AVENUE January | February 2020 Digital Issue by Avenue Magazine

THE TRAILBLAZERS Misty Copeland and Calvin Royal III are creating a singular dance legacy

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AVENUE MAGAZINE | JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020

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AVENUE...our mission is simple: to celebrate what’s great about New York and the achievements of New Yorkers. Our city has always led the nation, and the world, in identifying trends and defining sophistication; it deserves a similarly compelling magazine. AVENUE...embracing connoisseurship, education, family, innovation and New York City’s rich history, we navigate the city through an inclusive lens, revealing today’s vibrant culture, design, property, style, neighborhoods and people. AVENUE...publishing 40,000 copies bi-monthly, distributed throughout Manhattan and other boroughs that define New York’s new neighborhoods, and featuring a digital newsletter weekly. AVENUE...a thoroughfare of insight and access. IT ’S WHERE WE LIVE.

JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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CONTENTS JAN.–FEB. 202O VOL.43 NO.1

THE TRAILBLAZERS

Cast as ABT’s new Romeo and Juliet, Misty Copeland and Calvin Royal III are creating an historic dance partnership and a singular dance legacy in the process. By Amy Fine Collins. Photographs by . 4

ENGLISHMEN IN NEW YORK

Avenue’s portfolio of local Brits, with Bradley Wright-Phillips, Hugo Guinness, Phil Winser, Craig McDean, and Alan Linn. By Heather Hodson. Photographs by John Huba.

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY

The season’s vibrant new rings. By Mimi Lombardo. Photographs by Mitchell Feinberg. 8

FASHIONABLE HARLEM

Constance C.R. White reports on the magma-hot neighborhood whose development has escalated to a breakneck pace: expansions of iconic landmarks meet a stylish uptick in food and fashion.

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and Misty Copeland share a tuxedo by Ralph Lauren Purple Label. Photograph by

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PROVENANCE

Avenue‘s founder on launching the magazine 44 years ago and welcoming its new incarnation.

WHERE TO FIND IT

The city’s best pre-nursery programs, maverick movie theaters, and independent book stores; plus New York’s prime spots for the romantic trifecta: champagne, caviar, and oysters.

KIDS + GRIT + GRATITUDE

Inoculating children against entitlement by reframing the way they view the world. 34

OBJECTS OF DESIRE

Hot, pink, and red all over: colorful Valentine gifting.

CULTURE

MoMA’s Donald Judd retrospective; new collections from two giants of American poetry; the legacy of Mike Nichols continues this spring. Plus: new exhibitions, theater, fiction, non-fiction, and coffee-table books.

ON THE COVER

LA VIE EN LUXE

Adding shine with gold ﬂatware, silver cocktail shakers, and crystal vases for the well-appointed home. 48

FLORIDA SEA CHANGE

South Florida is raising its tropical luxury game. 10

PALM BEACH MÊLÉE

Nick Mele and his young family are among the shiny island’s youthquake.

SEEN ON SCENE Everything happens at parties: as evidenced the New York Botanical Garden and God’s Love We Deliver.

CAFÉ SOCIETY WAS BORN AT 1040 PARK AVE. Condé Nast, his New York penthouse, and the best parties of the Jazz Age.

JET, SET, GO

Books for the intrepid traveler and the armchair adventurer.

SECRET LIFE OF AARON BURR Much-maligned for two centuries, this antihero has an unknown story.

Left: The pool at the Faena Hotel Miami Beach. Above: Harlem’s legendary Apollo hosts the

Illustrator Cecilia Carlstedt on the purposeful craft of drawing in a digital age.

TIMELESS LENS

The photographic maestro Scott Frances turns his eye from interiors to cityscapes.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ANGELA WEISS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES; ILLUSTRATION BY ANNABEL BRIENS

AVENUE MAGAZINE | JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020

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Legacy n this city of powerful turbines: fashion, finance, tech, and culture among them, Avenue has chronicled the diverse cast of characters driving it all since the magazine was founded 44 years ago. In our relaunch issue we focus on legacy in all of its forms—from the storied community of Harlem, to 1040 Park Avenue, where café society first took shape in a series of raucous penthouse parties. We also present a portfolio of Englishmen in New York who are drawing on their own heritage to shape the city. Misty Copeland is solidifying her legacy as a cultural trailblazer, and we feature her here with Calvin Royal III on the eve of their historic pairing in ABT’s forthcoming ballet, Romeo and Juliet. New York is a city with an audience that deserves high-octane hometown coverage, and with the help of renowned design firm, Pentagram, we’ve relaunched Avenue to do just that. As much as New Yorkers are fanfared for their fashionable lifestyles, it’s their personal achievements that make them uniquely ours. This is, above all things, a city of achievers. Our readers are an acquisitive bunch—with the sprawling apartments and shiny toys to prove it—but it’s their wit and perhaps also their grit, that really sets them apart. In this issue we feature grit (and gratitude) as a way to inoculate our kids against entitlement. Our culture pages highlight the best of what to do and see; look to our resource section for navigating NYC’s rich offerings (independent bookstores and theaters), and timely reservations (the Valentine’s Day trifecta of caviar, oyster, and Champagne bars). It’s winter, so we’re also looking south to Florida, where the Sunshine State has of late been upping it tropical game. New Yorkers are social nomads but happily, these days, geography isn’t a limitation because Avenue is online as well as in print. While you’ll find us in the city’s chicest apartment buildings, hotels, and restaurants, you’ll also find us online at avenuemagazine.com, and in our social media. Avenue events are just now getting underway so we hope to see you there as well. In the meantime, welcome to the virtual cocktail party we’ve cooked up for you on these pages, where everyone is well-dressed and has something interesting to say. KRISTINA STEWART WARD

Editor-in-Chief 18

As much as New Yorkers are fanfared for their fashionable lifestyles, it’s their personal achievements that make them uniquely ours. This is, above all things, a city of achievers.

Letters to the Editor AVENUE welcomes “letters to the editor.” Please address to: Kristina Stewart Ward 750 Lexington Avenue, 16th Floor New York, NY 10022 editorial @avenuemagazine.com Like and follow us on @AVENUEinsider

AVENUE MAGAZINE | JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020

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Kristina Stewart Ward FEATURES DIRECTOR

Heather Hodson MANAGING EDITOR

Angela M.H. Schuster

CONSTANCE C. R. WHITE (Fashionable Harlem, page 82). “It was exciting to be able to explore the depth and breadth of Harlem,” says White of writing the issue’s neighborhood story. An award-winning journalist, White is the former editor-in-chief of Essence and author of How to Slay: Inspiration from the Queens and Kings of Black Style (Rizzoli).

PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR

Catherine G. Talese PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

Jessica Lee SENIOR EDITOR

PEGGY SIROTA (The Trailblazers, page 56) has spent decades shooting cover stories for GQ and Rolling Stone, among other publications, turning her camera on everyone from Jack Nicholson and Natalie Portman to LeBron James and Madonna. Of photographing Misty Copeland and Calvin Royal III, she says, “I love dance, I love dancers… These two are beyond awesome!”

Melissa Webb ART ASSISTANT

Shaoyang Chen STYLE EDITORS

Mimi Lombardo, Alecta Hill LONDON EDITOR

Catherine St Germans PARIS EDITOR

Clemence von Mueffling AMY FINE COLLINS (The Trailblazers, page 56). “Ballet in America will be transformed by Misty and Calvin’s historic appearance as Romeo and Juliet at ABT,” says Amy Fine Collins of interviewing the pair for Avenue. Collins is Special Correspondent to Vanity Fair, Editor at Large at AirMail.news, Executive Director of Tabula Rasa Dance Theater, and author of the recently published The International BestDressed List (Rizzoli).

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Alex Kuczynski, Liesl Schillinger, Katrina Brooker, Gigi Mortimer, Elisabeth Munder, Tracy Bross CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Anders Overgaard, John Huba, Mitchell Feinberg, Mark Seelen, Nick Mele, Billy Farrell, Scott Frances

EDITORIAL@AVENUEMAGAZINE.COM PUBLISHER/MANAGING DIRECTOR

Michael Calman ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Betsy Jones

COHEN MEDIA PUBLICATIONS LLC CHAIRMAN

Charles S. Cohen AVENUEMAGAZINE.COM

FEINBERG: NATHAN WEST

MITCHELL FEINBERG (Bright Lights, Big City, page 76) is an American photographer who divides his time between Paris and New York. “We chose the most colorful, luminous pieces,” he says of our jewelry shoot. Feinberg has photographed for Cartier, Bulgari, Christofle, Burberry, Moët Hennessy, and Hermès, as well as cover stories for Departures, Bon Appetit, Vogue Accessories, Fortune, and Time magazine.

JOHN HUBA (Englishmen in New York, page 64). The photographer and videographer trained under Bruce Weber before going out on his own for the likes of Vanity Fair, Travel & Leisure, InStyle, and Rolling Stone, where he has photographed Martin Scorsese, Salma Hayek, Johnny Depp, and Anne Hathaway. Here he shoots our five Brits and says, “I’d love to have taken each of them out for a pint.” (Look for the video he created on Alan Linn on avenuemagazine.com). 0

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An Exciting New Chapter For Avenue I gave Manhattan a hometown magazine 44 years ago, and I’m excited to see its new chapter. BY JUDY PRICE

here was a rumor going around the week I first launched Avenue magazine back in September of 1976: everyone was saying that I was delivering copies of the magazine from the back of my Rolls-Royce. Well, nothing could be further from the truth—but, I suppose it might have helped generate a little excitement in the beginning anyway—Channel 7 News and the New York Times were both going on and on about it. The truth is that I saw a city of fascinating people who needed a local magazine, and I had the

connections and the energy to give it to them. My friends from Time magazine were among my first writers and editors—including Michael Schnayerson, and later, Graydon Carter. It was going to be a magazine about architecture, business, and lifestyle—a pictorial version of the New Yorker. I was desperate for Arnold Newman to photograph the great architect Gordon Bunshaft for me, so I offered to be his assistant on the shoot and got him to do for $75 dollars. I also managed to get Arthur Sulzberger in the magazine too—and once he said yes, well, then everyone from the media world wanted in, including Rupert Murdoch. We photographed him with his wife and three kids when they were all still in britches: HBO should have dropped that photo into a silver frame and placed it somewhere prominently in their show “Succession,” with a wink. Leo Castelli was among the first people I pitched ads to, and he said: “Judy, I’ll take three.” He didn’t even ask the price! Leo said to me, “I’m buying art here today…we won’t worry about price.” Ha! I wish they all took such an opinion. It was fun in those early days, and I think my timing was right because it really took off—despite the fact that I didn’t even yet have an office. If someone asked you what 25,000 copies of a magazine looks like—would you know? I sure didn’t know back then, so when the printer asked me where he should deliver them, I just said: drop them all off at my Park Avenue apartment. Well, I quickly learned what 25,000 copies looked like. Stacks and stacks of them were piled up in every room of our home…the hallways, the pantries—I think Peter and I were lucky the floors didn’t cave in under the weight! Then there was the matter of how to get them in the front door of Manhattan’s best addresses. I managed to get my driver Sol and his two kids to deliver them, but first I ordered them custom uniforms of grey trousers, a white shirt and a blue blazer with “Avenue” embroidered on the pocket. Our first issue had a doorman on it, so what doorman was going to say no to such a cover, hand-delivered by such a well-dressed trio? And for the record…the car wasn’t a Rolls, it was a limo! Of course we also had a massive truck carrying the bulk of the issues, trailing behind the limo by about a block, and Sol would just go back and restock from the truck whenever they’d run short in the limo. The Upper East Side was our initial hub, but we soon expanded internationally to France, England, Italy, Germany—even Japan and China. Avenue was the first American magazine into Beijing in 1993. It was a showstopper—a really good reception around the world because everyone wants to know what New Yorkers do and say. And they still do: 44 years is remarkably long time for a trademark to still be thriving. And I’m very happy with the new leadership running Avenue today. I couldn’t run it forever, and Charles Cohen has a such a clear vision for the magazine; he really understands luxury. I’m looking forward to Avenue’s next chapter, and if I see a Rolls dropping off copies of the magazine on my block any time soon, I’ll just know it’s Charles’ sense of humor.

COURTESY OF JUDITH PRICE

PROVENANCE

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THE BAR (at the Baccarat Hotel) 28 West 53rd Street, 2nd ﬂoor 212.790.8867 baccarathotels.com

Celebrate! The triple play for Valentine’s Day: NYC’s best caviar, oyster, and champagne bars.

hampagne, oysters, and caviar may be as ritual as chocolate in the vicinity of Valentine’s Day, but three of the four have a much higher barrier to entry. A trifecta of connoisseurship and expense, they are the universally acknowledged antipasti to amore. These seasonal indulgences require some modicum of expertise to select, so demonstrate that you’re playing at a more exalted level by heeding this curated list of local offerings. The glasses drained, the spoon-scraped tins, the embankment of empty shells in a dish…all evidence that true love was here.

CAVIAR RUSSE 538 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor 212.980.5908 caviarrusse.com MARKY’S CAVIAR 1067 Madison Avenue 212.288.0850 markyscaviar.com OLMA CAVIAR BOUTIQUE & BAR The Plaza Food Hall 1 West 59th Street 212.371.8525 olmacaviar.com PETROSSIAN 911 Seventh Avenue 212.245.2217 petrossian.com THE POOL LOUNGE 99 East 52nd Street 212.375.9001 thepoolnewyork.com RUSS & DAUGHTERS 127 Orchard Street 212.475.4880 ext. 2 russanddaughters.com THE RUSSIAN TEA ROOM 150 West 57th Street 212.581.7100 russiantearoomnyc.com

SHUCK AND AWE: OYSTER BARS AQUAGRILL 210 Spring Street 212.274.0505 aquagrill.com BALTHAZAR 80 Spring Street 212.965.1414 balthazarny.com

LURE FISHBAR NEW YORK 142 Mercer Street 212.431.7676 lurefishbar.com

THE CHAMPAGNE BAR (at the Plaza Hotel) 765 Fifth Avenue 212.546.5304 theplazany.com

MAISON PREMIERE 298 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn 347.335.0446 maisonpremiere.com

DANIEL 60 East 65th Street 212.288.0033 danielnyc.com

MARY’S FISH CAMP 64 Charles Street 646.486.2185 marysfishcamp.com THE MERMAID INN Upper West Side: 570 Amsterdam Avenue 212.799.7400 East Village: 96 Second Avenue 212.674.5870 themermaidnyc.com MERMAID OYSTER BAR 79 Macdougal Street 212.260.0100 themermaidnyc.com PEARL OYSTER BAR 18 Cornelia Street 212.691.8211 pearloysterbar.com ZADIE’S OYSTER ROOM 413 East 12th Street 646.602.1300 zadiesoysteroom.com

FIZZ ED: CHAMPAGNE HIDEAWAYS THE RIDDLER 51 Bank Street 212.741.5136 theriddlerbar.com AIR’S CHAMPAGNE PARLOR 127 Macdougal Street 212.420.4777 airschampagneparlor.com THE CAMPBELL APARTMENT 15 Vanderbilt Avenue 212.297.1781 thecampbellnyc.com

GRAND ARMY BAR 336 State Street, Brooklyn 718.643.1503 grandarmybar.com GRAND CENTRAL OYSTER BAR 89 East 42nd Street, (lower level) 212.490.6650 oysterbarny.com JEFFREY’S GROCERY 172 Waverly Place 212.475.1924 jeffreysgrocery.com

The Riddler

ELEVEN MADISON PARK 11 Madison Avenue 212.889.0905 elevenmadisonpark.com FLÛTE BAR & LOUNGE 205 West 54th Street 212.265.5169 ﬂutebar.com THE FOUR HORSEMEN 295 Grand Street, Brooklyn 718.599.4900 fourhorsemenbk.com

1 Central Park West 212.299.3900 jean-georges.com LA COMPAGNIE DES VINS SURNATURELS 249 Centre Street 212.343.3660 compagnienyc.com LE BERNARDIN 155 West 51st Street 212.554.1515 le-bernardin.com MAISON PREMIERE 298 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn 347.335.0446 maisonpremiere.com THE NOMAD LIBRARY BAR 1170 Broadway 212.796.1500 thenomadhotel.com REBELLE 218 Bowery 917.639.3880 rebellenyc.com TERROIR TRIBECA 24 Harrison Street 212.625.9463 wineisterroir.com

PHOTOGRAPHS BY RITA MAAS/THE IMAGE BANK/GETTY IMAGES; COURTESY OF THE RIDDLER.

BLACK GOLD: THE CAVIAR CZARS

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ability to sit up independently helps ensure that he or she gets the most out of the class. Added bonus: Little Maestros has Herculean helpers to carry your stroller up and down the stairs. A robust schedule of six to seven classes a day are offered in 13-week sessions, starting at $580.

1309 Madison Avenue, 2nd ﬂoor 212.501.8524 carousellanguages.com

Prep schools for pre-nursery kids Brooke Parker tracks down the best programs in music, languages, and sports for the under-three set.

24 East 95th Street 212.369.1484 diller-quaile.org

For nearly a century, this neighborhood music school known as the “mini Juilliard” has echoed with the sounds of young children singing, clapping, dancing, and playing pianos alongside a slew of smaller instruments. Angela Diller and Elizabeth Quaile founded the school with the intention of instilling in children a lifelong love of music, and this remains a goal even as the school has expanded dramatically. Seasoned music instructors and professional guest artists oversee the musical development of the students, some as young as three months. Particularly popular among the tiniest musicians are “Meet the Instrument” and collaborative musical play. Cost of a 15-week program starts at $995.

3 Church of the Heavenly Rest at 1085 Fifth Avenue 212.988.1708 freetobeunderthree.com

Those nerve-racking rumors you’ve heard swirling around city playgrounds that expectant mothers sometimes enroll their babies in early education programs as soon as they give birth are, in fact, true. In the case of this particular program, your due date is enough to join the waiting list for the language-building, mommy-and-me class. Based on the principal that children learn best from repetition, each class builds slowly on skills mastered in the previous semester, so that tots can develop their language, social skills, and fine motor abilities at their own pace. Parents may moan about the monotony, but the children seem to love it, and this continues to be one of the city’s most popular programs. Classes begin at $675 a term.

Foreign-language immersion programs are very à la mode these days, and at Carousel of Languages, classes are available for infants as young as four months, with 11 languages on the menu: Italian, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Russian, English, Greek, Hebrew, Turkish, Hindi, and German. The multisensory approach involves visual aids, tactile story books, props, and the learning of traditional songs. All of the teaching materials are created in-house and are unique to the program. Classes are taught by native speakers with international cultural insights, and are capped at five children per teacher so that infants and toddlers can fully participate and stay engaged and stimulated. Cost of classes for one year is $2,340.

344 East 69th Street 212.396.3977 JCC Manhattan at 334 Amsterdam Avenue 646.505.5708 littlemaestros.com

Disco balls, gigantic bubbles, Hamilton puppet shows, strobe lights, conga lines, mystery boxes, themed classes, professional Broadway singers, and live music at every class: what’s not to love about this theatrical music infant and toddler program? A baby’s

1520 York Avenue 212.861.7732 gymtime.net

Gymtime’s offerings are diverse: painting, cooking, Tae Kwon Do, and gymnastics in the state-of-theart indoor gym. For the zero-tothree set, the classes begin with “Mini Movers” (six months to ten months) and “Tiny Tots” (ten to 17 months). A professional movement and dance therapist helps guide a child’s motor development and communication to hit early milestones, including crawling and walking. The Preschool Enrichment Program, aka PEP, is taught by New York State earlychildhood-education-certified instructors. The course is 35 minutes of a preschool classroom experience followed by 35 minutes of organized physical activity. Baby boot camp at its finest. Cost of PEP class starts at $985 for the summer term.

