Howard’s Pink Triangles

Just yesterday, March 5th, I noticed a feature on Howard’s Cafe’s storefront that I never noticed before, after so many years frequenting the dive:

Pink triangle tiles wrapped around the facade like a necklace…as you see in the above photo. Though more pink in real life (I use a cheap digital camera, so sue me). Upon this revelation, I entered Howard’s and addressed the two waitrons there (Bruno and Deidre):

“Say, I never noticed the pink triangles before, that decorate the front!”

Bruno smiled at me while Deidre remained absorbed in ringing up the receipts on the old-time semi-automatic cash register whose sounds are rarely heard any more in this high-tech reality: “whirrrrr, clunk-clunk, whirr!”

But I had something else on my mind, just prior to the pink triangle discovery: yesterday I handed Deidree the printout re. meeting her Dad, that I finally got around to writing. So I asked her:

“So whaddya think of my piece about your lovely dad?”

“Wow, Zeke, I really liked it! I’m sure he’ll get a kick out of it too.”

I beamed with glee: “So glad to meet your father, so glad to meet you, so glad to meet Howard’s, so glad…”

“Easy, Zeke, slow down!” She raised a hand in opposition. I simply chuckled.

“Coffee, Zeke?” asked Bruno, and I said sure, then sat in my favorite spot: the end seat on the horseshoe counter’s left side, my back to the mirrored wall.

As Bruno set down my coffee cup, napkin and utensils, I further remarked: “What’s especially interesting is those triangles are pointed upward.”

“Really now?” inquired Bruno.

“Yes. Most gays wear the pink triangle point downward, but some 17 years ago I suggested in a letter to the editor that we wear the triangle upward, to symbolize a positive perception of ourselves, and our destiny.”

Bruno: “No kidding?”

“Right. And two months later Act Up came out with their first line of T-shirts with upward-pointing triangles. They didn’t give me the credit, but I can prove it since I’ve saved that newspaper bearing my letter.”

Bruno (in his always-friendly fashion): “Looks like Howard’s summoned you here!” Then he disappeared into the kitchen.

His suggestion caused me to think: Is Howard’s a Reptilian outpost, too? Another incredible setup (like Hole in the Wall Saloon and Larkin’s unexpected arrival in the Castro), that brought me to this present place and time of miraculous destiny? I think so!

So I gazed upon Deidre and Bruno with newfound awe, realizing the glorious implications.

[ Now you, Frabjous Reader, may also deliberate over my musings while enjoying three more pics of Howard’s pink triangles (click on any image below for a larger view, as well as click here to read my letter that started it all}: ]