PARK Spring 2022 Cornelia Guest

PARK VE

CORNELIA GUEST TALES FROM A REMARKABLE LIFE

+

ALESSANDRA AMBROSIO BETTE DAVIS DOMINICK DUNNE R. COURI HAY BOB COLACELLO ANDRE LEON TALLEY BILLY NORWICH MICHAEL GROSS DAVID PATRICK COLUMBIA GEORGE WAYNE PATRICK MCMULLAN

Park_Spring22Cover_.indd 1

3/11/22 1:11 PM

667 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK SMYTHSON.COM

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 2

3/11/22 3:21 PM

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 1

3/11/22 3:22 PM

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 2

3/11/22 3:50 PM

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 3

3/11/22 3:50 PM

DRENCH YOUR SKIN WITH A LIQUID CLOUD OF FLUFFY-LIGHT MOISTURE. My moisturizer has three molecular sizes of Hyaluronic Acid, a potent hydrator that draws in water. Feels soft and weightless like clouds in the atmosphere... Brilliant!

- PETER THOMAS ROTH

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 4

3/11/22 3:50 PM

Up to 72 Hours OF HYDRATION

e

EVEN AFTER CLEANSING*

30% Hyaluronic Acid Complex, a potent hydrator that draws in water, helps plump the look of skin with moisture.

Breakthrough ingredient! Pentavitin® helps provide up to 72 hours of hydration. Even after cleansing.* The appearance of fine lines and wrinkles is visibly reduced, leaving a silky, hydrated and more youthful-looking complexion. Dries light as a cloud and feels weightless on the skin.

PETERTHOMASROTH.COM | SEPHORA | ULTA | QVC ® | MACY’S | BLUEMERCURY | NORDSTROM.COM *

#WaterDrench

In a 28-day study applying a 1% Pentavitin formulation, skin remained hydrated for 72 hours.

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 5

®

3/11/22 3:50 PM

Harris Residential Team PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 6

3/11/22 3:50 PM

Manhattan’s Midtown South: Setting the Standard for ‘Live, Work, Play’ LIVE AT THE CENTER OF IT ALL IN MIDTOWN SOUTH 172 MADISON AVENUE APARTMENT 18B Neighborhoods throughout the country, from Miami’s Wynwood to Downtown Los Angeles, are working to transform themselves to be all-inclusive, “live, work, play” destinations with mixed-use developments, pedestrian-friendly roads, and more. Manhattan’s Midtown South however, has arguably written the book on the concept—offering the perfect balance of “location, location, location” and luxury.

Located between NoMad (“North of Madison Park”) and greater Midtown, Midtown South’s centralized location gives residents the best of both worlds. You can enjoy a brief commute to work in Midtown while exploring trendy nearby neighborhoods like Chelsea and, in particular, the up-and-coming NoMad—a popular destination for eclectic restaurants and nightlife. It’s no wonder both Midtown South and NoMad have become major centers for luxury real estate development.

Take, for example, 172 Madison Avenue. Located just a block away from the Empire State Building with Bryant Park moments away, the 33-story building offers some of the most in-demand luxury accommodations and amenities, along with spacious apartments at competitive prices.

Unit #11B, for instance, encompasses nearly 1,500 square feet and features a professional interior design scheme, top-of-the-line appliances, and floor-to-ceiling windows boasting scenic views of Manhattan.

Residents enjoy privacy—there are a maximum of three residences per floor—as well as resort-style amenities, including a saltwater swimming pool, a state-of-the-art fitness center with a yoga/ballet studio, a private club with a wet bar, and more.

The building is a prime example of what is driving demand in the central Manhattan market. Gone are the days when living in the heart of the city meant sacrificing space, value, and convenience. The area’s vertical real estate development has evolved, allowing residents the luxury of deluxe accommodations with ease of access to work, nightlife, and entertainment. Residents can enjoy lavish, modern living while still being able to get to work or to their favorite Broadway show within minutes.

While each neighborhood in Manhattan offers its own charm and advantages, Midtown South truly lets you live in the center of the action—literally and figuratively.