4 East 81 Street 917.675.6837 littlelearning.com

Often referred to as the “Navy Seals of Early Childhood education” because of its structured, rigorous learning environment, this all-round enrichment program emphasizes pre-reading, socialization, and fine motor skills for children 18 months and older. Because of the small class size—five students to two teachers—the curriculum is tailored to meet each child’s needs and pace. Little Learning also provides one of the city’s best new parent soundingJANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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steadily and learning to run, you can consider them ready to join in the fun. (For toddlers not yet enrolled in nursery school five days a week, there is a morning “Pre-School Athletes” drop-off class with one hour of organized sports followed by one hour of classroom activities.) A 15-week course starts at $90.

Little Learning

board opportunities with their hour-long individual conferences and extensive reading lists. A year’s tuition is $7,300. KIDS IN SPORTS 1420 Second Avenue Temple Israel at 112 East 75th Street Sutton Family Center at 225 East 51st Street 212.744.4900 kidsinsports.com

Created by a group of early childhood educators, this indoor, multi-sport program has grown into a big attraction for children on the Upper East Side. Under the guidance of skilled, patient coaches, they can get an early start on everything from basketball and soccer, to tennis and floor hockey. For the youngest athletes (12 months old), learning sports translates into following multistep directions, socializing, and learning how to cooperate with their classmates. With a coachto-child ratio of one-to-five, these classes are available seven days a week. Once your child is walking

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ROCKIN’ WITH ANDY rockinwithandy.com 917.647.3611

Andy Baum is the go-to musician for 45-minute, early-childhood, private and small group music lessons. He has calming guitar skills, a bag full of instruments and developmental toys, and a loyal UES following.

Top: the red, high-gloss entrance of the QUAD; below, the Metrograph theatre. Nolen Library TODDLER STORYTIME AT THE NOLEN LIBRARY METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 1000 Fifth Avenue 212.535.7710 metmuseum.org

Children as young as 18 months attend the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s delightful storytime, located in the Children’s Reading Room of the beautiful Nolen Library. Met professionals read picture books and sing songs to their rapt audiences from 10:30 to 11:00 every weekday morning, and entry is on a first-come, first-served basis. This is a no-fee program and it’s recommended that you arrive at least 30 minutes early. Brooke Parker is an early childhood educator and admissions consultant in New York City independent schools. She created this local, vetted source of programs after being frequently solicited by fellow pre-k parents. AcademicEnrichmentNYC@gmail.com

Independent Movie Theaters In a city of iconoclasts it’s little wonder that New Yorkers want their cinemas as independent as their bookstores. Catherine Talese rounds up NYC’s best. QUAD CINEMA 34 West 13th Street 212.255.2243 quadcinema.com

It’s hard to imagine this sleek, red, recently-renovated retro gem was actually the East Coast’s first multiplex, founded in 1972, its four screens now showing independent and foreign films as well as compelling retrospectives. Warhol was a regular here and helped establish the Quad’s cool.

Which continues: the Quad Bar is a recent addition, as is state-of-theart sound, the 32-screen video wall in the lobby, and specialty icecream sandwiches at the 50-foot concessions stand. METROGRAPH 7 Ludlow Street 212.660.0312 metrograph.com

The newest independent film house in the city opened in 2016 south of

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Delancey, and is given to premiering independent American and foreign films, classics, and themed programming. It’s committed to screening 35mm prints as well as digital projections. Leave time for dinner or a drink at the Metrograph Commissary or just browse the Susan Sontag or “We’re Jane Fonda” bumper stickers in the mini bookstore. ANGELIKA FILM CENTER 18 West Houston Street 212.995.2570 angelikafilmcenter.com

Since 1989, cineastes and students from nearby NYU have headed underground to watch independent, foreign, and small-release films often accompanied by special sound FX courtesy of the B, D, F, and M subway trains; no charge for the extra rumbling. Six screens. No frills. Water-cooler-worthy films. NITEHAWK CINEMA 136 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn 188 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn 718.782.8370 nitehawkcinema.com

If you miss the excitement of the drive-in (or are too young to be famliar with the concept), head to Brooklyn for classic, revival, and independent films in two speciallyrigged dine-in theaters. Both venues host short-film festivals and bring live music accompaniment to silent classics so you can see it like your grandparents did.

residential tower has become a haven for foreign, classic, and independent film, as well as documentaries and contemporary movies. Boasting eight screens, oversized leather seating, and craft cocktails, the theater also benefits from a clutch of chic restaurants next door as you exit. ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES 32 Second Avenue 212.505.5181 anthologyfilmarchives.org

The essential cinema house, Anthology was founded in 1970 for “the preservation, study, and exhibition of films and video” and is beloved by hardcore avant-garde and experimental filmgoers. Two screens, small seats, great films, all housed in a landmark courthouse. VILLAGE EAST CINEMA 181-189 Second Avenue 212.529.6998 citycinemas.com

Originally the Louis N. Jaffe Theater, this East Village landmark building went up in 1925 and has still got it, with a gold, vaulted ceiling, Moorish details, and a

glimmering cut-glass chandeliers. Seven screening rooms run classic film, new releases, and red-carpet premieres. ROXY CINEMA 2 Sixth Avenue 212.519.6820 roxycinematribeca.com

Paying tribute to the 1920s Times Square area movie palace—the Roxy Cinema, which seated more than 5,000 people—the Roxy Hotel’s basement screening room program runs independent and archival classics in a plush setting with craft cocktails.

FILM FORUM 209 West Houston Street 212.727.8100 filmforum.org

This 50-year-old landmark plays independent, foreign, and revival programs 365 days a year and boasts the best popcorn and egg creams in the city. It also has some of the best industry people-watching, so don’t be surprised if you find yourself seated next to your favorite directors or in discussion with them by the concession stand. 1 3 1001 Third Avenue 212.753.6022 citycinemas.com

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE 445 Albee Square West, Brooklyn 28 Liberty Street (coming soon) 718.513.2547 drafthouse.com

Austin is exporting the one-for-all, no-cellphones Alamo concept to the downtowns of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Discounts for teens and showings for the pre-k crowd; 30 different microbrews and intheater eats for grownups. Classics, independents, and Hollywood extravaganzas play overhead.

Owned by the same family as the Village East Cinema, the Upper East Side local theater opposite Bloomingdale’s recently renovated its interior to include plush reclining seats. A mix of independent, classic, and new releases, the cinema offers audiences with AMC fatigue a local alternative near plenty of dining and shopping.

IFC CENTER 323 Sixth Avenue 212.924.7771 ifccenter.com

JAMES

KARLA MURRAY

Replacing the legendary Waverly Theater, the Independent Film Channel Center opened in 2005 with five screens showing new independent, foreign, and documentary films, National Theatre Live offerings from London, and midnight showings of cult classics. Your film-geek memento for the night is the Cinemetal t-shirt line on sale with the Milk Duds and lionizing the likes of Ingmar Bergman, Werner Herzog, and Luis Buñuel, tricked out in heavy-metal-band typeface. LANDMARK THEATRE 657 West 57th Street 646.233.1615 landmarktheatres.com

This destination arthouse theater in Bjarke Ingles’ vanguard

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aughter of the legendary New Yorker illustrator Pierre Le-Tan, Cleo Le-Tan grew up surrounded by stalagmites of books and spent years spelunking the city’s literary secrets for A Booklover’s Guide to New York. The delightful, bookish romp hops from neighborhood to neighborhood, with more than 200 entries, and illustrated by her late father, this being his last passion project. Here, Cleo shares some of her favorite bookstores in the city, which she calls “a special place for curious bibliophiles.” 30

ARGOSY BOOK STORE 116 East 59th Street 212.753.4455 argosybooks.com

Officially the oldest bookshop in New York City, having opened its doors in 1925, Argosy is currently on its third generation of family ownership. The leather-bound classics of literature on the ground floor and bankerly green-shade lamps confer an Old-World-library browsability. Up a flight is a Master & Commander captain’s quarters of old prints, maps, and globes, with histories a floor higher and organized by region. The basement

is legendary for its windowless Ali Baba’s Cave aesthetic and its endless shelves, where it’s far too easy to lose all sense of time and depart with a lighter wallet. URSUS BOOKS & GALLERY 50 East 78th Street 212.772.8787 ursusbooks.com

For nearly half a century, Ursus has been renowned among artists and collectors for some of the best new and out-of-print books. Originally in the Carlyle Hotel, Ursus has migrated to the ground floor of a nearby apartment

)

Cleo Le-Tan shares some of her favorites in the city.

CLEO LE TAN, A BOOKLOVER’S GUIDE TO NEW YORK (NEW YORK: RIZZOLI, 20

Top-Shelf Indie Bookstores

While Assouline doesn’t technically qualify as an independent bookstore, it’s hard to imagine the city’s literary landscape without this effervescent French publishing house and small, specialized book chain. The erudite brand focuses on art, fashion, interiors, travel and lifestyle titles in small shops tucked away in the Plaza Hotel, the Mark Hotel, and our favorite (because of its longtime, knowledgeable shopkeeper, Helen) in the D&D Building on Third Avenue. Between Cleo’s new book and the city’s rich literary offerings, NYC is fighting the good fight, defending the beloved bookstore.

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MCNALLY JACKSON 52 Prince Street 4 Fulton Street 76 North 4th Street, Unit G, Brooklyn mcnallyjackson.com

building and feels no less secret. The offerings are beautifully displayed and are particularly rich in illustrated books of all periods, from the 15th through the 21st centuries. A website cataloguing a vast array of holdings can also be accessed off-site.

These three popular spinoffs of Canadian bookstore chain McNally Robinson have cafés that morph into reading-signing spaces by night. In addition to a well-curated selection of books, there are international magazines, and Japanese versions of oldschool French journals and notebooks to buy. Open till 10, the stores double as post-dinner destinations for the smart set.

CORNER BOOKSTORE 1313 Madison Avenue 212.831.3554 cornerbookstorenyc.com

A Carnegie Hill staple since 1978, the Corner Bookstore feels as retro as its name, spiked with such original details as tinned ceilings, wood cabinetry, and a terrazzo floor, once covered with grime and paint until co-owner Ray (only first-names have currency here) restored things to their 1920s époque glory. History, biography, travel, cookery, parenting, poetry, mysteries, and art are well-represented in this collection.

Extracted from Cleo Le-Tan’s book, A Booklover’s Guide to New York, (Rizzoli, New York, 2019).

THREE LIVES & COMPANY 154 West 10th Street 212.741.2069 threelives.com

Behind the red double doors, Three Lives & Company is a West Village holdover where new releases, classic fiction, nonfiction, art, and photography books feel as artfully staged as a luxury condo open house. The staff here is famous for reading prodigiously and for the resulting, qualified recommendations. BOOKMARC 400 Bleecker Street 212.620.4021 marcjacobs.com

If Karl Lagerfeld could curate a bookstore in Paris, fashion designer Marc Jacobs could do likewise in New York—because why let inspiration and discovery go to waste? International treasures are to be found here alongside vintage finds and literary classics wearing cooler, more curated covers than you see elsewhere. Spotted recently: a graphic-design book detailing all the different typefaces in existence, rare imports from Japan, a signed photography coffee-tabler, and a whole section given over to en vogue international destinations. There are regular book signings, with a crowd as fashionably turned-out as the owner.

“NEW YORK IS THE EPICENTER OF BELLETRISTIC BRILLIANCE.” —Cleo Le-Tan

STRAND BOOKSTORE 828 Broadway 212.473.1452 strandbooks.com

Third-generation owner Nancy Bass (daughter of Fred, granddaughter of Benjamin) presides over this last squeak of Book Row, which once numbered 48 competitive book stores in and around Fourth Avenue. Founded in 1927, the Strand feels both timeless and historic—and possibly actually delivers on its “18 miles of books” ad slogan. There are sections for fiction, photography, and children, and on the third floor, a rare-book collection where everything has the veneer of being precious

BOOKS OF WONDER 217 West 84th Streert 212.989.1804

but where too, the surprisingly affordable book can be ferreted. RIZZOLI BOOKSTORE 1133 Broadway 212.759.2424 rizzolibookstore.com

Rizzoli may have migrated to the Flatiron District, but the space is every inch the legendary bookstore of the earlier incarnation founded in 1964. The store’s old soul is dictated by its architecture as in prior locations. The grandeur abides at 26th Street with high ceilings, marble floors, and Fornasetti murals—accessorized as ever with inviting piles and shelves of books on art, architecture, photography, cooking, and fashion.

Note from Avenue’s editors: in a case of life imitating art, at press time, Books of Wonder, the inspiration for the charming bookstore in Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail, is being compelled to leave its beloved West 18th Street space as it struggles with the reality of life as an independent shop. Owner Peter Glassman says he is determined to find another downtown venue to re-establish the transcendent place that regularly hosted magical events, including two book signings with J.K. Rowling. Bibliophiles are lining up to support the GoFundMe campaign Glassman has created. Luckily, the Upper West Side venue remains open.

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Innoculating Kids Against Entitlement How gratitude and grit can change the way a child sees the world.

t seems reasonable for parents of means to want to share these resources with their children, but how many of us have seen that instinct result in young people who aren’t particularly appreciative, or even really aware of the value of these gifts? While a sense of entitlement is an unattractive attribute to observe in anyone, watching it emerge in our own children is a far more unsettling experience. Ask successful New York parents what keeps them up at night and you’ll find this topping the list. More than anything we make or do in our lifetimes, our children are our most important personal legacy, the evidence of how we lived our

own lives translated through what we pass on to them. Investing in their character helps ensure that any other kind of assets assigned to them leads to our children carving out meaningful, purpose-filled lives. Context is everything when it comes to children developing into independent, happy adults, and the framing device that most powerfully shapes this outcome is gratitude. Looking at the world through the lens of gratitude changes the way we process events that happen to us, and the stories we tell ourselves about that data. Experiencing and expressing gratitude activates positive emotion centers in the brain and literally changes the way our neurons fire. It broadens our thinking patterns and helps us develop a more connected view of how we fit into our communities. Gratitude creates a generous mindset that increases our patience and optimism. Can you imagine any descriptions more divergent from the me-mine-more state of entitlement many of us fear for our kids? Psychologists conclude that fostering gratitude is among the most critical activities we can do to attain the holy grail of parenting: grounded, appreciative children ready to earn their way in the world and contribute meaningfully to it. Grit follows as a close second in helping children persevere toward their passions and work through the difficulties inherent to that trek. Grit also teaches children the discipline and value of hard work, something that is likely at the heart of your achievements, and equally as likely to be the crux of theirs. But an achievement mindset can’t be doled out like an allowance: it’s fostered and modeled, and ultimately requires more of our time than our money. We can pay for expensive schools, coaches, and enrichment activities—all of which look good on paper, and arguably produce impressive grades. But if these money-driven gifts come at the expense of (or are replacements for) mindful parenting, then all the pricy tutors in the world aren’t likely to steer our kids away from developing a sense of entitlement alongside those straight As and a perfect backhand. Top independent schools across the country, and increasingly even universities, are giving considerable weight to these non-cognitive character traits during the admissions process, to the point that they’re now assessing them through an SAT-affiliated evaluation called the Character Skills Snapshot. Through a 20-minute series of questions about social awareness, resilience, and intellectual engagement, students are given scores of “emerging,” “developing,” or “demonstrating” in such attribute categories as gratitude, grit, curiosity, initiative, open-mindedness, self-control, and teamwork. The online device helps to paint a more holistic picture of the school’s applicants and, presumably, helps them find them a better cultural match. The assessment tool comes from a team of e duc ators and p s ycholog i s t s b eh i nd characterlab.org, a research incubator and dissemination platform for the aforementioned character skills. “Character refers to ways of thinking, acting, and feeling that benefit others as well as

KIM MYERS ROBERTSON/TRUNK ARCHIVE

FAMILY

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“ASK SUCCESSFUL NEW YORK PARENTS WHAT KEEPS THEM UP AT NIGHT AND YOU’LL FIND ENTITLEMENT TOPPING THE LIST.”

ourselves,” according to its charter. “Character is plural—encompassing strengths of heart, mind, and will. Strengths of heart (such as gratitude and kindness) enable harmonious relationships with other people. Strengths of mind (such as curiosity and creativity) enable independent thinking. Strengths of will (such as grit and self-control) enable us to achieve goals.” Top independent schools began making these non cognitive skills a priority as they vetted a steady stream of expensive academic resumes being presented during admissions season. The students attached to those resumes were invariably impressive, but among the applicants coming from privileged households, a sense of entitlement sometimes factored in as well.

No parent ever sets out to produce an entitled child, but when we’re distracted by obligations attached to the kind of incomes needed to send kids to these private schools, their character development can sometimes be outsourced to their detriment. It’s something of a vicious cycle, and raising our children in a culture of grit and gratitude within our own homes is a powerful antidote. It’s possible to be both demanding and supportive parents, to require much of our kids even as we require much of ourselves. Ask your children to do chores in the home—not for allowance, but to gain appreciation for the work required to create a comfortable place to live. Encourage them to give service outside the home as well, either through their school, church, or community

centers. It’s much harder to feel imperious and entitled when you’re actively getting to know, and serving, people less fortunate than yourself. While it’s easy to exert influence over our kids with economic incentives, these are short-lived and unreliable motivators. We want our children to comply with our requests, but also to understand why we made the requests in the first place. We want them to internalize our values. Demonstrating respect, patience, and appreciation for the people in our households goes a long way toward accomplishing that as our children become mature enough to distill how much we, ourselves, live up to the expectations we set for them. So we explain to our kids how we developed our own passions and resilience, reminding them that our path to achievement wasn’t necessarily a straight line, and that theirs might not be either. Be willing to discuss your failures and what you learned from them. Encourage them to take reasonable risks as they determine what gives them a sense of accomplishment and larger purpose. Create a family culture of grit and gratitude that leaves no room for entitlement. Conformity within a group is a powerful motivator, so forge an identity of what it means to be a member of your family. Gritty, grateful mentors and friends outside the home can help as well, and some children even come by these virtues through internally driven engines. But no matter how these character traits are fostered, use them as body armor against the pervasive world of materialism they’re navigating outside the home. When their friends are name checking designer labels and far-flung vacation stories, it’s tempting for our kids to slip into that default mode. Remind them that they belong to your home’s culture first, and that money is the least interesting part of what it means to be a member of your family.

Entitlement: Symptoms & Solutions

Thinking rules apply to others, not to them, and expecting to be rescued from mistakes/problems at school and in life. Practice exposure therapy to the consequences of not following rules, ramping up the magnitude as their capacity for accountability increases.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Expecting to be first, best, smartest, most well-treated, well-liked, and can’t handle when they’re not. Difficulty with disappointment, failure, or hearing the word “no.” Share your own stories of struggle, frustration, and failure, along with what you learned from these valuable life lessons.

Putting themselves and their needs/ wants above those of others. Thinking that things are never good enough. Engage them in service projects to help recalibrate their sense of interdependence within the community. We can’t help but come to appreciate people we serve.

Prone to jealousy if a friend has something they’d like to have. Inability to show gratitude for what they’re given. Create family gratitude journals for daily, morning summaries of what they have to be grateful for. At family meals, make this topic a centerpiece of conversation.

Can’t accept blame, and tend to pawn it off on someone else. Might even lie, cheat, use opportunism to get their way because they think they deserve it. Clearly codify the penalties for this anti-social behavior in your home and be consistent in enforcing its consequences.

