My First Date

The first date I had was in the spring of 1952 when I was 14. My parents and I were in Miami Beach during Christmas vacation the previous winter, and we stayed at the Beacon Hotel on Ocean Drive, around 8th Street. My parents met another couple from Albany, Mr. and Mrs. Schneerson.  They were staying at the Colony Hotel, just up the street. They had a daughter, Sandra, who was slightly older than me.  Sandra was a freshman student at Albany High School.  The Schneersons lived on Myrtle Avenue near Albany Medical Center. 

 I had minimal contact with Sandra, who was always present with her parents when we all sat on the hotel porch. 

Sometime that spring, I showed my aunt Sue a photo of Sandra that I had taken, and Sue prodded me into calling her for a date. It was awkward, particularly since I was too young to drive and lived 16 miles from Albany. I could only get to Albany by taking a bus or hitchhiking.

At Sue’s continuing urging, I telephoned Sandra and asked if she would like to go to a movie with me on a Saturday afternoon. She agreed to meet me at the Palace Theatre, the best of the several movie theatres in Albany.  The movie was “The Merry Widow.”  I bought our tickets and we sat next to each other on the lower level and watched the movie.  I don’t think that we spoke during the movie, and after it was over, she took a bus home, and I went to the bus station and took the Interstate Bus back home.  I never saw her again.

I never had another date until I was 16 and had a driver’s license.