Scott Harris

Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker 1926 BroadwayNew York, NY 10023 O: (212) 317-3674 M: (646) 302-5710 E: sharris@bhsusa.com

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 7

3/11/22 3:50 PM

1. Expansive Masterpiece on the Hudson River 165 Charles St. 6BR. 6.5 Bath $53M Web #19455532 Richard Ziegelasch 917-519-9111

2. Newly Priced

25 Columbus Circle 3BR. 5.5 Bath $21.975M Web #21545252 Ileen G. Schoenfeld 917-445-8808 Aracely Moran 917-678-0839 Alexandra Harrington 917-868-4574

3. Candela 14 Room Masterpiece 765 Park Ave. 4BR. 5.5 Bath $17M Web #21485565 John Burger 212-906-9274

4. Breathtaking World of Privacy and Prestige 50 United Nations Plaza 6BR. 7.5 Bath $75K/MO Web #21576887 Joshua D. Arcus 518-461-0668 Peggy F. Dahan 646-544-9992

1

5. Magical 360 Degree Views

300 Central Park W. 4BR. 4.5Bath $9.5M Web #21049166 Nancy Candib 212-906-9302

6. Riverfront Village Masterpiece 165 Charles St. 3BR. 3 Bath $8.8M Web #21517039 Mike Lubin 917-371-6723

7. Trophy Penthouse Designed by A.M. Stern 205 East 85th St. 5BR. 6.5 Bath $8.5M Web #21574056 Paul Anand 917-207-7847

8. 1,700FT Terrace and 8 Room Penthouse

2

4

3

4 East 95th St. 3BR. 3 Bath $5.995M Web #21365657 Fern Hammond 917-363-1992

5

6

7

8

w

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 8

3/11/22 3:50 PM

Virtually Staged

9

10

11

12

13 9. Brooklyn Heights Most Impressive Townhouse 1 Montague Terrace 8BR. 9 Bath $15.5M Web #21167604 Brian Lehner 917-860-2543

10. A Front Row Seat to Central Park 1 Central Park W. 2BR. 2.5 Bath $5.375 Web #21432462 Nada Rizk 646-226-8115

11. Unparalleled MET Views on Fifth Avenue 1001 Fifth Ave. 2BR. 2.5 Bath $3.295M Web #21417545 Matthew D. Hughes 212-906-9351

12. Super Duper Duplex

425 West 53rd St. 3BR. 3 Bath $2.65M Web #21587719 Doug Eichman 917-741-9046 Jack C. Anteby 732-865-4743 Michael Yount 917-678-3833

13. High-Floor Corner 2 Bedroom

14

with Open City Views 315 West 23rd St. 2BR. 1 Bath $1.675M Web #21586873 Daniella G. Schlisser 212-906-9348

14. One of a Kind

15 Dairy Rd. Greenwich CT 7BR. 9.5 Bath $34.99M Web #170458246 Rob Johnson 203-979-2360

15. Rosario Candela Townhouse

740 Park Ave. 5BR. 6.5 Bath $15.9M Web #20238003 Kathleen M. Sloane 212-906-9258

16. Ultimate Luxury at The Marquand

Virtually Staged

15

16

11 East 68th St. 3BR. 3.5 Bath $10M Web #21448230 Maria Serena Torresy 917-576-9500 Julianna Simmons 917-913-1918

All information is from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, prior sale or withdrawal without notice. All rights to content, photographs and graphics reserved to Broker. Equal Housing Opportunity Broker.

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 9

3/11/22 3:50 PM

Exc

BHS BROKER COMPANYWIDE FOR 6 YEARS IN A ROW

993

Brown Harris Stevens (BHS), the premier privately owned real estate services company, announced that Lisa K. Lippman is the 2021 Top Agent Companywide for the sixth consecutive year. Lisa was also honored as the reigning Top Agent in Manhattan, as well as the Top Agent of the firm’s West Side, Broadway office.

Described by Hall Willkie, BHS President of New York City, as “awe inspiring and highly successful,” Lisa draws from 25 years of industry experience and specializes in helping a discerning clientele buy and sell high-end cooperatives, condominiums, and townhomes throughout Manhattan.

Vie

212 F

Respected among the industry’s top professionals, Lisa combines comprehensive market knowledge with a unique personal perspective of living downtown, as well as on the Upper East and Upper West Side. Her clients benefit from her well-rounded approach that brings the nuances and charm of the New York City landscape to life, and appreciate her laser focus, discretion, and personal attention to every detail.