Expecting incentives for good behavior instead of doing this for its own sake. Reluctant to help even when asked. Insist that your children do chores around the house. Start small if this is a new concept; every family begins from where they are. Don’t associate allowance with chores.

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GIF TED

Velvet cushion with cat embroidery, $1,150, by Gucci. gucci.com

Objects of Desire High style meets high expectations when pink and red reign on Valentine’s Day BY ALECTA HILL

Chocolate ganache 16-piece box, $48, by MarieBelle. mariebelle.com

Three dozen roses, $399, by Venus et Fleur. venusetﬂeur.com MOSAÏQUE tumblers, 6-piece set, $1,470, by Baccarat. bergdorfgoodman.com

Keith Haring Red Snake 78 custom skis, $2,500, by Bomber. bomberski.com.

A hand-assembled Bixby bicycle, $1,950, by Shinola. shinola.com. 34

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Square-frame, metal aviator sunglasses, $385, by Bottega Veneta. bottegaveneta.com

Pleated chiffon blouse, $2,995 and maxi skirt, $2,695, by Monique Lhuillier. moniquelhuillier.com

Cape Cod Anchor watch. $3,350. Hermes hermes.com

Cassandra mini top handle bag in grain de poudre embossed leather, $2,150, by Yves Saint Laurent. ysl.com.

Hope Night Eau de Parfum, $150, created by Audrey Gruss, founder of Hope for Depression Research (HDRF), Bergdorf Goodman. All profits go to HDRF. bergdorfgoodman.com

Sheer Logo tote bag, $990, by Prada; Sa ano leather mini-bag, $925, by Prada. prada.com

Dom Perignon Rosé, Lenny Kravitz limited edition, $400, by Dom Perignon. domperignon.com JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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DONALD JUDD ART © JUDD FOUNDATION / ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK IMAGE © ELIZABETH FELICELLA

TIME AND SPACE Donald Judd’s Untitled (1968), in stainless steel with yellow acrylic sheets. On permanent exhibition at the Judd Foundation, Marfa, Texas. JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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Exhibitions

LAURA WILSON

ELLEN VON UNWERTH, NICK BRANDT, JULIE BLACKMON

Donald Judd in Marfa, Texas, in 1993.

Minimalism to the Max A major retrospective of Donald Judd at the newly renovated MoMA.

BY CATHERINE TALESE

is name is now synonymous with the Minimalist movement of the 60s and 70s, but before he was Judd the artist he was Judd the art critic, writing prodigiously throughout his career on the subject of space: literal space, illusory space, spiritual space, no space, architectural space. “Three dimensions are real space,” he wrote in 1965 in his groundbreaking essay “Specific Objects.” “That gets rid of the problem of illusionism ... Actual space is intrinsically more powerful and specific than paint on a flat surface.” For Judd, whose retrospective opens in March, the conventions of painting, whether abstract or representational, were concepts he refused to flatter. Instead he believed the artist’s search for the new involved, both in his own work, and that of his contem38

poraries, a central philosophic question: what is space, how is it defined, and how is it held and activated? From his earliest fabrication—a freestanding piece in wood, masonite, and an asphalt pipe exhibited in his solo show at the Green Gallery in New York in 1963, he explored 3D in such non-traditional materials as stainless steel and colored Plexiglas, rendered as stacks, sequences, and blocks in myriad configurations, often startlingly scaled. Judd had radical opinions about architecture in general, and museums in particular, as well as on how his work should be installed, and for how long. He believed that the ideal places to see his art were within the very buildings and spaces he lived and worked. First was at 101 Spring Street in Manhattan, the five-story cast-iron building he took ownership of in 1968. Then on to Marfa, Texas, where he began purchasing buildings in 1973, and where he would continue his work until his death 21 years later at the age of 65. Considerably more open access is availed at MoMA’s minimalishly-titled retrospective, Judd. It brings together sculpture, drawings, paintings, and rarely seen works from throughout Judd’s career, and is the first American exhibition in more than 30 years to map his entire evolution.

Fotografiska, which opened in Stockholm in 2010 and stuck its flag in Talinn, Estonia, this year, has thrown off a spore in the Flatiron District, unveiling a six-story, 45,000-squarefoot faux-Gothic tabernacle to this most modern of arts. Ellen von Unwerth is among the artists inaugurating the space, and coming attractions this spring include solo exhibitions by two photographers known for visually complex tableaux— the Brit Nick Brandt, and Missouri-based Julie Blackmon. (These contemporary photography installations belie the self-styled billing of “museum.”) Roman and Williams will also be delivering one of their deft and distinctive restaurant-bar-cafés on the second floor. Fotografiska’s next but assuredly not final stop? London.

around the world that seem to outmaneuver gravity, such as Beijing’s CMG headquarters, with its two conjoined towers that locals call “big pants.” But after four decades focused on urban spaces, Koolhaas has turned his focus to the countryside and how climate change, migration, and tech companies are radically altering it. All will be explained in Countryside, The Future, an immersive installation going up in the Guggenheim rotunda this spring. The work is based on original research already underway by Koolhaas and AMO (the think tank of his firm, Office for Metropolitan Architecture, which he co-founded in 1975). Countryside: The Future Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, at East 88th Street

Fotografiska New York, 281 Park Avenue South REM KOOLHAAS

Dutch starchitect and cult figure Rem Koolhaas is known for his buildings

Judd is at the Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, from March 1-July 20

Ellen von Unwerth’s Bathtub, 1996.

VON UNWERTH, COURTESY OF FOTOGRAFISKA

CULTURE

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Gazing Backwards Long-awaited new collections from two of poetry’s éminences grises. BY ROBERT BECKER

Edward Hirsch’s page-turner, Stranger By Night (Knopf), an autobiographical string of short, intimate scenes and memories, suggests a summing up of sorts. In this tenth collection he begins in the present, calling himself “... a delinquent mourner... because my friends keep dying.” Individual poems commemorate Mark Strand and William Meredith, and then lead the reader on a tour backwards through a writer’s life. From his decades-long membership in the exclusive guild of American poets, with “our weakness for standing/ at the podium/ seeking applause,” Hirsch introduces us to the aspiring young man claiming experiences, reading voraciously, and seeking out his roots in Leningrad in 1973, “... a man who tilted his head/ the way I do/ and stood there gazing/ into an unexpected mirror/ for an eternity/ before he

recognized/ the greenish-brown eyes/ and the long knife of his own nose.” Early in his career, Hirsch, the winner of MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, and the Prix de Rome among many poetry prizes, supported his calling with teaching and summer jobs in rustbelt towns, and in the rail yards of Chicago, the city where he grew up. In “To My Seventeen-Year-Old Self,” the boy must “... stand and wait/ for the unexpected night/ when poetry climbs through/ the unlocked window/ in the basement... and sits down at your desk.” For any reader, let alone someone already devoted to Hirsch’s work, such a look into his life is welcome, and those who have read his last book Gabriel, a devastating long-form poem about the life and tragic death of his son at age 22, will recognize his irrepressible pace and unadorned language. There is no greater spokesperson for poetry and its

extraordinary power to speak across the ages. While Stranger By Night can be read in a single sitting, poems in Robert Hass’s rich new collection Summer Snow (Ecco), his first book of poems in a decade, must be consumed just a few at a time. Hass, ever the raconteur, pulls into his writing places and people like a tornado inhaling whole trees. These, like Hirsch’s, also have a journal-like feel to them. Poets write about what they know best after all, and in Hass’s case, this is “poor, swollen America.” The former US Poet Laureate and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, is waist-deep in front page news and lead stories from NPR. “Dancing” chronicles humanity’s plunge from the discovery of fire, through fireworks, to firearms, La Salle, Hiroshima, Kalashnikov, and imperialism. “...Children’s armies in Africa toting AK-47s... / They were dancing in Orlando, in a club. Spring night./ ...and into the history/ Of the shaming culture that produced the idea of Gay Pride...” His frame of reference allows us to hover over human experience, while simple, visceral references bring us back to Earth. Hass has the knack of that rare dinner table story-teller who starts with a premise, goes far afield in a tangential reverie, then finds his way back to the beginning just as you’re sure he’s lost. Because he offers mundane details, the price of a cheap motel for instance, or what he ate for dinner, his poems feel more like a friend’s recounting than an ideological harangue. In this age of the diatribe, it’s refreshing to read such thoughtful words from these two poets, and to trust what they’re saying.

Books

THE MAN IN THE RED COAT By Julian Barnes (Knopf)

Julian Barnes’s absorbing non-fiction account of life, love, art, and duels in Belle Époque France starts with the tale of three Frenchmen, who traveled together in June 1885 from Paris to London for a bit of “intellectual and decorative shopping,” their letter of introduction to Henry

James courtesy of John Singer Sargent. The lives of the two dandy aristocrats, Count Robert de Montesquiou and Prince Edmond de Polignac, (and neardandy Dr. Samuel Pozzi) seem to anchor what is first merely an entertaining bouillabaisse of gossip and scandal. But as Barnes detours into the tale of the “disgustingly handsome” Pozzi (as described by Alice, Princesse de Monaco), a serial adulterer, lover of Sarah Bernhardt, and pioneering gynecologist of the day, the author weaves unlikely connections between art and

artists, medicine and philosophical ideas, Belle Époque Paris and fin de siècle London, somehow managing to draw parallels between those “hyperventilating times” and today.

A LONG PETAL OF THE SEA By Isabel Allende (Ballantine)

At the start of Isabel Allende’s compelling

new novel based on a true story, Spanish Civil War medic Victor Dalmau reaches into the chest cavity of a young soldier and rhythmically squeezes his failing heart, so saving the young man’s life. Later, Dalmau’s own life is spared thanks to Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who pays the S.S. Winnipeg cargo ship to go rescue 2,000 refugees of Spain and transport them to freedom in Chile. Allende’s sweeping narrative mixes true fact—Neruda did commission the Winnipeg—with fiction to mull questions of exile

and belonging, love, survival, and the search for home.

HOUSE OF TRELAWNEY By Hannah Rothschild (Knopf)

From Jane Austen, to Evelyn Waugh, to Julian Fellowes, novelists have found the English country house makes for unfailingly good copy, and with House of Trelawney (Knopf), Hannah Rothschild

has written a delectable upper-crust satire set inside the ancestral pile of Castle Trelawney. Home to the same family for 800 years, where acres of roof leak, the ballroom is spattered with mold, and everything is “decay and dilapidation.” The crash of 2008 sets the plot in motion as four women take matters into their own hands. Rothschild, a trustee of the National Gallery and Tate, as well as a descendant of the banking Rothschilds, knows a thing or two about how to send up manners and mores.

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“[Mike] was very actory and all that. But if things weren’t going right, he would pick up this megaphone and say, “Must I do everything myself?’”

Still Laughing

—Matthew Broderick From Life isn’t everything: Mike Nichols as remembered by 103 of his closest friends

The legacy of Mike Nichols continues this spring.

BY HEATHER HODSON

“

he undisputed champion laugher of all time” is how John Lahr recalls Mike Nichols in the recent oral history by Ash Carter and Sam Kashner, Life isn’t everything: Mike Nichols as Remembered by 103 of his closest friends (Henry Holt). For good measure, the late playwright Neil Simon adds, “I’ve never worked with anyone, nor will I ever work with anyone in my life, as good as Mike Nichols.” The writer-director dominated the American cultural landscape for six decades, starting in landmark stand-up (with Elaine May), then branching out into theater (Barefoot in the Park), film (The Graduate, Working Girl) and television (Angels in America). As dozens of interviews will attest, Nichols’ artistic gifts were equaled only by his talent for friendship. The legendary Nichols-Simon collaboration on five of the latter’s plays created a comic vernacular celebrated this spring in the first Broadway revival of the vintage-1968 Plaza Suite. Three couples will again hole up at the New York hotel, all played by Matthew Broderick opposite real-life wife Sarah Jessica Parker. Broderick entered Nichols’ world as a child actor, and the seasoned Neil Simon performer (he won a Tony for Brighton Beach Memoirs) has clearly mastered the art of comic timing.

From top: Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, who will appear together in the Broadway revival of Plaza Suite and Mike Nichols and Neil Simon relaxing after a performance of The Odd Couple in 1965.

Performance MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON

“Lonely was the first flavor I had tasted in my life,” writes Elizabeth Strout in her bestselling novel of 2016, My Name is Lucy Barton. “It was always there, hidden inside the crevices of 40

my mouth, reminding me.” In Rona Munro’s theatrical adaptation, Laura Linney plays the protagonistnarrator, laid up in hospital from a backfired operation with her estranged mother at her bedside. There’s little action per se

in this production, which premiered in London in 2018 to great acclaim, but it’s a must-see for British director Richard Eyre’s understated staging, and a mesmerizing performance from Linney, who

effectively gives a 90-minute soliloquy. Manhattan Theatre Club at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th Street (from January 6) THE LEHMAN TRILOGY

If you missed Sam Mendes’s thrilling rendition of The Lehman Trilogy last

year at the Park Avenue Armory, it returns this March after a sell-out London run, the superb original cast intact: Simon Russell Beale, Ben Miles, and Adam Godley. Stefano Massini’s epic play about the

mutable fortunes of the banking dynasty is sweeping in scope, and raises profound questions about the the American Dream far beyond the demise of Lehmans. Nederlander Theatre, 208 West 41st Street (March 7-June 28)

SIMON AND NICHOLS, MARK KAUFFMAN/THE LIFE IMAGES COLLECTION VIA GETTY IMAGS; MATTHEW BRODERICK AND JESSICA PARKER, LITTLE FANGH

PLAZA SUITE is in preview at the Hudson Theatre, 141 West 44th Street, from March 13.

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Not much escapes A Wandering Eye: Travels With my Phone (Vendome Press; $45) by Argentine photographer, and former magazine editor, Miguel Flores-Vianna, whose Instagram moments from all over the globe will either prompt major travel envy or have you exclaiming, how in hell did I miss that? Painted swans close-on, in a coffered ceiling in Sintra. The hauntingly beautiful Tangier digs of antiques dealer Peter Hinwood. It’s all casual corners and inexhaustible exotica, snapped with FloresVianna’s iPhone and an unintended primer in how to push the medium.

Beige Is Not a Color (Vendome Press; $75) may sound like a pronouncement from legendary editor Diana Vreeland, but it is, in fact, the mantra of stylist-creative consultant Carlos Mota as well as his all-purpose Instagram hashtag. It’s a dramatic declaration...and occasionally, an accusation. In this case, it’s also a big, luxurious album, a portable inspiration board tacked with freeze-frames from all the apartments and houses the onetime Caracasbased set designer has fallen dangerously in love with over the years, giddy museumquality paintings blasting holes in the retina and supersize ﬂora gazing from its pages. Mota, seemingly, never met a red he didn’t savor.

Cabana Anthology (Vendome Press; $95), is a 6.5-pound, clothbound tome curated by Italian tastebroker Martina Mondadori Sartogo, who is the founder and editor of Cabana, the magazine. It’s a decade-old, quirky periodical that revels in the unexpected. To perhaps no one’s surprise, a lady named Lavender Cross has a country home in Milan. Ralph Lauren likes his sunsets with teepee in the backyard, and an Italian transplant halfway across the world in Morocco prefers his landscaping to include a tree with the skulls and bones of cattle fruiting its boughs. But mainly this is an encyclopedia of cities, a moody highlights reel from Moscow, Lisbon, Bologna, Seville, cataloguing color, pattern, and texture, often in magnificent riot: the red coral of Trapani, Mughal miniatures, dusty canopied beds of bygone grandees and their forlorn bone china. There’s beauty in those ruins.

Memory speaks in Architectural Digest at 100: A Century of Style (Abrams Books; $100), a best-in-show that manages to interrogate how we live when literally anything is possible. These are the houses that won their way into Architectural Digest with what its editor calls the “wow factor.” Take California alone, which kicks off the book. The vaulted raw-steel ceiling for entrepreneurphilanthropist Eli Broad. The stunning lava-ﬂow shingle dwelling in Malibu, a signature look from architect Bart Prince. Museum director and dealer Jeffrey Deitch commissioned a kaleidoscopecolorated party room, which was unveiled in 2017. “I did not want the house to be just a house,” Deitch explained then. And that’s just it: no one does.

Interior Life Four super-sized design tomes will help you decorate, at the very least, your coffee table. JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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ON THE COVER

surface and the graphic expression it represents, so I think my work has a “graphicness” to it for this reason. Has being a fashion insider changed your view of the industry? To me fashion is about luxury and creativity. It’s something purely for the soul.

An Artist at Work AVENUE in conversation with cover illustrator Cecilia Carlstedt

or the cover of Avenue’s relaunch, we tapped Stockholm-based fashion illustrator Cecilia Carlstedt, whose clients include LVMH, Swarovski, La Perla, Jimmy Choo, Anya Hindmarch, and Salvatore Ferragamo. We caught up with the artist to talk fashion, inspiration, and craft in a highly digital world. Talk to us about your approach, your process. Before enrolling in the graphic design program at LCC (London College of Communication), I had completed a purely theoretical year of art history at Stockholm University, which gave me a firm foundation to start exploring my own path as an artist. I work in a mix of mediums such as ink and collage. But I’m open to other materials such as spray paint or anything that can add to whatever I am working on. Experimentation has always been an integral part of my process. I often take a rather photographic approach as I enjoy working with the boundaries of the frame to create an interesting composition. I’m also fond of the flat

Have you found inspiration in the work of other artists? The list is long, but one name that meant a lot to me, particularly in the beginning, was Julie Verhoven. I loved that her work was so playful and slightly controversial, and very beautiful. Naturally I am inspired by most other creative disciplines, particularly painting. I am inspired by the work of Marlene Dumas, Elizabeth Peyton, Luc Tuymans, Mamma Andersson, and Peter Doig, as well as that of photographers such as Viviane Sassen, Julia Hetta, Anne Deniau, and of course Guy Bourdin, Irving Penn, and Man Ray. I am also inspired by traditional handicrafts—the vibrant patterns found in African textiles, Japanese woodcuts, and Moroccan rugs. I find that beauty can be found everywhere, you just have to be open to seeing it. What is your origin story—how did you come to be a style illustrator? My mum was an illustrator for children’s books, so drawing has been a part of my life since the beginning. It seemed natural that I would wind up doing something creative in the visual arts. I distinctly remember seeing a specific fashion illustration in a magazine when I was in my teens. It had such strong impact on me at the time. After that, I was determined to find ways of making my own fashion illustrations and exploring different styles. I still find it magical when I see a fashion illustration that, in just a few lines, can capture the essence of a piece of clothing. I’ve also been intrigued by the theatrical side of fashion. There’s so much creativity that goes into every runway show and every fashion shoot—the photography, the styling, the make-up, every part of it is an expression and an art form. What I have found through illustration is that you can pick up details that the camera doesn’t capture. There’s almost something poetic about it that is difficult to describe in words.

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THE ART OF ASCENDING A plaster-surfaced elliptical staircase unspools elegantly in the central hall of this 19th-century home, transformed by Steven Harris Architects. JANUARYâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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La vie en luxe Add shine to your interior life with gold ďŹ&#x201A;atware, silver cocktail shakers, crystal vases, and no small amount of whimsy for the well-appointed home.

