Prom Night Memories

So I'm writing the first scene of my YA which takes place at the junior prom, here called at cotillion, because the school is snooty enough that they use old-fashioned words like that. I have various complications for my two heroines at the Prom, catty girls, bad fashion choices, a science experiment gone wrong, lothario guy who flirts with other girls in front of his date, under-age drinking (always a good one).

Both my junior and senior proms were incredibly different than the my two heroines. First of all, my school was incredibly small, so the juniors actually had to go to the prom with the senior class otherwise they wouldn't have been able to afford a prom. Also, my fashion choices were great. You can't go wrong with black, and gold. I didn't have a date, but then neither did most of the people at the prom.

Junior year, the prom was held in an incredibly tiny room at the Regency Hotel, which I don't think exists anymore. Senior year it was held at the St. Moritz hotel which is now the Ritz-Carlton. Back then, the St. Moritz was owned by Trump before he bought the Plaza Hotel. It was chiefly famous because Rumpelmayer's was downstairs.

Most of the proms back in my day were held at Tavern on the Green, so we dared to be different. So many proms were held there, that it wasn't uncommon for more than one prom to be booked in a night in the various rooms. My friend's prom didn't start until 10:00 p.m. because there was another prom before it.

Other traditions included riding the Staten Island ferry back and forth until 4 in the morning. Don't ask me why! And having an early morning breakfast at the Empire Diner.

The biggest scandals at my prom were LeAnn and her ex-boyfriend having an intense discussion on the terrace while her date paced back and forth, threatening to punch Jeremy out at any second, despite the fact that Jeremy was about 6 inches taller, and outweighed Alcides by a good 20 pounds. The other was of course, our gym teacher/chaperone who was drinking heavily and really didn't pay that much attention to what we were doing because he was drunk.

So, any one have any good prom memories? Bad? Ugly.

Share, you'll feel better in the morning.
Elizabeth