• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, October 31, 2019

Well here’s a story that’s timely for Halloween. Boston-based independent agency Allen & Gerritsen is  opening a new office in Hershey, PA near the iconic corner of Chocolate and Cocoa Avenues.  Ah, the cachet.

When I was a trick-or-treater I think 90% of my booty was comprised of goodies from the Hershey and Mars companies. I’d be in a near coma-like sugar high for two weeks. Yeah those were the days.

The agency has won significant new business in the region recently, hence the opening of the new office.  Recent wins include The Central Pennsylvania Convention & Visitors Bureau and Allegheny College.

I too have experienced the thrill of working in office space at an address just brimming with cachet—right at the corner of Hollywood & Vine in beautiful downtown Hollywood, CA. Yep, the old Taft Building. Of course when I was there the area was somewhat in decline—kind of like New York’s Times Square in 1970’s.

Back then it was a place where desperate souls at the end of their rope looked for a place to end their misery and jump to their death. Seriously, there was jumper right across the street one day. Everybody in the office stood sentry at the windows waiting for the big moment if there was to be one. (There was.)

There was a crowd gathered down below on the street. Some miscreants among them were even egging the dazed and confused person on the ledge many stories above them to jump.

Call me a party pooper but I just couldn’t stand by at the window waiting for this tragedy to play out. But I heard the screams of those down below and in the office when the soul on the ledge made her move. I think about her from time to time and hope she’s resting in peace.

Sorry to be a bit ghoulish, but like I said at the top it’s a story timely for Halloween. And addresses with cachet.

Anyway, good luck to all the A&G staffers at their new Hershey’s office, helmed by agency principal Tim Reeves.

And Happy Halloween to all!