Greenwich Magazine, February 2020 by Moffly Media

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ISSUE

POWER BRENT MONTGOMERY

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He’s achieved enormous success in the entertainment industry, but he’ll tell you the party’s just getting started

HAGAR CHEMALI

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GREENWICH

contents FEBRUARY 2020 vol. 73 | issue 2

departments

features

12 EDITOR’S LETTER

15 STATUS REPORT BUZZ We caught up with

THE RISE & RISE OF BRENT MONTGOMERY

Grammy-nominated Deborah Cox before the singer hit the Operation Smile stage. SHOP Something’s in the air at Le Labo; Fun finds at Navy Lobster GO Next stop, Portugal HOME Pink accents to add a pop of color to your interior design EAT La Taqueria

He sold his production company for $360 million and decided to retire. Nah, we’re totally kidding. This guy has Hollywood in his blood, and there’s no stopping him now. We find out what makes this creative genius tick and check in on his next move to disrupt the entertainment industry.

35 PEOPLE & PLACES Operation Smile, Smile Greenwich; Greenwich Tree Conservancy, Walkaritas and La Ligne; Greenwich Land Trust; Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich; Americares; Hospital for Special Surgery

by t i mot h y d um as

49 VOWS Skoufalos–Quinlan; Kim–Southwick

POLITICAL POISE

77 CALENDAR

She is as kind and genuine as they come—not your typical description of a high-ranking political insider. She helped to create policy in some of the most tumultuous areas of the world, fought abhorrent international human rights violations and today brings her intellect and balanced opinions to millions of viewers as a highly sought after political commentator. Meet Hagar Chemali.

83 INDEX OF ADVERTISERS

PLUS 70

BEHIND THE SCENES: Even though she’s sat in the Situation Room, counseled the 43rd and 44th presidents of the United States and helped to write international policy, Hagar Chemali is not immune to a photo bomb by four-year-old son Benjamin.

OUR TOWN Hundreds of entries featuring the places, faces and animals of our town are submitted for our annual photo contest. Here, we present the winning images that capture the unique, funny and sweet moments in Greenwich time. by a l i son nic hol s gr ay

on the c over: at the office with brent montgomery / photo gr aphy by kyl e norton GREENWICH MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2020, VOL. 73, NO. 2. GREENWICH MAGAZINE (USPS 961-500/ISSN 1072-2432) is published monthly by Moffly Media, Inc 205 Main St, Westport, CT 06880. Periodical postage paid at Westport, CT, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes (Form 3579) to GREENWICH MAGAZINE PO BOX 9309, Big Sandy, TX 75755-9607. greenwichmag.com

KYLE NORTON

by t i mot h y d um as

84 POSTSCRIPT Baby it’s cold outside!

JOIN US ONLINE! february 2020

GREENWICHMAG.com CELEBRATING THE SCENE STEALERS OF OUR TOWN

WHAT’S ON OUR EDITORIAL DECK?

MARCH

GARDEN PARTY

OUT & ABOUT

Visit our galleries for all the fun

CAPTURING THE PEOPLE, PLACES AND MOMENTS THAT MAKE GREENWICH EVENTS SO SPECIAL. JOIN OUR ONLINE COMMUNITY TO SEE WHAT’S HAPPENING AROUND TOWN.

Tips for those looking to simply refresh their outdoor spaces, as well as over-the-top ideas for those in search of the true wow factor

APRIL

STATE OF REAL ESTATE

An in-depth look at what’s impacting the market and what buyers and sellers should know.

MAY

SOCIAL MEDIA SUMMIT We get up close and personal with some of the hottest local social media influencers.

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EVENT PHOTOGRAPHS BY MOFFLY MEDIA’S BIG PICTURE /BOB CAPAZZO; INSET 1: HULYA KOLABAS; INSET 2: ©FRIEDBERG - STOCK.ADOBE.COM: INSET 3: ©ESCAPEJAJA - STOCK.ADOBE.COM

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editor’s letter

FEBRUARY 2020 / CRISTIN MARANDINO

here’s a wall in my office that displays all of the covers since I became editor back in 2008. Putting aside the fact that it totally freaks me out how quickly time goes by, it’s a fun and nostalgic look at the people and issues that have graced our pages. This Power Issue represents the 146th cover to go up on the wall. And, frankly, it’s just as exciting to me as my very first issue. Over the years we’ve crossed paths with remarkable people who have broken barriers, disrupted the status quo, faced catastrophic challenges, explored new frontiers in science, economics and technology—and on and on. I am not only grateful that they trust us to tell their stories but am so proud of our team of writers, art directors and photographers who foster that trust with their talent and artistry. It truly takes a village. Capturing the essence of a personality or issue in just a few pages is no small task. Nobody knows this better than senior writer Tim Dumas. Tim has been writing for this magazine since its inception three decades ago and has tackled everything from the opioid epidemic and bullying to profiles of heavy hitters in business, government and entertainment. This month he introduces us to two fascinating personalities—neither of whom are easy to distill into a couple thousand words. It’s been more than twenty years since Brent Montgomery came to New York with big dreams. He was ready for a life in the spotlight. But the spotlight wasn’t quite ready for him. The Lone Star State transplant got a chilly

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reception from the entertainment industry. That is, until he ventured to make stars of an unlikely family in Las Vegas and the reality show Pawn Stars was born. Brent’s career has skyrocketed since the 2009 History channel hit. In 2014 he sold his production company, Leftfield Pictures, for a mere $360 million and went on to found Wheelhouse Group, a multi-platform entertainment, marketing and media company (that just so happens to count Jimmy Kimmel as a partner). In “The Rise & Rise of Brent Montgomery” (page 52), Tim takes us into Brent’s whirlwind of a life. We know you’ll be just as impressed as we were. In “Political Poise” (page 62) Tim sits down with Hagar Chemali, who is also enjoying a career in the spotlight, though a very different spotlight. At just thirty-eight years old, Hagar has been at the center of global crises, counseled presidents on international policy and gone toe-to-toe with Washington titans. Today, she’s an in-demand political commentator and heads up her communications company, Greenwich Media Strategies. Everyone who comes into contact with Hagar seems to be taken by her intelligence, grace and authenticity. We were no exception and are thrilled to introduce you to this tremendously interesting political insider. Now, if you’ll excuse me, issue number 147 is calling my name.

WILLIAM TAUFIC

POWER SURGE T

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ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD: Masterworks by Laurits Andersen Ring from SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark February 1â&#x20AC;&#x201C;May 24, 2020

This acclaimed exhibition is organized in collaboration with SMK, the national gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, and AFSMK, American Friends of SMK AMERICAN FRIENDS OF SMK THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF DANMARK

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buzz STATUS REPORT

SHE WANTS TO DANCE WITH SOMEBODY AND GREENWICH SUPPORTERS OF OPERATION SMILE ARE MORE THAN HAPPY TO OBLIGE

BOB CAPAZZO

rom her early days as a backup singer for Celine Dion, DEBORAH COX has gone on to record charttopping hits like “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here” as well as star on the screen and stage. The Grammy Awardnominated, multiplatinum R&B/Pop recording artist and actress recently blew the roof off of theaters when she starred as Rachel Marron in the musical adaptation The Bodyguard, a role originally played in the film by Whitney Houston. Deborah made her Broadway debut as the lead role in Elton John and Time Rice’s musical Aida. She has also starred as Lucy in the revival of the hit Broadway musical Jekyll & Hyde and the legendary Josephine Baker in Josephine. The soulful singer recently lent her voice (in more ways than one) to the life-changing work of Operation Smile at the organization’s benefit. (Go to page 35 to see all the party photos.) We caught up with Deborah just before she made her Greenwich debut. Deborah snuggles up with the Luke, Griffin and Zachary bears. The $240 cost of one bear provides a life-altering surgery for an Operation Smile child, as well as a bear of their own. (operationsmile.org/content/three-bears) FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

buzz family. I believe if I didn’t follow that advice I wouldn’t be as happy as I am today. Recording with her and spending time with her was one of the best moments of my life. After that session I felt like if I never recorded anything again, I’d be good. GM: You recorded all of Whitney Houston’s songs for the Angela Bassett-directed film, Whitney and also played Rachel Marron in The Bodyguard on Broadway. What was it like to perform the iconic singer’s music? DC: When Angela called me to do the music for that movie, I knew the level of excellence that would be required; after all, we’re talking about Whitney! I wanted to put my best foot forward, and I wanted it to be great. I knew that we needed to capture the essence of her voice. So we went in, and Angela was there directing me in the studio every step of the way. I’m forever grateful.

GM: The Smile Greenwich benefit raises funds for children around the world impacted by facial malformations. How is being part of this evening

Using my God-given talent to raise more awareness is humbling to me. This is the kind of work I dream of doing. I’m more interested, inspired and motivated by doing something for someone else.

outlet. Broadway can be very challenging, but I live for a challenge. It requires a high level of self-discipline. When I got the opportunity to star in Aida, it all came full-circle for me.

meaningful to you?

GM: In addition to your recording career, you’ve starred in films and on Broadway. What’s it like to transition among these

GM: You collaborated with the great Whitney Houston. Can you tell us a little about the time you spent with her?

different genres?

DC: I would spend a lot of time

DC: It wasn’t much of a transition because I started out doing musicals. It’s another way of expressing myself, and it’s an

with Whitney when she lived in Miami. She was the one who inspired me growing up and she emphasized the importance of

DC: It means everything to

me to be there to support this organization and all of their incredible work. When it comes to helping children find their confidence and their self-esteem, it’s a blessing to know that I can help empower these young kids.

greenwichmag.com

GM: When we see you in Greenwich, what songs can we expect to hear? DC: I’ll be doing the classic

R&B and dance gems like Nobody‘s Supposed to Be Here, Things Just Ain’t the Same, Absolutely Not, and other favorites like I Wanna Dance With Somebody. GM: What’s next for you and your career? DC: I’m finishing up my album, which will be out this spring. My new single came out November 1, and my movie Influence will be out in the spring of 2020 as well.

BOB CAPAZZO

Deborah hits the stage at Belle Haven

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HEARD THE HYPE ABOUT LE LABO? NOW YOU CAN COME SMELL IT FOR YOURSELF

left: Core collection candles under cloches top: Signature-scented shower gel, lotion and body oil bottom: The fine fragrances that put Le Labo on the map

ucked in a quiet corner on Greenwich Ave., LE LABO has opened its doors. Its arrival in town was not promoted with any fanfare, and that’s just how the French-born fragrance brand likes it. The idea is that customers will discover the space organically, intrigued by the minimal signage and industrial apothecary vibe, before wandering in for the full experience. And once inside, they’ll realize why these scents have a cultlike following. Edouard Roschi and Fabrice Penot opened their first “lab” in New York in 2006. Their approach

choose (Rose 31, Thé Noir 29, and new additions Baie 19 and Another 13 are all excellent choices), a fresh bottle is hand-blended and finished with a personalized label. Customization options extend to the candles, making them the perfect gift for any occasion. Once you discover the Le Labo scent that speaks to you, know that you’ll be stopped constantly and asked what you’re wearing. Whether you want to share the secret is up to you.

was unique from the start, forgoing massive ad campaigns that were standard in the perfume industry and focusing instead on a small product line of home and personal scents. Soon, their success became synonymous with their Santal scent, one that started as a candle but was reworked as a fragrance after customer obsession with its seductive smokey and leather notes took over. Each of the seventeen concoctions in the core collection are unisex and created on-site. After you decide with some difficulty which fragrance to

Le Labo, 276 Greenwich Avenue, 475-897-5653, lelabofragrances.com

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LOCAL TREASURE

fter a career working for brands like Vineyard Vines and J. McLaughlin, MaryBeth D’Agostino was ready for a change and hoping for a sign that she should venture out on her own. That sign came in the form of one that read FOR RENT and sat in an empty spot on William Street in central Greenwich. She knew immediately that this was meant to be the new home for Navy Lobster, the retail shop she’d considered opening. And it was not long before she built a devoted following, both in store and online (her Instagram feed @navy_lobster is perfect for showing off her latest finds and playful sense of humor). Customers love to visit Navy Lobster for the merchandise—a well-crafted mix of sleepwear, stationery, books and beauty products, among other giftable delights—and to chat with MaryBeth, whether it’s about monogramming options or raising kids in Greenwich. “Easily the best part of owning a local brick-and-mortar business is the daily one-on-one customer interaction,” she says. Stop by for a chat and leave with some fun finds. Navy Lobster 58A William Street 203-625-8243

LE LABO BY GARVIN BURKE; NAVY LOBSTER BY THOMAS MCGOVERN

UNCOMMON SCENTS

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Co-President, William Raveis Inc., Co-President, William Raveis Inc., President, Residential Sales President, Residential Sales

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DESTINATION: PORTUGAL

hile all the millennials are flocking to Lisbon, we suggest visiting the ancient city of Porto a few hours to the north, or the fairy tale-like Sintra, just nineteen miles to the north and west. Whichever you choose, you’ll see why Portugal was just crowned the “Hottest Travel Destination of 2019” by the World Travel Awards. greenwichmag.com

above left: Riverboats in Porto above right: What the Initiation Well was used for at Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra is still a mystery.

CONTRIBUTED

UNLIKE OTHER TRENDY DESTINATIONS OF LATE—WE’RE LOOKING AT YOU, ICELAND—PORTUGAL IS AFFORDABLE AND NOT YET OVER-TOURISTED. HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

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Anthony Alleva, MD

A little rain can’t dampen our travel writer’s spirits as she strolls to Gaia.

STOP 1 / Porto

Porto is the second largest city in Portugal and is more than just home to its namesake after-dinner drink. This riverside town is a heady jumble of Art Nouveau and a hot culinary scene set amidst ancient architecture. The city is a UNESCO Heritage site with cobblestone alleyways laid in the middle ages, but the vibe is decidedly not stale.

GETTING THERE There are plenty of daily flights from New York to Lisbon, but you can fly to Porto directly from Newark for about half the price. After a few wine-soaked days exploring the local landscape, you can hop the train to Lisbon. The trip is only two and a half hours, and tickets are around $30.

WHERE TO STAY The Torel brand of hotels has three luxury properties in Porto—a town of fewer than 300,000 residents— and two were opened within the last year. Torel Avantgarde features edgy rooms named after artists like Warhol, Pollack and Kahlo. Torel 1884 and the new Torel Palace are both housed in former

bourgeois palaces but feel more like the welldecorated homes of your wealthiest jet-set friends. Because 1884 and the Palace are newly opened, they are less expensive than Avantgarde. A Torel Palace room for spring break 2020 is just 120 euros ($132 at current rates).

