One of my earliest memories is of my grandmother's salon - Marie's Gay Top. Seriously, that was the name. It was the mid 60's - obviously, connotations have changed. But it was a fabulous place - only two stylists, my grandmother and my aunt. Back then, most women came in every week for their shampoo and set. So it became a sort of rotating women's club. The same clients came in on the same day every week. Everyone knew everyone's business, and I mean EVERYTHING. I remember women bringing in pictures of their sons and showing them around, trying to match them up with someone else's eligible daughter. There was heartfelt commiseration over family problems, sage advice given, tears shared, and juicy gossip squeezed like Florida orange juice. Nothing was taboo and everything was up for discussion. Friendships were made and broken in that salon. There was an intimacy that we've lost. I think that salon was a microcosm of society at that time - you knew the woman in the dryer next to you, you knew about her husband's snoring, her daughter's boyfriend, her mother-in-law's meanness, and how she still wonders what would have happened if she had married her high school sweetheart - who, of course, is married to one of the other clients. With the revolution of Vidal Sassoon and his blow-dry hair, women were freed from their weekly roller sets, visiting their stylists only for color, cuts, and the occasional perms. But that sense of camaraderie, that sense of community, that sense of connection, has been lost. I miss that. Those memories are like a time-capsule for me - a moment in time that was full of life and love and closeness. Marie's Gay Top - I'll never forget it.