Chicken Leg Egg Cup and Spoon in sterling silver and silver gilt, $780, Asprey. asprey.com

New Antique Vase by Marcel Wanders, $42,000, in a limited edition for Baccarat. us.baccarat.com

Petite Rimmed Vase in pewter, $208, Match pewter, at Neiman Marcus. neimanmarcus.com 4

1837 Makers Cocktail Jigger in sterling silver and brass, $325. tiffany.com

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Classic Shagreen Bar Set, $3,900, by Aerin. aerin.com

Montgomery Medium Round Tray, $295, by at Bergdorf Goodman. bergdorfgoodman.com

Folded Place Cards, $11 for a box of 10, by Alexa Pulitzer. Goop, 25 Bond Street, and at alexapulitzer.com

Interior designed by David Kleinberg

Berlin Centerpiece Bowl, $248, by . jonathanadler.com 24-piece Gold Mood Flatware Service in 24-carat gilded gold, $12,800, by . christoﬂe.com JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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Aaron Burr, ca. 1899

The Secret Life Of Aaron Burr Maligned throughout most of the past two centuries, Aaron Burr was, in fact, a fascinating innovator and antihero. BY NANCY ISENBERG

n many ways Burr was a thoroughly modern New Yorker, carefully managing his branding from early days at the College of New Jersey, better known today as Princeton University, where his father had been president. There he was a charter member of the nation’s oldest college debate union, the Cliosophic Society. Then (as it still is now), Clio was something of an incubator for next-generation powerbrokers. In Burr, the requisite manners and charisma were honed, but ultimately couldn’t save his fall from grace in the volatile world of partisan politics. As a man on the make, he was both envied and ridiculed for his intelligent, elegant conversation and easy charm, his enemies mocking his

“Chesterfieldian graces”—a sneery reference to a renowned contemporary author of a guide on social etiquette. Burr’s respect for intellectual women was dismissed as mere stagecraft, a grand manipulation. Not considered particularly handsome, neither was he conventional when he married. His choice of a wife was unusual: Theodosia Prevost was older than him, and highly literate. Burr did shine on a stage, displaying his social finesse at parties—and there were plenty in the course of his ascent, many at the 26-acre estate which is, today, the site of a recent land grab by Google and Disney for their Manhattan headquarters. Tagged “Hudson Square” by enterprising developers, the area once known as Richmond Hill straddles the two trendy neighborhoods of SoHo and the West Village. The estate house doubled as a headquarters for George Washington during the Revolutionary War, and later when New York City was the nation’s first capital, Richmond Hill served as residence to vice president John Adams. By 1793, Burr, a U.S. senator, occupied the property with his wife and daughter, though his wife would die a year after they settled in. It’s long gone now, but the house behind high gates and views of the Hudson, was once accessed by a long driveway gracefully winding up to the Ionic-columned entry. In the fashion of the day, there was a picture gallery, a grand dining room, and a hall of mirrors. The library, filled with rare volumes imported from England and Continental Europe, was a gentleman’s prized possession and a mark of status. There were fancy Brussels carpets and a pianoforte. The greatest luxury was a large bathtub, which was something of a novelty then. The rolling property with its straight rows of poplars featured a pond open to the public in winters for ice skating at what is now the corner of Bedford and Downing Streets. The land was first developed in 1760 by British Army paymaster Major Abraham Mortier, and Burr first set eyes on it while reporting here for meetings with Washington as aide-de-camp to General Israel Putnam. Burr and his wife excelled at the art of conversation, and their 14-year-old daughter (also named Theodosia) quickly became a gifted salonnière like her mother. Father and daughter carried on the tradition at Richmond Hill and entertained European and American intellectuals at parties that were legendary long before the Astors entered the social scene. Among the many guests was Alexander Hamilton. Despite their political rivalry, the two men shared the same circle of friends and acquaintances. Others who trooped through Richmond Hill included the young artist John Vanderlyn whom Burr sponsored, offering him a place to paint and entrée to the city’s elite society. Noted English writer John Davis stayed at Richmond Hill crafting his celebrated travel narrative of the United States. Davis remembered his host as he sat at the breakfast table, book in hand. Knowledgeable in the arts and literature, Burr was, Davis wrote, no less skilled in the “science of graciousness and attraction.” Dismissing the charge of superficiality, Davis observed that Burr, credited for his “urbanity,” never indulged in false familiarity.

SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

NOTORIOUS NEW YORKERS

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Burr’s Richmond Hill house after it was turned into a theater.

HUGHSON HAWLEY/MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

“BURR KEPT A SECRET CACHE OF RISQUÉ LETTERS, TIED IN RED RIBBON, THAT HE INSTRUCTED HIS DAUGHTER TO DESTROY IF HE FELL IN THE DUEL WITH ALEXANDER HAMILTON .” Another notable guest was Mohawk chief and orator Joseph Brant, or Thayendanegea. The celebrated negotiator, the most important Native American of his day, was related to Theodosia Burr through marriage. Burr and his wife were also acolytes of the famed English feminist and philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft. Together, they saw to it that their daughter was (uncharacteristically) schooled in the traditional male curriculum of math, history, Greek, Latin, Italian, and French. The Burrs intended for their daughter to prove that women were the intellectual equals of men; her precociousness was touted by observers and mocked by Burr’s enemies. We forget that feminist ideas were considered ridiculous by most of the leaders of America’s founding generation. In the popular imagination, Burr has always cut a tantalizing figure to both those who respected and disparaged him. Burr’s legacy has always been wrapped in myth, whether in his newest incarnation as the rapping villain in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, and the admiring historical fiction of Gore Vidal’s Burr in 1973, and as far back as the anonymous author of an 1861 book of Burr erotica. More fiction has shaped how he is remembered than careful historical analysis.

Though Burr, as a feminist, was one of the first lawyers to specialize in helping women get divorced or claim inheritances, his relationships with women never fit one mold: He had many female friends, and a long list of sexual liaisons. After his wife died in 1794, he kept a secret cache of risqué letters from his paramours, tied in red ribbon, that he instructed his daughter to destroy if he fell in the duel with Alexander Hamilton. His reputation certainly provided fodder for his political foes. One outrageous pamphlet distributed during the election of 1800 claimed that Burr had single-handedly populated the city of New York with hundreds of prostitutes. Adding to his reputation as a “ladies’ man,” at the age of 77, he married the equally scandalous Madame Eliza Jumel, an actress born in a brothel (then mistress, wife, and widow) of a wealthy French wine merchant. In his professional life, he embraced election reforms and liberal banking policies; his New York welcomed immigrants. A lawyer, politician, urban planner, and innovator in corporate finance, Burr was the mastermind behind the Manhattan Company. The water company-turned-bank was the first institution in the city to lend money to ambitious men of the middling and lower ranks

who were not part of the Federalist circle of propertied and mercantile elites. Burr’s design for incorporation was flexible, granting the unique institution the power to expand its services, including selling insurance, which may help explain why its successor, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. thrives today. If Burr’s Manhattan Company was a success, he managed to lose his manorial estate to John Jacob Astor, who subdivided and sold off storied Richmond Hill after buying out Burr’s debt for $25,000. Astor paid to have the house rolled off the property and down the hill where it became a resort then later the Richmond Hill Theatre. At its zenith it hosted Italian opera, but the former home of two vice presidents eventually lost its luster, becoming a shabby playhouse and, in time, the site of a circus. In 1849, it was torn down. Burr was both revered and reviled, sought after and hunted down, rising to one of the nation’s highest offices, then retreating to Europe to escape creditors after being cleared of treason charges. He lived and died here 200 years ago, but Burr’s story still resonates and is one that repeats itself to the day, echoing our failings and achievements, and more than anything, our resilience. A carefully cultivated identity was not the only attribute that qualified Burr as a quintessential modern New Yorker. Despite his ever-controversial legacy, Burr saw himself primarily as a problem-solver and an innovator with an insatiable curiosity. In today’s New York, he’d be working at a startup, or perhaps at Google, just steps from the former Richmond Hill. And he’d understand the pace of the city, too. As one acquaintance aptly remarked, Burr “was always in a hurry.” JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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“LOW INTEREST RATES AND LARGE INVENTORY ARE COMBINING WITH A STRONG STOCK MARKET TO MAKE THIS INTO A COMPELLING TIME TO BUY.”

REAL ESTATE

Billionaire’s Row At the high end of the market, Billionaire’s Row recently topped the list of the most expensive streets in the world: sales are strong at the Robert A.M. Stern-designed, 18-story building at 220 Central Park South with 41 of its 118 units sold being valued at more than $25 million each, resulting in an average sale price of $38.5 million. These include a 3,114-square-foot penthouse, which sold for a record-setting price of $238 million to billionaire investor Ken Griffin. Even with such headline-grabbing deals, there are still opportunities on Billionaire’s Row for discerning buyers in search of a tony address.

35 Hudson Yards

The Market Report The Anatomy of a Buyer’s Market. BY ADRIENNE ALBERT

AVENUE MAGAZINE | JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020

ow interest rates and large inventory are combining with a strong stock market to make this into a compelling time to buy—inviting capital investment and a new wave of firsttime buyers seeking attractive neighborhoods with even more attractive financing options. Prices have leveled off as the absorption of unsold homes continues, and commercial-to-residential conversions have developers shifting their focus toward adaptive reuse and sustainability. We’ve assembled a sampling of projects now underway:

East Side After disrupting the Upper East Side for more than a decade of construction, the completed Second Avenue subway has been a boon to real estate well east of midtown, which is now witnessing a host of visionary development projects, such as Icon Realty Management’s two high-end condo towers: Beckford House and Beckford Tower on 81st Street and on 80th Street at Second Avenue. Having undergone a major transformation, the Lower East Side is also an area to watch, and consider for investment. Notable projects include the relatively affordable One Manhattan Square and Essex Crossing, the latter offering an abundance of retail, entertainment, and housing options, both rental and condo. As an example of the prices there, 242 Broome Street is more than 80 percent sold, with units there averaging $2000 per square foot.

West Side On the West Side, Hudson Yards has sparked a neighborhood reboot, attracting a growing list of notable companies such as Amazon. Active listings at 15 Hudson Yards average $3,720 a square foot, while those at 35 Hudson Yards average $4,255 a square foot. Just south of Hudson Yards, increased development around the urban oasis that is the High Line has given buyers plenty of options in Chelsea. Hudson Square—aka West SoHo—has seen an abundance of new development in this small neighborhood, bolstered by the arrival of Google and Disney, both of which

25 Broad Street

Greenwich West

Charts from The Marketing Directors

have set up their New York headquarters there. Proximity to the Holland Tunnel, abundant retail and restaurant options all make this a prime future location for both residential and commercial investment. (See the article in this issue on Aaron Burr and the history of Hudson Square.) To gauge the market with a sampling of prices: Greenwich West is averaging $2,200 per square foot for active listings while the high-profile Renzo Piano-designed building at 565 Broome Street is averaging nearly $3,000.

The Financial District While the Financial District (FiDi) has long

been a hub of commerce, the number of new condos has brought value to the area, at addresses such as 77 Greenwich and The Broad Exchange Building. A major draw is its walkability, which is complemented by great restaurants, shops, and nightlife. With a major surge of new construction coming onto the marketplace, buyers have a wide range of choices at relatively affordable prices.

with pristine homes available for under $1 million. Homes in contract at the Rennie, for instance, are averaging $1,200 per square foot, while residences at the recently opened Eleven Hancock, launched in August, are nearly 20 percent sold, prices averaging $1,400 per square foot. (For good reasons to buy in Harlem, see the 4,000-word feature on the community in this issue.)

Uptown With value pricing still available in Harlem, and Columbia University setting the robust pace on building, developers have been drawn to Harlem

Adrienne Albert is nationally recognized expert in residential real estate marketing and sales. Over the past three decades she and her ďŹ rm, The Marketing Directors, have marketed and sold over $30 billion worth of residential property. JANUARYâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

Delano & Aldrich’s famed 1040 Park Avenue in 1925.

Publisher and party czar Condé Nast with Monica McCall and Eve Curie (right) at his party celebrating the publication of the latter’s book, Daughter of Madame Curie.

Café Society Was Born at 1040 Park Ave. A look inside Condé Nast’s 30-room, Elsie de Wolfedesigned penthouse, and the parties there that started it all. BY SUSAN RONALD

he advent of Prohibition in 1920 may have curbed the sale of alcohol, but it did nothing to stanch the flow of liquor at the parties thrown by Condé Nast. Overnight, as in all big cities, a thriving black market was born, and Nast was among its most robust patrons. Just how he managed to have free-flowing French Champagne was due to the ingenuity of his secretaries—Mary Campbell and Estelle Moore. According to Diana Vreeland, who attended these fashionable parties long before becoming the editor of Vogue, Nast knew that “Prohibition was a time when there tended to be a lot of excitement. It was because you weren’t allowed to drink that you drank anything you could get your hands on. People would go into the bathroom and drink Listerine! Anything that might have a crrrumb of alcohol.” Nast’s secretaries were the magicians behind these first parties. It was they who summoned the caterers, planned the menus, ordered the flowers,

hired the musicians, and somehow found all the liquor (more than likely through some network at New York’s docks). They also maintained the much-talked-about A, B, and C lists tracking aristocrats, entertainers, musicians, artists, and business titans, ensuring that just the right cocktail of people attended the correct party. Prohibition only added to the excitement of Nast’s guests. The invitees had to give a password before they could even ascend the elevator. Revelers found their Champagne chilling in a bathtub, as readily available as the scotch, rye, gin, rum, vermouth, brandy, and sherry. Menus received the same scrutiny. Such opulence, such care to detail, reflected Nast’s perfectionism, if not an actual love of crowded rooms. As his larger parties warmed up, and when Nast was satisfied the scene was perfectly set, he could often be found in a peaceful corner of his library reading, or playing a quiet game of bridge with other like-minded friends. Even as the parties initially got underway in 1922 at Nast’s 470 Park Avenue home, their ulti-

COND NAST: DAVID E. SCHERMAN/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES; 0 0 PARK AVENUE: DOUGLAS ELLIMAN; ELSIE DE WOLFE: EDWARD STEICHEN/COND NAST/GETTY IMAGES; ROOF TERRACE: MATTIE EDWARDS HEWITT/ COND NAST/GETTY IMAGES

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The roof terrace of Condé Nast’s lavish duplex.

Interior decorator Elsie de Wolfe (Lady Mendl) transformed the penthouse at 1040 Park Avenue.

mate stage was being readied at 1040 Park Avenue: Nast had bought a 30-room penthouse duplex while it was still in the blueprint stage and, after having it transformed to meet his exacting specifications, he eagerly awaited its debut. With interiors designed by none other than Elsie de Wolfe, Nast’s elaborate nest had its unveiling on Sunday, January 18, 1925, shortly after he moved in. The legendary interior decorator had a flair for all things French, so no New York apartment could have been decorated with more richesse. The sprawling residence unfurled itself atop a building designed by sought-after architects Delano & Aldrich, and had been modified to Nast’s requirements. Throughout the previous year, he had the team rework the space to include ten entertaining rooms on the roof, with suites of domestics’ rooms and sleeping quarters neatly seperated from the rooftop paradise with a strategically-placed staircase. In the days before air-conditioning, Nast had to rely on crosstown breezes to keep his guests cool in the summer

months; a conservatory, or solarium, was added a few years later. Since Elsie’s spiritual home was the Villa Trianon at Versailles, she decided that un style à la française would reflect both Nast’s heritage and the elegance of his magazines. The Louis XV furniture was upholstered in a pale sage-green damask. Savonnerie rugs graced parquet floors laid by French workmen brought over for the job. The pièce de résistance was rare 18th-century Qianlong wallpaper that once hung at the baronial stately home, Beaudesert, in England. Once the conservatory was enclosed, guests were able to admire the view from their tables, or wave to playwright and theater director Moss Hart in a Park Avenue apartment across the way. It was here at 1040 that Nast assumed the title of New York’s most consummate host— and he did so alongside Frank Crowninshield, editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair: a wit, connoisseur of arts and letters, and urbane proponent of gracious living who had known Nast since his early years in New York. “Crownie,” as he was known, JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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a it air’s Frank Crowninshield helped preside over the guest list for the Nast’s legendary parties.

Joan Crawford making new friends at Condé Nast’s duplex.

NAST’S INVITEES HAD TO GIVE A PASSWORD BEFORE THEY COULD EVEN ASCEND THE ELEVATOR.

moved in with Nast and helped preside over the endless parade of parties. Both men observed the torpor of the Gilded Age being painted over by newcomers of a different pedigree. Their response was to hitch high society to the hot engine of emergent café society, the parties becoming an effortless (and effervescent) blend of the new and the old. Nast would mentally catalogue the most amusing and sociable people from Europe and America, invite them, and then note who showed, and how long they stayed. Of course he was already factoring in the next party in a few weeks’ time—and precisely who deserved to be there again. That first housewarming dinner-dance included a broad cross-section of guests, among them dancing siblings Fred and Adele Astaire; composer George Gershwin; songwriter-dramatist Arthur Hammerstein; owner of the Algonquin Hotel and host to the Round-Tablers, Frank Case; actress Katharine Cornell; author, engineer, inventor, cartoonist, and sculptor Rube 4

Charlie Chaplin entertains Condé Nast guest Halldis Prince.

Goldberg; and Vogue and Vanity Fair in-housers Edward Steichen, George Jean Nathan, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Carmel Snow, and Edna Woolman Chase. It was the first of Nast’s bimonthly blowouts at 1040, and it was unforgettable. The guests were carefully selected from those A, B, and C lists: the A-list, carefully curated names from society; on the B, people in the arts. The C was a catch-all for every manner of contemporary celebrity—all broken down further into married couples and the unattached. These were meticulously calibrated, and there were of course post-mortem memos that made note of the number of invitations, percentage of acceptances from each list, and how many days’ notice had been given. All associated costs were detailed down to the last waiter’s tip. On the day of the party, Nast would dress and then make the rounds, checking on the caterers and flower arrangements. After ensuring that every table in his Chinese Chippendale-furnished ballroom had full, round cases of unfiltered ciga-

FRANK CROWNINSHIELD: BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES; JOSEPHINE BAKER: PICTORIAL PRESS/ALAMY; JOAN CRAWFORD AND CHARLIE CHAPLIN: BOTH JOHN PHILLIPS/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES

Josephine Baker, one of Nast’s most heralded guests of honor.

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The drawing room at 1040 Park.

DRAWING ROOM: MATTIE EDWARDS HEWITT/ COND NAST/GETTY IMAGES; COND NAST: RALPH MORSE/PI INC./THE LIFE IMAGES COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES

Nast talking with model Marjorie Bell and friends at one of his parties.

rettes, he would pivot to the orchestra leader, confirming he knew to strike up the band just as the first guest arrived. Nast discussed the drinks with the barman (including, presumably, which of the home’s dozen bathtubs would be on double-duty for chilling Champagne, spirits, and wines.) Only then could he relax. On June 13, 1927, following his solo flight across the Atlantic in his plane Spirit of St. Louis, Charles Lindbergh received the warmest of welcomes in New York City, with thousands of admirers cheering his motorcade as it edged up Broadway. Of course, Nast would throw a party for the handsome hero as well. Getting “Lindy” was considered a huge coup, but Nast ended up aghast when he saw his typically sophisticated party guests clawing at the shy aviator and giggling hysterically when they managed to touch him. Nast’s daughter Natica sprang into action, spiriting Lindbergh away to Nast’s bedroom. Only those who could be trusted to behave— and were smart enough to bring more bottles of Champagne and glasses—were allowed entry. So

ensconced, the party’s most nonchalant guests (feigned or otherwise) barricaded the door and partied on respectfully. It got around, about Nast’s Lindbergh party, which only helped to further burnish the reputation of his magazines, and the host himself. Perhaps the most famous guest of all to join in was the iconic Josephine Baker. Crownie and Nast had already managed to introduce the controversial Picasso to America—“that dyed-inthe-Spanish-wool Communist” as he was being called—so why not also invite into their home (and magazine) the polarizing dancer and jazz singer now wowing French audiences with her topless banana-skirt performances? This was the era where, if you wanted to hear jazz, you went up to Harlem. So, naturally, Nast threw a riotous party in Baker’s honor at his home in 1927 and New York’s crema di eleganza didn’t dream of missing it.