In addition to her exceptional resale business, Lisa has actively worked with developers and sponsors in successfully launching, marketing and selling-out new development and conversion projects. Sponsors and developers alike seek her out for her insights on the most important current market conditions and trends effecting market value, and design, layout and unit mix, knowledge cultivated from successfully working with buyers and sellers on a daily basis.

Lisa is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a law degree from Cardozo, and spent several years as a practicing litigator at two prestigious Manhattan law firms. This background provides her with a keen understanding of the negotiation process, as well as the complexities often encountered towards the completion of a deal.

Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker llippman@bhsusa.com 212-588-5606

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 10

3/11/22 3:50 PM

Min

211 C

Exceptional Prewar Fifth Avenue Penthouse

Triple Mint 5000’ Duplex with Views From the Kitchen

993 Fifth Avenue, PH

50 Central Park West, 8/9A

Views Overlooking Madison Square Park!

Stunning Central Park & Reservoir Views!

212 Fifth Avenue, 8A

285 Central Park West, 10S

Mint Contemporary Duplex at the Beresford!

Five Bedroom Condo with Parking and Pool

211 Central Park West, 15/16A

535 West End Avenue, 8A

Lisa K. Lippman Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker 1926 BroadwayNew York, NY 10023 O: 212-588-5606 E: llippman@bhsusa.com

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 11

3/11/22 3:50 PM

PARK VE

V O LU M E 1 . N O . 3

Contents ICON

28 THE BUNKER ART SPACE 34 MORTIMER’S MOMENTS IN TIME 42 THE HAT LUNCHEON F E AT U R E S

48 MODELING MISCREANTS 68 CORNELIA GUEST FA S H I O N A N D A R T S

96 20 YEARS OF LOVING LIBERTINE 100 KYLIE VONNAHME 102 BETTE DAVIS AND ME 116 LAURA JANE PETELKO 124 MARCELO ZIMMLER 126 MICAH MCLAURIN ESCAPES

58

ALESSANDRA AMBROSIA

PARK_Spring22_TOC.indd 14

128 ICELAND 134 ASPEN 140 SUNSET MARQUI 146 ACQUALINA 148 THE FOUR SEASONS ORLANDO 150 ATLAS OCEAN VOYAGES 152 THE LOEWS REGENCY NEW YORK

3/9/22 11:52 PM

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 13

3/11/22 3:50 PM

PARK VE

Contents

V O LU M E 1 . N O . 3

DINING

154 CHEF DANIEL BOULUD 160 HUDSON PRIME STEAKHOUSE 162 HASALON 164 GAYO AZUL 166 KAYCO KOSHER BUSINESS

168 PREPAREDNESS PIECE OF MIND 170 LONG VIEW UNLIMITED PROFILE

176 WAKE UP WITH MARCI 178 EVAN TAYLER 180 WHAT ARE IVY LEAGUE COLLEGES LOOKING FOR? BEAUTY

182 DR. ADAM J. RUBINSTEIN 184 PINCUS PLASTIC SURGERY

88

THE FINAL FRONTIER

S O C I A L S A FA R I

186 COURI 188 PARTY PEOPLE A N D F I N A L LY

208 CARTOON CORNER

16 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_TOC.indd 16

3/9/22 11:52 PM

Where peace of mind lives.

Where your financial well-being is priority one, backed by integrity, ethics and a passion for helping clients for nearly 40 years.

Where sound financial strategies create a solid basis upon which to grow wealth, for today and generations to come.

Where we take a side-by-side approach, building our own assets alongside yours.

Where relationships grow with your assets, because you’re so much more than just your portfolio.

First Long Island Investors. Where you belong.

516-935-1200 w fliinvestors.com

FLI_PARK_PrintAd_Final_022522.indd 1 PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 15

2/25/22 11:50 AM 3/11/22 3:50 PM

Hamptons Luxury From Sag Harbor To Montauk

Artist Rendering

284 Sprig Tree Path, Sag Harbor | $5,995,000 | 7 BR, 6 BA, 2 HALF BA | Currently under construction on 4.75 very private acres is this new luxury home with approximately 8,100sf of living space. Enjoy plenty of entertaining space in this light and bright interior with walls of windows. French doors lead to the patio, heated gunite pool, spa, pavilion and tennis. Near restaurants and shops in Sag Harbor Village and Bridgehampton and horse and wine country. Web# H363280

Pool and landscaping digitally enhanced.

