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VOL. 38, NO. 24
WEDNESDAY, June 16, 2010
BORN FREE
Fair Winds and Following Seas
WHAT’S INSIDE
The Double Life of Clarence King By John Pantalone
See who’s out & about on NTW’s Mainsheet page, turn to page 9.
TABLE OF CONTENTS CALENDAR CLASSIFIEDS COMMUNITY BRIEFS CROSSWORD DINING OUT EDITORIAL LETTERS MAINSHEET NATURE REALTY TRANSACTIONS WELLNESS
14 18 4 18 10 6 6 9 17 7 16
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Naval War College graduates process towards Dewey Field. (Photo by Meg O’Neil)
By Meg O’Neil NEWPORT, R.I. – The Naval War College held graduation ceremonies Friday, June 11 on Dewey Field at Naval Station Newport. This year marks the 125th anniversary of the founding of the College in 1884. The resident graduating class includes 303 members of the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard, civilian government employees, and 120 international students from 68 countries. Another 69 M.A. graduates and 38 JPME I were also in attendance. The Honorable Richard L. Armitage delivered the graduation address to the class of roughly 520 students,
members of faculty, and family. Armitage spoke on the importance of leadership and the challenges that face this graduating class. One piece of advice that he gave was to, “reach out to every opportunity to better one’s life.” He touched upon the strengths of Asian countries, the “re-rise” of China, and warned that, “We are going to be dealing with a nuclear North Korea.” He went on to talk about the importance of strong leadership. He stated that great leaders have two things in common, “one – responsibility, and two – reality.” Armitage
said that it is insufficient to just get people to believe they are better than they ever thought they could be. Instead, “a good leader is someone who has made another person better off as a service member, citizen, mother, father, sister, and brother for having this person at the helm.” He went on to say that this group of men and women is, “confident, competent, and can-do.” Armitage closed his speech saying, “the weight is on your shoulders and they are big enough. Get us back to where we belong...Restore us to our previous condition; May you have fair winds and following seas all the days of your lives.”
New Retailers Invigorate Bellevue Avenue By Andrea E. McHugh NEWPORT, R.I. — In the past month, nearly half dozen commercial real estate vacancies along Bellevue Avenue near the intersection of Memorial Boulevard have been leased by an assortment of retailers, some here for the season; others with long-term ambitions. Shops that had been a part of Newport’s retail landscape for decades, including Karen Vaughan (11 years), Carroll Michael & Co. (33 years) and Baccari’s Barber Shop (65 years), closed or relocated, with owners citing both personal and financial reasons. While the commercial vacancies seemed to be a grim economic indicator, new retailers have opened for business; five just last week, and invigorating Newport’s legendary shopping stretch. “We thought it [Bellevue Avenue] was the only place that made sense,” says Mark Badgley, who opened Badgley Mischka, an internationally-acclaimed clothier, with partner James Mischka (full story on page 13) at the corner of Bellevue Avenue and Prospect Hill Street last Friday. The shop is the designer duo’s third retail location (their line is carried at upscale department stores including Bergdorf Goodman, Nei-
Mark Badgley and James Mischka at their no pop-up concept store, Badgley Mischka on Bellevue Avenue. (Photo by Tom Shevlin) man Marcus, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue). Next door, a trio of designers has collaborated on a lifestyle store for women: Lily Holt, a collection of designer footwear; Sequin, jewelry; and Boo Gemes, a chic clothing brand. While filling these high profile vacancies has relieved landlords, occupancy length, for some of these retailers, is only temporary. Lily Holt, Sequin, Boo Gemes and Badgley Mischka are “pop-up,” shops, stores that occupy a retail space only for a short amount of time. Pop-ups have become a global trend, and though commercial owners may prefer long term leases, the pop-up is a quick way for a brand to generate
buzz and capitalize on a seasonal market, thereby making a positive economic impact by leasing a space that may otherwise have sat empty. The pop-up phenomenon emerged about six years ago and the idea quickly picked up steam, most especially during the recession which created vacant storefronts across the country. Major retailers including Gap, Target and Nike have used pop-ups to test new markets, introduce new lines and launch campaigns. “My business is very much a small specialty store business,” says clothing designer Boo Gemes, who shows collections around the country and has family in Newport County. “I do a lot of
trunk shows and I have a following with a lot of people that summer in Newport.” Gemes says the pop-up concept is an effective way to capitalize on building her brand and reaching clients during the height of Newport’s busiest season. “Certainly for me, for all of us, a place like Newport is great because you have a higher-end client base.” Pointing out neighbor Badgley Mischka and across the street, Isoude, “I feel like we’re going to be a real complement to one another.” Other retailers, including Twig, a branch of WAVE, at 146 Bellevue Avenue; Design Newport, an interior design and antique shop; and J. McLaughlin, purveyors of classic resort wear and accessories for women and men at 180 Bellevue Avenue, are long-term tenancies. “We’d been eyeing Newport for a number of years,” says Jay McLaughlin, cofounder of J. McLaughlin. Just shy of marking two months in business, McLaughlin says the company had long-hoped for a vacancy on Bellevue Avenue’s historic Casino Block, and had stayed in touch with brokers should a space become available. When one did, the company jumped on it right away. “The space felt right; an opportunity for an ideal
Read more on pg. 3
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NEWPORT, R.I. – When Princeton University history professor Martha Sandweiss comes to Newport to lecture on June 24, she’ll bring an astonishing tale with her about an internationally famous Newport native who led a most unusual double life. Clarence King, a white man born to a wealthy family whose fortune was made on the sea, met and fell in love with a black woman born into slavery in Georgia shortly before the end of the Civil War. In the process, this man, hailed as one of the 19th century’s greatest explorers of the American west and a scientific and literary genius by many, passed himself off to his bride as a black man. Sandweiss will discuss her book, “Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line,” and the story of Clarence King and his wife, Ada Copeland, on the 24 at the Colony House at 6 p.m. in a lecture sponsored by the Newport Historical Society. The King/Copeland story is historically significant for what it tells a modern audience about America’s shifting racial identification lines, its racial history, bigotry and guilt. King, born in Newport in 1842, was best known during his lifetime as the first director of the U.S. Geological Survey, the federal agency that underwrote and supervised western exploration and geological mapping. He spent a portion of his youth in Newport with his mother and grandmother, but moved to Connecticut at a fairly early age. Schooled at Yale University, he joined with western geological explorers, particularly in Nevada, Utah and Colorado, as a young man and made his mark with magazine articles about his explorations and the publication at age 30 of “Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada,” a stirring book about his adventures there. It was an immediate hit and so was he. His success added to his family pedigree and made it possible for
Read more on pg. 8
Martha Sandweiss, above, is the author of “Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line.” She will be giving a talk about the book on Thursday, June 24 at the Colony House at 6 p.m.