Father Divine, who lived in this area for many years, was a real life version of the Wizard of Oz-- with similar contradictions. A preacher, visionary civil rights pioneer, and friend of the poor, Father Divine ran integrated hotels, spoke out against injustice, and provided his followers with jobs, and decent, low-income housing. The religion he founded, the Peace Mission, was a model of racial parity. For all this, Father Divine is admired, and remembered fondly. But it's fair to say that The Wiz took as much as he gave. Living in ostentatious luxury, Father Divine persuaded his followers to separate from their families, subsume their identities in the Peace Movement, and worship him, literally, as God incarnate. Sex was forbidden, and language was policed with a evangelical rigor that makes campus speech codes seem permissive. This Philadelphia Inquirer article from 1989 gives a great overview of life in the Peace Mission, from the point of view of Father Divine's adopted son Tommy Garcia.
After legal troubles forced Father Divine to leave New York, the Lorraine Hotel on Broad Street became home base for the Peace Mission. Father Divine renamed the hotel the Divine Lorraine, and declared Philadelphia to be the center of the universe.
It was a real privilege to tour the beautiful and mysterious Divine Lorraine Hotel. I have a fascination for cults and mysticism, and love old buildings, so I've always been intrigued by it. Thank you Ken and Summer! I posted my photos from our visit in the Trips section of this page, the link is under Books to the right. I'm sure you'll agree that the Lorraine is a precious part of Philadelphia history-- a pearly dewdrop on the rose at the center of the universe.