Property has been digitally cleared

27 Palma Terrace, East Hampton | $5,495,000 | 5 BR, 5.5 BA | This newly constructed home designed by fashion forward Lindy Woolcott of HRH Design Group features over 5,210sf of living, on 3 finished levels. Natural light showcases the sophisticated yet relaxing atmosphere. Web# H363176

91 Abrahams Landing Road, Amagansett | $4,500,000 | Fully cleared 1.29 acre parcel overlooking the South Fork Golf Course. Can accommodate up to an 11,000sf house with Suffolk County Health Department permits in place and room for a pool and tennis court. Web# H362460

Experience with a Proven Track Record of Success

Martha Gundersen

Paul Brennan

Lic. Assoc. R.E. Broker

Lic. Assoc. R.E. Broker

O 631.537.5900 M 631.405.8436 martha.gundersen@elliman.com

O 631.537.4144 M 631.235.9611 paul.brennan@elliman.com

2488 MAIN ST, P.O. BOX 1251, BRIDGEHAMPTON, NY 11932. 631.537.5900 © 2022 DOUGLAS ELLIMAN REAL ESTATE. ALL MATERIAL PRESENTED HEREIN IS INTENDED FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY. WHILE, THIS INFORMATION IS BELIEVED TO BE CORRECT, IT IS REPRESENTED SUBJECT TO ERRORS, OMISSIONS, CHANGES

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 16

3/11/22 3:50 PM

OR WI

GES

30 Mathews Road, Wainscott | $59,995,000 | 7 BR, 8 BA, 3 HALF BA | This spectacular estate is set on nearly 14 bucolic acres and boasts more than 800 feet of water frontage with stunning views of Georgica Pond and the Atlantic Ocean. The pastoral grounds include a detached 3-car garage, pool house and heated gunite pool. With the ability to subdivide, this is a unique and unparalleled Hamptons opportunity. Web# H359482

Artist Rendering

33 Morris Cove Lane, Sag Harbor Village | $4,750,000 | 5 BR, 3.5 BA Gorgeous and updated waterfront residence with a pool, sprawling lawn, a boat dock and a jet ski dock. Breathtaking water views from nearly every room and only minutes from village amenities. Web# H363139

96 Tuthill Road, Montauk | $2,950,000 | Sited on 0.53 acres high upon a bluff crest, this property features some of the most breathtaking western-facing sunset vistas on the East End. The property offers the ability to build a 2,931sf above-ground residence. Web# H357035

elliman.com OR WITHDRAWAL WITHOUT NOTICE. ALL PROPERTY INFORMATION, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO SQUARE FOOTAGE, ROOM COUNT, NUMBER OF BEDROOMS AND THE SCHOOL DISTRICT IN PROPERTY LISTINGS SHOULD BE VERIFIED BY YOUR OWN ATTORNEY, ARCHITECT OR ZONING EXPERT. EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY.

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 17

3/11/22 3:50 PM

“Safety is the New Luxury”

Lake Placid, NY | mirrorlakeinn.com | 518-523-2544 PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 18

3/11/22 3:50 PM

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 19

3/11/22 3:50 PM

PUBLISHER & FOUNDER Christopher A. Pape EDITORIAL DIRECTOR R. Couri Hay

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Julie Sagoskin

ART DIRECTOR Paul Crawford

EDITOR-AT-LARGE George Wayne

FEATURES EDITOR Bennett Marcus

SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR Patrick McMullan

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Lauren Bens & Linda Feliz

ASSISTANT EDITORS W.A. Muller & Arlesia McGowan

CULTURE EDITOR Michael Gross

PALM BEACH EDITOR Christine K. Schott

TRAVEL EDITOR Joe Alexander

REAL ESTATE EDITOR Alison Kenworthy

INTERIORS EDITOR Susanna Salk

ARTS EDITOR Janis Gardner Cecil

FINANCE EDITOR Philip W. Malakoff

COPY EDITOR Sonia Acone

DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA Sarah Mohamed

CARTOONIST Anthony Haden-Guest

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jake Dressler, Betty Taylor, Patrick Shannon, Alex Lei, Thomas Lau CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Stewart Shining, Udo Spreitzenbarth, Duke Winn