The Flower Room at Torel Avantgarde

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DON’T MISS Hit Livraria Lello, the bookshop rumored to have inspired JK Rowling’s depiction of Hogwarts (she taught in Porto in the ‘90s). It still sells books but charges an entrance fee to stem the tide of selfietaking nonreaders. MISS A fado show. Fado is traditional Portuguese folk music, generally sung by a fadista with an accompanying guitar. The songs are usually quite sad, not that you can understand the lyrics. The emotion is conveyed by a wailing vocalist. There are a variety of reasons that even the Portuguese aren’t fans. Don’t fall for the “To do in Portugal” lists; a fado show is a to-don’t.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: CONTRIBUTED; DUORO VALLEY BY ©KATE_RIN/STOCK.ADOBE.COM; CONTRIBUTED

DRINK If you can’t fit in a proper Duoro Valley wine tour (but you really should), walk fifteen minutes across the double decker Dom Luis bridge from the city center to the port wine lodges in Gaia (technically a separate town but is referred to as the Gaia side of Porto). There are many tours and tasting rooms. The one thing they won’t tell you is the secret production process behind the grape-spirit added to wine to make it port. Also look for Vinho Verde, a Portuguese “green wine.” Where port has more alcohol than regular wine, Vinho Verde has less. Stay along the river for a local meal but bring cash; many restaurants don’t take credit cards. We learned this one the hard way.

EAT Portugal is famous for its Pasteis (or Pastel) de Nata, an egg custard tart with an origin that involves monks, as all good origin stories do. Though the treat is ubiquitous and found in every café in the country, you won’t find it almost anywhere else. The other dish that feels like a national treasure is anything made from cod, usually salted cod, or bacalhau. The North Atlantic fish is not local, so it takes a history lesson to understand why it’s on every menu. When the Brits took a liking to port in the 1500s, they began trading cod for barrels of wine. The pervasive presence of this bland fish says a lot about how much the English enjoyed the drink. Bacalhau is so ingrained in the Portuguese culture that it’s the main celebrational meal at Christmas. You’ll find it on every menu in every form you can imagine; try the popular bacalhau à Gomes de Sá (baked with potatoes, onions, boiled egg and olives).

Hitting the beach at Praia da Ribeira in Cascais

The stunning view of fairytale-like Sintra

GETTING THERE Sintra is a quick fortyminute train ride from the center of Lisbon and trains leave every half hour. Or come directly from Porto by train or car; travel time is about three hours.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ©SEAN PAVONE/STOCK.ADOBE.COM; CONTRIBUTED; @ALEXANDRE ROTENBERG/STOCK.ADOBE.COM; CONTRIBUTED

STOP 2 /

Sintra

This tiny mountain village has hosted royalty and aristocrats escaping the Lisbon heat for centuries. The pine covered forests wind up the granite mountains and catch the salty breeze from the nearby ocean. Though it’s often thought of as a day trip from Lisbon, Sintra is a destination in its own right. The poet Lord Byron spent much of his youth in Sintra, and his description of the area as a “glorious Eden” is still accurate. A little sand and surf for Kim-Marie

GETTING AROUND A day in Sintra can be an enchanting escape or a miserable slog of entrance lines to the many palaces and estates. Either stay overnight at one of the stately resorts like the Tivoli Palacio (around $300 per night) or book a proper VIP tour. Scratch that, even if you stay overnight, book the tour; lines are for suckers. There are countless tour options available, but Flamingo Experiences is the only one that will zip you around Sintra in a vintage UMM Jeep (a seriously funky 4X4 built in Portugal that’s no longer in production). The guides are natives and have fabulous stories about the region. Flamingo offers two VIP tour options. The Cultural Tour includes front-of-line access and a private guide at both Pena Palace and Quinta da Regaleira. The Safari (our favorite) includes front-of-line access to Quinta da Regaleira only, a local lunch, an off-road ride to the coastline to find secret spots and visit beaches (Praia da Adraga and Azenhas do Mar depending on the day). The tour ends with a photo shoot at Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in Europe, and a drop off at Cascais, the

upscale seaside town (think Nice without tiny dogs). The tour is only $55 per person or book a private tour, $320 for up to five people, and choose which palace (or palaces) you want to explore. flamingoexperiences .com

WHERE TO VISIT Pick a palace, any palace; they’re all amazing examples of romantic architecture. They all have cafés that serve wine, an important feature. Quinta da Regaleira is a favorite, though it was never a palace. The sprawling mansion and surrounding gardens were built in the early twentieth century by an eccentric millionaire. There are underground grottos, hidden walkways, Rapunzelesque turrets and, most strikingly, an eighty-eight-foot-deep “Initiation Well.” What the well was used for nobody knows, but you can circle down the nine platforms of the stairway thought to represent Dante’s nine circles of hell. The well and many of the buildings around the estate have symbolism tied to the Knights Templar and the Freemasons.

FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

DRINK The area’s most typical tipple is ginjinha, a sweet, cherry-based liqueur sold in shots. Our favorite was served in a chocolate cup filled with the sweet drink. It tastes a little like cough syrup and a Hershey bar, but oddly pretty good.

EAT Try any one of the fabulous local mom-and-pop restaurants. The goose barnacles, called precebes are a must. Much like truffles, these sea treasures can only be harvested, never cultivated. Divers risk their lives gathering these delicacies that fetch around $50 per pound. They’re impossible to transport, so when you find them on a menu, you need to order them. What they lack in beauty (they really do look like the crust gathered on the bottom of a boat), they make up for in extraordinary taste— a tiny salty cross between a lobster and a clam.

DON’T MISS Sintra is perched above the coastline. All of the beaches are a part of the SintraCascais National Park and range from hidden coves to vast expanses of sand. Closest to the main square of Cascais is the small Praia da Ribeira, also known as Fisherman’s Beach. Watch the the boats come and go as you lie on the sand. Larger beaches like Conceição and Praia da Duquesa are just up the coast, and it’s easier to find somewhere to lay your towel, though weekends can be packed with Lisbonites escaping the city for some sun and sand. MISS Did we mention to avoid the lines?

Once you get past the looks, you’ll be glad you ordered precebes.

home by megan gagnon

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CHRISTOPHER SPITZMILLER Single large three ball lamp in shell pink; $3,540. christopher spitzmiller.com

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ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF DESIGNERS/BRANDS

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eat TACO SUPREME THIS NEW RELAXED-BUT-REFINED EATERY IS NOT JUST ANOTHER TACO JOINT

Crispy Chicken Wings: Tangy and smoky chipotle BBQwings finished on the grill

by mary k ate ho gan photo gr aph y b y v ener a alex an drova

Crispy Fish Taco: Beer-battered cod with chipotle mayo, red cabbage and cilantro

casual eatery that’s bringing new energy to the top of the Avenue, La Taqueria serves up a tempting, welledited menu of Mexican comfort food created by chef-owner Dennis Lake. It’s the first solo venture for this Culinary Institute of Americatrained chef and restaurateur, who’s partnered on

multiple restaurants in New York city and counts Rosa Mexicana among his cooking credits. Though the place is geared toward meals with quick turnaround—order at the counter and food is brought to your table—the cozy space also has a full bar and a design inviting enough to make you want to take your time.

On the back wall, a yellow wallpaper mural painted with bold flowers acts as a cheerful antidote to the minimal, all-gray-all-the-time decor prevalent at many restaurants these days (not to mention it’s a lively Instagram background). Dishes are plated in red and yellow earthenware bowls and a wall of built-in benches is backed with orange geometric-patterned cushions, all adding color to the scene. At the center of the space, the bar is fronted with a mosaic tile. Behind it, backlit shelves showcase choice tequilas, a spot where you can eat a whole meal or hang out to enjoy apps and cocktails. During a recent visit to La Taqueria, two guys were seated at that bar chatting with Dennis about the merits of different types of tequila. He favors a lesser-known brand called Aldez, a key ingredient in the classic margarita. Every time I’ve eaten here, whether for lunch or dinner, Dennis has been around and interacting with customers. Besides the tequilas, check out the specialty cocktails, like a guayana frozen margarita featured recently, and the strong lineup of Mexican cervezas. What to eat? The menu is brief enough that you can sample a good variety of tacos at a single meal. All the tacos are wrapped in nixtamal corn tortillas, made in-house following a traditional method of preparing the masa-based

above: Carne asada taco: grilled hanger steak topped with tomato, onion and cilantro, served on a handmade blue corn nixtamal tortilla • below, second photo: sous chef, Luis Silviano and chef-owner, Dennis Lake

FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

QUICK BITES Chef’s favorite dish The achiote-roasted pork taco. It begins with pork butt, seared and achiote marinated, wrapped in banana leaves, and then slow roasted in the oven. “I have been perfecting this dish for over twelve years,” he says. All in the details What makes La Taqueria stand out? “Whether it’s a taco de pollo or carne asada, it always has to be great, but on top of that it has to be consistent every time. Everything here is streamlined, from the colors, the woods used, the walls, tables, chairs and also the kitchen.” Top tequilas You can order on the rocks or have some blended into a margarita. “My top shelf consists of Clase Azul, Casa Noble Anejo, and Aldez. But the one I swear by and endorse is Aldez,” says chefowner Dennis Lake. It’s lesser known, but it is the smoothest tequila I have ever tasted.” top left: CHEFS PLATE Sliced hanger steak with housemade blue cheese, toasted pepitas and cotija cheese served with red achiote rice, black beans, guacamole and a side salad bottom left: SALAD PLATE

Baby greens and arugula salad with grilled chicken, red cabbage, tomatoes, radish, cucumbers and cotija cheese and sliced avocado

LA TAQUERIA

Cuisine

10 Greenwich Avenue, 203-992-1199; taqueriact.com

Hours

Mexican

Monday to Wednesday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.

dough. They make for amazing chips and a solid base for all types of taco fillings. The stellar fish tacos start with cod encased in a crispy beer-battered coating and treated to a chipotle crema, but our favorite tacos were the carne asada and cochinita pibil. The latter is made with slow-roasted achiote-marinated pork, the achiote spice giving it a rich red color; that meat is topped with pickled red onions and cilantro. The veggie taco is no slouch either, showcasing grilled cactus (nopales), corn, roasted peppers and cotija cheese spiking it with salty, tangy flavor. Though the tacos are delicious on their own, be sure to spoon on some of the homemade fire-roasted salsas. There’s a salsa bar, for topping your tacos, or you can take mini containers to go. Non-taco eats include a hearty greenwichmag.com

tortilla soup, crispy chicken wings finished on the grill, rice and beans and a chef ’s plate with a mix of beans, carne and salad. The salad plate is a worthy lunch go-to: mixed greens with crunchy pickle-like cucumber spears, radishes and tomatoes all topped with cotija and a generous fan of avocado slices; I like it with the lightly grilled chicken pieces (flavorful thigh meat) and cilantro vinaigrette, but you can opt for other meats or roasted veggies and blue cheese dressing. If you’re not capping the meal with a cocktail—a paloma perhaps?—you can’t go wrong with any of the desserts: a lovely version of tres leches, a flan or my family’s top choice, the abuela’s chocolate chip cookies, made with G Mexican chocolate.

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RESTAURANT WEEK SAVE THE DATE

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March 4 2020 • 6:00 – 8:30p.m.

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Greenwich Restaurant Week 2020 Runs March 6th–13th PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS

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g–mom by eileen bartels

DAY TRIPPING

POWDER RIDGE MOUNTAIN Looking for some epic sledding? Pack up those snowsuits and head an hour north to Middlefield’s Powder Ridge Park for a few hours of snow tubing. Groomed tubing hills allow families to enjoy sledding in optimal conditions with a limited number of other snow tubers. Powder Ridge also offers skiing and snowbiking, with lessons for beginners. Come cheer on local Olympians as Powder Ridge hosts the Special

Olympics Connecticut Winter Games February 22 to 24. Over 900 athletes of all abilities from across the state will compete, and spectating is free. Check out the website for specific event times.

MYSTIC AQUARIUM Just over ninety minutes east on I-95 off Exit 90 is the charming Mystic Seaport, home to the world-class Mystic Aquarium, where you’ll find a wealth of sea life, including beluga whales, penguins and sharks. From the stingray touch tanks to the sea lion show, there’s a lot to see and feel at this aquarium. But there are also some unique experiences you may not know about. The Encounter programs allow visitors to get up close and

powderridgepark.com 99 Powder Hill Rd., Middlefield Admission: Weekend tubing $32 per person, weekday tubing $28 (helmet and tube included, one person per tube only). All sessions are one hour and forty-five minutes, purchase online; reservations are encouraged.

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personal with aquarium residents. Encounter with Penguins includes a thirty-minute walk through the outdoor exhibit and a behind-thescenes look at the intricacies of penguin care, including training behaviors, animal/trainer relationships and the chance to interact with an African penguin. Encounters with beluga whales, sea lions and seals are also available. There’s a maximum of four guests per program, and participants must be a minimum of six to eight years old depending on the experience. See the

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SHAKE OFF THE WINTER DOLDRUMS WITH ACTIVITIES GUARANTEED TO BRIGHTEN YOUR FEBRUARY—ALL LESS THAN TWO HOURS AWAY

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5 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission: Adults $25, seniors $16.50; children three to seventeen $13; two and under are free.

CT SCIENCE CENTER

mysticaquarium.org 55 Cougan Blvd., Mystic Open Feb. 1 to 15, 10 a.m. to 4:50 p.m., after Feb. 15, 9 a.m. to 4:50 p.m. Admission: Fees vary by date. Purchase tickets in advance for plan-ahead pricing. General admission includes indoor and outdoor exhibits; Value Tickets include additional choice of a theater show; AARP senior discounts are accepted.

and educational, a visit to the Readingville section helps boost reading skills through games right out of books like Green Eggs and Ham and The Lorax. In addition to The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum, the Springfield Museums also include Hasbro GameLand, where families can explore games of memory, chance, strategy and word play based on the iconic games by Milton Bradley and Hasbro.

and stories that we all know and love. Kids can run around outdoors amidst the giant characters in the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden or head indoors. Families can explore a replica of Theodor Geisel’s childhood home, which includes a touchscreen so visitors can “draw” on the bedroom walls just like Dr. Seuss famously did as a child. Whether kids are role-playing at The Seuss Bakery, fishing at McElligot’s Pool or visiting the residents of the fictitious McGrew Zoo, they’ll be fully immersed in Dr. Seuss’s fantastical world. Fun

seussinspringfield.org 21 Edwards St., Springfield, MA Open Tues. to Sat. 10 a.m. to

ctsciencecenter.org 250 Columbus Ctr., Hartford Open Tues. to Sun. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission: Adults $26.95; ages 3 to 17 $16.95; seniors $21.95; children two and under are free; additional fees for movies, stage shows and the Butterfly Encounter. G

MYSTIC, CONTRIBUTED;DR. SEUSS/ © SPRINGFIELD MUSEUMS

website for specific details. Other unique opportunities, such as Painting with a Stingray, Trainer for a Day and Family Overnights are also available. Looking to make your child feel like a star? Children eight and older can make a special appearance joining the animal trainers on the sea lion show. As a celebrity guest, kids have the opportunity to give the sea lions hand signals and pose for a photo opps.

