A Fawlty Film Noir Pride by CoreyBlack
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Description
For the first time since my maiden voyage, in 1986, I didn't attend the annual GLBT Pride Parade this year. There were extenuating circumstances, but the main reason was that I simply didn't feel like it. After nearly a quarter of a century of being involved in the parade, a sense of ennui had set in. They've always been a good party, but when I first started attending them, the parades were cathartic, politically-charged reactions to continuing oppression. Communal celebrations of hard-won personal pride, and a tribute to the rebellious spirit of the Stonewall Uprising in 1969: those were what the parade was about...once.
Nobody mentions Stonewall much these days, nor do they seem to care that a 3-day riot against police harrassment at a seedy gay bar in Greenwich Village was the catalyst for the present spectacle. It's a spectacle that now has all the depth and political bite of an overcrowded, overpriced Walt Disney theme park ride. Perhaps this is the reward that the GLBT community gets for now being on the outskirts of the mainstream: banality.
Chip and I didn't entirely blow off the festivities, however; and at one point, actually considered going. The night before the parade, we went to Boys Town to check out the pre-parade vibe and take pictures. The vibe was good, and the photos likewise. We didn't get home until 3 am. When we woke up the next morning, a violent thunderstorm raged. Other friends told me that the crowd was expected to exceed half a million people. Let's put that into perspective: the population of a medium-sized American city crammed into the tight confines of Lakeview. As Chip would say, that's a whole lot of BTUs put out on an already hot and muggy day. Yuck.
The storm eventually cleared, but by that point it seemed easier to have a leisurely breakfast and watch DVDs. The evergreen hilarity of Fawlty Towers and the captivating film noir masterpiece, The Asphalt Jungle. The only thing we both missed about Pride were the photos we could have made.
But onto this picture: if it weren't for the circa 1965 sign boasting free color TV, this could be a shot out of The Asphalt Jungle. I can almost see the camera panning down from the sign to Sterling Hayden as Dix Handley, emerging from the front door in his rumpled suit, tired old snap-brimmed hat, and a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
This picture was made on Belmont Avenue in the Lakeview area of Chicago on June 26th, 2010.
Comments (17)
wonderworld
How VERY wonderfully nostalgic!!!! Love it Corey:)
jocko500
color shot here. politically-charged I can give you...I read the last 13 roman Emperors, 12 was GLBT Pride and it led to the fall of roman with they Liberal ideas...and bad morals too. read the history of roman and you see what i talking about.... bad morals for sure.. feeding the lions with people lol not to say one married his mom
beachzz
This has a great retro feel to it. Wonderful night shot and feel. Even better is your story about Pride and all it means--or meant. Sometimes events take on lives of their own and in the process, the purpose gets lost in the party. Well said, Corey!!
Chipka
What a shot. I don't know why but when I look at this, I hear William S. Burroughs--with his grackleish, sonorous voice saying something like: "I went...with Bill Gains, who handled the uptown business. I met Bill in an Eight Avenue cafeteria after I finished up in the Village. He had a few good customers. Izzy, probably his best, had a job as a cook on a tugboat in New York harbor. He was one of the 103rd Street boys. Izzy had done time for pushing, was known as a thoroughly right guy, and he had a steady source of income. This is the perfect customer." That's from Junky by the way. I wonder how many Izzies might have frequented the halls and rooms of this particular establishment with its free air and color TV, and rooms safe for a particular breed of half-indigent, down-on-his-luck guy with a habit of some sort and a sense of self that violated the common style of "morality" in its day. I see places like this and think of Stonewall, and how the self righteous always work harsh and bad magic against the very societies they say they're protecting. It's funny how places like this have historically sheltered "the Other," and how "otherness" was always perceived as shady, dodgy, and not to be trusted, when it was always the Other that provided the very things so necessary for society. Funny how that works. I'll always remember a garish drag queen telling a scruffy street kid: "Honey, it's okay...you jus' need t' know who you are and kick anybody's ass who thinks its somethin' wrong with that." I actually heard a drag queen on Halsted and Roscoe (when it wasn't snazzy) saying that to some dweeb of a kid who hadn't yet come out. That was the same drag queen "Bunny" or something like that who also said: "God ain't gone never judge you as much as a Christian does." She had her opinions and loved to share them. (Isn't there always a drag queen named Bunny?) Something clicked in my brain when I heard that and I wonder what Bunny might be able to say about the Abbott. Funny how such histories exist in such places as this. I'll always love old flop-houses (even though flopping no longer occurs in them) and I'll always wonder what stories they have to tell...what minor tragedies and insignificant triumphs? THOSE are what Human life is about. It's also funny how places like this survive with a particular history, even as times change and that history becomes nothing more than reason for a party that expresses the decadence and shallowness that places like Stonewall stood so regally against. This also reminds me of Charmers. Remember Charmers? The oldest gay bar in Chicago! Or at least the oldest gay bar in its area. It still had a door buzzer! When straight people were around, everyone else had to sit with their hands on the bar, and straight people were always around: plainclothes members of some vice squad or another. You couldn't look at the guy next to you, even if you were talking to him. Gay guys back then, got really good at talking to mirrors behind the bars: it was safe, it was how you kept from being arrested because of who you were. Charmers, even in the 1990s and early, early 2000's still had all sorts of security devices (low tech) to ensure that patrons weren't killed on the way in or out; bartenders always had baseball bats in easy reach. Multiple baseball bats, and a mean right swing, when necessary. It was at Charmers (and by extension, I guess, this hotel, where African American "fags" learned to wear razor blades in their belts to protect themselves. I loved Charmers for the same reasons that I love the Abbot, though I've never been to that hotel. The history is dark and painful, but ah...what life! What passions! What refusal to simply die and go away and leave the world safe for white picket fences and frustrated, passionless married couples trapped with one another simply because that's the way normal life was supposed to be. This is well seen, incredibly evocative, and truly brilliant social commentary in all of the most elegantly subtle ways. I look at the Abbott and I wonder at the stories that it has to tell, and all I can say is: watch this space. Closely. And don't be surprised if something dark and creepy oozes out and points its finger at all of the normal people and says: Look at me! I'm the skeleton in your closet, and you're the one who put me there. I'm out now, and I'm going to tell mommy just what you did! What a terrifying day that might be! I can't help but think of that whenever I see (and remember) places like this hotel, and the others along Broadway, now closed and half-demolished, because in the very early 1990s, those were the places where guys like "Tallboy" and "Skunk" went to get a good night's sleep because their corn-belt parents kicked them out because they'd rather kiss a football player than get a cheerleader pregnant. WOW! This really pulled a lot of memories to the surface, but then that's what brilliant photography does. Well done!