SALES TEAM Lisa Stiehl National Sales Manager 914.760.6875 lisa@parkmagazineny.com

Wendy Packer Vice President of Sales & Marketing 203.904.6700 wendy@parkmagazineny.com

Maria Coyne Director of Florida & Caribbean Sales 305.975.9234 mecoyne@mecoyneinc.com

Scott Pauker Advertising Sales Manager 917.859.1343 scott@parkmagazineny.com

PARK is published four times annually by Park Avenue Magazine LLC. Copyright 2021 by Park Avenue Magazine LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any material from this issue is expressly forbidden without permission of the publisher. Unsolicited manuscripts and photographs are welcome on an exclusive basis, but must be accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. Reasonable care in handling manuscripts and photographs will be taken, but PARK cannot be responsible for unsolicited materials submitted. Printed in the U.S.A. *This issue features paid for sponsored content and covers provided by outside sources. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Christopher Pape at: christopher@parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Sept21_Masthead.indd 20

3/11/22 5:34 PM

John’s Island It’s your lifetime. Spend it wisely.

Blue Water. Cool Breezes. Warm Welcome.

Welcome to John’s Island. A sunny, cherished haven enjoyed by generations who have discovered the undeniable allure of life by the sea. With 1,650 pristine acres, miles of quiet sandy beaches and a thriving community, this is ocean to river living at its finest. From sunrise to sunset, enjoy the active and legendary social lifestyle where world-class amenities, unrivaled cultural and recreational activities, al fresco dining and water sports abound. Yet, the community is at the heart of John’s Island, where family legacies grow and neighbors become life-long friends. Replete with gorgeous architectural details, tranquil spacious living areas and lush grounds - all of our homes take advantage of prime location with access to an incredible array of amenities. We invite you to indulge in a life of bliss in John’s Island.

M i les Of Beach : 3 Cha mpionship Golf C ou rses : Ten nis & Pick leba l l : Squash : Ver t ic a l Membership : Ocea nf ront Beach Club

l u x u r y e s tat e s

:

condominiums

:

homesites

:

townhouses

:

c o t ta g e s

7 7 2 . 2 31. 0 9 0 0 : V e r o B e a c h , F l o r i d a : w w w . J o h n s I s l a n d R e a l E s t a t e . c o m

2021-4-Park-JIREadFull_Life.indd 5 PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 21

2/25/22 12:17 PM 3/11/22 3:50 PM

R. Couri Hay R. Couri Hay began his career as a Contributing Editor of Andy Warhol’s Interview and went on to write for Town & Country and People magazines.

Couri appears regularly on television as a commentator covering high society and Hollywood. His appearances include, The Today Show, E!, Fox News, PBS, ABC’s Primetime Live, Extra, Inside Edition and CNN Headline News’ Showbiz Tonight.

He can currently be seen on Showtime’s new series Gossip and throughout the CNN film Halston.

Couri is the Editorial Director of Park magazine as well as the Society columnist with a focus on philanthropy, art, culture and travel.

Couri lives in NYC and Southampton with his King Charles Cavalier spaniels, Cornelia and Webster. He is also the CEO of his own PR firm.

Patrick McMullan Known for his premiere nightlife and celebrity photos, Patrick McMullan is as iconic as his brand.

This photographer, television personality, columnist and philanthropist is also a native New Yorker who captures the city’s most captivating images. With a full-service photography agency, McMullan’s archive, which includes over four decades of photos, is considered to be one of the largest collections of famous, living people in existence. Aside from authoring six books, his works, part of evolving pop culture, are regularly included in top publications and outlets.

Jake Dressler

Michael Gross

is a law student and writer whose content has appeared in The New Haven Register, The Hartford Courant, The New Haven Independent, Fox News and CNN. In 2016 he was hand selected by Mark Zuckerberg to attend Meta’s first ever community summit that celebrated rising social media influencers.

is a journalist, editor and the New York Times bestselling author of Model, 740 Park, Rogues’ Gallery and other books.

Formerly a columnist for the New York Times, New York, Tatler, Town & Country and GQ, and a frequent contributor to Vanity Fair, Esquire, Travel & Leisure, Departures, and many other publications, he is currently completing a new book for GroveAtlantic on several significant American families.

