our first date

Vintage The Islanders Restaurant Matawan Nj Glass Ashtray

This little ashtray is all I can find left of The Islanders Restaurant, where Patty and I went on our first date, 45 years ago today, 1976. It was an awfully nice Polynesian restaurant.

We worked at the Bayshore Independent, she was the bookkeeper, I was managing editor, and The Islanders was one of our advertisers. After our dinner, we went to a movie (Voyage of the Damned) and then to Sam’s Bar & Grill to meet some of my friends. They say Sam’s was haunted. But it’s gone now, just like The Islanders. You sure could get nice sandwiches there.

So this day, Dec. 26, has always been special for us. The second time it rolled around, we’d been married for four months.

We’re glad to see it come again.

See the source image

Today is the 42nd anniversary of our first date.

We were working at the old Bayshore Independent newspaper. Patty was the bookkeeper, I was managing editor. We went to dinner at The Islanders in Matawan, a super-nice Chinese restaurant; and they treated us like royalty, the proprietor being very happy with the restaurant review I wrote a few weeks before (thank you, Steve Wong, wherever you are). No, we didn’t have a spread quite like in the photo: there were only two of us. But we had the best.

Then we went to a movie, The Voyage of the Damned, and afterward to my softball team’s hangout, Sam’s Bar & Grill. Somewhere along the way, Patty mentioned the ancient Medes’ capital city, Ecbatana. That’s when I knew I was in love. You can’t easily find a woman who knows about Ecbatana.

All of these places that I’ve mentioned are now one with Ecbatana, but we’re still together. And tonight we hope to take a leisurely spin around town to admire everybody’s Christmas lights.