With over 165 hands-on exhibits, the Connecticut Science Center in Hartford offers something for every member of the family. Kids can play maze and brain games, visit Science Alley, learn in the Engineering Lab, discover how muscles and bones work together in the Picture of Health section or travel the galaxy in Exploring Space. In the Invention Dimension, they’ll race robots and build with Legos. Or they can test their physical and mental strength in the Sports Lab. Kids under seven can enjoy hands-on experiments designed specifically for little ones in the Kid Space. From the Butterfly Encounter to special shows, this wellrounded, robust science center is a full day of fun. Check the online calendar for traveling exhibits and special events.

THE AMAZING WORLD OF DR. SEUSS MUSEUM

Just over the border in Springfield, Massachusetts, awaits a day of fun at The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss at the Springfield Museums. Developed as a tribute to Springfield native author Theodor Seuss Geisel, this museum features the characters greenwichmag.com

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people&PLACES by alison nichols gr ay

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MOFFLY MEDIA’S BIG PICTURE, BOB CAPAZZO 1

OPERATION SMILE / Belle Haven Club

Smiles, Everyone!

t was an awesome night that left everyone smiling from ear to ear at the annual benefit for Operation Smile at the Belle Haven Club. Cochairs Lisa Lori, Trisha Dalton, Dr. Stacy Zarakiotis and CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota hosted a wonderful event with a little help from their friend, Deborah Cox, Grammy Award-nominated, multiplatinum R&B/Pop recording artist and actress. Ms. Cox sang her heart out, keeping the crowd dancing the night away. Proceeds from the event support the life-changing surgeries performed around the world by Operation Smile volunteers. operationsmile.org »

1 Deborah Cox 2 Melanie Tsangaroulis, Sarah Keshvarzian, Rebecca Michael, Gloria Pope, Dr. Bina Park, Diana Seo 3 Edna Keleshian, Alyssa Keleshian Bonomo 4 Dr. Stacy Zarakiotis, Lisa Lori, Trisha Dalton, Alisyn Camerota 5 Dr. Danielle Goodwin, T. W. Goodwin 6 Fred and Martha Zuckman 7 Ulrika Drax Johansson, Janine Kennedy FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

people OPERATION SMILE Belle Haven Club 1

12 1 Inga Stempien, Tamara Watkins 2 Julia Posacki, Agnes Schwartz, Belinda Blanchfield 3 Dr. Emily Gabeler, Dr. Tiffany Christensen 4 Jenny Lundell, Dino Trevisani 5 Alexandra Bitonti, Kristie Porcaro, Whitney Boulton, Victoria Ebert 6 Lisa and Mat Lori 7 John Petrotos, Dr. Vasiliki Karlis Petrotos 8 Marianna Sarkissova, Bob Capazzo, Victoria Bonic 9 Jen Danzi, Tina Pray, Cristin Marandino, Greg Silver 10 Cessa Lewis, Alisyn Camerota 11 Leah Butler, Olivia Walker 12 Erik and Amy Boyle, Yesenia and Julio Izquierdo greenwichmag.com

people 13

13 Deborah Cox owning the stage 14 Gabby, Illya and Victoria Bonic 15 Mary Jo Riddle, Cheryl Reznick, Lisa Lori, Susan Weis, Diane Viton 16 Steve and Alona Altman 17 Dr. Stacy Zarakiotis, Christina Kay 18 Lisa Wu, William Cheuk 19 Athena Kaporos, Nick Germanakos 20 Charlotte Brown, Kathleen Godbold 21 Tiffany Mezzone, Zackary Thomas 22 James and Jesse Eisenberg 23 Alesha, John, Esme, Luke and Maria Merrill 24 Dr. Eric Manheimer, Dr. Emily Gabeler Â» FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

people 2

1 Megan Gagnon, Ali and Charlotte Gray, Kathleen Godbold 2 Jenn Burraway, Ashley Reid 3 Felicity Kostakis, Ramona Norton, Jillian Aufderheide 4 Beth Jablonska, Alyssa Keleshian Bonomo, Alexandre Chouery 5 Mary Jo Liddle, Susan Carmichael 6 Susan Sleeper, Julia Dunn, Wendy Henderson 7 Samantha Knapp, Meredith Feurtado 8 Corrie Jackson, Ravih Fakhoury, Jennifer Bakker 9 Meg Critchell, Heather Sargent 10 Cindy Winegardner, Laura Darrin 11 Hilary Haroche, Anne Friday, Liz Anderson, Meg Critchell 12 Courtney Evans, Meredith Melling, Catherine Tompkins, Susannah Heyworth, Abby Ritman, Ashley Bruynes

LA LIGNE, WALKARITAS AND THE GREENWICH TREE CONSERVANCY / Maison D’Alexandre

Walk the Line

reenwich gals with great taste recently flocked to Maison D’Alexandre salon after hours to sip some vino and shop the racks of the ultra cool and chic collection by La Ligne. Striped cashmere sweaters and smocked dresses flew out the door, all in support of local organizations Walkaritas and the Greenwich Tree Conservancy. lalignenyc.com » greenwichmag.com

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MOFFLY MEDIA’S BIG PICTURE / MARILYN ROOS

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people 2

1 Past and present Go Wild! cochairs 2 Hot-air balloon beauties in the sky 3 Glenn Shaw, Matt Bostock 4 Jeff and Alex Pribyl 5 Bungee trampoline 6 Pumpkin painting with Troy’s Garden Nurseries 7 Ann Sawyer 8 Ashley DeSimone, Charlotte Alford, Missy Egbert Sheehan, Erica Bens, Nicole Cartellieri 9 Staff of title sponsor, Dibico, teaches about native plants 10 Cochairs Briana Hart and Sarah Pribyl with GLT Executive Director, Will Kies

Sunday Funday

record crowd of more than1,500 guests attended the twentieth annual Go Wild! family field day at the Greenwich Polo Club. The event was wildly successful, and proceeds will support the Greenwich Land Trust’s mission to conserve and care for open space throughout Greenwich. Families enjoyed bungee trampolines, arts and crafts, an inflatable maze, soccer, pony rides and country fair games in addition to pizza, hot dogs, tacos and ice cream from local food trucks. As a special tribute, this year’s cochairs, Briana Hart and Sarah Pribyl, honored Go Wild! founders and original cochairs, Jane Dunn and Leslie Lee. gltrust.org »

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PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF GREENWICH LAND TRUST

GREENWICH LAND TRUST / The Greenwich Polo Club 10

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people 2

1 Heather Cotter, Kane Geyer, Jude and Mary Kate Donato 2 Bobby Walker Jr., Michael Chambers 3 Jamie Benincasa, Cameron MacDougall 4 Matt Swanson, Noah Rhodes, Andrew Norton 5 Rory and Kathryn Shaw, Erin and Taylor Glasebrook 6 Brian and Nisha Hurst 7 Sarah and Peter Von Der Ahe 8 Kristen and Daniel Rosenbaum 9 Amanda Wilson, Cassaundra Karnal, Melissa Nisenson 10 Samantha and Ryan Mollett 11 Lara Foley, Claire Weil

BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF GREENWICH / The Club

Rage On

he Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich recently had a rocking benefit cochaired by Scottie Bonadio and Jordan Rhodes, with the help of décor chairs, Lara Foley and Claire Weil. Rubix Kube, a 1980s tribute band, and internationally renowned DJ Chris Sealey kept the dance floor packed. The super-fun night enabled the club to raise vital funds to keep local youth safe and productive after school by offering quality programs with caring mentors. bgcg.org

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PHOTOGRAPHS BY ELAINE UBIÑA

people 12

12 Pat Caffray, Bruce Quackenbush, Gil Caffray, Lisa Quackenbush 13 Jennifer Frascella, Cristina Vittoria, Erin Chang 14 Elizabeth Quadracci Harned, Chris Harned 15 Kevin and Joni Kimberlin 16 Holly and Matt Cassin, Samantha Mollett 17 George Fox, Bobby Walker 18 Quinn and Graham Veysey, Kate and Jim Clark 19 Elizabeth Lake, Lauren Caffray, Catie Salyer 20 Charles Caffray, Ryan Mollett, Nancy Fazzinga, Mike Custar 21 The party committee with Bobby Walker Âť FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

people

AMERICARES / Westchester County Airport 1 Ali and Will Fels, Roberta and James Conroy, Alvia and Medhi Mahmud 2 Martha Civitillo, Brittany Hoag, Holly Casella, Carolyn Toll 3 Christine Squires and Steve Pashkoff 4 Lydia Fenet 5 Matthew Blumenthal with Sen. Richard Blumenthal 6 Dance floor entertainment 7 Erica Hill, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Americares President and CEO Michael J. Nyenhuis, Tony Goldwyn 8 Debbie and Russ Reynolds 9 Selenis Leyva, Jackie Cruz

A Spirited Sendoff

ore than 800 guests attended the Americares Airlift Benefit at the JPMorgan Chase Hangar in Westchester. Hosted by Tony Goldwyn and Erica Hill, and including a special performance by actor and musician Jackie Cruz, the event raised over $2.8 million. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN chief medical correspondent, received the Bob and Leila Macauley Humanitarian Spirit Award for his dedication to philanthropy. As the night came to a close, a group of supporters embarked on a twenty-four-hour journey to the Dominican Republic, where Americares works with over 100 healthcare facilities, to see the organization in action.Â americares.org Âť

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PHOTOS 1, 3-8 BY GETTY IMAGES FOR AMERICARES; 2 BY ALEX OSTASIEWICZ FOR AMERICARES

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HOSPITAL FOR SPECIAL SURGERY / Guastavino's

A Doctor in the House

he Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) recently hosted its annual autumn benefit at Guastavino’s in Manhattan, to celebrate excellence in medical education. The event recognized Dr. Matthew M. Roberts, with the Nancy Bischoff Mentor Award; Dr. Samuel A. Taylor, with the Richard S. Laskin, M.D., Young Attending Award; and Dr. David S. Wellman, with the Philip D. Wilson, Jr., M.D., Teaching Award. The evening was chaired by Lois Kelly. G

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PHOTOGRAPHS BY DON POLLARD AND RYAN BROWN

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CASSANDRA VIRGINIA SKOUFALOS & MATTHEW PATRICK QUINLAN 1

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DARREN ORNITZ

att and Cassandra met while on vacation in Nantucket. By chance, Matt had joined the trip last minute through mutual friends and stayed at the same house for the weekend’s festivities. Sparks flew right away; and despite living in different cities (New York City and Boston), they didn’t think twice about jumping into a long-distance relationship. After two years and many Amtrak trips, Cassandra traded in her Metrocard for a Red Sox jersey. Six months later, the couple planned a trip to Manhattan to see the opera with family. While taking a walk along the High Line, Matt dropped to his knee and proposed. A crowd had gathered around them even before Cassandra had time to say yes. They celebrated at the Standard Hotel rooftop with family and friends who had all come in to be a part of their engagement. Father Nicholas Anctil officiated at the ceremony at Holy Trinity Greek Church in New Rochelle, and a reception followed at the Delamar Greenwich Harbor. The bride, daughter of Stephan and Agatha Skoufalos of Greenwich, graduated from Greenwich High School and Union College. Cassandra is a senior community manager for WeWork in Boston. The groom, son of Richard and Amy Quinlan of Boston, graduated from Hingham High School, St. Lawrence University and Babson College. Matt is a vice president at Loomis Sayles Trader in Boston. The newlyweds honeymooned in Majorca, Spain, and Paris. They call Boston home. »

1 The wedding party 2 Cassandra and Matt 3 The tablescape at the reception 4 The bride being greeted by her beaming father, Stephan 5 Fun dancing to Greek music 6 Stephan and Eva Skoufalos, Matthew Quinlan, Cassandra, Agatha and Will Skoufalos FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

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CHANNA SAENE KIM & CHARLES MICHAEL SOUTHWICK

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DEYLA HUSS

harlie and Channa met in college at Washington University in St. Louis. Charlie joined a fraternity where all of Channa’s best friends were members. While they began as fierce “Words With Friends” competitors, they soon became much more. After college the couple moved to New York City and then to Portland, Oregon, where the got engaged. After nearly seven years of dating, Charlie proposed. He arranged a dinner at Eleven Madison Park, and during an after-dinner stroll through Madison Square Park, he went down on one knee and asked Channa to be his wife. Seven months later Charlie and Channa had two ceremonies: a traditional Western ceremony and a traditional Korean ceremony, called a Pyebaek. The Western ceremony was officiated by a close family friend of the groom and former Greenwich resident, Lee Fletcher. The ceremony and reception were held at the Portland Art Museum. The next day many guests accompanied the newlyweds on a white river rafting trip down the Salmon River Gorge. The bride, daughter of Roy and Francesca Kim of Oregon, graduated from Jesuit High School and Washington University. Channa is a real estate developer in Portland. The groom, son of Michael and Debby Southwick of Old Greenwich, graduated from Brunswick School and Washington University. Charlie is a senior analyst at Unilever in Portland. The newlyweds honeymooned in Cabo San Lucas before returning home to Portland. G

1 Channa and Charlie 2 Jasmine Brown, Caroline Southwick, Dayna Kim, Channa, Elaina Kim, Kaitlin Southwick, Mariam Mathai 3 Michael and Debby Southwick, Channa, Charlie, Kaitlin and Caroline Southwick 4 Cutting the cake 5 A traditional Korean ceremony 6 Dayna and Roy Kim, Channa, Charlie, Francesca and Elaina Kim

FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

The

RISE&

RISE of

Brent Montgomery Ever since a quirky pawn shop off the Vegas strip changed his life, reality has been pretty good to this guy by timothy dumas • phot o gr aphy by kyle nort on • wardrobe st yling by jamie eisenberg hair/beard st yle by christian l ann uc ci, d o orbell barbers • gro oming by lydia arroyo

