Let’s Get Together: Florence and Phil Collins

Florence was living in Glendale, CA teaching high school and Phil lived in Van Nuys working for United Fruit. It was a rainy night, but they both decided at the last minute to go to a ski club meeting in Eagle Rock.  Phil arrived first, and way eyeing the door at the first break when Florence and her friend entered the room.

At the close of the meeting, the club president invited everyone to a local bar for a drink. Phil approached Florence and her friend and chatted them up a bit, asking if they were up for joining the group for drinks.

Phil was running low on funds, and only had enough money for gas to get home and one drink so he arrived at the bar a bit late and waited in the parking lot until everyone had a drink before walking in.  Phil did spend some time deciding between Florence and her friend, and obviously he made the right decision! He asked Florence out the following Saturday night and she accepted just in time for him to slip out of the bar in advance of round 2.

On their first date he taught her the useful skill of playing pool, they went to dinner and then to a belly-dancing nightclub in Hollywood, where Phil's barber was a musician.  They sat on huge pillows and sipped on exotic drinks, which ended with their firs kiss. Florence's parents must have known that this was the real thing because the first time that Phil and Florence drove from Southern California they arrived at midnight; Florence went to bed and Phil and Florence's mother Alice stayed up all night talking. Early in the morning Phil had his first encounter with Florence's younger sister Stephanie, who wanted to know everything about the new person sleeping on the living room couch.  After Alice's sister Florence met Phil, she went out and bought a suit to wear to the wedding even though there was no talk of engagement yet.

On one of their later visits to San Francisco from LA, Phil took Florence to the Crown Room, a bar in the Fairmont Hotel with a beautiful view of the city. It was there he asked her if she would “like to get together,” having chocked on the correct line, “will you marry me,” and happily she agreed. They got married in San Francisco, and hosted their reception at the famed Clif House (which has since been rebuilt, twice).  

A few years later they moved up to Northern California, and had Brian. Three years after that they moved to Fairfax, and had Andrea (who got the bigger room).