There is an open container in our basement that holds numerous menus from restaurants that Warren's parents visited over the years. Warren knows that many of them date from mid-century Chicago restaurants. I have never looked through them, but one was sticking up so prominently ("Look at me! Look at me!") a few days ago that I pulled it out and glanced at it.
Oh my.
On September 30, 1978, Warren's mother Ellen took a one-day trip to New York City (from where and why Warren does not know). She traveled with a close friend, who Warren remembers as being blind. They ate lunch in the Peacock Room at the Waldorf Astoria and Ellen not only kept (of course she did!) but also annotated the menu as to the decor of the room and table setting (down to the color of the napkins) as well as what they ate (they each ordered the fresh fruit plate with cottage cheese, as well as cheesecake).
Ellen then noted what their entire day's activities. Their morning was spent at "the Metropolitan" (I'm assuming she was referring to the Metropolitan Museum of Art). Their afternoon was spent shopping—at Bonwit Teller, Tiffany's, and Macy's—and included a carriage ride through Central Park.
And there was one final entry of note.
Ellen had a history of crossing paths with famous or well-known people. She once rode an elevator with Eleanor Roosevelt. She met Ronald Reagan in the lobby of a Dayton hotel, either in the late 1960s or early 1970s, not running for office, but, as Warren described it (who was there with her) "with an entourage." And, she knew Clayton Moore (the original "Lone Ranger") from her childhood on, as he was a relative, and posed for pictures with him years later in California.
So it was absolutely no surprise to me when I saw the final note on her memo:
"Saw Robert Redford!"
Of course she did. If anyone was going to have a celebrity sighting on a one-day trip to New York City, it would have been Ellen.
Ellen would be 105 years old today. She is still making her presence known in our lives through little things like this.
Happy Birthday, dear Ellen!
9 comments:
What a day full of adventures they had! She sounds like an interesting woman.
She must have attracted the famous. I understand using a menu for a prominent restaurant as a sort of journal. Interesting that a fruit plate and cottage cheese was the selection when in NYC. Maybe she wanted to make sure she coukd savor every bite of cheesecake.
Ellen lived a full life, to say the least. Very loving, very community-minded--those were two of her many qualities.
Sam, that crossed my mind (saving room for the cheesecake). She was probably minding her pocketbook as well; I'd be stunned if she bought anything while shopping the glitzy stores. So, to put it into perspective, that fruit/cottage cheese plate was $6.75 in 1978: $34.48 today! (Well, it was the Waldorf Astoria!)
What wonderful, sweet memories, I wonder how many of those restaurants are still open.
Kim, or for that matter, how many of the stores in those 1978 glories?
To make the story even more complete, I remembered this morning that Mom was at a ladies' event in Wapakoneta, OH (I don't remember the purpose, perhaps Shade Tree Commission?), and ended up sitting next to Neil Armstrong's mother at the luncheon!
This comment was posted by my dear husband, Warren. And, indeed, this is a perfect Ellen story!
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