“Now that was historic,” wrote Diana Vreeland of the party to end all parties, recalling the legendary performer making her entrance. “Her hair had been done by Antoine, the famous hairdresser of Paris, like a Greek kouros—these small, flat curls against her skull—and she was wearing a white Vionnet dress, cut on the bias with four points, like a handkerchief. It had no opening, no closing—you just put it over your head and it came to you and moved with the ease and fluidity of the body.” Feeling thrilled to have been asked to Nast’s party at all—let alone to one with such a revelation as the guest of honor—Vreeland, at the time a new mother with her own storied career in magazines a decade still in the future, declared: “There was no living with me for days.” From Condé Nast by Susan Ronald. Copyright © 2019 by the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Publishing Group. JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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CAST AS ABT’S NEW ROMEO AND JULIET, MISTY COPELAND AND CALVIN ROYAL III ARE CREATING AN HISTORIC DANCE PARTNERSHIP AND A SINGULAR DANCE LEGACY IN THE PROCESS.

Trailb l BY AMY FINE COLLINS

PHOTOGRAPHS BY PEGGY SIROTA

The

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STYLIST: VANESSA SHOKRIAN; MAKEUP: JEANNE ROBINETTE FOR CLOUTIER; HAIR: SERENA RADAELLI FOR TRACEY MATTINGLY;

“R

“Romeo is a career-defining role, and it’s such a gift to do it alongside Misty,” says ABT soloist and ascendant star Calvin Royal III. “It is momentous, not just for us, but for the future of this art form, and for the future generations of kids who see themselves in us.” For some time now the three-act story ballet Romeo and Juliet, created in the 1930s with a score by Sergei Prokofiev, has served as a kind of cultural bell weather. The Soviet iteration of Shakespeare’s tragedy, for example—choreographed by Leonid Lavrosky, and unveiled at Leningrad’s Kirov Theatre in 1940—conveyed a distinctly communist, anti-aristocrat, and anti-merchant message. In 1965, at the dawn of the sexual revolution, master dance-maker Sir Kenneth MacMillan conceived a new, earthier version of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet for London’s Royal Ballet, in which the teenage heroine’s illicit passion for Romeo overtakes her so demonstratively that detractors complained at the time, according to critic Robert Greskovic, that couples, in ballet, were supposed to “make love on their feet, not on the floor.”

Previous spread: Tuxedo by Ralph Lauren Purple Label. Above: Dress by Silvia Tcherassi; Tuxedo by Ralph Lauren Purple Label.

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“WHEN TWO TALENTED DANCERS CAN COME TOGETHER, IT’S IDEAL AND EXCITING. BUT WHEN THOSE TWO DANCERS ARE BLACK, IT’S EXPLOSIVE.”

STYLIST: VANESSA SHOKRIAN; MAKEUP: JEANNE ROBINETTE FOR CLOUTIER; HAIR: SERENA RADAELLI FOR TRACEY MATTINGLY; PHOTOGRAPHED AT SEGERSTROM CENTER FOR THE ARTS.

MISTY COPELAND

A full 55 years later, American Ballet Theatre will, for the first time in its 81-year history, present MacMillan’s beloved full-length classic with two African-American dancers performing the title roles. For just two evenings, May 23rd and May 27th, at the Metropolitan Opera House, the principal dancer and idolized crossover celebrity Misty Copeland (she’s equally known for her books, her modeling, and her activism) will play Juliet opposite Royal, with whom she also shot the steamy 2019 Pirelli calendar. “The world will take note,” predicts writer Susan Fales-Hill, chair of ABT’s Trustee Emeritus Council and

longtime Copeland mentor. “ABT is our national ballet company and the Met stage is still the sine qua non for dance.” Why was this moment such a long time coming? There is inherent racism literally woven into the archaic fabric of the art form. Pink tights, pink slippers, flaxen wigs, and white makeup, all vestiges of ballet’s courtly European origins, are still wardrobe-department norms. Recently, for his role as Pierrot in Alexei Ratmansky’s Harlequinade, Royal pointedly eschewed the commedia dell’arte character’s traditional white face paint. “I saw Calvin in tech rehearsal with that JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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“IT’S A HUGE MOMENT HISTORICALLY, BOTH FOR US AND FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF DANCERS.” CALVIN ROYAL III

makeup on and I gasped,” recalls Copeland, who last month called out Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet for still using blackface in their production of La Bayadère. (The Bolshoi intends to continue its custom.) “Fortunately, I’ve learned to find my voice and ask for change,” Copeland says. “Having platforms outside of the ballet world has allowed me to open up a dialogue and not be afraid to take a leadership position.” Copeland believes that even one or two nights can transform ballet audiences. “It already happened in 2012,” she says, “when I danced Firebird,” Copeland’s first leading role 0

at ABT. “I remember when I was getting ready for the show, someone asked me, “‘Misty, is that your family out there?’ I said, ‘No. I don’t have a thousand people in my family. That’s just black people!’” The ballet company calls the phenomenon, which has recurred many times since that spectacular debut, “the Misty effect.” Fales-Hill says, “I call it ‘the browning of the Met.’” In the end, while partnering as Romeo and Juliet, Copeland says, the perfectionist pair “are playing characters in a universal story. For us, it’s about how you embody the characters and how you make the audience feel. Audiences will see

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“CALVIN AND I ARE PLAYING CHARACTERS IN A UNIVERSAL STORY. AUDIENCES WILL SEE THAT LOVE CAN BE PORTRAYED IN EVERY SHADE AND IN EVERY COLOR.” MISTY COPELAND

that love can be portrayed in every shade and in every color.” Copeland’s appearance with Royal has the further advantage of allowing her to dance her “all-time favorite role,” with a protégé graced with “long legs and long arms,” she says. Undoubtedly, balletomanes will respond also to what ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie calls the duo’s unusually “good chemistry”—an urgent “click” that arises, Royal feels, from their shared mission to “include more talent of color in the arts.” This Spring’s victory for their mutual quest promises to be good for business too. “McKinsey marketing research has proven that

diversity sells,” Fales-Hill states. “People really want to see themselves represented on stage, to see something fresh.” Ticket sales, for example, increased by around $100,000 at New York City Ballet last December, when 11-year-old Charlotte Nebres became the company’s first Black ballerina to personify Marie in The Nutcracker. Observes Royal—who is simultaneously creating a virtual-reality film series about his journey to becoming Romeo—“I’m beyond excited and thrilled that this is happening now. Yes, it’s been a long time coming. But I believe everything happens in the right time.” JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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English men in New York ST YLE PORTFOLIO

HEATHER HODSON MEETS THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN LEADING THE LATEST BRITISH INVASION. PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN HUBA

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Bradley Wright-Phillips outside the West Village’s Myers of Keswick, purveyor of such classic British fare as sausage rolls, pork pies, and Jammie Dodgers. Bomber jacket, shirt, and chinos by RIchard James; sneakers by Harrys of London. JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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“I always say, in the U.S., when you walk into a room you’re considered the most interesting person until you prove otherwise.” PHIL WINSER

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came to visit New York 12 years ago for what I thought was a weekend and never left,” says the award-winning restaurateur and hotelier Phil Winser, who has helped transform the New York dining scene with such foodie hotspots as the Fat Radish on the Lower East Side, the East Pole uptown, and his newly-opened brasserie, the Orchard Townhouse, soon to be joined by a boutique hotel in the upper floors of the landmarked Chelsea brownstone. Now the city’s de facto cultural barometer, Winser is not so unlike a young Keith McNally, who pulled off a similar feat decades earlier. “We were these excited, young guys,” recalls Winser of arriving in New York and launching a string of businesses with his best childhood friend, Ben Towill. “People were so positive. The energy of the city just blew me away.”

For an Englishman, few cities in the world rival the magnetic pull of New York. How many Brits have visited Manhattan for the weekend only to find themselves, years later, embedded downtown or on the Upper East Side, a family and dog in tow? “I was never meant to live here,” says the influential fashion photographer Craig McDean. “I just never left.” Today, as Britain finds itself in a state of flux, New York’s lure has only increased for potential ex-pats, and it doesn’t go unnoticed that this nerve center of finance, fashion, food, art, and music owes much to previous generations of Brits. No surprise, then, that so many Englishmen like the ones featured in this portfolio continue to seek refuge in New York, responding to the city’s rousing call with what E.B. White dubbed “the fresh yes of an adventurer.” Says Bradley Wright-Phillips, the legendary soccer player who holds the record for most goals scored for the New York Red Bulls, “Coming here

taught me that if you love something, you put everything into it.” “New York is far more energizing than London,” says Danny Moynihan, the debonair curator, painter, bon vivant, and author of the rollicking 90s art world novel Boogie-Woogie. He arrived in New York three years ago with his wife Katrine Boorman, a film director and daughter of John Boorman. “Along with the positivity of the conversation here,” he says, “in New York you can lead several different lives.” Moynihan is one of those Englishmen who can’t stay away. This is his fourth stint in the city, having first arrived in the 80s, when he worked at the Robert Miller Gallery and knew everyone from Warhol to Basquiat. “I don’t know how we did it. It was all night long, the Palladium or Area...and then plenty of drugs, bed at 5am, up at 8am to work... day in, day out. Completely crazy.” Things clearly hadn’t settled down a (Continued on page 72)

Bradley Wright-Phillips (Previous page)

Phil Winser “You really felt like you could start something you were passionate about,” says Phil Winser of arriving in New York in 2008 with just a weekend bag, and a head full of culinary ideas. Since then he has launched a string of eateries, including the Fat Radish, the Leadbelly, 58 Gansevoort, the healthy fastfood service TYME. his new brasserie/hotel in Chelsea

with Basil Walter of BWArchitects, and yet another boutique hotel in upstate New York. The dashing Winser runs with a glamorous set, including fellow Brit Alexander Gilkes, the auctioneer and brain behind Paddle8, and American artist Richard Phillips. He cites his godfather, a chef, as a big influence: “He has a farm and vineyard in West Sussex, and one

of the reasons I got into food was spending time down there with him.” The relentlessly energetic Winser has also found time to start a family and move to the boroughs. He and his girlfriend, the Dutch model Rianne ten Haken, have a 22-month old son, Inigo, and have all relocated to Williamsburg. “I’ve finally done it,” he laughs of crossing the Brooklyn Bridge.

“When you’re in England you think you’re famous and you end up putting your football second,” says Bradley Wright-Phillips, who arrived in 2013 to join the New York Red Bulls. “Coming here, putting my head down, and finding that love for the game again . . . has been a real saving grace for me.” The son of retired Arsenal legend and England international Sir Ian Wright, the 34-year-old’s New York attitude appears to have paid dividends. In the six years since he arrived in the city he has catapulted himself into the annals of American soccer lore, becoming the first Englishman to score a hat trick in a Major League Soccer game, the fastest player in the MLS to score 100 goals, and the Red Bulls’ record holder for most goals scored. It was a feat recognized by the club when it retired his number 99 jersey in 2018. Off the field, he runs his fashion label, Two Nines, and enjoys family time with his wife Leanne and their three children, Riley, 10, Ryan 6, and Rae, 2. For now, America is where he’s happy. “When I go back home, after a week I need to get back here. I don’t miss England yet.”

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Hugo Guinness “As invariably happens, some incident comes along very quickly, like you meet someone and you fall in love and you get married—and then 20 years have gone by,” says Hugo Guinness of arriving in New York in 1995. Guinness is now a thoroughly confirmed New Yorker, married to American artist Elliott Puckette. He, himself is a celebrated painter, illustrator, humorist, and Oscar-nominee for the screenplay for The Grand Budapest Hotel. He co-wrote the cult favorite with his close friend and collaborator, Wes Anderson. You’d be forgiven, and not alone, for thinking that his 19thcentury townhouse in Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill shares a remarkable resemblance to the home stealing the show in The Royal Tenenbaums. He shares the house, which has the feel of an artists’ colony, with his wife and their daughters, Bella and Violet, both now away at college. On any given Sunday you might find Martin Amis and his wife, the writer Isabel Fonseca; landscape designer Miranda Brooks and her French architect husband Bastien Halard; and various members of the English diaspora all enjoying Puckette’s legendary cooking. Weekdays are spent in his nearby studio working on his sought-after oils, watercolors, and linocut prints, which can be found at John Derian Dry Goods, the London gallery Wilson Stephens Jones, and on Guinness’s own website. He spent the last two years working on the screenplay of The French Dispatch, Wes Anderson’s forthcoming comedy set in the magazine world of 60s Paris. In typical fashion, the famously self-effacing Guinness describes his writing role as “sitting there just to keep Wes company, really. He’s the maestro.” 8

“I remember arriving and seeing one of those bright blue New York skies, and just feeling completely free.” HUGO GUINNESS

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Artist Hugo Guinness in his studio in Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill. Suit and shirt by Richard James.

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The Anglo Files CULTURE CLUB Martin Amis Salman Rushdie Hari Kunzru John Oliver Noël Coward Danny Moynihan Paul Kasmin Jonathan Burnham William Richmond-Watson Brian Cox Alan Cumming David Ogilvy David MacMillan Henry Wyndham David Miliband Christopher Hitchens Mark Shand

John Oliver

William Richmond-Watson

THE FASHIONABLE CROWD Hamish Bowles Andrew Bolton Cecil Beaton John Lennon Andrew Lloyd Webber Mick Jagger Sting Paul McCartney Bryan Ferry David Bowie Paul Bettany 0

Noël Coward

Daniel Craig

JOURNALISTS Harold Evans Paul Dacre Adam Edwards Geordie Greig Tunku Varadarajan Edward Helmore Tom Shone Christopher Mason Andrew Sullivan Adam Higginbotham Ian Parker Nick Denton Chris Heath Tom Sykes John Cassidy BRITISH BAD BOYS Rufus Albemarle Marlon Richards Keith Richards Dan Macmillan Lucas White Jamie Blandford John Jermyn Toby Young Howard Marks Nik Cohn Sid Vicious Edward VII

Bryan Ferry with Nick Rhodes and Michael Roberts

Mick Jagger outside Studio 54 with Steve Rubel

Alexander Gilkes

Danny Moynihan

Harold Evans

Hamish Bowles

David Miliband Marlon Richards and a friend at a Cheap Date party in NYC, 1999

Sting in Central Park, 1991

Hari Kunzru Andrew Bolton

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Daniel Craig Patrick Stewart Marcus Wainwright David Neville Simon Doonan Michael Macaulay

Keith McNally at Balthazar Quentin Crisp in 1998, aged 90 Oliver Clegg Michael Macaulay

Simon Doonan and Euan Rellie Caspar Jopling

SCENE MAKERS Duke of Windsor Quentin Crisp John Richardson Keith McNally Brian McNally Euan Rellie Rory Fleming Ben Towill Nick Jones Robin Birley Adam Cohen Oliver Clegg Alexander Gilkes Alex Logsdail Alistair Clarke Caspar Jopling Mark Borthwick

English Haunts Adam Cohen

David Bowie in 1983 outside the Carlyle Hotel

John Lennon

Paul Bettany

Prince of Wales (Edward VII)

Salman Rushdie

Cecil Beaton in 1933 Martin Amis and Christopher Hitchens at the New York launch party for The Information, 1995

Mark Borthwick

Marcus Wainwright

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS BY BFA.COM E CEPT; BRYAN FERRY BY DAFYDD JONES, KEITH MCNALLY BY STEVEN’S RICHTER, NOEL COWARD FROM THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY FOR THE PERFORMING ART/BILLY ROSE THEATRE DIVISION, UENTIN CRISP BY PAT CARROLL/ GETTY IMAGES, JOHN LENNON BY VINNIE ZUFFANTE/MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES, DAVID BOWIE BY ART ZELIN/GETTY IMAGES, MICK JAGGER BY BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES, MARK BORTHWICK BY NOAM GALAI/GETTY IMAGES, MARLON RICHARDS BY CATHERINE MCGANN/GETTY IMAGES, DAVID MILIBAND BY YUI MOK/GETTY IMAGES, STING BY KEVIN CUMMINS/GETTY IMAGES, MARTIN AMIS AND CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS BY DAFYDD JONES, CECIL BEATON BY CECIL BEATON/COND NAST/GETTY IMAGES.

PUBS The Churchill Tavern The Shakespeare The Red Lion TEA TIME/DINNER TIME Tea & Sympathy Lady Mendl’s Tea Salon Lowell/Pembroke Room A Salt & Battery Bar Belly The East Pole Jones Wood Foundry The Ear Inn SHOPPING Burberry Barbour Turnbull & Asser Richard James Alexander McQueen Charles Tyrwhitt Mulberry Harrys of London New & Lingwood Rag & Bone Crockett & Jones CLUBS Norwood Soho House New York DUMBO House Oswald’s (opening in late 2020)

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decade later, when he lived here again, this time with Damien Hirst and Hirst’s girlfriend Maia Norman on Howard Street, where the trio threw notorious dinner parties. Nowadays it’s a question of stamina, he finds. In comparison to New York’s pace, says Moynihan, “living in London is like being in the country.” Another great draw of our city to the foreign adventurer is that he gets to shed the assumptions of class, background, and status that can hover back at home. “I loved New York upon arrival,” says man-about-town Euan Rellie, a product of Eton and Cambridge. “I had a very establishment upbringing in the UK. Here I felt like I could live life fuller–to the fullest.” Arriving as a baby banker at the age of 23, he shared an apartment in the Police Building with Cambridge schoolmate and film director Chris Weitz. “I came here and ran with a gang of Brits–Chris, Rory Fleming, Toby Young,” in addition to the stylish Sykes siblings, one of whom he married: Lucy, an author and fashion editor. Scratch the surface of an Englishman just landed at JFK and you’ll often find an iconoclast raring to break loose. “I remember the incredible feeling of one of those bright blue New York skies, and the light,” says the artist, writer, and humorist Hugo Guinness, a member of the banking clan. “Just feeling completely free.” He was 37, and it was the mid-90s. “Was I running away from something, or running toward something else? In hindsight, probably a bit of both.” Moynihan was similarly stifled by the Old Country. “I got bored of the Englishness of England–the non-acceptance and the pigeon-holing. That’s what the English love doing: pigeonholing people.” In contrast, New York seems to allow Brits to blur and fuse identities, to be exactly who they want to be. Moynihan tries to explain it: “I think there’s an openness here, nothing is closed off–you’re not queuing up to wait for admission. In America you’re allowed in, as a general rule. On different levels, it’s about availability, and acceptance, and anything goes.” One lesson contemporary Brits have learned about New York is that it’s not enough to just trade on the accent. Cecil Beaton may have blithely assured his 1938 readers in Cecil Beaton’s New York, “an unknown or untitled Englishman still warrants a greater interest than any other stranger,” but times have changed. As welcoming as New Yorkers can be, Englishmen can only get so far living off their Old World mannerisms and cadence. To thrive here, they benefit from a solid work ethic. Show grit, and the whole shimmering

Alan Linn “I believe I’ve created a club in New York, but not necessarily a London club in New York,” says Alan Linn, the convivial, larger-than-life Scotsman of launching his club Norwood 12 years ago. Since the heavy black doors first swung open, the club, which occupies the five ﬂoors and secret, walled garden of an Edith Wharton-style Greek Revival mansion on West 14th Street, has become the beating heart of New York’s downtown, creative community. It’s here that architects, fashion stars, musicians, art collectors, media moguls, high-ﬂying hedonists, and a good smattering of Brits gather throughout the day and at dusk to socialize. “We have this alchemy of people dripping in,” he says. “To me it’s not about eliteness. It’s about like-minded creative people coming together.” Linn, who spent his youth in Dundee, Scotland, and was class president while a student at the Royal College of Art, has known one or two mavericks in his time. In 90s London, he managed the infamously rowdy members’ club, Blacks, where the fashion muse Isabella Blow and her husband Detmar would hold court, and where journalist Jeffrey Bernard was often wheeled home by Linn after a long night at the bar. “It was a rock ’n’ roll time.” New York is equally intriguing to Linn. “I find it quite a magical city, visually. There’s a grittiness I like. It’s not sanitized there’s light and dark.”

