It was close to midnight. I went to an after-hours club on Bush Street (San Francisco) run by a Chinese woman. I was with my Japanese girlfriend, who and her twin sister were singers at a Japanese Club not that far away in Japan Town. Like her, I was 18 years old. It was 1963. I was studying to be a steward on luxury liners (think Love Boat). She did not speak English. I spoke basic Japanese. We never really had a conversation, and frankly, I did not understand the nature of our relationship, but she was so beautiful and delicate. We were always chaperoned.

Now I found myself in this club, filled with musicians, and first the first time, I held her in my arms as we danced. The song was “I left my heart in San Francisco,” and sung by Tony Bennett. It was a song written in 1953 but made famous by Bennett in 1962. The three minutes of that song, holding this beautiful petite Japanese girl, was one of the most intense moments in my life and was given to me by Tony Bennett, who has left us but will always be in my heart.