Woodman’s Love Stories: Andrew Cranin and Bonnie Nathanson’s A Cappella Love Story

Peking and the Mystics

Back in the 1980’s, Cambridge resident Andrew Cranin would occasionally appear at Woodman’s with his a cappella group to serenade the patrons. The Woodmans were appreciative and the young singers always received a free meal. One day, while waiting at the Pick-Up Counter after a performance, he felt a tap on his shoulder and there stood a middle-aged woman who wished to tell him something. “My daughter thinks you’re cute,” she said.

If it wasn’t love at first sight when Andrew looked across the room at an exceedingly embarrassed young woman, it was pretty close, and he soon learned that Bonnie Nathanson and her mother, Anne, had travelled from Montreal. Bonnie’s father was having an operation at Mass. General Hospital and someone there had recommended a visit to Woodman’s. When they arrived Bonnie noticed Andrew. And in one of those life-changing moments, she said to her mom, “Gosh he’s cute.”

Now in his mid-50s, Andrew and his a capella group, Peking and the Mystics, still visit Woodman’s several times a summer to “sing for their supper.”  One song that’s always a crowd pleaser is Those Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang of Mine, which was what they sang when Andrew asked Bonnie to marry him during a visit to – where else? – Woodman’s a few years after that auspicious beginning.

This is the first installment of our ongoing series of Love Stories at Woodman’s and The Essex Room. Submit your stories and photos on Facebook  and stay tuned for more!