01-04-2005, 03:58 PM
|
|
Tastykake Maker
|
|
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: West Chester
Posts: 183
|
|
The Divine Lorraine is owned by EB Realty Managment.
From their website:
Quote:
|
The same partnership also owns the Divine Lorraine Hotel which is two blocks away on the east side of Broad St. The Divine Lorraine, once home to Father Divine's Peace Mission Movement, a spiritual group that helped advance Civil Rights, is considered to be one of Philadelphia's most significant historic architectural gems. Father Divine was a colorful celebrity preacher, famous for the free feasts that he hosted for the followers in Harlem. In 1939 he arrived on the scene in Philadelphia in a 16-car train, which he called the "Divine Special". He took the City by storm acquiring the Lorraine Hotel and renaming it "The Divine Lorraine" in 1939. Father Divine was a self proclaimed deity who once said "If any other person has a god that will cause the people to do more than I cause them to do, bring him forth and I will worship him". The deity fell, but the Divine Lorraine still has intact a hand-painted mural in the dining hall that has the preacher's achievements. "FREEDOM," it reads, "Abraham Lincoln Spoke About It. Father Divine Brought It About." In June 1932, New York Supreme Court Justice, Louis J. Smith, fined Father Divine $500 and sentenced him to one year in prison. Four days later, Smith, who was in his fifties and believed to be in very good health, suddenly died of a heart attack. Father Divine was quoted from his cell as saying "I hated to do it". After that episode, Father Divine's popularity exploded. The Divine Lorraine is in constant demand as a movie back drop with the most recent filming of the Hollywood blockbuster "Shadow Boxer" starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. The partnership plans a 135 condo conversion to begin in early 2005
|
They also run the Ciagr Factory, Marine Club & Executive House.
http://www.cigarfactorycondos.com/about_ebrealty.html
|