Rubbing Elbows::My Brushes with Celebrities chapter 7

After college, I moved back to New Jersey, first with my family in Paterson, then out on my own to nearby Haledon.

B, I was a substitute teacher and by night at Stern's department store at Willowbrook Mall in Haledon, NJ. It was there that I t was there where I experienced my first homosexual experience.

I worked at the men's tie counter there and a co-worker, Craig, would come over to romance me on a regular basis. One night, in the mall parking lot, we had sex in the backseat of his car. Suddenly, it all made sense, it felt right.

The problem turned out, after he moved into my Haledon apartment with me, that he was still hopelessly in love with his ex.

I had a few little affairs after that, then moved to Manhattan. My affordable little 1-bedroom on Prince Street Street in SoHo  Very narrow bedroom with a single bed. It had a bathtub in the kitchen that doubled as a table when you pulled the wooden slats down.

I had wandered into Unicorn City on Greenwich Avenue in the West Village. The owner, Martin Proctor, took an immediate liking to me. He asked me to move in with him. Marty was my mother's age. I moved into his apartment on West 10th Street in Greenwich Village, which I did.

I met a lot of famous folk there. Columnist Liz Smith would come in with her lover and buy Marty's numbered Erte prints. I enjoyed working with him, his mom and dad. We were family.

One day, I recall, Carol Lynley came in, bought a lot of things, and when Mrtry rang up her bill, she balked and said, "You're not actually going to charge me for this. Are you? Don't you know who I am?" Well, we had just seen her in The Poseidon Advenre. But Marty looked her straight in the eyes and said flatly, "I don't care. You're a customer. You have to pay." Kaye Lenz tried to pull the same thing. Both stalked out of the store angrily.

Our home space soon felt cramped, Which is why we moved. We decided, there, to have an open relationship. This was not a good idea as, very swiftly, jealousies, criticisms and arguments between us set in. At that point, alcohol and cocaine entered our lives together. And so, we broke up. On his part, I found him inconsiderate and untrustworthy in the end. I caught him cheating a few times. Once with my close friend at the time.

I then moved to Hoboken, NJ and began a new life at that point. Home of Sinatra and Pia Zadora.