Dinner & Dancing

I cannot tell you how much I wish that it were still possible to dine and dance at a place called The Starlight Roof at the Waldorf.

And if The Waldorf proved to be too rich for your beau's blood, he could always take you to the Hotel Taft. A little less opulent, perhaps, but still attractive in a very modern way. Plus, with Vincent Lopez and his Orchestra!

The prices for the cocktails are in cents. More's the pity that these establishments are gone.

The Waldorf is still around, of course, but is more a dusty old dowager than a regal grand dame; The Starlight Roof is but a memory. The Taft was shuttered in 1984, and reborn as The Michelangelo a few years later. It houses an excellent restaurant, Insieme; but as wonderful as it is -- and it is wonderful -- we can't help but feel a bit nostalgic for Jellied Madrillene, Shad Roe and Broiled Spring Chicken.

To say nothing of a $0.43 martini.