durleybeachbum
Well that really got Chip going! (and sadly Jocko too). What first struck me was 'Free air' ! I mean to say, WHAT? being English I don't think I understand that. I once asked my dear Jewish friend Isador why he had such a long nose..and he replied, tapping it meaningfully "Air is FREE, my girl! Air is FREE!"
Meisiekind
I am sooo with Andrea! I also got stuck on free TV and AIR...??? This is a wonderful post Corey and I thoroughly enjoyed your narrative as well as all the comments. I've been on this one picture for almost 20 min now!!! LOL... Thank you for sharing!
jmb007
asphalt jungle,quand la ville dort en francais,est un magnifique film!!!la photo aussi!!
KatesFriend
A remarkably well maintained vintage (no hotel boasts about "free tv and air" these days) neon sign. I love neon tube lighting, I think it is the purity of the colours that they generate - though for different colours, different noble gases are used. When people demand of me a practical example of quantum mechanical phenomena (they don't really, but if they did) I would always point out neon lighting and LED lights but that is more recent. Beautiful shot, the colours and the atmosphere is well caught.
Sea_Dog
So cool! I remember the days when color tv and air conditioning were oddities or luxuries and hotels/motels drew patrons by offering them. Usually the colors were either faint or over-saturated and bore little resemblance to true life and the air conditioning was a wheezing, noisy window unit that barely worked.
sandra46
a great night shot, i love urban atmospheres like this one! I also don't go to parades, demonstrations and the like any longer, after forty years i got so fed up that i prefer spending time at home going through the galleries ;-D
danapommet
Old neon signs like this one remind me of the Americana that has slipped past us, into the forgotten past, of this great country. I can’t believe that all the parts are still working. Fantastic bit of history and incredible night shot – shooting directly into the light. Dana
myrrhluz
I can not say better than Andrea concerning the comments. One thing that comforts me when I see my sons' generation (at least in America) is that homophobia seems to be greatly on the decrease. I hope this is a trend that sticks. I seem to remember a historian that blamed the fall of Rome on the Christians... Excellent image! I love the "Free Air". Living in hot climates most of my life, I know how important the arival of air conditioning was. It was the lack of it that caused me to be a Gemini. After two Autumn babies and a particularly grueling summer, Mom had had enough. Leslie and I were born in late Spring. Very interesting narrative. I lived in New Jersey in 1969, but a more clueless 13 year old would have been hard to find. The crowded situation sounds horrible. I avoid the River Walk during holidays for that reason. That and the beer. Not because I don't like beer, though I don't, but because I prefer not to wear it. Though there is the consolation that if you get really snockered the crowd will keep you vertical.
auntietk
I admit to having mixed feelings about the whole "the way things were" vs "the way things are" thing. The political edge, the excitement of people coming out, the thrill of speaking truth no matter what, of publicly honoring those who went before ... those were heady days! I remember when going to a Seattle Men's Chorus concert was like attending a semi-secret meeting where everyone felt so GOOD about being there! The fact that a Pride parade can now be mainstream and banal ... you know, that's VERY good news. It's boring as all get-out, but it's the result of years of hard work and progress. (Our Pride parade ran up Broadway up until a few years ago when they switched it down to 4th, right downtown, about as mainstream as it gets!) But it means you and Chip and my brother and my nephew and some of my best girlfriends and a whole raft of people I know and love can be themselves without living in fear that they'll be attacked and/or arrested simply because of who they are ... but the thrill is mostly gone, isn't it? Ahhhhh ... progress. Ummm ... did I mention the picture? LOL! I got all up on my soapbox and forgot what we were here for. This reminds me so much of my childhood. Our best friends lived sort of next door to a tavern out on a country road, and that tavern had a blinking neon sign. It would spell out the name, then blink the name, then spell it out again ... you know the sort. This sign is SO much like that old sign. I used to lie in bed trying to sleep while my parents were up late playing pinochle and eating popcorn with their friends ... watching that sign ... blink blink blink ... until I finally fell asleep. Wonderful image!
flavia49
beautiful vibrant colors!! I love neon lights!!
goodoleboy
Stellar POV, colors and lighting effects contrasted against the night sky in this excellent foto, Corey!
minos_6
This is a great capture, and it has an air of nostalgia to me too. Unfortunately, your impression of Pride matches my own aversion to London Pride this year, for exactly the same reasons. Never mind! We can always fall back on the Eurovision Song Contest!
kgb224
A stunning capture Corey.