Alan Linn in the upstairs bar at Norwood, his members-only club on West 14th Street that is beloved by the city’s

Tuxedo and shirt by Richard James; bow tie and cummerbund by Brooks Brothers; shoes

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“The club is a culmination of everything I love: art, sociability, alcohol, food, and crazy people.” ALAN LINN

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grid opens up. “My wife and I talk about this all the time,” says Wright-Phillips. “It’s a cliché, but if you work hard, you can get it done. In America you can be anyone. Everyone has a chance.” In many ways, New York City is the embodiment of the American Dream for British expats. “I always say: in the U.S., when you walk into a room you’re considered the most interesting person until you prove otherwise,” says the 35-year-old Winser. “Whereas in the UK, it’s been the other way around.” Agrees Rellie: “In New York, if you chance your arm a bit, people are predisposed to support that.” Another Brit expat to recently chance his arm here is tastebroker and club mogul Robin Birley, son of the late Mark Birley, who recently landed here to prepare the ground for a New York outpost of Oswald’s. A willingness to put yourself out there. Industriousness. Restlessness. So what else does the British expat bring to New York? “Shabby chic,” explains Moynihan. “There is that element of fading grandeur and a world gone by, a bit like Brideshead Revisited. The other thing about the English is we have a sort of non-conformity and humor. Americans are always amazed and horrified by some of the things we say. I think they enjoy it.” “Many of us who come here are a bit excessive or extravagant,” agrees Rellie. “We are the hot sauce on the chicken rice. I think there’s a reason Americans invite Brits to their dinner parties. It’s to be outspoken, and irreverent, and a bit cocky.” An unconventional attitude of mind and riotous sense of fun is a potent mix. Artists, writers, dandy-aesthetes, politicians, playboys, rock legends, aristos, journalists, actors, film stars, bankers, restaurateurs, night crawlers, stylemakers, and tastebrokers: the list of citylife-enhancing Brits is long. Like their forebears, the Englishmen (and one Scotsman) we’ve photographed for this portfolio are all making their mark on the character of New York. Stars in their fields, these Brits are changing the landscapes of fashion photography, the culinary and visual arts, sport, film, and nightlife. Some, like Winser and McDean, came here by accident. Others, such as Scotsman Alan Linn, founder of the private members’ club Norwood, arrived by design. Says Linn, “The city—and the club I built here—was the culmination of everything I love: art, sociability, alcohol, food, and crazy people.” So here’s to that extended tribe of Brits who have thrown in their lot with us, and in doing so, have contributed to the distinct alchemy that is New York. 4

Craig McDean “I like the buzz and energy of the city,” says fashion photographer Craig McDean. “You forget: When you come from the airport and you see that skyline you think, ‘Whoa, we’re living here.’” McDean arrived from London in 1995. “New York was the place to be. It was the time of Liz Tilberis and Fabien Baron at Bazaar and all the stylists were here.” One of the most respected fashion photographers working in the industry today, McDean was part of a new wave of British photographers in the late 80s and early 90s who cut their teeth on street-style magazines such as The Face and I-D. Dennis Freedman, the founding creative director of W magazine, brought McDean to New York. Since then he has forged a formidable career and family: he has two teenaged sons, Dylan and Elliott, with his former wife, the New York-based British shoe designer Tabitha Simmons. Away from the camera, McDean is what the British would call a “petrol head.” Before he became a photographer McDean trained as a car mechanic, and describes himself in deadpan tones as “a pretty fearless driver.” He currently owns a Ferrari, a Maserati, an old Porsche 911, and an Aston Martin. Previous rides included a Carrera and a Dodge, both of which he sold, describing them as “awful cars to drive.” His recently published photography book, Craig McDean: Manual (Rizzoli), attests to his obsession with American muscle cars—“I love the backyardness of them,” he explains. On weekends, McDean can be found at upstate racetracks.

Craig McDean at Jones Wood Foundry, a popular, uptown British haunt. Suit and hat by Alexander McQueen; shirt by Boggi Milano; shoes by Tricker’s.

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“I was never meant to live here, I just never left.” CRAIG MCDEAN

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18 karat rose gold and diamond “Clash de Cartier” ring, $8,500, Cartier. cartier.com.

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Pear-shaped emeralds and diamonds set in white gold “Happy Precious Collection” ring, price available upon request, Chopard. chopard.com.

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BIG CITY NEW YORK’S ICONIC ARCHITECTURE SETS THE STAGE FOR THIS SEASON’S SPECTACULAR RINGS IN A KALEIDOSCOPE OF COLORS. BY MIMI LOMBARDO PHOTOGRAPHS BY MITCH FEINBERG JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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Paloma’s Studio baguette fourstone ring in gold with rubellites and amethysts, $16,000, tiffany.com.

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Emerald, ruby, and gold “Confetti” ring, $79,500, Verdura. verdura.com.

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Yellow gold, emerald, and amethyst “Diorama Précieuse” ring, $9,850, . dior.com.

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Sapphire, diamond, platinum, and silver “stained glass” ring, set with an oval cabochon sapphire, made in Paris between 1932 and 1955 from a design by Suzanne Belperron, $175,000. Belperron. belperron.com. JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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All that jazz: models dance on the runway at the TommyxZendaya show at Harlem’s legendary

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that a man or woman is called to their time. Resurgent fashion icon Dapper Dan has every reason to believe this to be true. A Gucci-Dapper Dan billboard looms over the corner of 125th Street and Lenox Avenue like a bird about to take flight, and “Dap” (as his friends call him), much like Harlem itself, is experiencing a renaissance. The svelte, sharp dresser with a clean-shaved head and spit-shine shoes who began an uncanny collaboration with the iconic Italian luxury brand three years ago, is now among the most quoted voices on the resurgence of his native town. “Harlem has always been a hotbed for music,” says Dap. “And music—being the flip side of fashion—has long given this community the ability to affect fashion globally.” On a recent night in Harlem this was much in evidence, as music and fashion lured a throng of fashionable insiders to the Apollo Theater to catch the TommyxZendaya show. For many of them, this was a maiden voyage, and from talk overheard after the show, it wasn’t likely to be their last. The air was electric as they moved through the storied building of musical greats, and out the back to an outdoor mise en scène evoking a 70s Harlem street tableau, complete with fastidiously reinvented brownstone stoops and live music playing out of a blue 1970 Cadillac Deville convertible. Even before the show reached its riotous crescendo some 30 minutes later, with fierce models of varying generations, sizes, and ethnicities, this local shout-out to Harlem had been shared on social media with a global megaphone, broadcasting in real time that the community was having a moment. Harlem has had a few renaissances, but this one, without question, is the most fashionable. 84

“Before we even planned the show in Paris, we were thinking about where it would be staged in New York,” says Law Roach, the juggernaut stylist who collaborated with Tommy Hilfiger and Zendaya. “We decided it had to be at the Apollo.” With two new theaters planned for the expanding entertainment complex, Jonelle Procope, president and CEO of the Apollo Theater, is hoping the current trends continue. “Harlem represents cool and cutting edge—and designers are always looking for the most creative way to showcase their clothes,” she says. One of America’s most historic communities, Harlem is increasingly radiating heat from its

GABRIELA CELESTE

D I A S N E E B S ’ T I , M E L R IN HA

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“WHAT I’VE SEEN IS THAT PLENTY OF PEOPLE OUTSIDE THE CITY WANT AND PLENTY OF PEOPLE INSIDE NEW YORK —DAPPER DAN

vortex with such collaborations as Gucci-Dapper Dan on Lenox Avenue, where the tribute shop has welcomed and dressed luminaries from Tracee Ellis Ross, Salma Hayek, and DJ Khaled to Billie Eilish and Karlie Kloss. Carmelo Anthony recently brought his fashion event down the street from the Apollo, and four-year-old Harlem Fashion Week, with its ingenious bus tour and a model extravaganza debuting this year, is growing. Then there’s the development of such legacy institutions as the Studio Museum and the Apollo; the proliferation of high-rise residential buildings; and the restoration of local parks.

Columbia University’s big (and getting bigger) footprint now includes the bustling Lenfest Center for the Arts, which opened in 2017. “Harlem has always been the epicenter of Black creators and Black art,” says Roach. “And one of its great gifts is that it has never been able to be smudged by America. That’s one of the incredible things about it,” he says, referring to the community’s lasting cultural sheen. “For me, Harlem is, and will always be, a national Black culture Mecca,” says Marcus Samuelsson, founder of the iconic restaurant, Red Rooster. “Because of the history of the peo-

ple and the institutions, this has always been the place where Black art, culture, and intelligence come together.” While no single art form can capture the romance and power of Harlem, many have famously tried through words. Harlem is both mother and muse for writers, with its boulevards and literary community reminiscent of Paris. Early Harlem poet and author Claude McKay was at home in both cities, and seemingly felt pulled between them, writing: “If a man is not faithful to his own individuality, he cannot be loyal to anything.” Identity is at the heart of his seminal JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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of Harlem’s artistic director. “And it’s something we want to share with everybody, not just the Black community.” Some are calling the most recent resurgence Harlem’s “Third Renaissance,” after the original fertile bloom of African-American social, artistic, and cultural output during the 1920s. The family of Musa Jackson, the self-styled “Ambassador of Harlem,” arrived in the neighborhood around that time. “President Clinton and Marcus Samuelsson were game-changers for the second renaissance,” says Jackson, referring to Clinton Foundation’s Harlem-rooted, post-presidential offices, and the arrival of the James Beard Award-winning

chef Samuelsson and his acclaimed restaurant a few years later. Since then, Harlem has been on a steady march forward, and the pace is only quickening thanks to thoughtful community planning, substantial real-estate investment, and the retail that comes with it. “There are so many new restaurants and an influx of new residents,” concurs Procope about the widespread growth she sees in many local realms. “This is the first time the Apollo has expanded in 85 years.” Meanwhile, Melba Wilson, who likes to declare she was “buttered and browned in Harlem,” says she felt like an outlier a decade ago when she opened her namesake restaurant and its famed

MATT DUTILE

book Home to Harlem, and indeed at the center of the creative output from his fellow Harlem Renaissance writers, among them Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Alain Locke, and W.E.B. Du Bois. Their achievements laid the foundation for the high culture we are witnessing today, which can be felt well beyond Harlem’s geographic boundaries. “For me, growing up in Detroit, Harlem was this far off place that made me think of the great cultural icons like Langston Hughes,” says Crystal McCrary, an author, lawyer, and filmmaker. “For those of us working in Harlem, we feel like the Harlem Renaissance is still alive in us,” said Virginia Johnson, Dance Theatre AVENUE MAGAZINE | JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020

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“BECAUSE OF THE HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE AND THE INSTITUTIONS, HARLEM HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE PLACE WHERE BLACK ART, CULTURE, —MARCUS SAMUELSSON

by’s Vintage, an eclectic eatery named after the late activist, Oscar nominee, and former Harlem resident Ruby Dee. It’s from owners Nikoa Evans-Hendricks and Brian Washington-Palmer, the visionary behind former Harlem hot spot Native. “In other areas of New York City, a lot of places are shutting down, whereas in Harlem it’s just the opposite,” adds Samuelsson, whose Harlem EatUp! food festival in May will feature local cuisine for a sixth year in a row. “Growth here in Harlem is not just in the hospitality space,” he adds, “it’s everywhere, and that’s very exciting.” Samuelsson is a busy man, with his PBS show No Passport Required enjoying its second season, and a Miami outpost of Red Rooster slated to open later this year.

IDENTITY AND CULTURE

weekend brunch on West 114th Street—the Sunday gospel brunch being a mainstay of many Harlem restaurants. Later this year she will introduce her second Harlem eatery, Melba’s Mussels, on Lenox Avenue and 118th Street and is among those who have started calling Frederick Douglass Boulevard “Restaurant Row.” Food aficionados who still stop in at the legendary Sylvia’s and Amy Ruth’s, are these days following Reverence, a place as exclusive as Sylvia’s is accessible. Started by San Francisco chef Russell Jackson, using a California farm-to-table tasting menu, Reverence seats 18 with a price that hovers around $100 per seating. Then there’s Ru-

To many, it makes sense that Uptown—as Harlem is sometimes affectionately known—would be in the spotlight today. Within the Black community, there’s a resurgence of pride, and a tight embrace of the Afrocentric aspects of identity not seen since the 60s. Cross-culturally, we’re in an unprecedented age of Afro influence: riveted by Rihanna’s beauty moves and LeBron’s dunks. We follow Meghan Markle assiduously. Black Panther was a cultural and commercial Goliath. Fashion runways and magazines readily feature Black models. Seemingly everyone now wants to know how to tie a turban or wear goddess braids. Beyoncé is omnipresent and Michelle Obama is currently polling as the world’s most admired woman. Any marketers worth their ad spend have had their eyes on Nigerians, both here and abroad, as valued customers much in the same way they put China’s emerging upper and middle class on their radar a decade ago. Five of the world’s fastest growing economies are African countries. Caribbean immigrants, pivotal to the life and identity of Harlem, gave us icons Marcus Garvey and Claude McKay. Their American-born descendants have woven themselves into the tapestry of Harlem life and culture in the following generations. You can see the growing internationalism on the streets dotted with people wearing colorful kangas, caftans, and djellabas, and from the wide range of restaurants from Senegal, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and other African nations. America 2030, predicted to be a rich, diverse melting pot, is already vividly on display in Harlem.

“Harlem made me see the beauty of all different people,” says photographer Paul Morejón, who grew up in the neighborhood and co-owns the jewel-box of a restaurant Peque on West 145th Street. Once majority African-American, this demographic (while still representing the largest racial and cultural group) now comprises less than 50 percent of the community.

ARTS, EDUCATION, AND CULTURE THAT MOVES US The Studio Museum in Harlem has long played doula to African-American and Latinx talents, supporting some of the country’s most exciting contemporary artists, including Mickalene Thomas with her empowering representations of Black women, multimedia photographer Lorna Simpson, and Kehinde Wiley, President Obama’s White House portraitist. While its programs continue in temporary locations, the museum’s original home is being demolished and replaced by a larger, state-of-the-art edifice designed by Sir David Adjaye—the Tanzanian-born, British architect behind the National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. The new building will allow for a dramatic increase in programing and presentations, with planned exhibitions featuring work by some of America’s foremost artists: Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and Norman Lewis, among them. Raymond J. McGuire, Citigroup’s Vice Chairman, as well as Chairman of the Studio Museum, says the project is expected to be completed by 2023, and sees the museum as a microcosm of Harlem. “More profoundly than at any other moment in our history,” he says, “there is a clarion call for the Studio Museum not to be satisfied with just inclusion anymore, but to lead in the world.” McGuire and his wife McCrary have regularly made the ArtNews global list of 200 top collectors for their collection of African and African-American art and for their commitment to artists and art institutions. A few minutes’ walk from the Studio Museum, New York’s first civil rights museum will rise at 121 West 125th Street. Underwritten in part by JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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example, “Return,” by resident choreographer Robert Garland, is set to music by Aretha Franklin and James Brown.

0 Storied clubs like Minton’s Playhouse and sister restaurant The Cecil Steakhouse, ensure that Harlem’s jazz scene survives despite prominent venue losses to redevelopment. A bank now stands on the site of the Lenox Lounge where such greats as Duke Ellington, Billie Strayhorn, and Dizzy Gillespie once performed. Other clubs here nurtured American legends Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Charlie Parker, and today you’ll still find John Legend frequenting Paris Blues. Or you can join Ginny’s Supper Club at Red Rooster or Parlor Jazz at Marjorie Eliot’s, where the pianist hosts visitors in the parlor of her home every Sunday. There’s even jazz in neighborhood churches like Greater Calvary Baptist Church. Last summer marked the debut of Harlem Jazz & Music Festival, held during Harlem Week, a multicultural, multi-week celebration of all that is Harlem. The brainchild of Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce’s Lloyd Williams, the goal it is to make the Festival an annual event, he says.

