About Elizabeth Taylor’s connection to The Abbey

Elizabeth Taylor, who was laid to rest earlier today, liked to drop by one of my favorite hangouts: The Abbey in West Hollywood.

I never saw her there but I did hold my birthday party a few years ago in the Elizabeth Taylor room there and we took a big group photo under her portrait which hangs there.

I’m going to have a drink there tomorrow night in her honor.

The New York Times has a story about Miss Taylor’s connection to The Abbey and to the gay community which is grieving over the loss of one of our greatest allies and someone who was there when we needed her the most: near the beginning of the AIDS epedemic.

Here is an excerpt:

The scene in the “Elizabeth Taylor Room” — her favorite spot amid the Abbey’s many nooks and crannies — was decidedly somber just after news of her death on Wednesday. Regulars, fans and Abbey employees started leaving flowers, candles, pictures and other tokens of affection (an autographed napkin) around a donation Ms. Taylor once made to the bar: a large portrait of herself in her prime.

Sitting untouched on an empty table nearby was a remembrance from the bar staff, a Blue Velvet martini, a bluish drink made with vodka and blueberry schnapps and named in a nod to Ms. Taylor’s 1944 film “National Velvet.”

“People have been walking up and starting to cry,” said Brian Rosman, an Abbey spokesman and a patron. “Others can’t talk, they get so emotional.”