I don't remember much about our first visit, beyond the elegant home in Beverly Hills, the delicious home-cooked lunch and the coterie of elderly women hosting me. They called themselves the Current Issues group, and I was one of the writers, artists, politicians and academics asked to speak at their monthly meetings.
A decade has probably passed since then, but I can't remember what year it was, what subject I talked about or even who invited me. I only know that I enjoyed myself, and that's what brought me back each time they asked -- most recently on Wednesday.
So I shouldn't have been surprised this week when I turned tables and questioned them about their history -- to share their story in this column -- and found gaping holes in their memories.
"I couldn't tell you anything about it . . . about how it started or all the things we talked about," said Jackie Gottlieb, at 77 the youngest of the two dozen women on the group's roster.
"We just wanted to know more about current events, and we got all these wonderful people to come out and speak. And I guess we just stayed interested." She shrugged. "Because we kept coming back."
Every month. More than 400 times. For almost half a century.
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I have been invited back a few times since our first session. They're mostly octogenarians now, though sometimes it seems there's not a gray hair or un-manicured nail in the crowd.
No one talks about grandchildren or any touchy-feely stuff. My subjects Wednesday were prison reform and foster care. They shot back with concerns about civil liberties and laws. They can be a tough crowd, peppering a speaker with questions, challenging assumptions and fighting one another for a chance to talk.
I left Wednesday with questions of my own: What has held them together for 50 years? And how much longer will they go on -- a throwback to an era before everything you needed to know about current events could be found instantly online or in a 24-hour news broadcast.
But I didn't get the answers I sought. They didn't want to talk about themselves, though I couldn't tell if it was modesty or fading memories at fault.
No one could recall exactly how the group started. They were housewives with young children, living in Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles. Someone came up with the idea of turning kaffeeklatsches into intellectual salons that would meet each month at a different home.
