Lodging a ‘formal’ complaint
What a drag! St. Regis bar booted me for gal attire
A man who tried to grab a drink at a famed Manhattan bar wearing makeup and carrying a woman’s purse was ejected — but served when he later showed up in a tux, a lawsuit claims.
Andy Simon, 60, who describes himself as “an openly gay black man,” says he strutted into the St. Regis Hotel’s historic King Cole Bar in September 2016 in a $4,400 outfit that included “a long black silk Givenchy shirt, Alexander McQueen evening shoes, a Rick Owens silk scarf and a lady’s clutch purse.”
He says he had barely sipped his margarita before being asked to leave.
“It was the most embarrassing night of my life,” said Simon.
He quickly returned in “a modern men’s tuxedo” and was served without trouble, his lawsuit claims. Simon says he even got an apology and an offer of a free meal when he complained to the manager the next day.
But the swanky gin mill — a favorite of Salvador Dalí, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio and John Lennon, and where the bloody Mary is said to have made its American debut, in 1934 — insists Simon was denied service simply because he lacked the “proper attire” the bar requires after 4 p.m.
The Midtown bar, in its legal response to Simon’s suit, describes his couture outfit as a mesh shirt, “completely see-through, so that his chest hair and nipples were visible, [and] shorts and shoes that exposed his feet.”
The staff tried to steer him to the hotel lounge, where there is no dress code, but Simon refused and kept “repeating that his clothing was designer and very expensive,” the hotel said.
A manager allowed him to finish his drink before ushering him out, and thanked him two hours later when Simon returned in the tux, the hotel said.
The second visit did not go swimmingly either. Simon, who says he’s been a bar regular since 1984, allegedly interrupted the manager’s conversation with another customer, lobbing insults and profanities while bragging “about his wealth,” the hotel’s lawyers told state investigators. He was booted again.
The St. Regis maintains he was removed “because he was dressed inappropriately and acted belligerently, and not for any discriminatory reason.”
Simon, a private home health aide, insists he was discriminated against because of his sexual orientation and female clothing. He complained to the state Division of Human Rights.
But the agency’s investigation “was not thorough,” said Simon’s attorney, Christopher Mason.
The state rejected Simon’s complaint for lack of evidence, prompting him to sue the Division of Human Rights and the hotel in Manhattan Supreme Court last week in a bid to reopen the case.