Category Archives: Ginger Rogers

Joyce Chen and My Summer of Candy

Yesterday we were in London.  Today we jump to Cambridge, MA.

The eponymous Joyce Chen restaurant in Cambridge where I was a hostess in the summer of 1977.  Joyce was branded the “Chinese Julia Child” and brought a quality of service and authentic chinese cuisine to a country that had only seen chow mein or chop suey or egg drop soup.  Many of Cambridge’s 70s luminaries including Julia Child, John Irving and Robert Parker came to the restaurant.  One night I had to go into the ladies room and rescue a very drunk Ginger Rogers from the floor and escort her out.  The waiters had trouble pronouncing my name, so I was rechristened Candy.  Sadly, the restaurant is no longer there.

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