PHOTO BY THORSTEN ROTH

CONTRIBUTORS Anthony Haden-Guest

Bennett Marcus

Christine K. Schott

Anthony HadenGuest (born 2 February 1937) is a BritishAmerican writer, reporter, cartoonist, art critic, poet, and socialite who lives in New York City and London. He is a frequent contributor to major magazines and has had several books published.

Haden-Guest formerly penned a weekend column on art collection for the Financial Times. His drawings have appeared in The New York Observer and he has contributed articles and stories to the Sunday Telegraph, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Paris Review, Sunday Times, Esquire, among many others.

A longtime contributor to New York Magazine and former columnist at VanityFair.com, Bennett Marcus has also written for Town & Country, Vogue.com, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, WWD, Bloomberg, the New York Times, Cosmopolitan, SCMP and Page Six. Based in Bangkok by way of Hong Kong and New York, Bennett’s interviews have revealed that David Beckham’s motorcycle riding terrifies his wife, Carla Bruni wakes up Sarkozy in the middle of the night to listen to new songs she’s written, and George Clooney’s space suit in Gravity was almost as uncomfortable as his Batsuit. Jared Kushner was furious when Bennett broke the story of his budding romance with Ivanka Trump back in 2007.

In addition to being the Palm Beach editor of Park magazine Christine K. Schott is the editor of Palm Beach Social Diary - the Palm Beach edition of David Patrick Columbia’s New York Social Diary.

She has also served as managing editor of PRESTIGE magazine in New York, and editor-inchief of Beauty Fashion & Cosmetic World.

Born and raised in New York, she and her husband George Ledes now divide their time between Bedford, NY, and Palm Beach, FL.

22 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Contributors.indd 22

3/11/22 11:07 AM

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 23

3/11/22 3:50 PM

J

ust as we embarked on introducing a publication which we here at PARK refer to as Hip. Haute.

Historical, during the very beginning phase of New York being awakened back to life, we are now three issues in and witnessing a further rebirth of the city after our Winter Issue saw us back into shutdowns and uncertainties all over again. While the world we find ourselves in now is going through yet another cycle of heartbreak and turbulence that we cannot easily ignore, I am so honored that you, dear reader, continue to turn to us for stories which can let your mind wander to a place of escape and hopefully joy. I am extremely proud of our team, especially our publisher, Christopher Pape, who continues to bring his enlightened vision of Manhattan’s leading luxury lifestyle publication to life. It truly takes a village! If I may have my own acceptance speech moment – it is awards season, after all – I have to thank Christopher for letting me be a partner in this journey and of course, you, who we sincerely thank for letting us into your home and hopefully onto a coveted spot on the coffee table. Or even better, take us with you on your next chic getaway this season!

This Spring Issue serves as a true all-access backstage pass to today’s leading newsmakers, socialites, philanthropists and celebrities – including supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio. Our effortlessly trendy yet timeless cover girl Cornelia Guest is the true embodiment of all things New York, but even more glamorous.

The actress, author, animal advocate, ‘debutante of the decade’ during the ‘80s and daughter of New York’s original ‘it’ girl CZ Guest, takes us home to her Texas ranch. This serene spot might seem like a world away from the place in which she grew up, but it is no less spectacular. She has certainly lived a charmed life surrounded by A-listers and royals, but Cornelia is now living her best life. She is the ‘it’ girl of the century, not the moment.

Editor’s Letter We also go back in time to stories from Glenn Bernbaum’s Mortimer’s, Manhattan’s juiciest watering hole – and yes, I’m talking about the gossip, not the food! Hear from a list of legends who pay tribute to this former Upper East Side spot as well as proprietor ‘Uncle Glenn’, including stories from our Editorial Director Couri Hay, who gives a glimpse into this iconic spot from days gone by. If you wish you had been there as a fly on the wall, now you can be.

