It was 1988 or 1989 and I was engaged to a great guy as an undergraduate at MIT. We were from two completely different worlds. I grew up in a small town an hour out of Nashville. And, he was a member of SAG from the time he was 14.
His parents wanted to meet us in New York for Thanksgiving Dinner. It was their tradition to dine at the rainbow room. I packed my very best and hippest New York outfit. But, as we gathered at their New York apartment to go out, his stepfather sneered that “Annie Hall was QUITE some time ago.” They actually made an attempt to find something else for me to wear. I was devastated. There was nothing that fit. We had to go as we were.
My boyfriend was wearing an Armani suit, but had forgotten his dress shoes and was wearing sneakers. When we arrived at the Rainbow Room, I was seated without comment, but my boyfriend was not allowed in. His parents even pulled a “do you know who we are…” But, to no avail. My boyfriend and his older brother had to leave and go find dress shoes for him before he could enter. While we waited, I quite enjoyed my view from the most beautiful New York City restaurant in the world and thought to myself, “I love this town.”
