Waiting for my invite

Prince Harry's upcoming nuptials will have nothing on this celebrity wedding

The big wedding of 2018 — unless Larry King goes for No. 9 — will be Prince Harry and Meghan Markle swapping vows at Windsor Castle in May. They're expecting about 800 guests, only "friends and family." The plan is, no celebrities.

I've got to figure a way in.

Still, Harry and Meghan may as well be a shotgun wedding at a drive-through chapel in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, compared to the over-the-top nuptials of Robert Goulet and his business manager Vera Chochorovska Novak, back in the '80s. It was a spectacular event, with glitz, glamour, megastar power — and me — that stopped Las Vegas in its tracks.

At the time, I was just making a little headway in my newspaper career, my long hard climb to the middle. But when I heard that Wayne Newton would be the best man, veteran actor Glenn Ford was giving the bride away, and Lola Falana was going to sing "If Ever I Should Leave You" — I had to be there. I got Goulet's agent on the phone. Looking back, it's possible that I overstated my position as a "society columnist" (I was covering comedy clubs at the time) and begged an invitation to the wedding reception.

Hurry, got to get a (cheap) suit. And, a present for the happy couple...

Greatest. Celeb wedding gift. Ever.
I went to Walgreen's and bought a two-slice toaster.

My color choices were Harvest Gold and Avocado, the hot kitchen motifs of the day — at least in pharmacies. I went with Harvest Gold. I stuffed the receipt in the box in case they wanted to exchange it for Avocado. The bonus of buying a wedding gift at Walgreen's, you can buy a card two aisles over. I made a reservation for a cheap hotel, $19 or something a night, in downtown Vegas.

The wedding ceremony was held at the Little Church of the West in Las Vegas. Mickey Rooney got married there, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Redd Foxx, too. The church should have a sign, "Your fifth one's on us!"

With crowds cheering on the sidewalk, the newly minted Goulets rode a horse and buggy down the Vegas Strip to their reception at the Dunes Hotel and Casion, where Goulet was headlining the main room. The opening act was ventriloquist Willie Tyler and Lester. According the famous Dunes sign, the buffet was $2.95, and you could get a "NY Steak Dinner" with potato and salad for $3.25.

See if you can spot Ken at the Goulet wedding:

The Dunes Hotel, where Sin City legends like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Liberace, and Phyllis Diller once sparkled, was imploded in 1993. The Bellagio now stands in its place. You know what the headline act at the Bellagio is now? It's one of the 200 Cirque du Soliel shows (hard to tell them apart) currently playing the strip. The dinner buffet is $42.99. There is no "4 for $4" value menu at the Bellagio.

"And you are...?"
I put the toaster on a table outside the reception hall and walked in to find my table, you know, like I wasn't an impostor. The place was packed. Vegas columnists and TV reporters put the attendance at 1,400 guests. Some of the comments were snarky. One columnist noted that "some of the guests could even pronounce the bride's middle name." Very disrespectful.

Really, 1,400 guests? I think these columnists now work as parade crowd estimators for the City of Houston.

(Time out for an off-topic compliment: Saturday night I was watching Channel 13's coverage of the Mardi Gras parade in Galveston, and anchor Tom Koch admitted that the crowd was "sparse, probably due to the weather." It was the first time I've heard a Houston TV personality give an honest assessment of a parade crowd.)

The Goulets' wedding reception was star-studded, with Wayne Newton, Norm Crosby, Richard Dawson, and many others. I think I saw Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, but it was hard to tell from Siberia. My table was near the kitchen, sitting with low-level Dunes executives. A couple of them asked me, "And you are ...?"

After dinner (I had the beef), Goulet took the center of the dance floor and sang "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" to his bride. It was very sweet. And they did stay married until Goulet's death in 2007.

The reception ended early. Many of the guests had tickets for shows, others had shows to perform. I grabbed a few desserts and scooted for the exit. I had a early plane in the morning.

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CultureMap does not officially endorse drugstore toasters as wedding gifts.

Prince Harry will marry Meghan Markle in May.

Getty images

Prince Harry will marry Meghan Markle in May.

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fins and all

Towering downtown skyscraper and former headquarters for oil giant set for new high-rise apartment conversion

Photo by Getty Images

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An empty downtown skyscraper harking to Houston's energy capital brand may soon reignite the high-rise living trend in downtown.

The tower formerly known as the Humble Oil headquarters and now the Exxon building (800 Bell St.) has been sold to an out-of-state developer with plans to convert the structure to residential units. Ralph Bivins, a former CultureMap scribe, was first to break the news on Realty News Report.

Bivins reports that the 1.2 million-square-foot building was sold to a New York investment group affiliated with CMI Developers. Notably, the group boasts experience in historic redevelopment and apartment conversions. Bivins adds that the age of the Exxon building (it was completed in 1962) and its high local profile might yield available historic preservation tax credits for the developers.

As downtowners may recall, the former Exxon HQ at 800 Bell for around eight years when the company relocated to its modern new campus.

Culturally, the building has been significant as a towering symbol of Houston's energy powerhouse status. At the time of its opening, Bivins notes, the building was considered the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. Its famed Petroleum Club atop the building was the site of myriad power deals, and later, special events.

Looking forward, the building presents numerous opportunities for adaptive reuse. The first floors of the building, once open to neighbors who utilized the Exxon cafeteria, can be an ideal mixed-use locale for restaurants and even retail. One hopes the building's signature "fins," crafted to block the hot Houston sun, remain a design feature.

The large scale of the Exxon tower raises the opportunity for placing a significant amount of retail or restaurants in the lower levels of the building, located between Milam and Travis. The old Exxon parking garage, located nearby, comes with the deal, Bivins point out — always a boon for parking-scarce downtown areas.

Given the green-light status of the hotly contested I-45 expansion project and plans to redevelop Midtown and areas near the Pierce Elevated, the high-rise residential could be an epicenter of new downtown growth.