I'll Be Home for Christmas Tea

20 December 1998
At The Mark
Mark Hopkins Hotel, San Francisco

During WWII our soldiers and sailors all knew The Mark on top of the world (that is, Nob Hill). It was The Place to take your sweetheart and the only place to spend your last night in San Francisco before shipping out to the Pacific Theatre. 

The world famous Nob Hill cocktail lounge with the 360-degree view of San Francisco has been a hit since it opened in 1939. The original name, known to all our servicemen and women in WWII, was The Mark. For one very special day, we slipped back in time to that heady era of wonderful music, great clothes, and urgent romance.

The lovely and talented Miss Suzanne Ramsey at the entrance to the Mark Hopkins Hotel and she's dressed, natch, in head-to-toe vintage perfection. Suzanne played solo piano during the tea, entertaining everyone with swell songs from the 1940s. After tea she was joined by the Oz Ramsey Quartet and the joint was jumpin'.

The USO's fav songbird, Miss Jana Keeler, swaps stories with Miss Sally Norton (wearing her new Andrews Sisters hairdo).

Naturally, with all our fellas shipping out on the next morning, the ladies stepped out this afternoon in there very best. Vintage and reproduction dresses and suits from the 1940s were accessorized with hats, gloves, seamed stockings, purses and jewelry. Many of the fellas were in uniform but, some chose to spend their last day in civies.

Autumn Carey-Adamme modeled fashions from reVamp. Her handsome escort is Lt. John Carey.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this event was a surprise. It turned out to be multi-generational. Numerous GBACG members brought their parents who remembered going to the Mark in the 1940s. A few of these fine men even donned their old uniforms for the day and pretty spiffy they looked!

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