2020

POWER ISSUE

Brent with Jimmy Kimmel

In 1998 Brent Montgomery arrived in Brooklyn to seek his fortune in the TV production business. Or, if not his fortune, then basic food and shelter, for New York proved to be a hard, cold place for a Texas kid with no entrée into the Oz-like fortresses of network television. “I couldn’t get a minimum-wage TV job to save my life,” Montgomery remembers. A light snow is falling upon the marsh grasses outside his Shingle-Style Greenwich home abounding with gables, peaks and turrets; we are sitting at the rear of the house, in a sleek but cozy man-cave with a gleaming bar and a very large TV. This house is the fruit, or a fruit, of having achieved wild success as a television entrepreneur, first with the reality series Pawn Stars, which he cocreated, then as the man in charge of such seismic reality hits as Queer Eye, Fixer Upper and Duck Dynasty, and finally as the founder and CEO of the Stamford-based media octopus Wheelhouse Group. But we are getting ahead of the story. “In the beginning, I’m shooting bat mitzvahs, which we didn’t have growing up in Texas. I’m shooting weddings in languages I don’t understand. Anything and everything to scrape up extra money—the clock was ticking down.” Montgomery never let hard times get in the way of his dreams. Indeed, if you believe Jimmy Kimmel, the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! and his

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JESSE GRANT

business partner at Wheelhouse, Montgomery’s qualities are so extraordinary that nothing could hold him back. “Brent reminds me of a young Leo DiCaprio,” Kimmel tells us by email. “He is talented, driven and, from a physical standpoint, hotter than an eskimo in hell. Who wouldn’t want to be around that every day?” (To be slightly more specific, Montgomery is a solidly built man of forty-five with blue eyes, a close-cropped beard, and reddish-brown hair combed back neatly from his forehead.) On April Fool’s Day 2002, Montgomery and his Texas A&M roommate, Colby Gaines, founded their own production company, Leftfield Pictures, in an unheated basement on 2nd Street between Avenues B and C in Manhattan. This was the beginning of, well, not very much. “It was like opening a lemonade stand on a road that was closed down for construction,” says Montgomery. “There were four of us when we started; there were two of us by year three.” Still, as a student of media history, Montgomery knew about other legendarily unpromising beginnings, notably that of his business idol Walt Disney. Disney’s first animation studio, Laugh-O-Gram, went bankrupt in a booming 1923 economy. Though Disney started his eponymous studio the same year, prosperity did not come until 1928, when he and his chief animator, Ub Iwerks, created the short film Steamboat Willie featuring a new character called Mickey Mouse. As for Montgomery and Gaines, “we each had to go back to full-time work.” They were, however, climbing the TV ladder as segment producers for The Bachelor, the ABC reality show in which a bevy of beauties competes for the affections of a single guy. (The series is still going strong, after eighteen years and five spinoffs.) In 2008 everything began to change. For starters, Montgomery married Courtney Napurano, a petite blonde from Trumbull whom he met three years prior when both were producing at MTV. So inevitable was the attraction that Brent had to ask his boss for a waiver from MTV’s strict nodating policy: “I couldn’t hold out from asking her on a date.” (Today they have three young children.) Then Montgomery and Gaines sold their first two reality series, The Principal’s Office, to TruTV, and Bridal Bootcamp, to VH1. The former was an amusing look at young miscreants sent to the principal for offenses ranging from cheating to skateboarding in the hallways; the latter (Courtney’s idea) documented brides-to-be desperately shedding pounds in order to fit into their dream dresses on the appointed day. Neither series caught on, but at least Leftfield had entered the game. Also in 2008, Colby Gaines held his bachelor party in Las Vegas. Since Vegas is a famously oddball town, and since reality TV was heating up, Montgomery and Gaines resolved to scavenge Sin City for ideas. Gaines said they should do a series about the life of a quickie wedding chapel. (Montgomery agreed, and the show materialized as Happily Ever Faster: not a hit.) Meanwhile, Montgomery noticed pawn shops scattered everywhere beyond the glitter of The Strip, and wondered, with lukewarm enthusiasm, if there was a show in them. “Just an idea,” he says with a light shrug. “And in my business, an idea alone means absolutely nothing. It’s about what you do with it. Do you spend the money it requires out of your own pocket to develop the idea? In this case, we didn’t have much money.”

VIVIEN BEST

Just another night at Wheelhouse in West Hollywood: Dan Weiss, David Benioff, Brent, Bob Saget and Kelly Rizzo

enthusiasm for reality shows, the economy had tanked, and people were looting their attics for objects to sell. The History Channel, meanwhile, was looking for ways to attract a younger audience; indeed, they had just rebranded themselves History (dropping the “channel”) with the tagline “history made every day” in order to cast a wider programming net. Though History considered Pawn Stars “downscale” in concept, they agreed to take a look. “At the time, the biggest star on History was Hitler,” Montgomery notes, adding that the channel’s audience was mainly men over fifty. “Their ratings would spike any time Germany was on.” History’s executives liked how the objects that crossed the Harrisons’ transom told a story. The show was—is—a little like Antiques Roadshow in this regard. But unlike Antiques Roadshow, where we learn each item’s approximate value, Pawn Stars boasts the drama of commerce—the haggling and the buying, or the refusal to buy. Memorable Pawn Stars items have included, over the years, Greek coins dating to 325 BC, a 2001 New England Patriots Super Bowl ring, duckbill dinosaur eggs, elephant poop in a can (Chumlee grabbed it for $20), a gold bar from a sixteenth century Spanish shipwreck, a Stephen Stills-owned Gibson guitar, the white Bronco of O.J. infamy (Harrison passed on this, as he did on Saddam Hussein’s fingerprints); and John F. Kennedy’s Oval Office humidor, with poignantly unsmoked cigars in it. (This seller sought $95,000, but Rick haggled him down to $60,000—then sold it at auction for $575,000.) Pawn Stars was not the usual History fare in 2009. “At the time, a lot of viewers were like, ‘What’s this crap?’” Montgomery says with a chuckle;

Back in New York, Montgomery tasked his sister-in-law, Meredith Voges, an associate producer at Leftfield, with finding just the right pawn shop to try out on film, preferably a family-run one. “Families just have more drama and more chemistry—or lack of chemistry,” Montgomery says. Disappointingly, there were only two family-run pawn shops in Las Vegas. “There were a Greek mother and daughter whose English was hard to distinguish over the phone”—here an affectionate grin spreads across Montgomery’s face—“and then there were these fat bastards, the Harrisons.” Rick Harrison is the canny proprietor of the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop; he co-owned the shop with his father, the dour Richard “Old Man” Harrison, until The Old Man’s death in 2018. Rick’s son Corey and Corey’s pleasantly dopey friend Chumlee round out the main staff. But when Montgomery went back out to film the Harrisons, he saw no future whatsoever in them. “I’m like, ‘I’m never coming back to this pawn shop again,’” he says. “I didn’t want to go back for the smoke alone. There was more smoke in there than a Mad Men episode.” Worse, the Harrisons were nervous. “We probably didn’t do a good enough job of making them feel comfortable; we were in such a rush because we had no money.” The goal was to condense the footage into a five-minute “sizzle reel” to entice a network to buy the series, but even after all the distilling, Montgomery didn’t see much sizzle. A British editor, Luke Spencer, then asked to take a whack at cutting the Harrison footage. “He put some great music into it, some Johnny Cash, and he cut it in a really cool way.” As it happened, a perfect storm was gathering. In addition to the budding

FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

But Rick Harrison proved to be a charismatic presence, combining regularguy bonhomie with surprising erudition (as a child he suffered from severe epilepsy, and from the refuge of his bed devoured nonfiction books). “It turned out we hit the lottery with Rick Harrison,” Montgomery remarks. As Rick himself jokes, “They’ve come a long way from Hitler to Harrison.” Pawn Stars wears its history lessons lightly. “We stuffed more information into an episode of Pawn Stars than anything else on History,” Montgomery says. “But you walk away not realizing that we’ve put vegetables into what you’re eating.” On the strength of Pawn Stars, History’s audience ballooned from 2 million to 7.7 million and surpassed Jersey Shore as the most popular reality show on cable TV. Was Montgomery surprised? “Shocked,” he says. “I didn’t feel the show was big enough in scope [to be such a huge hit]. It wasn’t marketed, it didn’t have a big producer, it didn’t have big stars in it. But every week, just from word-of-mouth, it kept on building on itself.” He remembers an executive at History pulling him aside: “Your life is about to change,” she told him. In fact, Pawn Stars would serve as the foundation for everything that came after; it would be something like Montgomery’s own Mickey Mouse. Where Walt Disney built his empire on fantasy, it might be said that Montgomery built his on reality. To some people, that might sound like a sketchier proposition. Reality TV is a mixed bag, certainly, but it began on a high note with the airing of An American Family in 1973. The twelve-part series on PBS documented the daily life of the Loud family of Santa Barbara, California, as it painfully unraveled. Margaret Mead, the cultural anthropologist, called the series “a new kind of art form” and compared it to the invention of the novel. Curiously, though, not much happened with the genre till 1992, when MTV debuted The Real World. Inspired by An American Family, The Real World put eight

young adults in a house and let the cameras roll as relationships frayed and broke. “Ah, to be young, cute and stupid,” wrote TV critic Tom Shales in a negative review. But the show, immensely popular, also depicted serious struggles then unseen by most Americans, like that of Pedro Zamora, an openly gay man living with AIDS. Then came the deluge. The Dutch import Big Brother and the Swedish import Survivor launched in 2000, and The Amazing Race debuted in 2001, followed by What Not to Wear, The Bachelor, Joe Millionaire, The Osbournes, American Idol, America’s Next Top Model, The Biggest Loser, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Deadliest Catch, The Real Housewives of Orange County, Kitchen Nightmares, Ice Road Truckers, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, on and on and on. Some “unscripted” shows, like the talent-search and food shows, were as heavily formatted as any game show of the past; others, like Joe Millionaire and Bridezillas, seemed ridiculously contrived, or “cooked,” as Montgomery would say. But some shows did capture what enticed people to the genre in the first place: a view into the real lives of others, even if “real lives” was something of an illusion. (But not always an illusion: In one episode of Deadliest Catch, to cite one example, a fishing boat captain has a stroke and is airlifted away, all caught on camera. He died a few days later.) Montgomery, for his part, did not want his shows to appear cooked. There might be a formula to them, but vivid, surprising, unscripted life should still have room to play out within that formula. Among his own shows, his favorite is Alone—a survival series that feels much more authentic than Survivor. Ten survivalists are dropped in a remote wilderness with just a handful of tools, and the one who stays longest wins a grand prize of $500,000. But what makes Alone feel so original? For one thing, the viewer feels the psychic immensity of each person’s aloneness. In designing the show, “We thought, if we pull the crew out and we have these people document them-

ON THE STRENGTH OF PAWN STARS, HISTORY’S AUDIENCE BALLOONED FROM 2 MILLION TO 7.7 MILLION AND SURPASSED JERSEY SHORE AS THE MOST POPULAR REALITY SHOW ON CABLE TV. greenwichmag.com

Brent at home in Greenwich

FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

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CONTRIBUTED

selves, there’s not going to be any sort of ‘This is cooked, this is not real.’ We ment (Forged in Fire) and Loud TV (Tiny House Nation, which would debut almost went too far.” The survivalists are given six cameras apiece and taught under Montgomery’s aegis in 2017). Leftfield Entertainment was now the how to self-document; there’s no crew to rescue those in imminent trouble. biggest indie production company in America. In the first season (2015), Josh Chavez, a tough young cop from Ohio, was In 2013 the TV landscape was changing rapidly. People were jettisonfirst to go. He’d been dropped on a beach strewn with fish heads, a sure ing cable in favor of Netflix (which had just debuted House of Cards) and sign of bear activity. A few steps into a dense, cold, rainy woods, Chavez then other big streaming services, such as Hulu, HBO Now, YouTube TV trains his camera on a mama bear and her cubs staring down at him from and Amazon Prime Video; these, in turn, were backed by behemoths like the trees. That night, as he tries Disney, AT&T and Google. If to sleep, two large black bears this was the new ecosystem, how come snooping around his would Leftfield compete in it? tent. That was enough; in the Montgomery was pondering this morning he calls for a rescue question early in 2014, when he boat. As the episode goes on, moved his family to Greenwich. the spooky howls of wolves are The plan had always been to go heard in the far distance, then suburban, but Greenwich caused closer and closer, until one unhim some anxiety: The town replucky survivalist hears them resented a sort of emerald city of weaving through the brush… achievement. “A kid starting out Montgomery grew Leftfield in Brooklyn would never expect Pictures at breakneck speed. to live here,” he says. (In actuality, (Gaines left in 2011, midthe Montgomerys found Greenascent, to form his own venwich friendly and accessible.) ture.) “Looking back, this was And he wasn’t rich, as he then pretty crazy,” Montgomery supposed most Greenwichites admits. “We took all of our were. Not until May. That’s when chips and put them back in.” he sold 80 percent of Leftfield to Caution be damned, he creBritish giant ITV for the majestic ated the popular Pawn Stars sum of $360 million. All at once, spinoffs American Restoration Montgomery had gone from and Counting Cars, as well being a $30,000-aire to a multi, as the series Oddities, which multimillionaire. How did that chronicled a Manhattan anmake him feel? tiques shop. (There were also “Scared shitless,” he says with less successful series, such as a laugh. Ball Boys, about a sports colWe can happily report that lectibles business in Baltimore, a decade of gaudy triumph has and the entertaining United not changed Brent Montgomery. Stuff of America, which took His friends describe him as bigBrent with his wife, Courtney, at the 2018 Academy Awards curious objects from history hearted, intellectually curious and fleshed out the stories behind them.) and refreshingly down-to-earth. Paul Buccieri, his former boss at ITV, But Montgomery’s boldest stroke was to gobble up other production says, “Brent is not one of those people who wears success on his sleeve, yet shops. “Most people in my position, they really love making the shows,” he he’s built some of the biggest franchises in cable television.” When Bucsays. “And I love it, too. But then I realized, Wait a minute, this can be more cieri joined A&E in 2015, requiring a move East, “[Brent] was one of the than just a mom-and-pop shop. This can be a real business.” To this end, first people to reach out to me. He expressed his passion and his enthuMontgomery hired mergers and acquisitions specialist Ed Simpson, a vetsiasm for the Greenwich community, and when my family and I visited eran of the European scene, where consolidation of production companies we were hooked.” Buccieri, now president of A&E Networks Group, has had already occurred. In this country, Montgomery notes, “it was still the lived here ever since. wild west.” One $40 million bank loan later, Leftfield was the proud owner Jon Owsley, comanager of the growth fund at Greenwich private equity of Sirens Media (The Real Housewives of New Jersey), Outpost Entertaingiant L Catterton, met Montgomery through business (L Catterton is a

say, and Fixer Upper. And he oversaw the launch of new series, including American Grit, Tiny House Nation and Queer Eye, a Netflix reboot of the old makeover show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Queer Eye remains a singular phenomenon. Critics have noted the series’ addictive blend of consumerism and spirituality—the provocative notion of self-care as the beginning of soul refurbishment. Montgomery allows that great effort went into making the show a success. “With Queer Eye, which I helped launch right before leaving ITV, we threw the kitchen sink at it, almost unlike anything we’d done. We weren’t so focused on making a few shekels off of it, because we thought, Man, if this could be a transformative show for us, into the next wave of media… And thankfully it was that kind of show—it was Netflix’s first unscripted big hit.” (Queer Eye’s Fab Five have parlayed their TV fame into cultural-political weight, as they discuss social problems like child abuse, addiction and living with HIV.) Back up. Did Montgomery just say he left ITV America? Even while sitting on top of the world, it turns out, the entrepreneur in him never slept. So what sort of business does a $360 million man build from scratch? Montgomery refers us to a 1957 strategic business plan, laid out on one sheet of paper, by none other than Walt Disney. “Because he’s Walt Disney, he drew it—a single set of connected images that shows how he built his flywheel,” Montgomery says. A flywheel is a heavy disk that, once in motion, also turns its satellite gears (think markets), pushing the whole machine (think company) smoothly and unstoppably forward. At the center of Disney’s drawing is a large box containing the words “Theatrical Films,” and revolving around it are smaller boxes with “Disneyland,” “TV,” “Music,” “Merchandise Licensing,” “Comic Strips” and “Publications (Books and Comic Books)” written in them. Arrow lines connect all the boxes, and they’re adorned with doodles of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy, scurrying back and forth. Hand-lettered notations explain each line, such as the one connecting the “Theatrical Films” box to the “TV” box:

