Even more recently Gloria Vanderbilt was denied an apartment in NYC because she was friends with the famous black piano player (can't remember his name). The tenants didn't want a black man using their elevator.
Bobby Short (September 15, 1924 – March 21, 2005)
In 1980 Short was embroiled in a dispute between Gloria Vanderbilt, whose clothes he had promoted in an ad campaign, and an apartment complex that had turned down her bid for a duplex. Before dropping her suit, Vanderbilt alleged that the apartment managers didn’t want to rent to her because they thought she and Short might get married and they hated interracial couples. In fact, Short never did marry anyone; he is survived by his adopted son, Ronald Bell, and his brother Reginald.