In February of 1976, Cathy and I met for a date in New York City. She took the train north from DC, while I left West Point on a southbound bus. It was the first trip either of us took to the City, and although we were just 20, we felt very adult about the whole thing. The weekend would lead to an inquiry from dad a couple months later.

The City was certainly grittier then, than it is now, but I don’t think either of us paid any attention. We linked up at Grand Central Station and caught a cab to The Essex House, right on Central Park. The Essex was one of those grand old hotels with plush chairs and couches in a big lobby, along with a classic bar. The Essex had a special cadet rate that I believe was $53/night. Just for reference, rooms at The Essex are currently $577/night, not including fees or taxes.

After checking in, we ordered drinks at the bar. It felt like the whole weekend was stretching out before us.

For dinner, we went to Mama Leone’s, a well known Italian restaurant on 48th Street. Although It’s closed now, you can still look it up online and get a feel for the place. The restaurant was a landmark for years and always had a long waiting line to get in. If you were a cadet, you could go to the front of the line, and they gave you the next available table. We worked our way through the five courses, washing it down with a straw covered bottle of Chianti – Cheeses and crudites, antipasti, then soup or salad, pasta or main, and finally dessert. We ate it all, like we’d been starving for a week.

After dinner, we walked the mile or so back to the Essex House following 7th Avenue. Paul Simon had it right with his lyrics in “The Boxer” – there was the occasional solicitation from a prostitute or strip club representative along the way. No one thought twice about soliciting, even though Cathy was with me. It seemed a bit funny at the time.

In our room at the hotel, I felt like John Hurt in the movie “Alien”. Surely my stomach was going to split open, after having eaten so much…. 😉

The next day, we visited all of the usual tourist sites, including Central Park, The Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, The UN, and the Statue of Liberty. We also caught the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. It was all classic New York City stuff.

That night, we went to our first Broadway show, at the Broadhurst Theatre on 44th St. The play was “A Matter of Gravity”, starring Katherine Hepburn, and an up and coming actor by the name of Christopher Reeve. This was two years before the movie “Superman” came out – we had no clue who he was. Hepburn was awesome. Clive Barnes, The NY Times Theatre Critic wrote: “Miss Hepburn with her radiant beauty, her grace, and meticulous theatrical sensibility—shown in the jerk of an eyebrow, or the twitch of a corner of the mouth—is perfectly remarkable.” After the play, we again walked the gauntlet to our hotel, this time taking in the gaudiness of Time Square, while working our way up 7th Avenue. The prostitutes were again out in full force.

The time raced by and the next afternoon, we said our goodbyes. Cath took the train back to DC, while I returned to West Point. It was a perfect weekend, and we were perfectly in love.

A month or two passed and I was on a visit home during Spring Break from school. Dad and I were having a beer, when a conversation about the trip to New York started.

Dad – “I heard you went to New York City for a weekend – how was it?”

Me – “It was a super time. We saw a play, ate a couple of nice meals, and visited all the sites”.

Dad – “Cathy went too?”

Me – “Yea, she took the train up from DC, and we met in the City.”

Dad – “Where’d you stay?”

Me – “The Essex House. It’s this great hotel right on Central Park. They have a special rate for Cadets.”

Dad – “Where did Cathy stay?”

Me – “She stayed at The Essex House too.” (While thinking, “OK, where’s this conversation going?”)

Dad – “Did you get two rooms?”

Me – …pause… “Dad, the Cadet rate at the Hotel was good, but it wasn’t that good.”

Dad – …silence, while looking at me…

Me – …silence, while looking back at him…

Dad – …pause….“well, it sounds like a really fun time”…pause… “What do you think about the Cardinals this year, are they going to do anything?”

And that, was that. Cathy and I married a little over two years later. Forty four years later, we still remember that trip to New York City. We’ve been back several times, but we remember that first trip as the best. Maybe it’s just rose colored glasses, but we sure had fun.

Addendum:

⁃ New York City was gritty in the ‘70s. The TV Show “The Deuce” about 42d Street in the ‘70s, while taking some license with history, isn’t far off. The strip joints, run down hotels, bars, and general dirtiness in the show is fairly representative of the City at the time. As one New York Times article reminisced: “this was the era when the city was edgy and dangerous, when women carried Mace in their purses, when even men asked the taxi driver to wait until they’d crossed the 15 feet to the front door of their building, when a blackout plunged whole neighborhoods into frantic looting…..” Visitors to the City in the summer of ‘75 were greeted with a pamphlet that was titled “Welcome to Fear City”. Among other things, it warned people not to leave midtown Manhattan, and not to walk anywhere after six in the evening. Having said all that, people forget that the city was also vibrant with art, music, and a changing world. The downtown clean up would happen in the coming decades. Here’s a pic near Time Square at the time.

⁃ Mama Leone’s closed in ‘94 and never reopened. Reading online now, it became more touristy over the years, and less frequented by New Yorkers themselves. In retrospect, I can’t say how good it actually was back in the day, but to a hungry 20 year old from Illinois, it sure seemed excellent at the time.

⁃ Some of my West Point classmates and I have discussed whether the price of a room or a cadet at the Essex was $37 or $53. We couldn’t come to a conclusion, so I used the $53 price. You can find out more about the history of the Essex House at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/JW_Marriott_Essex_House . It was originally built in 1931 and has an interesting past. Among other folk, Casey Stengel hung out there while a manager of the Yankees, and later the Mets.

– A few weeks ago, I wrote about a trip dad may have taken to New York City in 1945. ( https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2020/02/05/in-search-of-ernies-nightclub/ ). He would have been 21 at the time. As I’m now thinking about his line of questioning to me about my trip, I’m wondering if he was reminiscing some about his own trip near the end of the war. As a single, 21 year old GI in ’45, I’m sure his would have been the wilder trip, but we’ll never know. That’s a question I wish I could go back and ask him.