Moving to NYC...the first time. (the Sambuca story)

The first time I moved to New York City, it was under pretty dire circumstances.
I had just finished spending the craziest summer of my life with my biological mother and her crazy husband and their crazy ass cult in Lockhart, Texas.
By the end of the summer - early September - things were so out of control with them, I ended up staying with David AND his room-mate in their dorm room at U.T.

I had made a little money that summer modeling and doing some little acting jobs, and I sure as hell couldn't stay in their tiny dorm room, squished into David's single bed with him for too long....also - because of my crazy bio-mom - i was convinced that my real family hated me and never wanted to see me again. So I made the decision to move to the big apple and become an actress, or die trying.

I barely had ANY clothes (one of the ONLY times in my life THAT statement can be made) because they had all been left behind at the "ranch" in Lockhart.In fact, I remember having nothing to wear for 2 weeks except a pair of overalls and David's t-shirts....AND his underwear. The poor guy only HAD about 4 t-shirts. He was and is the most minimal human I've ever known. Years later, when I hung out with him in Los Angeles, his apartment was empty except for a beautiful grand piano that I would spend hours lying under while he practiced.

But I digress.I finally got my little paycheck from the J.C. Pennies newspaper shoot that I'd done, and good old Mr. Lambert at the Nau's pharmacy in Austin cashed what would be the first of many checks for me...just because he knew and loved my family, and I bought a Greyhound bus ticket for New York City.

Ahhh....the Dog! The good old Dog. That ticket probably cost me all of $69.00! My kids are all so spoiled they will probably never know the experience of riding cross-country on the Dog. But Uncle B and anyone else who's done it - they know what I'm talking about. The sights, the smells, the broken seats, the crazy people, the people you suspect are LIVING on the Dog - imagining them riding back and forth across the country with no-where to go, taking the occasional whore's bath in the swaying, stinky lavoratory....Nope. There's nothing like the Dog. And this was my third cross- country trip of the summer on that old beast.

The first trip had taken me from Lockhart to Malibu, Jeff Forrester, and magical happiness. The second trip had ripped me away from all of that - out of Oz - and back to a Goddamned horror show in the middle of Texas. I was crossing my fingers and toes and tossing up prayers that this trip on the Dog would take me somewhere wonderful.

I was very, very young. My previous experience with NYC had been going there with my Grandmother, Mary Nash. She took me with her to New York on a buying trip when I was 14 years old. I remember sitting in the cab from La Guardia and getting my first glimpse of the city. I felt like an Alien returning to her home planet!! Angels sang broadway tunes as the clouds parted and golden-silver light burst from the beautiful tall buildings to greet me.
We were driven straight to the Plaza Hotel by a New York cabby with a heavy Italian accent - as if he were cast just for my movie. The uniformed door-man at the plaza opened the big heavy door for my Grandmother and I saying "Welcome to the Plaza,Miss, Madam." and I breezed in wearing the adorable outfit I bought half price from my grandmother's dress store (where I had already been working for a couple of years) and gazed in awe at the Palm Court while Mary checked us in, looking glamorous and fresh in her Chanel suit and white gloves - even after a long plane trip.

That first trip - and every trip with my grandmother - was magical, magical HEAVEN for me. I fell deeply, deeply in love with the Plaza Hotel and the Palm court. I discovered what are still to this DAY my favorite chocolates in the world - at the chocolate shop in the lobby of the Plaza (tiny, delicate champaigne truffles that burst in your mouth like a little, tiny New Year's Eve party), we went to the very best Broadway shows - 'Dreamgirls' (4th row center),'Evita'(3rd row, center), 'the Fantastics'(first row, center), SO many! ...We met Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronan and hung OUT with them backstage - my FIRST TIME in NEW YORK CITY - and my beautiful Grandmother gets us backstage with the greatest American stage actors - and we're all chatting and laughing in their DRESSING ROOM!!!!

Then, my Grandmother does things like take me to the Dorset hotel for late night sandwiches and Brandy Alexanders in a black patent leather booth, surrounded by French business men...OF COURSE I loved New York!!!!

BUT....even at that young, stupid age....I knew that NYC wasn't going to be the same without Mary. I was smart enough to be scared. It had been a terrible summer, and on that long, stinky ride - I was terrified.