Wheelhouse investor) but now counts him as a friend. “Brent is the same great guy no matter what the situation—whether it be in high-powered business meetings with A-list celebrities or just a group of friends grabbing drinks,” Owsley says. “And despite his enormous success, he is equally kind, thoughtful and giving of his time and attention to just about anyone he encounters. He draws people into his world and then, with great generosity, opens that world up to them.” Brent was raised modestly in San Antonio, Texas, the son of Jim Montgomery, an environmental engineer in the U.S. military and the Department of Defense, and his wife, Marcia, a schoolteacher. Nothing in his boyhood telegraphed monumental success; Brent was a typical sports nut who dreamed of pro athletic stardom. Later, at Texas A&M, his athletic dreams long since departed, he proved an unremarkable student: His business major sank away under the oppressive weight of Accounting 209. Taking a semester off, he interned at a local TV sports department and “fell right in love with it.” Still, a typical studio hand never gets all that far; we can imagine some Brent-like person rising respectably to the greater Dallas market. A quality that set this Brent apart, though, was sheer, unmitigated hustle. In grade school he’d buy wholesale candy at Sam’s Club and resell it at school for a profit “until the teachers caught me.” Next came baseball cards. “I put an ad in the classifieds to buy collections, and my father and I would go to people’s homes and sit there right in front of them, going through their cards,” he says. “I was selling them first at school and started making enough money to reinvest, reinvest.” (His prize find was a rookie Pete Rose. We mention this to suggest that Montgomery was born with a hot hand, for even though the card market flatlined, a 1963 Pete Rose in mint condition still sells for around $70,000.) The upselling habit continued with ITV. But instead of leaving with his millions, Montgomery stayed on as CEO of the newly created subsidiary, ITV America. This put him in charge not only of the Leftfield shows, but also of massive hits like Duck Dynasty, Hell’s Kitchen with Gordon Ram-

“BRENT IS NOT ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO WEARS SUCCESS ON HIS SLEEVE, YET HE’S BUILT SOME OF THE BIGGEST FRANCHISES IN CABLE TELEVISION.”

— Paul Buccieri, president, A&E Networks Group

FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

“Provides interchange of stars.” This hyper-symbiosis was revolutionary in the fifties. Up to then, for example, film studios had no interest in television despite the obvious parallels. “They thought it was a passing fad.” Montgomery thinks of Wheelhouse Group as a sort of baby Disney for the twenty-first century. It doesn’t sound like a baby anything, though. Jimmy Kimmel explains, with admirable compression, almost everything that Wheelhouse is up to: “We’re working on shows, films, apps, new marketing concepts, specials, live television events, toys, games, game shows, short-form video, and pop-up experiences. We may even start a religion, if we can figure out which one of us gets to be God.” Montgomery credits Kimmel, the creator of Wheelhouse’s Kimmelot division, with “pouring jet fuel” on his start-up. Their friendship began with a dinner, then another, over which they shared a common vision of emerging opportunities. “Brent believes in connecting projects across multiple platforms,” Kimmel says. “That philosophy appealed to me in a big way.” Okay, but how are the two going to divide up the labor? “While I am focused on the ‘monkey,’” Kimmel says, “he is focused on the ‘business.’” (In fact, Kimmelot is off to a distinguished start: its Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s All in the Family and The Jeffersons, using original seventies scripts, won the 2019 Emmy for Outstanding Live Variety Special.) The Wheelhouse concept was slightly less ambitious at the outset, in January 2018, before Kimmel signed on. Montgomery had observed how certain reality stars cleverly flourished as businesspeople. The prime examples are Chip and Joanna Gaines, who used Fixer Upper to expand their original decorating and renovating business, then to create new ventures, such as an online market. Their Magnolia brands became far more profitable than the show. “They’re going to build a billion-dollar business” employing Fixer Upper as a marketing tool, Montgomery says. This leveraging

dynamic now has the potential to explode for others. “Netflix and all these channels are global with the flip of the switch. It used to be that, maybe three or four years into Pawn Stars, it’s in India and other countries; but now everything is global overnight.” Most reality stars, however, lack the Gaineses’ flair for maximization. So Montgomery thought, what if he did it? What if, under one roof, he produced a film or TV series, marketed the stars and invested in their businesses? Thus began the new animal that he’s created: part content house, part marketing machine, part venture capital firm, all working in concert. (In addition, Montgomery created incubating parties—Wheelhouses, he calls them. These actual, physical houses, one in West Hollywood and the other in Tribeca, are convivial hubs where artists, athletes, musicians, show runners, media bigwigs and investors meet to party with intent.) “We kind of vet them to make sure they’re open-minded about dancing with people outside their own little industry,” Montgomery remarks. The Wheelhouses created buzz before the company did. Last year The Hollywood Reporter visited the Spanish villa-style Wheelhouse in West Hollywood and noted the presence, among others, of Game of Thrones show runners Dan Weiss and David Benioff, comedian Kathy Griffin, actor Jon Hamm, artist Shepard Fairey, Kimmel, GoldieBlox toy company founder Debbie Sterling, and assorted investors. But Wheelhouse rests upon a foundation of content—a hip word that basically means story, scripted and unscripted. “This may be the coolest time to be a content creator, because it’s an arms race out there,” Montgomery says, noting the streaming revolution now in progress. Wheelhouse’s content division contains five groups—Spoke Studios (Wheelhouse’s own in-house production label; upcoming is the scripted series Tiger Woods, based on Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian’s bestselling biography); Kimmelot; Portal A; Den of Thieves; and Campfire. These content arms

“WE’RE WORKING ON SHOWS, FILMS, APPS, NEW MARKETING CONCEPTS, SPECIALS, LIVE TELEVISION EVENTS ... WE MAY EVEN START A RELIGION, IF WE CAN FIGURE OUT WHICH ONE OF US GETS TO BE GOD.” —Jimmy Kimmel

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PHOTO ON SCREEN COURTESY OF SPOKE STUDIOS

Brent in his home theater

embrace everything from reality series to concert films to documentaries to scripted dramatic films. The recently acquired Campfire, for example, founded by Ross Dinerstein, is known for producing such quality work as the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi and the John Grisham nonfiction crime series The Innocent Man. Portal A, in which Wheelhouse has a minority stake, focuses, by contrast, on making entertainment specifically for digital platforms—videos and branding you might see on HBO or YouTube. In Montgomery’s expansionist worldview, all of this—the studios, the marketing, the investing, the elite gatherings—was not quite enough. Wheelhouse needed a proper home. Though it has offices in Los Angeles and New York, a headquarters called Stamford Media Village is now in the works, overlooking the water at 860 Canal Street. An architect’s rendering shows a reinvented four-story industrial building with exposed brick, tall windows, rooftop greenery and a waterside restaurant. “We wanted to create something significant enough and cool enough for talent to relocate to,” Montgomery says, adding that visual media people who already live here would relish commuting to Stamford instead of New York. (Courtney, who founded her own business, Wheelhouse Properties, to engage her passion for building and renovating, is overseeing the project.) Wheelhouse will share Stamford Media Village with ITV America, with

whom Montgomery still enjoys a close relationship. We are likely to see films and TV shows emanating from the Village, some of them filmed in the region using local crew. Wheelhouse and ITV together hope to employ up to 600 people in Stamford. Montgomery praises the State of Connecticut for its role in making Stamford attractive. Among other things, it gives tax credits for unscripted as well as scripted work. This is unusual but makes great sense, Montgomery says: “You go make a film for six weeks and then the carnival moves on. But when you talk about shows I’ve managed like Cake Boss or Pawn Stars or Fixer Upper, they provide jobs for years.” For now, everybody is watching Wheelhouse keenly. Will its great flywheel wobble, or will it gather Disneyesque strength and speed? “If it’s anything like what he did at Leftfield,” says A&E’s Paul Buccieri, “he’ll have built two major media companies and solidified a legacy of influencing and impacting popular culture.” Investors are likewise confident. L Catterton’s Jon Owsley says, “Brent is a visionary who can conceive of a sweeping, gamechanging enterprise, while at the same time being tactical enough to understand what is needed to build the pieces in order to achieve that vision.” Montgomery describes his capacities in simpler terms. “Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, I don’t know how to do anything small.” G

FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

A Middle East specialist, HAGAR CHEMALI has worked at the center of global crises in Syria, Russia, Iran and beyond. Today, she is a highly sought-after political commentator and media strategist whose reputation of outstanding expertise, authenticity and objectivity has even the most hardened political leaders singing her praises by timothy dumas phot o gr aphy by kyle nort on

POLITICAL POISE

2020

POWER ISSUE

named him ambassador to Israel, says, “Hagar is a uniquely skilled communicator in foreign policy issues.She has identified a gap in the ability of our government to connect with younger Americans, younger voters, and explain what’s become a very complicated world.” He adds, “She’s clever, often very funny, but always factual in her analyses.” And so, as this latest Iran crisis simmered away during prom week 2019, Chemali was in high demand. On September 24, she was scheduled to discuss Iran on Bloomberg in the morning, on CNN, MSNBC and BBC in the afternoon and on MSNBC again at night. But the Trump era is nothing if not a news firehose, spraying wildly in all directions. The previous week, the Washington Post had reported an anonymous CIA whistleblower’s complaint that President Trump had tried to extort our ally Ukraine for his own benefit, namely by withholding $391 million in Congressionally-allocated military aid until Ukraine publicly slimed Joe Biden, Trump’s prospective rival in 2020. The scandal intensified through the day, and by the time Chemali sat down with MSNBC’s Ali Velshi, Iran was out the window: The topic was Ukraine. “All right, but I’m only talking about the foreign policy angle,” she told MSNBC producers. “I’m not getting into the impeachment stuff.”

was prom week 2019, and the world was beginning to fall to pieces. “Prom week” is what national security expert Hagar Hajjar Chemali calls the week in September when the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) convenes in New York to debate the world’s most critical problems. They do this with high style, sober declarations and a pinch of farce, for in the end, not a lot happens, since the major powers seldom agree on anything big. Hagar Chemali is an analyst, not an opiner, at least not in any strict parUNGA week is also a highlight of Chemali’s year. As a “foreign policy tisan sense. “I pride myself on being objective,” she says. “It’s something nerd” who spent twelve years in the Bush 43 and Obama administrations, I take great care to do.” Early in her adult life, Chemali was a registered she gets to explain to cable TV audiences of millions what’s happening in Republican with moderate instincts. Her instincts remain moderate, the world and why it matters. The big topic of the moment was Iran’s aubut she came to believe her party had been hijacked by conservative dacious bombing, a few days earlier, of key Saudi Arabian oil installations, extremists, and so now finds herself comfortably independent. (In the a crisis with the potential to spin dangerously out of control, pitting a mis2016 election, she preferred John Kasich but voted for Hillary Clinton in behaving ally (Saudi Arabia) against a misbehaving adversary (Iran) while the general election. She disliked, to put it mildly, Trump’s authoritarian misbehaving world leaders (Trump, Netanyahu, Putin) tossed brickbats rhetoric and peculiar homages to Vladimir Putin.) As an analyst Chemali from the sideline. makes no blanket praise or condemnation of a president. She’s apt to critiChemali is ideally suited to explicate such goings-on. The thirty-eightcize parts of Obama’s foreign policy despite having worked for him—she year-old Greenwich native is apolitical, articulate and telegenic; she is a had major objections concerning Syria—and to applaud facets of Trump’s, Middle East specialist who served at the U.S. Treasury Department, the such as his muscular use of sanctions. National Security Council, Treasury again, and finally the U.S. Mission But now she saw Trump heading into geopolitical bizarro land. Hours after to the United Nations, where she worked closely with Ambassador SaChemali appeared on the afternoon shows, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi mantha Power, one of the great human rights proponents of our age. In announced a formal impeachment inquiry, and the next these jobs, she wrestled with the Syrian civil war, Russia’s morning the White House responded by releasing a rough incursion into Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea, and “THERE IS NEVER transcript of a key Trump phone conversation with Ukraithe Iran nuclear deal, among other weighty issues. And she A MOMENT WHEN nian President Volodymyr Zelensky, apparently to bolster has the rare distinction of having served as both a policy YOU’RE NOT IN Trump’s protestations of innocence. Far from doing that, maker and a spokesperson. AWE. YOU’RE AT THE CENTER OF however, the transcript largely affirmed the whistleblower’s “Whenever I flip on cable and see her on the screen, I THE WORLD OF complaint. (And later, a parade of diplomats and national know she’s going to have something smart to say,” says NatFOREIGN POLICY, security officials came before the House Intelligence Comalie Wyeth Earnest, former Treasury Assistant Secretary for LITERALLY mittee to fill out a sordid picture of smears and deceptions.) Public Affairs. “She brings to the table a powerful mix of HELPING TO MAKE We sat down with Chemali at a coffee shop on Greenpolicy expertise combined with the polish and presence of HISTORY.” wich Avenue that afternoon, September 25, as Washington a spokesperson.” Daniel Shapiro, who was Chemali’s boss —Hagar on her time fizzed with impeachment talk. She has long, light brown at the National Security Council before President Obama in the West Wing

