This is my super stylin, hilarious, cosmopolitan, brilliant, loving, "Life is a Banquet" grandma Kathryn looking mighty fine in a smart hat and a joyous expression on Christmas eve, 1960. An intimate party of four - grandma and grandpa and my parents - kicking off the evening with cocktails and smoked oysters - and Bel Air menthols - preliminary to hitting the town: dinner at Francois' Manhattan, an all-red "continental" restaurant in Long Beach, California, which had ancient tuxedoed waiters and the world's best lobster bisque served tableside out of gleaming silver tureens. After dinner would come a slow drive in Grandma's new Plymouth Sport Fury along the streets of Belmont Shore to marvel at the Christmas lights and tsk tsk at the beribboned palm trees.
Thinking of you, Grandma! Love, Stevie
