February 14, 1968: Dancin' Machines

Letter postmarked February 14, 1968 (Part 2, written February 12):

Well, we had our "night out on the town." We first ate at a restaurant, Diamond Jim's. The food was delicious and expensive.

[Diamond Jim's restaurant appears to be gone now, but you can purchase a 1973 menu from there on Ebay. It does look expensive based just based on the menu items alone, even without looking at the prices. I think there was more than one Diamond Jim's location, and one of them, at 6753 Hollywood Boulevard, appears in a street scene from the 1974 movie "Harry and Tonto."]

Next we went to the Statler Hotel to the cocktail lounge -

[The Statler Hotel, which opened in 1952 and was torn down a few years ago to be replaced by a skyscraper called the Wilshire Grand, has quite an interesting history. For starters, every room had air conditioning and a 17-inch TV, which was a really big deal in 1952. Ronald Reagan (the actor) was master of ceremonies at the grand opening. Xavier Cugat and his orchestra were the resident band in a swanky supper club there for awhile (probably before 1968). Richard Nixon and his family lived there in 1961 (after his term as Vice President ended) while they were building a house. Here's an excellent blog post with lots of awesome pictures and stories: https://paradiseleased.wordpress.com/2012/06/09/so-long-statler-a-cheerless-end-for-l-a-s-atomic-age-hotel/. And here's another interesting blog post about it: http://blogdowntown.com/2009/08/4581-57-years-ago-hotel-statler-opens-at-figueroa.]

- it wasn't topless but the gals had plenty of top showing. I had to lead Dave in by the hand as this swivel-hipped girl led us to our table. The "show" was a go-go girl dancing to this wild, loud music while these psychedelic lights flashed everywhere.

[That sounds only slightly better than going to a topless joint. Definitely not my parents' thing. I bet Dad couldn't wait to leave.]

Every two or three songs, the band would play a slow tune. The first slow one they played, Dave looked at me and said, "Too bad we can't dance, honey." I said, "Why not?" Dave said, "No dance floor." I just about dropped my teeth - not five feet from us was the dance floor with people out there dancing! Oh well, as I said the waitresses had plenty of top showing and the three men at our table were trying so hard not to look (or get caught looking) that it was hilarious. I did get to dance.

David Wayne stayed with Mrs. Bruffy and just loved it. Mrs. Bruffy assured us that he behaved absolutely wonderful and she just had a fit when we tried to pay her. She said that would take away the pleasure of keeping him. The next day as David Wayne was telling us about all the fun he had we got this sneaky suspicion that he had actually enjoyed getting away from us and that he'd had more fun than us!

You would have laughed at us on Sunday. The day was kind of a dreary one without sun. We didn't care about going anywhere and besides we had spent quite a bit on just Saturday night. Anyway, we turned the radio on (the radio on the TV) and we danced all afternoon - I danced the slow ones with Dave and the fast ones with David Wayne. I was pooped! That night we ate at the Sizzler - after all the dancing I didn't have the energy left to open a can of beans. We can afford to eat at the Sizzler often as it only cost about $3.50 for all three of us - David Wayne gets hamburger patty, french fries, and milk, and Dave and I eat a steak, baked potato, and coffee. I can't buy the meat and fix it at home as cheaply as that.

[That story about my parents dancing to the radio does bring back some sweet memories. I can remember, at our house in Texas, Mom and Dad sometimes playing albums by artists like Ray Charles or Charley Pride on our old console record player and dancing to at least a whole album side if not the whole album. Now that I think about it, two Ray Charles Greatest Hits compilations were among the first CD's I ever purchased, no doubt since I grew up listening to Ray Charles.]

Well, I guess I'll close. I must start the washing and I have several other letters to write. I never clean the apartment any more except for washing the dishes. Write me again soon - as soon as possible anyway. We don't care whether you know any news or not.

Love,

Linda

P. S. - I'll put in Joan's letter. I finally answered her.

[Oh boy, we finally get to see the infamous letter from Joan we've been hearing about for weeks. We'll cover that next in its own post.]

By the way, when is Daddy's birthday? I know it's in February.

[Papa's birthday was February 19, 1910.]