MAKING SENSE OF THE CHAOS

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WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH BY PETE SOUZA

Hagar with the U.S. Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, briefing President Obama on Syria in 2011

hair curled loosely at the tips, lively dark eyes and a generous laugh. Her demeanor is open and gregarious. “Besides her keen intellect and strong work ethic,” Natalie Wyeth Earnest tells us, “she has a warmness to her that’s rare in the work we do.” Daniel Glaser, a former Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing known by some as Treasury’s “chief thug” and by others as “the missionary from hell,” turns happily tame at the mention of Chemali: “Hagar is the most genuinely caring, nicest person you’ll ever meet,” he says. “Who you see on the surface is who she is deep down. There’s no hidden agenda. People trust her because they can trust her, people confide in her because they can confide in her.” Peter Tanous, a finance executive, author, and founding chairman of the American Task Force for Lebanon—whom Chemali regards as a mentor—remarks: “Hagar is the kind of person who lights up a room the minute she enters.” At this moment, Chemali is indeed alight, but with quiet fury. The Ukraine scandal amounted to “a gross abuse of power,” she says. “It’s outrageous. Most national security analysts were flabbergasted when they saw this.” Bad enough that the U.S. had hamstrung a strategic ally, Ukraine, and aided a foe, Russia, which at that very moment was making war on Ukraine with the apparent goal of gaining dominion over it. Worse (from a domestic standpoint) that here again was the specter of a foreign country intruding into our elections, but this time with Trump, not Vladimir Putin, as the driver. “It renders the United States vulnerable because you’re saying to the international community, ‘I’m up for grabs,’” Chemali observes. “Russia or China could come along and say, ‘I can play around with disinformation to help your election, if you give me this in exchange.’ It’s risky, it’s dirty, it’s unethical. It’s just not how foreign policy works.”

She casts back in her memory for a similar scandal. She mentions IranContra from the Reagan Administration, in which the U.S. secretly sold weapons to Iran and used the proceeds to illegally fund terroristic Nicaraguan rebels known as the Contras. She mentions Watergate, President Nixon and his crew’s series of “dirty tricks” against the Democratic Party—one international scandal and one domestic. “Merge the two,” Chemali says, “and that’s what you have.” On October 7, 2019, Chemali awoke in her typical fashion: “The first thing I do is grab my phone—because it’s my alarm—and I have one eye open and I’m kind of scrolling.” This morning she was greeted with a barrage of news alerts and requests to appear on TV. “I shot up from bed and I’m like, ‘What did he do this time?’” Late the previous evening, the White House had announced that Trump was withdrawing American troops from northern Syria, the de facto homeland of our allies the Kurds, clearing the way for a Turkish invasion against the Kurds, who would be slaughtered, displaced from their homes, or both. Politicians left, right and center, not to mention our highest ranking retired military leaders, decried Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds. “I couldn’t believe it,” Chemali says when we meet again, in October. “I couldn’t believe Trump had been steamrolled like that by Turkey.” She shakes her head. “In the last few weeks I really don’t know what’s happened. But he’s gone off the deep end on our foreign policy, and it’s painful. How are we going to get allies to trust us in the future?” Chemali calls Trump’s move “criminal,” a harsh word given her usual moderation, but she believes it’s justified. “The Kurds were instrumental in the defeat of ISIS,” she says. “They were the ones who were on the ground,” losing 11,000 of their fighters to our six. Though this is not the

FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

first time the U.S. has betrayed an ally, Chemali continues, “This is one fled Lebanon’s civil war in 1981—a war during which Hadi and his of the worst examples. Just ugly. Leaving them when they’d done us a brother had been kidnapped and brutally beaten as part of a decades-old solid—and leaving them to something we knew was their assured death. vendetta. (Though Lebanon is fractured by religion, it is also fractured That’s why I say it’s criminal. We always knew that if the Americans were within religions: both the Hajjars and their kidnappers were Christian.) to leave, we’d be paving the way for a Turkish massacre.” The decision A noted Lebanese journalist, Ghassan Tueni, and his journalist-politician to reassign some American troops to guard Syrian oil fields is a tacit son, Gebran, who was later assassinated for speaking out against Syrian admission that we need a presence there after all—“but it’s oil that he meddling in Lebanon, had intervened to secure Hajjar’s release—on the cares about, not human catastrophes.” condition that he and his brother leave the country for good. Chemali’s government sources told her there was “a sense of chaos, of desMirella and Hadi toured the world for three months. Intending to peration,” after Trump’s decision; then came the aftershock of his insulting settle in Milan, they were visiting friends in Greenwich when Mirella, rhetoric. The Kurds were “not angels,” he claimed; what’s more they didn’t five months pregnant, developed complications. “She couldn’t travel help us during the Second World War (then as now, the Kurds had no state, until I was born,” says Hagar. “So I like to say that I chose Greenwich.” but curiously enough, some Kurds actually did fight alongside the allied Hagar grew up infused with her parents’ American ardor. “They used forces). The “insanity and the ignorance” of those comments took Chemali’s to tell me I could be who I want to be, say what I want to say. They used breath away, defying her habit of closely reasoned assessment. Meanwhile, to reinforce it every day: ‘Never forget, you are so lucky to be an Amerias the threat of a massacre loomed, Trump dispatched Vice President Mike can.’ Of course, they had seen the horrors of another world.” Mirella is Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Ankara. “What they ended a photographer and photography historian who curates art shows at the up doing was getting steamrolled again,” Chemali says. “They just bent Beaux Arts Gallery at Round Hill Community Church. And Hadi, after over and gave Turkey what it wanted”—a twenty-mile buffer zone inside a failed foray into the toy business, found his mojo as an importer of Syria, or much of the Kurdish homeland, as if it were theirs to give. discount wares. Today he and Mirella live on a picturesque lane in the Chemali views the betrayal of the Kurds as more than a dereliction of backcountry. moral duty; it was also an epic strategic blunder. “You’re taking a very While a student at Greenwich Academy, Hagar showed a surprisingly stable situation—stable for that part of the world—and completely destamature passion for foreign affairs (a passion she now believes evolved bilizing it.” Our enterprise in Syria was never in danger of becoming an from family stories of exile and repression dating back to the Ottoman “endless war” à la Iraq, as Trump seemed to think, but was rather a way Empire). Noticing this, a history teacher suggested she join the Model of keeping ISIS at bay. “We already know that one of the camps manned United Nations. She did and was hooked; at age fourteen she set her sights by the Kurds, a camp that was holding ISIS fighters and ISIS families— on a career in conflict resolution and peacekeeping at the U.N. She went we know that hundreds of fighters, maybe thousands, all broke free,” on to study political science and international affairs at Barnard and CoChemali says. “The danger that’s going to pose! And any analyst knew lumbia, and finally interned at the U.N.’s Department of Political Affairs it would happen. You’re undoing years of good work.” Sure enough, in around the time the U.S. invaded Iraq. late November, the U.S. was obliged to resume large-scale military operaThere Hagar learned something that would shape her career as a civil tions against ISIS in northern Syria. (This despite the death of ISIS leader servant. She was having coffee with a woman who handled Africa, and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who blew himself up as U.S. special this woman lamented that nobody was doing a thing about forces surrounded him on October 27. It had been Kurdish the genocide unfolding in Darfur, a region in western “WHENEVER I FLIP spies who tracked down Baghdadi.) Sudan. “I remember saying to her, very naively, ‘Why don’t ON CABLE AND The Kurds, now without protection, had little choice but you just write a report to the Security Council, and they SEE HER, I KNOW to strike a deal with the reprehensible Syrian government can declare a genocide, and then they can all act to put an SHE’S GOING TO of Bashar al-Assad: “It was kill or be killed.” Worse yet, end to it?’ She just kind of laughed and sat back in her chair HAVE SOMETHING SMART TO SAY. the United States ceded what influence it had in this part and said, ‘If the U.S. won’t lead on an issue, then nothing SHE BRINGS TO of the world to Iran and Russia. “The Syrian government will happen.’ In that moment, I decided the U.N. was not THE TABLE A is allied with Russia and Iran super-closely, and so you’re the place for me. If I wanted to effect change for the better, POWERFUL MIX OF allowing all this influence back into a region they weren’t I had to go to the U.S. government.” POLICY EXPERTISE COMBINED WITH in,” Chemali says. “Russia and Iran are the biggest winners Chemali landed first on the staff of Christopher Shays, THE POLISH AND in this whole thing—our adversaries.” the former Republican Congressman from our corner of PRESENCE OF A Connecticut. (“They don’t make them like that anymore,” SPOKESPERSON.” she remarks. “He was very ethical and all about solv—Natalie Wyeth ing problems.”) Next, in 2006, she went to the Treasury Earnest former Treasury Chemali was born in Greenwich somewhat by accident. Department’s Office of Terrorist Financing and FinanAssistant Secretary for Her parents, Mirella and Hadi Hajjar, both from Beirut, cial Crimes (TFFC), a potent but little-known section of Public Affairs

GREENWICH TO D.C

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WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH BY PETE SOUZA

President Obama welcomed Hagar’s parents, Hadi and Mirella Hajjar, and husband, Julien, into the Oval Office for her departure photo.

government that came into being in 2004 to shut off money streams to terrorists and rogue states. She served as a policy adviser for the Middle East. “I was lucky enough to be part of this small, cutting-edge group that became experts in sanctions,” she says, noting that sanctions, despite their ho-hum reputation, were just then growing into a laser-sharp national security weapon that could achieve devastating results without shedding a drop of blood. A year into the Obama Administration, Chemali migrated to the National Security Council, sometimes called the president’s personal band of warriors. Her job, as director for Syria and Lebanon, was to formulate policy options that would then rise up the chain of command to top policy makers and the president himself. The NSC is based in the massive, Second Empire-style Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House, but Chemali wore a path to the Situation Room in the White House’s West Wing, especially as the Arab Spring unfolded in 2011. Working in the White House, she says, “There’s never a moment when you’re not in awe. You’re at the center of the world of foreign policy, literally helping to make history.” Chemali is not above telling an amusing story on herself—this one having to do with the president’s magnetism. “The first time I met Obama, I didn’t know I’d be meeting him. I’m sitting in the Oval Office with the ambassador to Syria, and we’re talking about the torture going on, the indescribable violence. And I’m staring at the president like a giddy fangirl, grinning from ear to ear! I’m not even paying attention. He looks at me—I’ll never forget—he looks at me kind of quizzically, because the

ambassador is telling the president about Syrian civilians being marched into a stadium to be detained and tortured, and I’m smiling! When he looks at me, I finally go, ‘Snap out of it, Hagar! Stop being such a fangirl.’” She was not such a fan, however, of Obama’s Syria policy. As President Assad violently beat back the protests of the Arab Spring—during which citizens all over the Middle East demanded democratic reforms—the U.S. called on Assad to step down and “emptied the kitchen sink” of sanctions. It seemed possible that we would bring down Assad as he found himself entangled in a three-way civil war, against a loose alliance of dissident factions on the one hand and ISIS on the other. “Then the whole situation started to fester, and it was painful.” Early on Chemali, along with Samantha Power, advocated for a more vigorous intervention, such as targeted military strikes and a no-fly zone to provide safe harbor for refugees. It was not to be. Obama was wary of getting mired in yet another Middle East conflict, and doubtful of the U.S.’s ability to shape a war that was growing insanely complex. The president then suffered a political black eye in declining to enforce his own “red line” after Assad murdered Syrian citizens with chemical weapons. “For Assad, that was cart blanche to do whatever he wanted,” Chemali says. “I thought it was a disaster, an utter disaster.” Though the U.S. did not respond militarily, it and Russia teamed up to destroy most of Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal. But in the end, Chemali says, “We were not leading on the issue. And we did not want to lead on the issue.” (Ambassador Shapiro adds that many in the administration came to regret not taking a more aggressive role.) »

FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

As this issue was going to press, Hagar shared the good news that her sons Alexander and Benjamin will become big brothers to a baby girl this summer.

