Joe Kinney: Tesla's Secret Saves the World from Rev. Moon's Hotel

Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon bought the New Yorker Hotel in 1976 and are shown blessing the building.

The New Yorker Hotel, a building that has been owned by the Unification Church since 1976, was featured in a made-for- internet web series called Daybreak 2012, which was launched on May 31, 2012 and released in five weekly chapters.

Daybreak 2012 is an “immersive and interactive” transmedia web series by Tim Kring (creator of television shows Strange World, Crossing Jordan, Heroes, and Touch), according to wired.com, and was presented by AT&T. It includes the five ten-minute episodes, a website, and a smartphone application called the Jack Boxer app that works together for an interactive experience.

“The online show follows the story of Ben Wilkins, an ‘Everyman’ character, who finds himself at the center of a global conspiracy,” according to androidandme.com. “When he discovers a dodecahedron, an ancient and powerful object, he quickly learns that he must restore the object to its rightful place so that humanity will be able to make its next evolutionary leap forward.”

Wired.com said, “The purpose of both the app and the website is to enlist help for the cause of the Jack Boxers, who are fighting the forces of darkness and bringing the Truth to light. The Truth, according to the Jack Boxers, is essential to many things – sacred geometry, energy and vibration, and the works of Fibonacci and Tesla.”

The New Yorker Hotel, Nicholas Tesla’s home during his final years, was featured in AT&T’s Daybreak 2012.

Nicholas Tesla was an inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer and futurist, according to Joseph Kinney, the chief engineer and unofficial archivist at the New Yorker Hotel. “Tesla was one of the most important inventors of the last century,” said Kinney. “He invented the alternating current electrical supply system as we know it and also worked on more fantastic things such as death-rays. His documented accomplishments are huge, but there is also this air of mystery about him. He lived from 1856-1943, and spent his later years living at the New Yorker Hotel.

“I think on a broader note, Tesla was not only a great inventor, but a man of peace. The president of Serbia and the president of Croatia, countries that are hostile to each other, both came to the New Yorker and shook hands over Tesla, because he was born in Croatia to Serbian parents. That’s a pretty significant event,” continued Kinney.

Because of Tesla’s relationship to the New Yorker Hotel, the hotel played a very important role in Daybreak 2012. In the fourth episode, one of the major supporting characters, Charles (played by Eugene Byrd) says, “For the last 10 years of his life, Tesla lived in a room at the New Yorker. He used to spend his days on the roof feeding pigeons, so people thought he lost his mind, but he was up to something.”

According to Kinney, he has known about Tesla since high school. “When I came to work here in 1996, I was the New Yorker’s first Tesla-friendly person. If you Google the New Yorker Hotel and Tesla, my name comes up multiple times. I became the point of contact for all things Tesla at the New Yorker. So, I got a call from the studio in California, saying AT&T wanted to do this film, and of course I was delighted and excited.”

The climactic scene of Daybreak 2012 takes place on the rooftop of the New Yorker Hotel, with its iconic sign playing a key role in the world’s preservation.

“We sent quite a few emails back and forth,” said Kinney. “They wanted dimensions of the New Yorker’s sign and the roof, what the brick and other materials looked like, so that they could re-create a sound stage on the west coast, which they did. All the scenes up on the roof were actually shot in California.”

Daybreak 2012, launched on May 31, 2012, is a transmedia web series by Tim Kring that was released in five, weekly, ten-minute chapters.

The History of the New Yorker Hotel and the Unification Church

According to Kinney, the Unification Church bought the hotel in 1976, when “many of our departments were stuck in a few rooms at [a house in] Belvedere. It was obviously very cramped. We had a lot of members to house, so Rev. Sun Myung Moon bought the building, and all these departments were relocated to the New Yorker Hotel. Church leaders and members finally had a place to reside.

“It was a miraculous purchase, because the building was bought for less than 6 million dollars, and currently, it’s worth 300 million dollars. That’s quite a bargain! The hotel is a very historical building, in terms of the Unificationist faith. Such a large percentage of American members lived here at one time or another. My wife and I lived here. My first two kids were born when we lived here. Rev. Moon spoke here many times.

Kinney explained that for many Unificationists families with growing children, living in a hotel in Manhattan “wasn’t ideal,” and the New Yorker soon began to lose tenants. However, in 1994, Hyo Jin Moon, the eldest son of Reverend and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon, initiated efforts to renovate the hotel. At that time, more than 70 percent of the rooms were storage rooms, and the building itself was “in pretty bad shape, with electrical and plumbing problems,” recalled Kinney. However, through a gradual and consistent process of renovating and renting floors one by one, more than 1,000 rooms had been substantially renovated by 1998.

The New Yorker Hotel and Unificationist Public Image

“I think it’s good for Reverend and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon, their family and the Unification Movement to be associated with anything successful, especially something that is visible, iconic, and has a lot of influence. Everyday, people come here and ask, ‘Who owns the hotel?’ and I always say, ‘the Unification Church and Rev. Moon.’ Before they leave, I always tell them that I am a member of the Unification Church.

“Being good neighbors reflects well on the Unification Church. We are not here to flip the property. Here, people see good stewardship and good service and a building that complies with safety codes. They see professional staff and good rooms. We are not an amateurish business.

“At the time of September 11, we gave away more than 10,000 room nights to support the community. The Chicago Fire Department autographed a chief’s helmet and presented it to the New Yorker Hotel in gratitude for providing them with free rooms. Acts of public service, providing jobs, and acknowledging people like Tesla is a part of being a good citizen of the community. So, in its own way, by our cooperation and openness, we have influenced many city officials.”