FLY FASHION Harlem-driven fashion and Black fashion designers are gaining altitude, with Dapper Dan in good company alongside Louis Vuitton’s Artistic Director of Menswear Virgil Abloh, Balmain’s wunderkind Olivier Rousteing, and the talk of New York Fashion Week, Kirby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss. But weathering good times and bad in Harlem’s fashion world, Dap has watched

several waves of capital infusion wash through Harlem without much sticking power. He wants this time to be different, to focus his own work on building up businesses and promoting Harlem culture. Within a few years of his 1990s heyday, Dap’s original Harlem boutique had been shut down amid accusations that he had been appropriating designer logos. Not that his celebrity customers back then seemed to mind: everyone from Jam Master Jay to LL Cool J, and Mike Tyson to Floyd Mayweather came to get their gear from Dap. Eventually, in 2017, so did Gucci. After doing some appropriating of its own, the Italian luxury leviathan made good. Gucci’s Creative Director Alessandro Michele decided to deploy Dap as the face of their fall, 2017 men’s campaign and published a limited-edition book on him, Dapper Dan’s Harlem, acknowledged his designing prowess. Eventually Gucci partnering with Dap to re-open his namesake boutique—this time by appointment only. “I’m the first generation after the Great Migration,” Dap explains, referring to his parent’s era when six million rural Black Southerners migrated northward and settled in communities such as Harlem. “And I was the last generation before the drug epidemic,” he continues. “In between, we lost something.” With Dap’s urging, Gucci has committed to providing scholarships, community programs, and diversity and inclusion education. “But there are still changes that I think need to come about here,” says Dap. “I want people to really recognize—and have us realize—our potential.” “Dap brings a level of credibility in terms of the talent available in Harlem,” said Shawn Outler, an executive vice president at Macy’s and co-president of the Black Retail Action Group (BRAG) with Nicole Cokley-Dunlap. Both live in Harlem, and BRAG—the national philanthropic organization promoting diversity in retail, fashion and allied businesses—has its offices here. Outler recognizes Dap’s story as a rare and powerful one. But fashion in Harlem is both a reality and a state of mind. As an economic driver, local Harlem fashion and the Black design community still struggle. While lacking Dap’s corporate backers, some independents on the scene keep the engine purring: Neighborhood favorites include The Brownstone, Hats by Bunn, Harlem’s Heaven hat shop, and Harlem Haberdashery. The creativity found here attracts both fashionable residents and celebrities from addresses beyond the neighborhood. Kevin Harter, who’s lived in Harlem for four years, loves to sit outside local restaurants and watch the passing parade. “I get a lot of fashion inspiration from Harlem,” he explains. “Everyone has this ‘confidence style.’” His day job as Vice President of Fashion at Bloomingdale’s means that he’s not entirely off the clock as he tracks such sartorial currents: “You see trends emerge up here,” he adds. “And the whole high/low mix dominates.” What also dominates here is a penchant for bolstering the community from within. The pioneering non-profit Custom Collaborative (CC) scored a recent coup attracting American fashion icon and Harlem resident Stephen Burrows as an

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New York State funding, the museum complex will also house a new National Urban League headquarters, multi-use event spaces, offices, and residences. Not far from the site stands the 95-year-old Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, with its trove of archival material about Black life alongside exhibits, cultural events, and interactive workshops. It is also home base for the Harlem Writers Guild. Within Harlem’s writing pantheon, James Baldwin was possibly its most astute observer and gifted translator to the outside world. (In April, Princeton professor and theologian Eddie S. Glaude Jr. will release his new book Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and its Urgent Lessons for Our Own.) Ta-Nehisi Coates—whose writings have invited comparison to Baldwin’s— was recently made the Apollo’s first Master Artist-in-Residence, staging a series of events here, including one hosted by Oprah Winfrey. Procope points out that it’s this kind of innovative programming that will increase with the Apollo’s expansion in the 26-story “Victoria Complex,” as its being called. It will also include a Renaissance Marriott and incorporate the site of the old Victoria Theater on 125th Street. Of the several dance companies that call Harlem home, none has a higher grand jeté than the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the world-touring ballet company, founded 51 years ago by dancer Arthur Mitchell after he heard the news that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated. (Channeling grief into creative expression is a human instinct not limited to Harlem, but by all evidence, the community has perfected the art form like no other.) The company performs dances that are the stock of Western classical ballet the world over. But it also, says Johnson, “uses the music of our culture and the language of classical ballet.” For

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adviser. This month CC will begin work with sustainability pioneer, designer Mara Hoffman. The organization emerged three years ago, founded by Harlem resident and lawyer Ngozi Okaro. “I chose Harlem because this is where I could get good space, and this is where I saw the people who most clearly fit the profile of who we wanted to help,” says Okaro. CC’s mission is to train low-income women and immigrants for employment with marketable fashion and business skills. Okaro started in Riverside Church and recently expanded into East Harlem, with merchandise sold through pop-up shops and the organization’s e-commerce site. Showcasing homegrown talent is also the goal of Tandra Birkett and Yvonne Jewnell, the vibrant women behind Harlem Fashion Week. This year they’ll introduce a model conference, “Strike A Pose,” to add to the fashion workshops and runway shows highlighting local and Pan-African designers. The pair run a popular Harlem fashion tour by bus, which visits the Midtown garment center as well as Harlem fashion spots, including manufacturer/incubator SoHarlem, The Brownstone boutique, Save-A-Thon fabric and sewing store, and the African market on 116th Street for fabrics and tailors. “There’s plenty of talent here in Harlem, there just needs to be more support from us—the Black residents of Harlem,” says Veronica Jones, a consultant, former retailer and CC’s Entrepreneurship Coach. “125th Street is typically too expensive for small businesses.” Fashion insiders who’s been around for more than a minute give respect to Harlem Haberdashery. With its 5001 Flavors custom brand and styling arm, the company was founded by husband-and wife Guy and Sharene Wood, self-described hip-hop homesteaders. Birkett sees them as a paradigm for business sustainability. “They changed the model for family businesses in Harlem,” she says, adding that she also admires their generosity to the neighborhood. “They’ve been very strong in working to build up the fashion community in Harlem.” It’s exactly this kind of positive momentum that draws big, national businesses to Harlem, improving amenities and services to the area in the process. The harbingers of gentrification abound to both the delight and wariness of locals and newcomers: Whole Foods is now here, as is Target, H&M, Starbucks, Victoria’s Secret, and MAC cosmetics. “Macy’s Backstage could be an opportunity,” said Outler, while noting that plans aren’t actively in the works. She explains, “The real question for us would be, are we just moving customers from 34th Street, or are we gaining a new customer?”

JUST DON’T CALL IT SoHa “You can’t forget the mainstay of Harlem, which is the community’s churches,” notes Studio Museum’s McGuire. These houses of worship include the Abyssinian Baptist, Riverside, A.M.E. Zion Church, The Cathedral Church of Saint John The Divine, and the Malcolm Shabazz Mosque. 90

An energetic grassroots push is underway to preserve these sacred spaces and other historically or architecturally meaningful buildings in the area. The exquisite former St. Thomas Church, dating back to 1900, is now an event space, “Harlem Parish,” with soaring ceilings and stained-glass windows. Public-relations maverick and Harlem resident Nate Hinton recognized the impact of the setting and orchestrated a Spring 2020 showing of basketball star Anthony’s “Melo Made” collection with a multimedia presentation, male and female models in the clothes, and Anthony’s guest “artist in residence,” Nelson Makamo, flown in from South Africa especially for the event. “Hands down, Harlem has some of the best architecture in the city,” says Spencer Means, a real estate broker in Manhattan since 1993 who is currently with Compass and noted for his high-profile clientele. The area has an abundance of brownstones and townhouses—some woefully derelict, but many more lovingly kept and restored. “Europeans have always been attracted to Harlem,” he says. “What’s new is the diversity of people moving in, lured by its new status. I had a townhouse on Striver’s Row,” adds Means, “with prospective buyers, including a couple from London, a family from Argentina, and a very good-looking Black guy from Sweden.” “Striver’s Row” is the Saint Nicholas Historic District, and it remains Harlem’s premium residential real estate with its Stanford White-designed townhouses. Quiet money African-Americans have called the area home for decades, as have White social and entertainment legends (Bob Dylan lived there), who are now being joined by such newer celebrities as Tamron Hall, Maurice Dubois, and Neil Patrick Harris. Among real estate agents there was a move to give it a snazzy new name: SoHa. The moniker didn’t catch on, but then, it didn’t need to. People are choosing Harlem, and it’s no longer because of the value pricing. “There’s a very slight difference in price,” explains Means. Rather, he says, it’s because “Harlem is the new chosen neighborhood. It’s chic to say you live in Harlem.” Aside from residential and commercial growth, public spaces are also getting a makeover here: Marcus Garvey Park was revamped last fall and the Harlem Meer, a lake at the northern tip of Central Park, is up next. Harlem will get five new hotels, including the aforementioned Renaissance Marriott in the next two years, according to Williams of the Chamber of Commerce. In a few years, scores of mid-tier and high-end apartments are expected to come on line. Residents at 145 Central Park North will have views of the lake. The Vidro at 313 West 121st Street will include such amenities as a roof terrace and smart wiring throughout. A development at 2600 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard fills the entire block and will be a mix of luxury and relatively affordable apartments. The New York Council for Housing Development Fund Companies (NYC HFDC) makes sustained efforts to keep affordable housing throughout the community, an important balancing act since these residents are among those who created the original sense of community and the cultural engine now driving current excitement.

COOLHUNTERS For more than a century the measure of Harlem has been constantly registered by cultural barometers and early adapters. In the 70s, Seventh Avenue manufacturers sent employees up to Harlem to see what people were wearing and then translated it into the next season’s collection. It wasn’t long before department stores and boutiques nationwide were stocking variations on the neighborhood’s street style. A decade later, Tommy Hilfiger saw a cultural and commercial shift happening and traced it to

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“MORE PROFOUNDLY THAN AT ANY MOMENT IN OUR HISTORY, THERE IS A CLARION CALL FOR THE STUDIO MUSEUM NOT TO BE SATISFIED WITH JUST INCLUSION ANY MORE,

SCOTT RUDD

—RAYMOND J. MCGUIRE, CHAIRMAN OF THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM

Harlem. “I remember back in the late 80s when all the hip-hop kids started wearing my clothes,” he says. “I went up to Harlem with my brother Andy to the shops and to see this guy Dapper Dan to find out what was going on.” What he found was Dap and other stores on 125th Street, where Adidas, Nike, and his own brand were blowing out. “All the inspiration was coming from Harlem, before it was even called streetwear. From there it just spread out. There’s nothing richer in our culture than what the Apollo represents in America,” says the designer of

his decision to stage his last fashion show there. Retail titan Ken Downing, creative director for the developer behind American Dream, chimes in: “Tommy and Zendaya coming to the Apollo brought a lot of fashion people and influencers to Harlem who had never been here before. It was a celebration of the culture, the neighborhood and the style.” Adds Law Roach, who years ago lived around the corner from the Apollo, “Harlem automatically triggers feelings of pride, joy, and love.” “What I’ve seen is that plenty of people outside the city want to come to New York. And

plenty of people inside New York want to be in Harlem,” muses Dapper Dan. By all evidence, it also seems that plenty of people want a claim on what it means to be from, and to represent, Harlem. While the community is undoubtedly undergoing dramatic shifts in identity, veteran observers of the scene insist that its soul remains unchanged. It’s an idea that the Studio Museum’s McGuire captures tellingly, “Harlem,” he says, “is still a beautiful Black and Brown sanctuary, and a place we call home.” JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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A new classic perfectly composed for the Upper West Side. At the nexus of Lincoln Center and Central Park.

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COVETEUR/TRUNK ARCHIVE

“PALM BEACH IN MUSTIQUE” Island life comes complete with 12 bedrooms, 250 palm trees, six acres, and estate’s limestone villa and are indeed named “Palm

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TRAVEL BOOKS

“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world,” wrote British photographer and writer Freya Stark in Baghdad Sketches: Journeys Through Iraq (1937), portions of which appear in Great Cities Through Travelers’ Eyes (Thames & Hudson, $29.95). The illustrated anthology is drawn from the letters, diaries, memoirs, and contemporary reports of 38 voyagers traversing six continents. We start the trek in ancient Alexandria, 20 BC, wending our way through to 14th-century Constantinople, 19th-century Timbuktu, and all the way to 20th-century San Francisco.

Atlas Obscura launched in 2009 as a Wunderkammer of a website that compulsively chronicles the world’s endless expanse of strange, hidden, overlooked, and eccentric places, people, and objects. Crowd-sourcing thousands of like-minded travelers in this collaborative, digital forum has yielded scores of the world’s lost cities, deadly creatures, arcane relics, secret museums, et al. Three years ago, the site’s co-founders first gathered some of their most surprising findings in a book, and in this second edition, Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders (Workman, $37.50), 100 new entries have now been included. This daring departure from the familiar includes maps and guides to 12 cities, and if your kids seem ready to similarly embark on the unknown, a version has also been published for them: The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid (Workman, $19.95).

The 300-page, fashionsoaked travelogue Vogue on Location (Abrams, $60) harnesses the magazine’s far-ﬂung shoots with Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, and Horst P. Horst: from the iconic Verushka shoots in the 60s; to Linda Evangelista in Technicolor tartan, marching to bagpipes for Arthur Elgort in the Scottish Highlands in 1991; to Lupita Nyong’o dancing with fellow Luo women in Kit Mikayi, Kenya, in 2016. Vogue went on location so you don’t have to, but spend enough time with these pages and you’re likely to be rummaging for your passport.

Holiday magazine famously blazed trails in travel photography, illustration, and journalism in the early years of jet travel, with legendary creative director Frank Zachary cultivating an unparalleled number of creative heavyweights Henri Cartier-Bresson, Slim Aarons, Edward Gorey, and E.B. White among them. Zachary’s mandate to his team: “Surprise me!” One of his most formidable inhouse foot soldiers, editor Pamela Fiori, mines these riches for her compelling book, Holiday: the Best Travel Magazine That Ever Was (Rizzoli, $85). Even if many of the book’s images are photographed from old issues, this jewel-box of a retrospective still teleports readers to the glory days of magazines when travel budgets were as audacious as the work that came back with the team.

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All manner of intrepid wayfinding erupts from The Camping Life: Inspiration and Ideas for Endless Adventures (Artisan, $24.95), from backpacking and rafting, to snow camping and glamping—the latter being a pastime passionately pursued by the Edwardians. Nearly every form of adventuring and navigating the great outdoors is collected in this taut little primer, and there is enough practical advice and inspirational photography to prompt you to pack your crampons and compasses—or at the very least to go out and buy a WilliamsSonoma s’mores kit and settle in next to your backyard fire pit. With such settings as the Desert Southwest and the Adirondacks, no matter what your threshold for roughing it, you’ll gain inspiration from this book that is equal parts practical how-to and ﬂorid photography.

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SOUTH FLORIDA’S Florida’s legendary Saxony Hotel is now the spectacular Faena Hotel Miami Beach, with interiors costume designer wife, Catherine Martin 9

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SEA CHANGE Illustrations by Annabel Briens

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ven with Florida’s unrivaled pastiche of powder-white beaches, iconic architecture, lush flora, and vibrant nightlife, there is invariably something new and shiny emerging at this time of year in its southern regions, adding momentum to our seasonal migration. This latest spate of offerings doesn’t disappoint, and they’re popping up in enclaves up and down the coast. Among them are newly-developed and renovated luxury hotels, expanded shopping districts, robust cultural growth, and some of our favorite NYC restaurants now establishing outposts here, including Sant , and even a resurrected Swifty’s, (Mortimer’s 3.0 for those of a certain age).

So what’s behind this sudden flury of activity in the Sunshine State? An influx of affluent newcomers from around the nation and around the world—and the investment and new development that invariably follows. Some of this is resulting in ground-up renovations of entire neighborhoods, and connecting it all is Brightline (soon to be renamed Virgin Trains USA), the ultra-modern trainline ferrying tourists and locals alike between Miami, , Boca Raton, and . According to developers, north to Orlando, and potentially as far as Tampa are on the horizon. Henry Flagler, that champion of Florida’s East Coast, would approve. South Florida contains worlds within worlds, with its well-calibrated mix of lifestyles ranging from the laid-back surfer-chic of to the tony, members-only . Travel down the peninsula, past orange groves and rockets poised on launchpads, and there is and Hobe Sound, being made notorious by the tales of Mrs. Reed, a local doyenne who would knit a black sweater and have it delivered to your door if your presence was no longer considered necessary within the exclusive community. Fisher Island meanwhile is a place born of the kind of gentleman’s swap that could only be found in the annals of local folklore: Carl Fisher made William Kissam Vanderbilt II a simple proposition, “My island for your boat.” But those starchy days have retreated into lore, and the communities increasingly serve as beacons of welcome to the 200-mile stretch of Atlanticlapped coast that meanders down through the marshy Everglades before arriving in the technicolor, easygoing Florida Keys, a “shoes-optional” ecosystem of its own. ffbeat and eclectic as it is, much of South Florida’s character salsas with Miami, whose recent explosion has cemented its reputation as the state’s cultural and culinary capital. In Miami Beach, a $500-million investment to mitigate rising sea levels has left the roadways repaved and protected from flooding— an especially welcome improvement in Sunset Harbor, where the tables of beloved locales like and Stilstville Fish Bar spill out on to

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the street. Meanwhile, the “Main Street” of Miami Beach, , is awaiting $77 million dollars’ worth of revitalizations, proposed by James Corner Field Operations, who was responsible for New York’s High Line and Brooklyn’s Domino Park. Once finished, the Lincoln Road District will reclaim its status as a hub of arts, culture, and fashion. The ever-evolving metropolis has long drawn some of the world’s most creative citizens, and now finds itself home to a new generation of talented chefs. Restaurateur Stephen Starr has opened Upland in Miami Beach in collaboration with chef Justin Smillie, marking the first time Starr has launched a New York eatery in this part of the world. Ian Schrager’s hotel in Miami Beach is a go-to for Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s extraordinary Matador Room. Argentinian celebrity chef, author, and restaurateur Francis Mallmann (whose namesake restaurant in the town of Garzón in Uruguay draws diners from across South America) serves up arguably the best bone-out ribeye anywhere off the island at . Other notables include , nested in the Four Seasons’ Surf Club, and chic newcomer , at the . New York’s Gitano is landing imminently while the newly-renovated Surf Club is in good company within the ranks of such effortlessly cool South Beach hotels as André Balazs’ , and Soho Beach House from London club mogul Nick Jones. A little beyond the South Beach set is Miami Beach’s ,a bourgeoning neighborhood rooted in the arts—and a flair for the dramatic statement. Stretching north from 32nd to 36th streets, residences, hotels, and high-end shopping merge with innovative arts venues, including a bazaar and a circular forum for artists, clothing designers, and the like. Together it forms an intact neighborhood of off-beat culture, an artsy niche within the existing fuss of the Beaches. In November 2016, Len Blavatnik and Alan Faena celebrated the completion of the , a $1 billion project spanning five blocks of Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, anchored with Faena Forum and . Both structures were designed in collaboration with OMA, the firm founded by Rem Koolhaas. is a 28,000foot parking area with a façade that references modern South American architecture, while Faena Forum has 43,000 square feet of performance spaces, designed to accommodate everything from culinary pop-ups to concerts, fashion shows, design exhibitions, and private parties. For the transformation of Faena Hotel Miami Beach, Alan Faena, an Argentine developer and hotelier, transformed the storied Saxony Hotel, built in 1947, which had its heyday in the 50s and 60s when Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Marilyn Monroe performed there. The hotel’s 13 penthouse residences are designed by film director Baz Luhrmann and his costume designer wife, Catherine Martin, in collaboration with the hip Antwerp firm, Studio Job. The high-octane confection includes red and turquoise color schemes unapologetically cohabitating alongside animal prints and gilded chandeliers in the lobby. Not so unlike Alan Faena’s signature

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Fly’s Eye Dome

MIAMI HAS CEMENTED ITS REPUTATION AS THE STATE’S CULTURAL AND CULINARY CAPITAL.

regalia of all-white suits and a Panama hat, the hotel is a Miami Beach surprise that somehow, inscrutably, just works. At the Beaches’ northern boundary, the 70-year-old village of Bal Harbour remains relevant, particularly with the introduction of its own culinary festival and the experiential, fashion-focused events and art programming at Bal Harbour Shops. Locally dubbed the “theater of shopping” (and the topic of a tell-all tome published last spring), the retail behemoth debuted in 1965 to great skepticism about the viability of an open-air luxury shopping mall. Real estate developer Stanley Whitman is said to have lamented, “Only my mother believed in my plan.” But opening with 30 tenants (mostly New York-based), however, the prototype proved a success. It quickly drew Stanley Marcus to open the first Neiman Marcus outside of Texas and lured such brands as Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Sergio Rossi to launch American ventures outside New York for the first time. A 350,000-square-foot expansion, sanctioned by a recent $550-million construction loan, is underway to make room for 70 more designer boutiques, most of them long wait-listed for the full-occupancy shop spaces. The expansion is scheduled to be completed in the next five years, and it joins Bal Harbour’s emerging Kosher restaurant scene in beckoning the Miami of tomorrow. JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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The story of Coconut Grove also speaks to Florida’s new tropical game. The original mid-80s Art Deco renaissance of South Beach and may have passed up the Grove, but the city’s oldest neighborhood is now getting its moment with a robust revival, including an impressive refurbishment of the Grove’s waterfront, and a demolition and ground-up renovation of its open-air mall . Driving the culinary scene are such new dining destinations as , from Miami chef Giorgio Rapicavoli, and Harry’s , owned by James Beard award-winning chef Michael Schwartz. Sprucing up the shopping scene is a slew of off-beat storefronts such as the forthcoming Portland’s Salt & Straw and , where the pièce de résistance is a bar born of the global gin revival. The Grove is also benefitting from a confluence of new architectural developments: the boutique hotel , designed by Miami’s , rises on stilts on McFarlane Road, while an influx of new luxury condos include the two twisting towers of Grand Bay, designed by Dutch architect Bjarke Ingels. But the most startling Miami of the moment is popping up in places that were once decidedly not visited. Miami à la mode is and north to the . Eyebrows were raised when Brightline announced plans 100

CARL FISHER MADE WILLIAM K. VANDERBILT II A SIMPLE PROPOSITION: “ MY ISLAND FOR YOUR BOAT.”

