Sept. 28-Oct. 3, 1983               Sept. 17-23, 1985                Sept. 22-27, 1988

What do all these dates have in common?

1) They were spent in New York.

2) Had dinner at Marchi's, my most favorite restaurant ever!

3) Attended the San Genarro's festival in Little Italy.

4) Saw "A Chorus Line".

I
have been going to Marchi's for over 50 years and the place continues
to amaze me. They claim to serve only 5 courses but don't believe them!
Anytime I returned  to NYC after I left in 1969 I would have dinner one
evening at Marchi's. The restaurant is an all night affair so there is
no sense in planning to go to the theatre. Each time I visited New York
with someone, or I was meeting someone there or connecting with an old
friend, time was made for Marchi's.  I could take 6 posts to talk about
the place but go to https://www.marchirestaurant.com/ if for nothing else
to see the menu.

Briefly,
Marchi's was opened in the 1930s in a town house on a tree lined East
31st Street. They have no menu as the meal is already made up and you
have no decisions to make. Below is 'phamphlet' that I have had for 40
years and little has changed since then except the price has gone up
and, from what I could tell on the web site, they have expanded the
patio dining area.

The following are just some notes I made over the years in my diary about these 3 trips in particular.

September
29, 1983  A most memorable day for me but more about that later. The
dinner at Marchi's lived up to all the praise I had been telling the
guys about. There was Tommy, Chuck, Bill, Bob, John and myself. Also
joining us was Sue (one of my past 100 pound losers) who brought her
friend Michael, very young, and Sylvia Miles, the actress who had
appeared in "Midnight Cowboy" and "Farewell My Lovely" receiving
supporting role Oscar nominations  for both. Sylvia brought a friend of
hers whose I never did get. She seemed very disoriented during the first
hour but then started to tell us 'amusing' behind the Hollywood and
Broadway scenes which dissipated the disappointed feeling I had meeting
her. She and her escort left, neither offering to pay their share,
though I did pick up the whole check. Sue took a cab to friend's bar
called The Polo bar where we would meet her as we had decided to walk
the 21 blocks to get there.

September
19, 1985  Buddy Vest and I went down to the World Trade Center then
walked over to the Seaport finally going for dinner at Marchi's. It was
due to Buddy playing the role of Zach in "A Chorus Line" on tour that
made it possible for him to get Dr. K and me tickets to that show 2
years before whe Michael Bennett celebrated "ACL" became the longest
running musical on Broadway. At that time he was, also, appearing in
"Dreamgirls" and got us house seats. There was no way I could ever repay
Buddy for that performance of "ACL" but I certainly tried every time I
saw him! Now, 2 years later, in 1985, he was talking about giving up the
theatre. He had quit the "ACL" tour in St. Louis because of a guy he
fell in love with.  Buddy had come to my twelfth Leap Year birthday in
1984 and the following year he had AIDS. Sadly he died but he will never
be forgotten!

September
26, 1988  I am meeting George Chauncey, Jr., who was writing a book
about gay life in New York starting in the 19th century up to the
current day, at Marchi's. He had done a few interviews with me and I had
sent him some material. (He would use my material and quote me here and
there in the book. For the record I always recommend the book to young
teenagers as it tells a lot about gay history that they should know.) I
brought along Robert Lee and it upset George. I don't know why but my
ego tells me it was because he had other plans for us. At one point he
remembered that he had to go meet his lover and left! Never heard from
or saw him again and even though my name is referenced through the book I
had to buy my own copy when it was finally published. From what I have
read he has had a very good career in education and I believe, not sure,
that he introduced a course in gay history at the University of Chicago
where he was a professor for a long time. He nowteaches in New York.
Wonder if he still is with his lover--will have to google him to find
out. I believe Robert Lee was in "M. Butterfly" on Broadway. I haven't
heard from him since but I do have an autographed picture he gave me the
day after the Marchi's dinner.

If
I ever go back to New York, which I doubt, I would definitely go to
Marchi's and I suggest anyone who does travel to the Big Apple plan to
spend an evening at this great restaurant. When you get a chance check
out their menu at https://www.marchirestaurant.com  Out of curiosity I
emailed them asking what they are charging for their dinner these
days--back in 1988 it was, if I remember correctly, $30 each.

(TO BE CONTINUED--NEXT SAN GENNARO'S FESTIVAL AND MORE)