in another time the Oak Bar at the Plaza was rather gay. servicemen in uniforms or Cary Grant in a tux were various shades of available. it was never a favorite hangout when I visitd Manhattan. my preference was the theater bars such as Backstage & Charlies. or bona fide gay bars -- generally in the west village. they were likely to change from visit to visit. however Ty's has been there for decades & Julius since creation. but a handful of times I journeyd to the Oak Bar out of respect for gay history. my last visit was in 1983 when I got stinko with a Broadway chorus boy.
yesterday I was searching for Robert Carson the actor who helpd write "A Star is Born" & found my way to a Dorothy Parker site which sd that the Oak Bar was going to be replacd at the Plaza by retail shops. so I e'd Henry Van Dyke my contact for all things soigne in New York. he verified the death of the Oak Bar adding: "The Plaza is becoming trashy."
it was probably the Eloise books that promptd me to stay at the Plaza. I think I checkd in only once: for my 35th birthday. some hotels resonate for me. the Algonquin there & Chateau Marmont on the other coast. I felt no connection to the Plaza -- except for that bit of excitement of sitting at the Oak & soaking up the gay stories that staind the bar. I was at least a generation too late. but I still can mourn its passing as a gay landmark.
3 comments:
How sad... score one more for the commercialization of America (at the expense of culture).
Moi
You know, Alex; you have mentioned recently in this blog a few times that you have been drunk and not all of them have been bad memories.
During this last visit to Las Vegas, we stopped for a drink at one of the ladeda bars at the Luxor, ten dollar top shelf vodka martinis, it was lovely, as it sometimes is...
Sometime the past can be safely revisted from of distance of sorts, but only once, perhaps, in a blue moon.
But that's another story.
Durl -- I haven't had a drink in over 20 years & simply can't. I'm used to that.
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