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A to place a station in the once underdeveloped (arguably seedy) Downtown. But as high-rises have ascended and investment has pooled, the station is now poised centrally among Miami’s most attractive destinations—second only to the Beaches as Miami’s most-visited neighborhood. A population boom and tourism surge have fueled developments like the neighborhood’s , a mixed-use behemoth spanning three city blocks (and soon, potentially, four). It’s anchored on one side by a massive Saks Fifth Avenue and on the other by a luxury cinema, with offices, shopping, an Italian food hall. The 45-floor residential towers rise in between. Also located in Miami’s booming Brickell neighborhood is , the first American outpost of Swire Hotels, with spectacular 360-degree views of Biscayne Bay. Next on the docket to change the face of Downtown is Miami , a Hudson Yardsesque “city within a city” that is set to swallow almost 30 acres (and $4 billion). It will encourage the already steady incoming wave of restaurants, stores, bars, clubs, event spaces, food halls, lounges, and entertainment venues that comprise the Downtown and Brickell areas today. Just outside colorful whose mural-soaked walls have become a spectacle favored by the Instagram crowd, lies a playground for the fashion-forward: Miami’s . For years this was a maze of construction zones and it is now home to a growing number of high-end flagship stores. The world-class dining here starts with an outpost of the famed as well as a veggie-driven concept by a Robuchon protégé. Flame-happy Brad Kilgore’s two restaurants, Kaide and , bookend the plaza; fire-roasted lasagna, anyone?

imilarly seismic forces here have benefited the art community: the annual fair is now complemented by other cultural institutions that have poured into the region, including new museums like Frost Science downtown, Museum Miami and . Meanwhile, on February 2, will take place at the Hard (its 11th time here at the home of the Miami Dolphins) and this March, the Miami Open will be played here for a second time. The ATP 1000 tennis tournament was beloved for, among other reasons, its intimate, palm-tree dotted Key Biscayne site, but Stephen Ross, owner of the Dolphins, has spent $72 million transforming the football stadium into a state-of-the-art tennis venue. Those missing the intimate setting of the old Key Biscayne setting should head to the , located an hour’s drive north in the coastal town of Delray, a gem of a tennis tournament, without a bad seat in the house. Players competing this February at the ATP 250 include Del Potro, Nishikori, Kyrgios, and Delray Beach’s own Coco Gauff.

scant hour north of Miami is , where, generation after generation, not a lot changes in the pastel-hued city. The hedges are still tall and meticulously trimmed, seemingly with nail clippers; Easter shades are standard fare for both décor and attire, and good tables in season are still hard to come by. But arrive here expecting the starchy Palm Beach of years past and you may find that you no longer know your way around. The recent youthquake among year-rounders has made its impact on the community and chic retail and dining has taken note. Though Worth Avenue has always drawn a fashionable crowd, Palm Beach’s more traditional retail is making room for a new, more variegated generation of shoppers. Such additions as Kirna Zabête and Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop are now augmenting mainstays , , , , and . Dan Ponton’s Club Colette still gathers the island’s best crowd, and epitomizing Palm Beach’s shiny new chapter is the revitalized Royal Poinciana Plaza. Close on its heels is 2020’s Via Flagler development. With the polish recently restored on John Volk’s original design from 1950, the Royal Poinciana Plaza is now more than just a retail comeback story; is still here, but they’ve spruced things up by adding Honor Bar, a more casual pocket concept around back. There’s now an outpost of trendy Wynwood staple , and New York has given the island its own . The dining draws visitors here, as does Pilates at Squeeze, and some 50 stores run the gamut from and Kiton, to and Sydney’s beloved Zimmermann. The renovated drag along nearby Royal Poinciana Way will further change the face of Palm Beach: when it debuts, Via Flagler will be home to a flagship restaurant, Henry’s, shopping, and private residences in the heart of the island’s original Main Street, on a mission to realize Henry Flagler’s original vision of a Parisian boulevard-type entry to the island. Walkable and welcoming, the ground-floor restaurant and retail spaces will be operated by . A mainstay of quintessential Palm Beach, has been a hotel hideaway for the rich and revered ever since its 1947 debut. But, now dressed in a pale pink façade, the 89-room hotel is now equally appealing to the Instagram set. Its modern verve—there’s a frosé dispenser at the outdoor Bimini Bar, banana leaf wallpaper, and a palette of sunny pastels is used throughout—carries through to the backyard pool, which is surrounded by tropical foliage and a perfectly-clipped carpet of grass. One of Manhattan’s most beloved (and missed) restaurants, Swifty’s, is popping up at the Colony this season and Robert Caravaggi’s loyal following has already begun phoning in their congratulations, and reservations. For those thinking this is reason enough to book in for a month-long visit, private villas are available across from the main hotel, including one recently redesigned by and , the latter of whom just opened their own design shop in town. South Florida’s singular mix of sports, shopping, dining, and sunshine is tonic to the plumetting temperatures and snowstorm you’re currently tracking on the Weather Channel. You love New York City as much as we do, and if you decide to slip off to the airport and return a few days later with a tan and more buoyant temperament for your efforts, then you’re still every inch a New Yorker; chasing the sun on a year-round basis is baked into that definition. Keep up with the breakneck pace of the region’s new openings on our website and social media. JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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INSIDE NICK MELE’S CHARMING, R AUCOUS WORLD

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Mêlée

Photographs by Nicholas Mele

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hen you grow up spending Newport summers at Land’s End, a family home that once belonged to Edith Wharton, it’s hard not to emerge with an arch sense of humor and insight onto the shiny set who once inhabited Wharton’s world, and, to a large extent, continues to inhabit Nick Mele’s world today. Luckily for Palm Beach, the lensman, his wife Molly, and their boys made this island their full-time home five years ago, Nick having spent his winters here since childhood. By all accounts, the community now seems a little more effervescent for his efforts. He’s among the flock of young people settling down in PB year-round due to a critical boom in good schools, fellow Millennials with remote offices, and…. well, taxes. “I think Palm Beach is attractive, not only for its natural beauty, but because it’s already a winter destination for so many successful people migrating from big cities. I think the advent of technology had made it much easier to work from here: you don’t necessarily need to be in the same office, or even same city as the rest of your work team.”

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Indeed Nick manages to keep up a fast-paced work schedule with his New York-based clients and is known both locally and in national publishing circles as the modern-day Slim Aarons, with a Vendome book in the works to prove it. The plucky, self-effacing photographer also shoots for Vogue, Town & Country, the New York Times, and he does his best to ensure that the leisure class at play doesn’t take itself too seriously. From the evidence here it’s clear that he’s honed his craft on his own family more than any others, and his Instagram account @a.social.life is where the hilarity can be found unbound. “I created the account when I didn’t yet have a particularly big client list,” says Nick, and “I wanted the discipline of shooting every day.” The man who cites famed photographer Tina Barney as an inspiration also claims his grandmother Oatsie Charles on that list. “She was one of the few remaining grand dames of a bygone era,” he says. “That world of entertaining and manner doesn’t exist anymore. I’m naturally shy–which is why I think I like being behind the camera—and I’ll admit that she kind of scared the hell of me growing up. But I also appreciated her quirkiness and eccentricity, and it all just started making its way into my photos. She used to say to me, ‘Life is theater Nick, but not everyone knows how to act.’ More than anything, I learned from her what you can get away with if you’re charming.”

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Previous spread: The Mele sons being mistaken for luggage at the Colony Hotel; a stroll along Palm Beach’s famed Lake Trail. Left: Nick horsing around on a photo shoot for interior designer Meg doing their best imitation of an audition for a Wes

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“LIFE IS THEATER NICK, BUT NOT EVERYONE KNOWS HOW TO ACT.” MELE’S GRANDMOTHER, OATSIE CHARLES

From top left: The Colony Hotel’s human accessory, and Nick demonstrates “adulting” to his son. Nick crosses Worth Avenue the family piles on for a day at South Ocean Boulevard to get “that perfect shot.”

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STARS OF DESIGN

SHoP ARCHITECTS DAVID KLEINBERG CHRISTOPHER PEACOCK MICHAEL DERRIG TIM TADDER DUSTIN YELLIN This fall at the D&D Building, Avenue magazine celebrated a group of visionaries in the realms of architecture, product design, interiors, landscape design, photography, and fine art. The following portfolio highlights their work, which first caught our attention—and is likely to catch yours. JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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STARS OF DESIGN ARCHITECTURE

SHoP ARCHITECTS Since SHoP’s founding in 1996, principals Christopher Sharples, William Sharples, Coren Sharples, and Gregg Pasquarelli have burnished a reputation for their unconventional approach to design—often questioning accepted patterns of practice and refusing to be limited by the traditional role of the architect. This open-minded process enables them to address a broad range of design challenges, all the while producing an intelligent and evocative portfolio of projects that includes residences,

urban redevelopments, cultural centers, and entertainment venues such as the Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn, 111 West 57th Street in Manhattan, the Botswana Innovation Hub in Gaborone, and Uber’s HQ in San Francisco. Recognition for SHoP’s work includes the National Academy Distinguished Achievement Award and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s “National Design Award for Architecture,” and the firm was named the “Most Innovative Architecture Firm in the World” by Fast Company.

SHoP Architects projects include, from left, tower built on the former site of the Steinway Piano 57th Street; the Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn, and the American Copper

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STARS OF DESIGN INTERIOR DESIGN

is seen here in a suite of spaces from his

room for a client in

DAVID KLEINBERG

Over the course of nearly four decades, David Kleinberg has made his mark on the field of interior design with a modern, and nuanced style marked by clean lines and sensibility to his clients’ taste. Before striking out on his own in 1997, Kleinberg honed his craft under such masters as Denning & Fourcade, Mara Palmer, and Parish-Hadley, where he served

as a lead designer for 16 years. Kleinberg has been inducted into Interior Design magazine’s “Hall of Fame” and has been honored with the Albert Hadley Lifetime Achievement Award by the New York School of Interior Design. He has been a member of Elle Décor “A-List” since 2011 and was named to Architectural Digest’s “AD 100” list in 2012. His monograph

Traditional Now: Interiors by David Kleinberg was published by The Monacelli Press in 2011. A regular participant in the Kip’s Bay Decorator Show House, Kleinberg lives in New York City and East Hampton and serves on the Board of Directors of ACRIA, a New York City-based non-profit dedicated to AIDS research, education, and prevention.

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STARS OF DESIGN PRODUCT DESIGN

Bespoke cabinetry by Christopher Peacock

CHRISTOPHER PEACOCK

Christopher Peacock counts two presidents among his clients—Bill Clinton and Donald Trump—as well as several celebrities, all of whom are drawn to the Peacock’s fine workmanship. Since 1992, when he launched his namesake firm, Christopher Peacock Cabinetry in Greenwich, CT, the London-born designer

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has mustered an international following, and indeed, now has showrooms in cities around the world, among them: Greenwich, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Short Hills, Dallas, Cannes, and his native London. Additionally, new showrooms are slated to open in Jakarta and in Nashville later this year. Peacock

frequently contributes to Manhattan’s Kips Bay Decorator Show House and has been featured on both television and the top shelter publications. Peacock’s cabinetry style has inspired other designers, but his creations remain singularly his own and are manufactured in West Virginia.

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STARS OF DESIGN LANDSCAPE DESIGN

MICHAEL DERRIG

A trio of recent projects undertaken by Landscape Details on Long Island’s East End attest the versatility of East Hampton-based landscape architect Michael Derrig. 11

AVENUE MAGAZINE | JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2020

East End. Today, Landscape Details employs a diverse team of more than 150 employees, including landscape architects, designers, and classically trained horticulturalists. A registered landscape architect in New York state for more than 25 years and a long-standing member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Derrig received his Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from Rutgers University where he graduated cum laude in 1986.

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Citing as his inspiration the visionary 20th-century landscape architects Thomas Church, Dan Kiley and A.E. Bye, Michael Derrig launched Landscape Details in 2000 following a successful career working with Kelly Varnell, a Manhattan-based multidisciplinary landscape architecture firm. The natural beauty of the Hamptons first drew Derrig to East Hampton and he has brought his creative energy and keen design perspective to many of the finest estates on Long Island’s

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STARS OF DESIGN PHOTOGRAPHY

TIM TADDER Southern California-based photographer has a commercial client list that includes Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Mercedes-Benz, and Sony, and has been named one of the top 200 masters of the medium worldwide by Lürzer’s Int’l Archive Magazine. A second-generation photographer, Tadder began learning his craft in his father’s Baltimore studio where he developed a passion

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for composing intelligent images that create a narrative. Shortly after earning a master’s degree in photo journalism from the Ohio University School of Visual Communication, he found a following in New York and Miami. Since then, he has achieved global recognition for his striking imagery and now has gallery representation in Europe and Canada.

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STARS OF DESIGN FINE ART

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DUSTIN YELLIN

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“Psychogeographies,” an exhibition of works by Dustin Yellin in glass, collage, acrylic, and resin, was presented at the at Lincoln Center in 2015 (detail and, on this page,

California-born, Brooklyn-based artist Dustin Yellin, who has caused a stir as the founder and director of Pioneer Works in Red Hook, brings a distinct perspective to his practice, his medium of choice being a blend of the ancient, sacral art of Hinterglas painting and 3-D photomontage. Paint and images clipped from various print media are embedded within laminated glass to produce grand pictographic

allegories that the artist calls “frozen cinema.” In explaining his work, Yellin says, “My aim in producing these totemic and kaleidoscopic works is to explore the hidden forces of nature and commerce.” His work has been widely exhibited at institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum, Corning Museum of Glass, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, the SCAD Museum of Art, Tacoma Museum, Creative Time, and

Lincoln Center. He has been featured in the New York Times, Artforum, and Vanity Fair, and has presented his work at TED. Yellin, who holds an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Savannah College of Art and Design, launched Pioneer Works as a multidisciplinary cultural center that, according to Yellin, “builds community through the arts and sciences to create an open and inspired world.”

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If Anna Wintour’s ardent gaze at Pete Buttigieg doesn’t make it clear enough, there was a lot of love in the room when Michael Kors gathered his closest friends at Cipriani South Street for a night of a high spirits and high goals ($1.8 million in fundraising to be specific). John Demsey, Iman and Buttigieg were honored, and among their friends in the room were Tiffany Haddish, Neil Patrick Harris, Karen Elson, Selby Drummond, Aerin Lauder, Huma Abedin, and the glamorous creatures you see pictured here. “I have traveled all over the world,” said Iman, “and one of the most unique things about New York is we really know our neighbors. This is an organization,” she continued, referring to God’s Love We Deliver, its 15,000 volunteers and its 1.9 million meals served annually, “that can truly only inhabit and thrive in New York City.”

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Winnie Harlow

Marisa Tomei

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Blaine Trump, Ruben Toledo, and James Gager

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SEEN ON THE SCENE

JAN.–FEB. 2020 Halima Aden, Sara Sampaio, and Imaan Hammam

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John and Joyce Varvatos

Iman, Michael Kors, and Lupita Nyong’o

GOD’S LOVE WE DELIVER GALA Anna Wintour and Pete Buttigieg

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Erica Pelosini and Peter Brant II

Sydney Sadick, Larry Milstein, Zach Weiss and Haley Sacks

BOTANICAL GARDENS’ WINTER WONDERLAND GALA

Ariana Rockefeller took the annual gala’s train theme to new levels when cooking up an all-night, three-stop trek for her two dozen guests, with the Wempe-sponsored showstopper gala holding center stage. Serving as gala co-chairman alongside Georgina Bloomberg and Lili Buffet, Ariana began the evening at her Mark Hotel suite before joining the 400-strong throng at the NYBG where a miniature cityscape created a chic backdrop to the evening’s glamorous hijinks and photo-ops. A seated dinner surrounded by ﬂocked and pink trees gave way to riotous dancing deep into the night before Ariana introduced yet a third stop—The Box nightclub—where the most stalwart revelers danced til dawn.

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Alessandra Balazs

May Kwok

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Kit Keenan

Laura Day Webb and Lizzie Asher

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Karly and Zack Thain

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Wes Gordon

Alain Remise and Alecta Hill

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PORTFOLIO

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A trio of images from 2014 (clockwise from left): Central Park West and rd treet, The Waldorf toria th treet a d ar e ue, and a e oort a d itt e e t th treet

Looking Back, Looking Forward Photographer Scott Frances turns his lens from interiors to cityscapes, capturing the romance of New York.

“

am particularly attracted to shooting at night or in wet weather. I find that this is when the city gleams, reflections are more abstract, and the streets look and feel their most romantic,” says New York-based architectural photographer Scott Frances. He laments the loss of the grittier incarnation of the city he knew so well in the 70s. “My favorite neighborhoods to shoot in the city are downtown, Tribeca, Soho, Chinatown, and the Lower East Side, where vestiges of old New York can still be found.” The dramatic transformation of the city in recent decades has helped shape Frances’work and is manifest in his images that contrast the old and the new—a poetic counterpoint between urban grit and visionary renewal.

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FROM OUR ARCHIVES

Taking Flight TWA’s Flight Center at JFK, a 1966 Eero Saarinen masterpiece, recently upgraded its legacy as the glamorous TWA Hotel, and serves as one of many phoenix-from-the-ﬂames stories to be found within four decades of Avenue’s archives. In our March, 1977 issue, this TWA ad extolled the height of airline ﬂight e ciency, not to mention the cutting edge tech and hairstyles of the day. 1 8

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1/7/20 11:28 AM

Gary R. DePersia Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker m 516.380.0538 | gdp@corcoran.com

The Ultimate South of Highway Hamptons Estate by Lifton Green Water Mill. Informed by an aesthetic that reaches across centuries while embracing the best of what’s new, a magnificent estate south of the highway in Water Mill by renowned Hampton builders/developers LiftonGreen commands 4.25 +/- manicured acres, looking west over 34 acres of contiguous reserve. With finishes by David Scott Interiors, a double height foyer welcomes all over Carlisle old growth floors to find the living room with fireplace while an expansive kitchen, with adjacent family room, is more than adequate to service the formal dining room. An intimate library with fireplace forms that perfect segue into the master wing with a dramatic sleeping chamber and additionally offers his and her bathrooms and a pair of large closets. Upstairs 4 additional bedroom suites join an additional unfinished space above the 1,100 SF heated 3-car garage for yet another expansive guest master suite. The 4,300+ SF lower level adds 3 bedrooms, screening room, personal gym, wine cellar and powder room. Common rooms open to covered and uncovered porches that play host to a built-in kitchen. The park-like grounds created by Michael Derrig frame the 72’ X 18’ pool & spa enhanced by cabana with covered patio. A sunken tennis court is set within a sea of lawn forming a verdant canvas upon which rests the entire estate. Lifton-Green, David Scott Interiors & Landscape Details, a perfect collaboration of build, design and landscaping, enriched by western sunset views over an expansive reserve, awaits your personal tour today. Exclusive. $17.95M WEB#346593

Real estate agents affiliated with The Corcoran Group are independent contractors and are not employees of The Corcoran Group. Equal Housing Opportunity. The Corcoran Group is a licensed real estate broker located at 660 Madison Ave, NY, NY 10065. All listing phone numbers indicate listing agent direct line unless otherwise noted. All information furnished regarding property for sale or rent or regarding financing is from sources deemed reliable, but Corcoran makes no warranty or representation as to the accuracy thereof. All property information is presented subject to errors, omissions, price changes, changed property conditions, and withdrawal of the property from the market, without notice. All dimensions provided are approximate. To obtain exact dimensions, Corcoran advises you to hire a qualified architect or engineer.

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