From: adolphso@mizar.usc.edu (adolphson)
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Re: a few days at the linguistic society
Date: 12 Jan 1993 10:35:51 -0800
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: mizar.usc.edu
Keywords: out, parties

In article <1993Jan12.071604.6021@Csli.Stanford.EDU> 
zwicky@csli.stanford.edu (Arnold Zwicky) writes:

> so jacques and elizabeth and i went off to l.a. for the linguistic
> society of america meetings.  at the biltmore, an elegant 20s hotel
> on what used to be pershing square but is now a mud flat over top
> a forthcoming underground parking garage.

The Biltmore is indeed elegant, with a truly spectacular main
lobby.  But Pershing Square isn't now a mud flat because they're
putting in an underground parking garage: that garage has been
there for years.  I think they've turned it into a mud flat to
drive away the homeless who used to hang out there.  (Which
Rechy novel has scenes set in Pershing Square?  I get them all
confused.)

> well, i was [until 3:30 last saturday] president of the society, so i
> got the hotel's *serious* suite, the presidential.  (it was designed
> for visiting u.s. presidents; i was told that kennedy, ford, carter,
> and reagan had all stayed there.  this will be relevant.)
> in-fuckin-credible:

He's not kidding.  It *was* in-fuckin-credible.

> two floors, with three bedrooms (one gigantic - j
> and i took this 

Gigantic is an understatement.  I once lived in an apartment
that was smaller than this master bedroom's attached dressing
room.

> - and one very large - my long-time collaborator The
> Dean and his partner Barbara The Philosopher took that one - and one
> ordinarily hotel-sized, which e took while she waited for *her*
> partner to arrive on saturday) and accompanying baths and dressing
> rooms on the lower floor, and with a small library, a substantial
> kitchen, a sizable dining room, two more bathrooms, and a *gigantic*
> living room on the upper floor, 

How big was it, Arnold?  750 sq. ft.?  1000 sq. ft.?  

> with a spiral staircase (and a private
> elevator) between them. 

The spiral staircase made me dizzy.  What was the private
elevator like?  

> six telephones, with four lines, helping
> us all to span the vast empty spaces.  four tvs, all hidden in
> faux-antique cabinets.

Yes, the cabinets were faux-antique.  But you didn't mention
the elaborate molding everywhere.  Or the fireplaces.  If given 
the chance, I'd move into that suite tomorrow.  Tomorrow?  Hell,
I'd move in this afternoon.

[ ... ]
> oh, yes, the party.  this was a reception for OUTIL (OUT In
> Linguistics).  

[ ... ]
> somewhere in the middle, arne adolphson and howard faye arrived, and
> we three spent some time in the vast bedroom (sitting on chairs, i
> should add),

I'm sorry I didn't try out that elegant chaise longue.

> chatting, 

And I spent some time pushing through the crowds upstairs,
trying to find some red wine.

> while tour groups came by to see what had come
> to be described as "the jfk bed" (i.e., the one j and i were sleeping
> in, which people wanted to believe was a bed that jfk had pronged
> marilyn monroe on, though who knows [see, i told you it would be
> relevant]),

I forgot to ask you the bed was.  How was it, Arnold?

> led by jacques, who verges on the unreasonably amiable.

Heavens, yes.

> (his memory is swiss cheese, so he didn't recognize a lot of the
> people, but he quite enjoyed giving them the tour of our absurd
> domain.)

And everyone quite enjoyed being given the tour.

> i'd guess that the percentage of "friends" verged on 50 - we were
> clearly giving *the* party of the season, so to speak - but it also
> seemed to me that the whole place was clearly gayspace/queerspace and
> that everyone understood that. 

Yes, that's true, although it was clearly linguistspace.  There
was an amusing misunderstanding when a chatty young man asked
Howard which family of American Indian languages he specialized
in.  (Howard's an alchemist, not an linguist.)

> i had a great time, and everyone else
> seemed to be doing at least ok.

Yes, it was a wonderful party, although I kept wondering
where all the other LA-area motssers were.

Arne