Unfortunately I can not say that this place is a favorite. We moved to Beacon almost 3 years ago. shortly after coming here we decided to explore some of the places we had heard so much about. One of those places was Howland Center. On a warm Sunday afternoon ,we walked in and were immediately thrown a lot of attitude by the woman at the door. My husband moved toward the display of literature in the foyer and was told,"You can't go in there!" even though he wasn't going "in" anywhere,just reaching for a pamphlet. The people there were quite rude,so much so that my then 8 year old son noticed it. We are African-American and feel that our color and race were a definite factor in the way we were treated. We have never been back. The next day I called to discuss this matter with "management" and found out that the people we had been dealing with were management,in fact the incredibly rude woman that yelled at my husband was the chairperson of the board. Fortunately we have had positive experiences in this town to counterbalance that one.
I must say that I was surprised to find someone named Jenny A.L. "disagreeing" with me as to my assessment of the treatment my family and I experienced at the Howland Center. She was not present that day to my knowledge. As to her belief that race couldn't have been a factor because of the works on display: perhaps a short history lesson is in order. There once was a very popular nightclub in the heart of Harlem called the Cotton Club. They booked African-American acts,had African -Americans working there as waiters,busboys,etc. But an African-American person could not enter through the front door and sit down and order a drink. It was in the heart of New York"s Black community! Even though that was a number of years ago,a quick visit to any of the many websites posting news articles will reveal many hateful racist comments posted in the comment section of those articles. Racism has not died in this country,and the election of an African-American to the Presidency has brought it out even more in some people.
Finally, as I was reading through some of the restaurant reviews,I noticed that someone gave a restaurant that I enjoy a horrible review and talked about the awful dining experience they had there. I wasn't there, so who am I to tell them they were wrong? Just because I've always had good meals and service there doesn't mean everyone has. read more