Terminal Bar Clicking through the hundreds of TV channels I have available (and yet never seem to find anything to watch) I came across the most wonderful short film - Terminal Bar, by Stefan Nadelman. Just 22 minutes long, mostly in black and white, featuring portraits of the customers and pictures of the bar taken by the barman, Sheldon Nadelman (Stefan's father), over the ten years he worked at the Terminal Bar (on the corner of 8th Ave and 41st St) from 1972 until the bar closed in 1982.

It's a fascinating chronicle of how the bar changed from old New Yorkers (who mostly drank themselves to death) to a black gay bar. Sheldon looks through his pictures, which he numbered, and reminisces about the customers, some fondly, others not so much, many by name, others just by the number on their photograph. I loved it.

Here's a 3-minute segment to give you a taste of the flavour and atmosphere of this evocative film. A short film, but not a small one.

  ¶ 10:29 pm