It Was A Chelsea Evening, Girls.......Well, Not Quite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                The first bit of steam I have to let off about, darlings, is that Auntie Alvin is now really in the dog house.  The day before we were all to meet for a Saturday evening get together, he gives us the brushoff for the third time!!!!!   Oh, he's too tired; oh, he has to get up early, oh,he's got something he has to go to early the next day.....one excuse after the other!!!!!!!!!!  Auntie Alvin is redefining "dizzy Queen" on his own terms.  I have to wonder is he just flipping out, or are these serious signs of something more organic????
I hope not.   Anyway, Auntie Alvin was not there, and with the number three being the charm, he is in serious danger of being bitch slapped by yours truly!!!!!!!!!!!

                                 OK.  I am done with that.

                                  But I have to say, as one who has not been in Chelsea for at least six months, it was somewhat sad to be there.  The Rawhide, and several other businesses, have gone, and Rainbows And Triangles has not only reversed its configurations, but in the process has downsized considerably, which gives me cause for concern; could they be on their way out, too????????

                                  Even sadder were the real estate prices we saw listed, and the residents I saw walking the streets, all with expensive goods, but sad faces.  What this has told me, darlings, is that Chelsea has ceased from being the fun loving neighborhood it has been for so long, and is slipping into an overly priced area that people want to live in to make them feel good about themselves, except they really don't, because they are holing up in solitude in places they can barely afford, while maxing out their credit in order to live and eat they think--or are told to, culturally--they should be.

                                  In other words, girls, a neighborhood of wannabes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                  Thank God for Eddie and Brian, who livened things up when we all convened at Lasagna Restaurant, on Eight Avenue and West 20th, where we were joined by youthful Merle, and his partner, the honorable Solomon!!!!!!!!!  Who had slimmed down so much, I was in shock!!!!!!!!!!!  Not that that stopped him from chowing down last night!

                                    I guess this must have been our Italian weekend, dolls!  For here we were again, eating Neapolitan!!!!!!!!!  Monsieur and I shared some bruschetta, while I had a traditional meat lasagna (the kind Liza would make for Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, and Halston!!!!!!!).  Others had a crab cake appetizer, more bruschetta, seafood casseroles, and veal picata with penne and broccoli!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Again, it was so luscious we could not eat desert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                     The evening swirled by, what with the mirth and gossip coming from this table of Queens!!!!!!!!!!  And thank God, after what I had just witnessed in Chelsea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      Think about this, darlings--if the city that so many of us escaped to changes, where will the next generation escape to???????????????

                                       Bayonne????????????????????????????????????