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Spatial Histories Concealed

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The omissions that characterize restorative nostalgia are apparent in a profile of the United Palace Cathedral featured in an episode of Thirteen's The City Concealed, an online documentary video series produced by the New York public media station WNET. The series purports to explore “the unseen corners of New York.” The episode on United Palace Cathedral presents three distinct perspectives on the building’s history, provided by theater historian Orlando Lopes, Pastor Sal Sabino who teamed up with Rev. Ike Ministries for a couple of years, and middle-aged native New Yorkers, twins Ronald and Richard Levao, who grew up in Washington Heights during the 1950s. In this profile, the representative of the United Palace Cathedral, Latino Pastor Sal Sabino emphasizes the gang violence that plagues Washington Heights while ignoring Rev. Ike’s congregation, composed of a diminishing group of older, Black middle class parishioners. Touring the palace’s auditorium, the Levao twins appear lost in memory. Richard explains, in contrast to today’s media delivery platforms, “the magic is the location of the movie, as well as the movie itself...”

The oversight of Rev. Ike’s congregation results in a neat categorization, relegating white and Jewish ethnicity into the past and Dominican diaspora into the present and future. While it is true that Washington Heights was known as the “Frankfurt on the Hudson” in the earlier half of the twentieth century, what is not addressed in mainstream accounts is that this reputation was precisely why Reverend Ike chose this neighborhood for his flagship church. For instance, promotional material and advertisements for Rev. Ike’s church reveal how the symbolic function of movie palaces contributed to the church’s post-racial proclamations and appeals. One New York Times advertisements for the church read: “The Church is NOT located in Harlem, but in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan.” United Church moved into Washington Heights at the very moment when demographic dominance was shifting in the neighborhood. Rev. Ike’s decision to move the church from a historically black neighborhood in Harlem to Washington Heights demonstrated his ambition to expand the reach of the church beyond the confines of one racial group, something ignored in mainstream accounts of the church.

During the 1960s and 70s, the number of German-Jewish upper- to middle-class residents fell by over 50 percent and eventually Dominicans became the demographic majority. By the 2000s, bilingual sermons were delivered at Rev. Ike’s church. A desire to cater to the neighborhood’s demographic majority may also have led to the partnership with Pastor Sal Sabino’s Heavenly Vision Church, which emphasizes a message of forgiveness and reform, in contrast to Rev. Ike’s continued commitment to prosperity gospel.

This page has paths:

  1. Histories Concealed Veronica Paredes

Contents of this path:

  1. Black Televangelists in Movie Palaces-Turned-Churches
  2. Black Televangelist past & present

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