What was the weirdest place you can remember attending an assembly at?
I never went to an assembly in a building that was weird in and of itself - but I thought it was rather an odd choice for a Witness assembly. For District Conventions we used to go to the JACC on the campus of Notre Dame University.
Walking around during sessions I could look at all the photos and Catholic memorabilia that was all over the walls, etc. And during sessions you looked down at a stage setup over the basketball court - and hung above that stage, from the ceiling of the huge dome - a gi-normus American flag. (They wouldn't take it down - the JWs asked )
I always enjoyed assemblies there because there were tons of things to walk around and look at - and if you were good you could sneak into hallways where you shouldn't be - maybe even into the other dome. They cracked down on that in later years, but when I was young I remember going all over the place in those buildings.
Another weird choice was the race track in Cicero, IL. Catholics and gambling...what were these brothers thinking?
What was the worst place? No air conditioning for example?
I think my choice would have to be the Romeoville assembly hall in Illinois. The words I think of when I think of that building are grey, grey and more grey. It was a boring box - no character - nothing to look at inside - the roof was so high there was no way to easily count ceiling tiles while pretending to listen to the talks. Now when a gal can't even count ceiling tiles to keep herself sane, that's pretty sad!
There was some pretty landscaping done outside - but other than taking a smoke break out there once during a session I never really appreciated the ponds and water plants overmuch.
What was your favorite place to attend assemblies at? Why?
My favorite assembly hall's name is lost to me. I attended there as a young child - probably over 18 years ago. It was somewhere in Chicago and it was a beautiful old theatre - probably turn of the century (the last one).
The lobby walls were lined with red velvet panels and the architecture was gorgeous. The main part of the theater was so pretty - I used to just stare at everything for hours (better than listening to boring talks...my rebellions started while I was young...)
There were large curved staircases and crystal chandeliers. And near the baptismal pool was a huge wall mural in vibrant colors - a depiction of Jesus being baptized I believe. Obviously that was added when the JWs took over - but I remember loving to go look at it.
Does anyone remember going to assemblies at a place like this? What was the name of that old theatre? I would love to find out!!!