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EVER OPTIMISTIC

During Hagar’s tenure at the NSC, she married Julien Chemali, an American private equity finance executive born in Lebanon. No sooner Today the Chemalis and their boys—Alexander, six, and Benjamin, had they returned from their honeymoon than the Arab Spring broke four—live in a white clapboard Georgian in mid-country Greenwich, out; over time, working wild hours on the knotty, ever-compounding from which Hagar happily makes her own hours at a communications problems of the Middle East wore her down. “I couldn’t take the madcompany she founded, Greenwich Media Strategies. Recently she joined ness anymore,” she allows. Syria in particular made her feel helpless. “It the Atlantic Council as a nonresident senior fellow. But Americans will was very hard to handle an issue like Syria and feel like the solution is on know her best as a national security and foreign affairs commentator your shoulders, and yet you can’t solve it. That may sound silly, but when on TV. you’re in it, that’s how you feel.” She pauses to revisit that era in her mind. This role is not without turbulence: Anyone who ventures opinions “There were reports about torture I’ll never forget, images I’ll never in the public square, especially in these ornery, divisive times, takes hits. forget. It eats away at you. You start to have nightmares.” “I’m not going to lie,” she says. “In the beginning it was tough. My husBack at Treasury, Chemali became spokesperson for Terrorism and Fiband often tells me, ‘You’ve got to grow a thicker skin.’ When you get a nancial Intelligence, the office responsible for sanctions and other inflichater, unfortunately the words … you remember them.” But she’s learntions of financial pain (of which the earlier-mentioned TFFC is a part). ing to forget them, and those who know her well think she’s where she This job put her on the political side of things, since now she had to make belongs. “Hagar is a natural for media appearances,” Peter Tanous tells us the public case for administration policy rather than hash out policy inby email. “Commentators often sound angry or self-righteous on the air. ternally. Natalie Earnest, who hired her as spokesperson, says, “I knew She doesn’t.” He adds, “I can see her getting her own show in the not too she had the policy piece down, and that alone made her a strong candidistant future.” date. Reporters want to work with spokespeople who know their stuff. As the year drew to a close, the feeling that things were falling apart inBut she’s clearly a ‘people person’—she’s easy to talk to, people enjoy tensified. Where, in this darkening picture, is America? Does it still stand being around her. I could tell she would be a forceful advocate for as a beacon of freedom and hope to people everywhere? Chemali sees our global influence in retreat—in the Middle East, in Africa, in Europe—as our policies, but do it with a smile.” Russia and China waltz in to fill the void. She notes the concurrent auChemali’s tour as spokesperson came at an extraordinarily busy and thoritarian trend, which Trump unaccountably nourishes, and says the sensitive time. “That’s when Russia invaded Crimea and we did the Russia two things together constitute an unambiguous peril. sanctions,” Chemali says. “It’s when we withdrew sanctions from Cuba. “I hate to say this, but I think the tyrants, right now, are winning, and It’s when we did counter-ISIS financing strategy. It’s when we did the it’s because no one is pushing back—Trump in particular,” she says. “I am Iran nuclear deal—I got to work on every little piece of it, focusing on a big believer that where we are not present, where we don’t lead, is where the messaging.” The Obama Administration regarded the Iran accord, you have the most repression, where you have the most terrorism, where though imperfect, as a great success: “Our belief was that we needed you have the bullies and the dictators and the worst of the world, taking to take this one very dangerous thing off the table,” Chemali says of advantage and repressing citizens.” Iran’s then-rapidly developing nuclear capability. This they did, thus Meanwhile, a wave of protests swept the globe, from Hong Kong to thwarting a possible nuclear arms race between Israel and Iran, but Beirut, all over Iran, Iraq and Egypt, on to Barcelona, knowing that Iran would still fund Hezbollah and other and across the ocean to South America. People made bad actors. (In 2018 Trump exited the Iran accord. Omibonfires in the streets, and smoke billowed into the air “HAGAR IS nously, Iran now claims that it’s ramping up its capacity A NATURAL like signals of distress. Chemali would be busy. Still, deto produce nuclear material.) FOR MEDIA spite the turbulence, despite the democratic uprisings The U.S. Mission to the United Nations, where CheAPPEARANCES. and brutal put-downs, she remains hopeful. “History mali served as director of communications and spokesCOMMENTATORS has taught us that, globally, every country or region OFTEN SOUND person—her last job in government—brought her full has gone through some really dark times and overcome ANGRY OR circle. She notes, with a diffident smile, that she got into SELF-RIGHTEOUS. them,” she says. “Look at the end of the Cold War. Look public service in the first place “to save the world,” and SHE DOESN’T. at the civil rights movement in the United States—that now she was helping shine a light on human rights abuses I CAN SEE HER wasn’t so long ago in the grand scheme of things. Look everywhere. “Trying to change bad behavior is hard work, GETTING HER at the fall of the Ottoman Empire. but we actually had real results,” she says, among them OWN SHOW IN THE NOT TOO “As optimistic as I am, I can see that democracy and the successful campaigns to improve LGBTQ rights and free DISTANT FUTURE.” values that come with it—freedom of expression, freedom female political prisoners in repressive countries. But a of the press, basic human rights, freedom of religion—take —Peter Tanous, picture taken with Samantha Power from that time— founding chairman a lot of hard work to fight for and maintain. But I believe 2016—tells accurately of her exhaustion as she endured of the American Task strongly that when people peacefully unite in masses for “hellacious” hours while pregnant with her second child. Force for Lebenon G the same cause, then they are successful.” She knew the time had come to leave government life.

2020

PHOTO CONTEST

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OUR TOWN W

e love watching the photography contest submissions roll in, as they highlight all of the people and places (and animals) that make our town so special. The following pages represent moments in time captured by our readers. Thank you to all who submitted photos —we love seeing our corner of the world through your eyes. by alison nichols gr ay

GRAND PRIZE MIKE HARRIS St. Patrick’s Day Parade

FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

PLACES

DAVID KAPLAN

Morning Haze, Red Nun

JAMES S. EISENBERG

Upriver in Greenwich

LAWRENCE J. STERNE Indian Harbor Fog

Le Recoin GREENWICH ACADEMY

KATE WILSON Le Recoin GREENWICH ACADEMY

MIA CESARE A Helping Hand SACRED HEART GREENWICH

MIA LOPEZ DEL PUNTA Cold Coast SACRED HEART GREENWICH

FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

PEOPLE

KATE WILSON

MIA CESARE A Helping Hand SACRED HEART GREENWICH

ANIMALS

DELFINA GONZALEZ LOBO Rusty SACRED HEART GREENWICH

3 greenwichmag.com

AVERY MOULLÃ&#x2030;-BERTEAUX Playing Hard to Get RYE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL

SAYLOR MURRAY Birthday Boy SACRED HEART GREENWICH

02.27.20

THANK YOU On February 27th, you and thousands of your neighbors answered the call to “give where you live.” In just 24 hours, you made a difference for hundreds of nonprofits serving Fairfield County. Fairfield County’s Giving Day is a powerful day of philanthropy that unites our community around local causes close to our hearts. Learn more about Giving Day and the work of Fairfield County’s Community Foundation:

FCCFoundation.org

PARTNERS & SPONSORS

who

Women Matter Luncheon with

JOAN LUNDEN Friday, April 3rd Greenwich Country Club Tickets and Sponsorships: greenwichchamber.com or call: 203.869.3500 Event Sponsor:

Purchase Oscar® tickets online: www.avontheatre.org / @avontheatre Call: 203-661-0321

The Avon Celebrates Oscar®!

OSCAR-NIGHT PARTY – SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9 7:00pm – Photos on the Red Carpet 8:00pm – Live Oscar Telecast Movie-Themed Lite Bites! Craft Beers, Wine & Prosecco OSCAR-NOMINATED FILM FESTIVAL Screenings January 18 thru February 9 Festival Badges & Tickets Available.

Media Sponsor: 272 Bedford Street • Stamford, CT 06901 Box Office: 203.967.3660

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calendar ART & ANTIQUES ALDRICH MUSEUM, 258 Main St., Ridgefield, 438-0198. Tues.-Sun., noon5 p.m.; Fri., until 8 p.m. AMY SIMON FINE ART, 1869 Post Rd. East, Westport, 259-1500. Tues.-Sat., 11 a.m.5:30 p.m., or by appointment. BRUCE MUSEUM, 1 Museum Dr., 869-0376. Tues.-Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun., 1-5 p.m. Free for members, $8 general admission. CANFIN GALLERY, 39 Main St.,Tarrytown, NY, 914-3324554. Tues.-Sun., 11 a.m.5 p.m. or by appt. Paintings and sculptures by established and emerging contemporary artists from all over the world. CAVALIER GALLERIES, 405 Greenwich Ave., 8693664. Mon.-Sat., 10:30 a.m.6 p.m.; Sun., noon-5 p.m., or by appt. A showcase of a select group of established and emerging artists who represent the finest in modern painting, sculpture and photography. CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY PRINTMAKING, 299 West Ave., Norwalk, 899-7999. Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun., noon-5 p.m. CLAY ART CENTER, 40 Beech St., Port Chester, NY, 914-9372047. Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.4 p.m. or by appt.

The Lime Man, The Old House Refurbished, 1908, L. A. Ring, oil on canvas, The National Gallery of Denmark

Bruce Museum Following an extensive, five-month renovation of its changing gallery spaces, the Bruce Museum will be hosting a new international exhibition, On the Edge of the World: Masterworks by Laurits Andersen Ring. The exhibition opens on Saturday, February 1 and will be on view through Sunday, May 24.

( for more events visit greenwichmag.com )

FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

DISCOVERY MUSEUM AND PLANETARIUM, 4450 Park Ave., Bridgeport, 372-3521. Tues.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun. noon-5 p.m. Permanent exhibits include Energy Exhibit, Sound and Light Galleries, Preschool Power, Sports Science and Solar Legos. FAIRFIELD MUSEUM AND HISTORY CENTER, 370 Beach Rd., Fairfield, 259-1598. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.4 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., noon-4 p.m.

FLINN GALLERY, 101 W. Putnam Ave., 622-7947. Mon.-Wed., Fri.-Sat., 10 a.m.5 p.m.; Thurs. 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sun. 1-5 p.m. GERTRUDE G. WHITE GALLERY, YWCA, 259 E. Putnam Ave., 869-6501. Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. GREENWICH ARTS COUNCIL, 299 Greenwich Ave., 862-6750. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., noon-4 p.m. The Bendheim Gallery hosts major exhibitions every six weeks; visit greenwicharts.org to learn about upcoming exhibits. GREENWICH HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 39 Strickland Rd., 869-6899. Wed.-Sun., noon4 p.m. J. RUSSELL JINISHIAN GALLERY, 1657 Post Rd., Fairfield, 259-8753. Tues.-Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Large selection of original marine and sporting art by Christopher Blossom, Frederick Cozzens, Donald Demers, William Duffy, Carl Evers, Flick Ford, James Griffiths, Russ Kramer and many others. KATONAH MUSEUM OF ART, Rte. 22 at Jay St., Katonah, NY, 914-232-9555. Tues.-Fri. and Sun., 1-5 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. KENISE BARNES FINE ART, 1947 Palmer Ave., Larchmont, NY, 914-834-8077. Tues.-Sat., 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., or by appt. Visit kbfa.com for show information. LOCKWOOD-MATHEWS MANSION MUSEUM, 295 West Ave., Norwalk, 838-9799. Wed.-Sun., noon-4 p.m. Visit lockwoodmathewsmansion .com for program information. LOFT ARTISTS ASSOCIATION, 575 Pacific St.,

calendar 866-2744. Tues.-Sat., noon5 p.m.; Sun., 1-4 p.m. SAMUEL OWEN GALLERY, 382 Greenwich Ave., 4226500 or 325-1924. Mon.Sat., 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. The gallery is committed to exhibiting the work of emerging to mid-career artists, as well as a variety of strong secondary market works. SILVERMINE ARTS CENTER, 1037 Silvermine Rd., New Canaan, 966-9700. Wed.-Sat., noon-5 p.m.; Sun., 1-5 p.m. SM HOME GALLERY, 70 Arch Street, Greenwich, 629-8121, Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m.5 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. or by appointment. Featuring awardwinning regional and national contemporary artists. Visit sandramorganinteriors.com for exhibit information. STAMFORD ART ASSOCIATION, 39 Franklin St., Stamford, 325-1139. Thurs.-Fri., 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., noon-3 p.m.

Bedford Playhouse Just across the border in Bedford, enjoy First Fridays Live Music! on February 7 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. This month’s band will be DUEFUNK. Straight from Brooklyn’s vibrant music scene, DUEFUNK is redefining rock & roll with their blending of styles including psychedelic electric guitar riffs, Sinatraesque vocals and funky bass with traditional West African percussion.

Stamford, 247-2027 or loftartists.com. MARITIME AQUARIUM, 10 N. Water St., S. Norwalk, 852-0700. Daily, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. MICHAEL FLORIO GALLERY, 135 Mason Street, 858-5743. Specializing in established and emerging contemporary artists, marine art and curiosities. Open most days by chance or by appointment, Michaelflorio.com.

NEUBERGER MUSEUM OF ART, Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Rd., Purchase, NY, 914-251-6100. Tues.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. PELHAM ART CENTER, 155 Fifth Ave., Pelham, NY, 914-738-2525 ext. 113. Tues.Fri. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sat. noon4 p.m. ROWAYTON ARTS CENTER, 145 Rowayton Ave., Rowayton,

Chapel Streets, New Haven, 432-2292. Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.5 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. YALE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven, 432-0611. Tues.-Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thurs., until 8 p.m.; Sun., 1-6 p.m. Permanent collection includes African art, American decorative art, American paintings and sculpture, ancient art, Asian art, coins and medals, and modern and contemporary art.

CONCERTS, FILM & THEATER ARENA AT HARBOR YARD, 600 Main St., Bridgeport, 345-2300. Visit websterbankarena.com for more shows and times.

AVON THEATRE FILM CENTER, 272 Bedford St., Stamford, 661-0321. Sun. 9, Oscar Night live at the Avon, have your photo taken on the red carpet, watch the telecast of the celebrity arrivals of the 92nd Annual Academy Awards, enjoy cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, a buffet dinner and desserts. Come dressed in Hollywood red carpet attire. 7-11 p.m. avontheatre.org. CARAMOOR CENTER FOR MUSIC & THE ARTS, 149 Girdle Ridge Rd., Katonah, NY, 914-232-5035. THE CHAMBER PLAYERS OF THE GREENWICH SYMPHONY, Sat. 22 at Greenwich High School, 8 p.m. and Sun. 23 at Greenwich High School, 4 p.m. Adult tickets $40; student tickets $10. Visit greenwichsymphony.org for special performances.

Colored porcelain by Peter Pincus

STAMFORD MUSEUM & NATURE CENTER, 39 Scofieldtown Rd., Stamford, 977-6521. Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m.5 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. THOMAS J. WALSH GALLERY, Fairfield University, 1073 N. Benson Rd., Fairfield, 254-4000, ext. 2969. Tues.Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun., noon-4 p.m. UCONN STAMFORD ART GALLERY, One University Pl., Stamford, 251-8400. Mon.Thurs. 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; Fri. 9 a.m. -5 p.m.; Sat. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. WESTPORT ARTS CENTER, 51 Riverside Ave., Westport, 226-7070. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.4 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., noon-4 p.m. YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven, 432-2800. Tues.-Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun., noon-5 p.m. Permanent collection on view. YALE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE GALLERY, Paul Rudolph Hall, York and

greenwichmag.com

Clay Art Center Now through Saturday, March 21, the Clay Art Center will host an exhibition of one-of-a-kind handmade coffee and tea inspired vessels entitled Good Morning. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, February 1 from 6 to 8 p.m »

Seventh Annual

rt de ign of

B r U C e

M U S e U M

Luncheon and Diamonds with to benefit the Bruce Museum Thursday, March 12, 2020 12:00 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2:00 pm Greenwich Country Club For information contact Becky Conelias bconelias@brucemuseum.org For tickets visit brucemuseum.org and click Reservations Art of Design unites notable industry leaders to explore the intersection of art and design. Co-Chairs: Felicity Kostakis, Romona Norton and Judith Wertheimer

BRUCE MUSEUM

Thank you to our Media Sponsor: Greenwich Magazine/Moffly Media

KNOW A TEEN GIRL MAKING A DIFFERENCE? The Junior League of Greenwich Community Service Award recognizes a 9th-12th grade female student in Greenwich committed to helping others in our community.

