Watching Movies Inside A Train Station

Here's an interesting bit of New York cinema history that I recently learned about via an electronic message that appeared on a curbside Link NYC kiosk: In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, there was a movie theatre inside the world-famous Grand Central Terminal.

Numerous questions came to mind upon learning this: who operated the theatre?; where in the terminal was it located?; how many people did it seat?; was it ornate?; did the train noises disturb moviegoers?; were the moviegoers mostly commuters?; etc., etc., etc. I would love to have those questions answered.

No doubt it, like other theatres, was a single-screen venue; no multiplexes back then.

Who knew that Grand Central Terminal was large enough to house a movie theatre?

What Would Happen If A UFO Landed In Times Square?

I wonder what would have happened if on New Year's Eve 2018, a UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) hovered over a crowded Times Square. Would the people have freaked out? Would the New York Police Department sharpshooters have shot at it? Would people have thought it was a terrorist attack? Would President Trump have said that it was a prank staged by the Democratic Party? Hmm.

Homophobic Buffoonery At ATLAH Church

One word accurately describes both the weather and Rev. James David Manning's attitude toward the "Love Not Hate" demonstrators outside the ATLAH Church in Harlem on November 23--chilly.

For months  the church's outdoor message board carried homophobic rants like the one on display that evening--"YOU SODOMITES AND FREAKS HAVE SOILED HARLEM. BUT YE SHALL BE MOVED. PAYBACK IS A  BITCH."

As the ethnically and racially diverse demonstrators held anti-hate signs aloft, Rev. Manning , standing inside the church 's gate, under the watchful eye of the police, an open Bible in one hand, a microphone in the other, railed against his opponents. Next to him stood a handful of his congregants, silent witnesses to the high emotions on both sides of the gate.

For a while it was impossible to hear what he was saying because his voice was drowned out by the protestors shouting "Shame on You!" and "Love, Not Hate!"

A flyer was distributed among the 75 or 80 demonstrators that told them if Rev. Manning "responds to our rally in an aggressive and/or insulting manner, DO NOT ENGAGE HIM. LEAVE HIM BE. We don't want to give  ATLAH any of video of  'clash' [sic] they crave for their own purposes." But the demonstrators could not resist confronting Rev. Manning's open hostility. Especially when he called one female protestor "a witch" and beckoned to another one with "Come here, lesbo. Come here, lesbo." During all of this a male demonstrator sang We Shall Overcome. Rev. Manning mocked him by saying "Niggers are always singing We Shall Overcome." The demonstrator ignored him and kept on singing.

Rev. Manning's buffoonish behavior revealed him as unchristian and undignified. It made me wonder about the character of those who chose to join his church of hate.

An obviously unrepentant and unenlightened Rev. Manning now boasts on the message board that "NOVEMBER 23 [IS] A DAY TO REMEMBER WHEN JESUS VERBALLY STONED THE SODOMITES THAT ATTACKED ATLAH CHURCH."

What he fails to see is that his messages of hate have won the "Love Not Hate" rally organizers allies. Along Lenox Avenue some merchants have posted in their windows a blood-red "Love Not Hate" poster.

Before I Die...

In front of Harlem's First Corinthian Baptist Church, there are three blackboards side by side. On the middle blackboard is the phrase "Before I Die..." in large letters. From top to bottom, in two columns each, the words "Before I Die I Want To" are repeated with a blank space beside each entry for passersby to fill in their life's goals in colored chalk.

"Before I Die I Want To Write A Book," wrote one person; "Before I Die I Want To Fly Around The World," wrote another; "Before I Die I Want To See My Children Grow Up Happy," wrote still another.

Aside from reminding passersby of their own mortality, this project clearly encourages its participants to set goals, not be afraid to publicly announce them, and strive to attain them.

As the saying goes, if you can conceive it, you can achieve it.

Shilling For The Harlem Real Estate Industry?

Lauren Price's article, "What's Up in Uptown?" (Gay City  News, May 14, 2014), seemed more suited to the Real Estate section of the Sunday New York Times than the pages of a gay newspaper. In fact, the whole article made her look like a shill for the real estate industry.

I was very disappointed. I was expecting an article that was focused on how gays and lesbians were helping to transform the Harlem community, not an advertisement about what's available in Harlem for sale or rent.