Because I had been doing postcards, lived here and had an established business, there was a trust factor."
Today most of the publishing costs get lost in the ad revenue. The book retails for $4.95 at select retailers, including Weis, Wegmans and Giant. A good portion of the books aren't sold -- 15,000 get distributed directly to homes and 10,000 wind up at retailers.
Future plans
Her website, littlepocketguide.com, Facebook and Twitter accounts fill in where the books leave off with up-to-date features.
"Doing three books and this website is more than a full-time job," Abraham says. "The website is where people from the Lehigh Valley can get information on what's going on at that moment."
Each book will get an annual update -- Easton in October, Bethlehem in February and Allentown picking up in July.
Will her series expand to other Lehigh Valley cities in the future?
"It's possible," Abraham says. "But I don't want to go into a town that I don't know as well to do a superficial book."
Abraham says even locals will get something out of her series.
"You'll find out about things in here that you never knew about -- no matter how long you've lived here," Abraham says. "(It means) never again having to call 411 for the number to your favorite restaurant."
Reporter Kelly Huth can be reached at 610-258-7171 or khuth@express-times.com. Talk about issues in your town at lehighvalleylive.com/forums.
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