APPLY NOW! Application Deadline: March 7, 2020 For full details of criteria and monetary award visit:

www.jlgreenwich.org

Platform Tennis National Championships March 5-8, 2020 9am-6pm Host Club: Country Club of Darien

Come watch these amazing players battle for the National Title A HUGE shout out to our Sponsors

BTIG

FCWPTL* FCPTL

Performance Physical Therapy * REMEDY+ *HSS * Little Fancy * Josh Cellars *Yashmin Lloyds, Compass Danoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dangerous Tequila * Old Farm Partners * Stamford Health * Moffly Media APTA * ULINE * Viking * Clark Trophies * Fuzion Sports

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calendar CURTAIN CALL, The Sterling Farms Theatre Complex, 1349 Newfield Ave., Stamford, 3298207. Visit curtaincallinc.com for dates and show times. DOWNTOWN CABARET THEATRE, 263 Golden Hill St., Bridgeport, 576-1636. Sat. 1-16, Decades in Concert: The Sounds of the Seventies. FAIRFIELD THEATRE COMPANY, on StageOne, 70 Sanford St., Fairfield, 2591036. Visit fairfieldtheatre.org for dates, shows and times. GOODSPEED OPERA HOUSE, 6 Main St., East Haddam, 860-873-8668. No show in February. GREENWICH LIBRARY, 101 W. Putnam Ave., 6227900. No Friends Friday Films until after the renovation. JACOB BURNS FILM CENTER, 364 Manville Rd.,

Pleasantville, NY, 914-7737663. Visit website for titles and times burnsfilmcenter.org. LONG WHARF THEATRE, 222 Sargent Dr., New Haven, 787-4282. Tues. 7 p.m.; Wed. 2 and 7 p.m.; Thurs.-Fri. 8 p.m.; Sat. 3 and 8 p.m.; Sun. 2 and 7 p.m. For show information on the 2020 season or to purchase tickets visit longwharf.com. RIDGEFIELD PLAYHOUSE, 80 East Ridge, Ridgefield, 438-9269. For shows and times visit ridgefieldplayhouse.org.

for more shows, dates and times. WESTPORT COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE, 25 Powers Ct., Westport, 227-4177. Next to Normal coming in April.

LECTURES, TOURS & WORKSHOPS

RIDGEFIELD THEATER BARN, 37 Halpin Ln., Ridgefield, 431-9850. Sat. 1-29, Smorgasbord.

ALDRICH MUSEUM, 258 Main St., Ridgefield, 438-0198. Tues.-Sun. noon5 p.m.; Fri. until 8 p.m. Fri. 7, First Fridays: A Contemporary Cocktail Party with live music, 7-9 p.m.; visit aldrichart.org for more information.

STAMFORD CENTER FOR THE ARTS, Palace Theatre, 61 Atlantic St., Stamford, 325-4466. Visit stamfordcenterforthearts.org

AUDUBON GREENWICH, 613 Riversville Rd., 869-5272. Sun. 2, First Sunday Bird Walk at Greenwich Point, 9-11 a.m.

AUX DÉLICES, 23 Acosta St., Stamford, 326-4540, ext. 108. Visit auxdelicesfoods.com for menu listings and class dates. BOWMAN OBSERVATORY PUBLIC NIGHT, NE of Milbank/East Elm St. rotary on the grounds of Julian Curtiss School, 869-6786, ext. 338. Wed. 4 and 18, Observatory open to the public free of charge, 7-9 p.m., weather permitting. Sponsored by the Astronomical Society of Greenwich. BRUCE MUSEUM, 1 Museum Dr., 869-0376. Tues.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun. 1-5 p.m. The museum offers docent-led tours, family gallery tours and toddler tours; visit brucemuseum.org for details.

CLAY ART CENTER, 40 Beech St., Port Chester, NY, 914-937-2047. Clay Art Center’s mission is to offer a stimulating space for studio practice, exhibition and educational opportunities to better serve the community. CONNECTICUT CERAMICS STUDY CIRCLE, 1 Museum Dr., Mon. 10. Storage to Studio: Reflective Relevance, a lecture by Jennifer Zwilling, Curator of Artistic Programs, The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, Admission for non-members of the Connecticut Ceramics Study Circle is $25. For more information visit ctcsc.org, 1:15-3 p.m. FAIRFIELD MUSEUM AND HISTORY CENTER, 370 Beach Rd., Fairfield, 259-1598. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.4 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., noon-4 p.m. Visit fairfieldhistory.org for tour information. »

HONORING

2020 Peterson Business Award Dinner

Cliff Asness

Managing and Founding Principal, AQR Capital Management

TO BE N EFIT GR EEN W ICH L I B RARY TH UR SD AY, MA R CH 5 , 2 018 Greenwich Hyatt Regency Hotel

PRESENTED BY

Event Co-Chairs Candice Bednar and Susan Carroll

Jonathan Beinner Former Fixed Income Chief Investment Officer Goldman Sachs

For additional information, please contact Nancy Klein, Director of Development, Greenwich Library 203.622.7957 | nklein@greenwichlibrary.org

FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

calendar KIDS’ STUFF FEBRUARY 2020 ALDRICH MUSEUM, 258 Main St., Ridgefield, 438-4519. Tues.-Sun. noon-5 p.m.; Fri. until 8 p.m. Sat. 15, Family Art Experiences, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. AUDUBON GREENWICH, 613 Riversville Rd., 869-5272. Sun. 2, first Sunday walk at Tod’s Point, 9 a.m. AUX DÉLICES, 23 Acosta St., Stamford, 326-4540 ext. 108. Visit auxdelicesfoods .com for menu listings and class dates. John O’Conor

Greenwich Symphony Orchestra On Saturday, February 22 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, February 23 at 4 p.m., Greenwich Symphony Orchestra will perform an all Beethoven program, in honor of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. Soloist John O’Conor, known as the world’s premiere Beethoven interpreter, will perform Piano Concerto No.5. The concert will be held at the Performing Arts Center at Greenwich High School. A free pre-concert lecture will take place one hour before each performance. Adult tickets are $40, students $10. Call 869-2664 or visit greenwichsymphony.org.

GREENWICH LIBRARY, 101 W. Putnam Ave., 622-7900. The library offers a variety of programs: Blood Pressure Screenings, Drop-In Computer Lab, Chess Club, Volunteer Tax Assistance, Foreign Affairs Book Discussion Group; for dates and times visit greenwichlibrary.org. KATONAH MUSEUM OF ART, 26 Bedford Rd.,

Chappaqua, NY, 914-2329555. Guided tours are Tuesday through Sunday at 2:30 p.m. STAMFORD MUSEUM & NATURE CENTER, 39 Scofieldtown Rd., Stamford, 977-6521. Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday night Observatory Visitors’ Night, 8:30 p.m.

BEARDSLEY ZOO, 1875 Noble Ave., Bridgeport, 394-6565, open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. One of Connecticut’s top family attractions. See more than 300 animals representing North and South American species and learn about their endangered and threatened species, which include the Amur (Siberian) tiger, Andean condor, Ocelot, Red wolf, Maned wolf, Giant Anteater and Golden lion tamarin. Then grab a bite at the Peacock Café and take a ride on the carousel. BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF GREENWICH, 4 Horseneck Lane, 869-3224. Visit bgcg.org for events and programs. BRUCE MUSEUM, 1 Museum Dr., 869-0376. Tues.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun. 1-5 p.m. Sun. 2, First Sunday Science at the Seaside Center, 1:304 p.m. DISCOVERY MUSEUM AND PLANETARIUM, 4450 Park Ave., Bridgeport, 372-3521. Tues.-Sat. 10 a.m.5 p.m.; Sun. noon-5 p.m. The Discovery Museum’s 20,000 square foot facility includes changing and permanent interactive exhibit galleries, a 124 seat planetarium, Challenger

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Learning Center, an 80-seat auditorium and five multipurpose classrooms where hands-on science classes are conducted for schools, groups and the general public. discoverymuseum .org.

the Long Island Sound ecosystem and the global environment through living exhibits, marine science, and environmental education, visit maritimeaquarium.org for classes and times.

DOWNTOWN CABARET THEATRE, 263 Golden Hill St., Bridgeport, 5761636. Sat. 1-9, Three Pigs. dtcab.com.

NEW CANAAN NATURE CENTER, 144 Oenoke Ridge, New Canaan, 966-9577. Visit newcanaannature.org to learn about Friday Family Fun Night.

EARTHPLACE, 10 Woodside Lane, Westport, 227-7253, The mission of Earthplace is to build a passion within the community for nature and the environment through education, experience and action, earthplace.org. GREENWICH HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 39 Strickland St., 869-6899. Call to learn more about family programs. GREENWICH LIBRARY, 101 W. Putnam Ave., 6227900. The library offers many programs for children: Wee Ones, Tales for Tots, Baby Lapsit, Mother Goose Story Time, call or visit greenwichlibrary.org for dates and times. IMAX THEATER AT MARITIME AQUARIUM, 10 N. Water St., S. Norwalk, 852-0700. For films and times: maritimeaquarium .org. KATONAH MUSEUM OF ART, Rte. 22 at Jay St., Katonah, NY, 914-232-9555. Tues.-Fri. and Sun. 1-5 p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Picture This! Saturday Story Time, select Saturdays, 10:30 a.m. MARITIME AQUARIUM, 10 N. Water St., S. Norwalk, 852-0700. Daily 10 a.m.5 p.m. The aquarium inspires people of all ages to appreciate and protect

RIDGEFIELD PLAYHOUSE, 80 East Ridge, Ridgefield, 438-5795. Sun. 2, Joshua Kane: Borders of the Mind, 4 p.m. STAMFORD MUSEUM & NATURE CENTER, 39 Scofieldtown Rd., Stamford, 977-6521 or stamfordmuseum.org. Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. STEPPING STONES MUSEUM FOR CHILDREN, 303 West Ave., Mathews Park, Norwalk, 899-0606. Open daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Ongoing exhibits: Energy Lab, Tot Town, Build It!, ColorCoaster, Light Gallery. Ongoing events: Storytelling Yoga; Zumba Kids; Zelda the Zany Owl; Boogie, Bop, Skip and Hop; Fab Fridays!; Mother Goose; Mini Makers; Mutt-i-grees; Toddler Tales; Resource Center Reads! Story Time; visit steppingstonesmuseum .org for daily classes and times. WESTPORT ARTS CENTER, 51 Riverside Ave., Westport, 222-7070. Visit westportartscenter.org to sign up for workshops. WESTPORT COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE, 25 Powers Ct., Westport, 227-4177. Sun. 23, Charlotte’s Web, 1 and 4 p.m. G

advertisers index ART & ANTIQUES

Bruce Museum's On The Edge of the World . . . . . . . 14 Drew Klotz Kinetic Sculpture . . . . . . 46

BUILDING & HOME IMPROVEMENT

Alisberg Parker Architecture & Interior Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 California Closets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Grand Entrance Gates . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Private Staff Group . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Broder & Orland LLC . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Cummings & Lockwood LLC . . . . . . . 10 First Republic Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

EVENTS

6th Annual Greenwich Restaurant Week . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 2020 Peterson Business Award Dinner to Benefit Greenwich Library . . . . . 81 The Avon Celebrates Oscar®! . . . . . . 76 Best of the Gold Coast 2020 . . . . . . 48 Bruce Museum's 7th Annual Art of Design Luncheon . . . . . . . . 79

Fairfield County's Community Foundation Giving Day Thank You . . 75 Greenwich Chamber of Commerce Women Who Matter Luncheon with Joan Lunden . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Platform Tennis National Championships . . . . . . . 80

HEALTH & BEAUTY

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Nathaniel Witherell . . . . . . . . . . 41 NicholsMD of Greenwich . . . . . . . . . 34 Park Avenue Vein Laser Center/ H. Majlessi, M.D., FACS, FICS & Vida Yasmin, M.D. . . . . . . . . . . 47 Riverside Orthodontics . . . . . . . . . . 10 Rye Vein Laser Center/H. Majlessi, M.D., FACS, FICS & Vida Yasmin, M.D. . . . 47 Yale New Haven Health/ Greenwich Hospital . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Yale New Haven Health/ Northeast Medical Group . . . . . . . 21

NONPROFIT

Breast Cancer Alliance . . . . . . . . . . 45 Junior League of Greenwich Community Service Award . . . . . . 80

REAL ESTATE

35 Hudson Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Houlihan Lawrence/Ellen Mosher . . . 25 Sotheby's International Realty . . . . . . 7 Sotheby's International Realty/ Joseph Barbieri . . . . . . . . Cover 2, 6 Sotheby's International Realty/ Leslie McElwreath . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 William Raveis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

REAL ESTATE/DESTINATION

Business Development Board of Palm Beach County . . . . . . . Cover 3 Douglas Elliman Real Estate . . . . . . . . 5 John's Island Real Estate Company . . 45 Premier Estate Properties . . . . . . . . 13

MISCELLANEOUS

JEWELRY

Betteridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 4 Cartier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 4

SEE YOUR WEDDING Featured in

Download a wedding submission form at greenwichmag.com or email our weddings editor Ali Gray at Ali.Gray@moffly.com

FEBRUARY 2020 GREENWICH

Big Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 Coxe & Graziano Funeral Home . . . . . 39 Westy Self Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

postscript photog raph by david k apl an

BEAUTY AND THE BEACH

hough it appears David Kaplan was at the ends of the earth when he captured this gorgeous moment at the break of dawn, he was actually at our town’s picturesque gem, Tod’s Point. “It was a bitterly cold morning, and I arrived soon after the gates opened, wanting to capture the sunrise. It was low tide, so the exposed rocks made the shoreline more interesting. I was fortunate to get this shot, because I didn’t last long given the conditions. I quickly made it back to my car to thaw out.” Some moments are indeed worth getting a little chilly. G

Have a photo that captures a moment in Greenwich? Send it to us at editor@greenwichmag.com for a chance to win $100. Please write photo submission in the subject line.

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GOODBYE WALL STREET, HELLO PALM BEACH

Taxed to the max? We can help you move your business to Palm Beach County. Our educated workforce, multilingual skilled labor, training programs, incentives, intelligent infrastructure, and appealing corporate tax structure – against the backdrop of an unparalleled lifestyle – are the perfect mix. For a personalized, confidential look at our competitive assets – and how they can work for you – call Kelly Smallridge, president, at 561.835.1008 or visit bdb.org/hellopalmbeach

Adam L. Munder

Principal and CEO, Sterling Organization LANDSCAPE: Bird’s-eye view of Singer Island, Florida.

TO HEAR ADAM’S VIEWS ON OUR COUNTY PLEASE VISIT BDB.ORG/HELLOPALMBEACH

bdb.org/hellopalmbeach 310 Evernia Street West Palm Beach FL 33401 561.835.1008