Even before being released, our Spring Issue was given a shout out in another iconic institution, The New York Daily News, which got word that our famed contributing writer Michael Gross was writing an exclusive feature for us called “Modeling’s Miscreants” which digs deep into the scandalous world of modeling and those associated with it. Now you can read the full story here! I also had the pleasure of speaking with Johnson Hartig on the 20th anniversary of his fashion label Libertine, one of my all-time favorite fashion brands. Fun and stylish without taking itself too seriously, Libertine has found itself on every celebrity and fashion designer over the past two decades. Karl Lagerfeld was a huge fan himself. If you’re looking to wake up to something inspiring, watch Wake Up With Marci, hosted by Marci Hopkins. Not only is she an incredible wife, mother and host, but Marci is also extremely candid about her personal battles with addiction and abuse and recently released her motivational new book called Chaos to Clarity, which is part memoir, part self-help guide. Catch my own segment on Wake Up With Marci on March 12th at 10 am EST on WLNY-TV 10/55, where I will be talking about my favorite lifestyle finds, from resort wear picks to sustainable styles, plus celebrity beauty tricks and more!

As we all pray for peace around the world, I sincerely hope you enjoy this issue – and don’t forget to breathe in the promising scent of spring!

Julie Sagoskin Editor-in-Chief 24 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Editor's Letter.indd 24

3/9/22 11:52 PM

Delphin Enjolras NU ALLONGÉ

This original pastel by the Academic painter Delphin Enjolras is among the French artist’s celebrated series of softly-hued nude portraits that paid homage to the female form. Dated 1918. Signed (lower center).

Paper: 231/2”h x 31”w; Frame: 313/8”h x 387/8”w. #30-8547

This painting is featured in our latest exhibition, Au Naturel: The Art of the Female Form, on view March 26-May 28 in our New Orleans gallery. Scan the code to view the exhibition online.

622 Royal Street, New Orleans, LA • 888-268-0798 • info@rauantiques.com • msrau.com Since 1912, M.S. Rau has specialized in the world’s finest art, antiques and jewelry.

Backed by our unprecedented 125% Guarantee, we stand behind each and every piece.

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 25 NC22_43 Park Mag.indd 1

3/11/22 3:50 PM 2/28/22 8:26 AM

I

PHOTO BY JOAN JEDELL

Letter From Editor-at-Large

t should not at all surprise you, dear reader, that GW here would be the first to insist that our luxe glossy, PARK, has been an instant hit! Three issues old and already PARK is an instant classic that’s the talk of every elite media circle. And GW is hardly surprised. There has not been a magazine launched in this media capital of the world that has captured the hearts and minds and delighted the city’s tastemakers after only three issues.

So, this magic carpet ride is one you will want to jump on.

It’s on now and I cannot wait to hear what you think of this issue.

For this month, PARK further explores the savoir-faire and cultural footprints of an icon or three. The Hollywood legend Bette Davis is back from the dead, one could quip, with a riveting interview with PARK’s Editorial Director R. Couri Hay from 1972.

Bette discusses her still unforgettable 40-year feud with her arch-nemesis, Joan Crawford, of whom she once so viciously slurred, “She’s slept with every leading man on the MGM lot except for Lassie.” Bestiality may have been too much of a low blow for even the incorrigible Bette Davis, but rest assured this profile is one for the ages. Further tales from a remarkable woman flow from the peerless blue-blood beauty Cornelia Guest. The society swan who in her heady ‘80s razzle-dazzle party girl days was dubbed, ‘the debutante of the decade.’ Without Cornelia Guest there would be no Paris Hilton, simply put.

And the spectacular fashion essay in which she stars from the lens of the amazing Stewart Shining is what makes this issue yet another timeless, coffee-table keeper.

We celebrate the 20 years of the New York fashion

George Wayne

house, Libertine. We are even introduced to ‘the Liberace of the Millennial crowd,’ Micah McLaurin, and the 21st Century supermodel, Kylie Vonhamme. We also feature a stunning fashion shoot set in exotic Rio-de-Janeiro with the iconic Brazilian superstar, Alessandro Ambrosio.

It takes a particularly prescient journalistic mind such as that of the seasoned masterclass that remains Michael Gross who was in the midst of penning an update on the model world sleaze ball Jean Luc-Brunel, when the latter decided to end his life by suicide in the notorious French prison, La Sante, where he as awaiting trial. As they say in the biz - timing is everything. We also feature a salient conversation with world famous chef, Daniel Boulud.

We escape from the desolate beauty of Iceland for the glamor of, still the coolest hotel in Hollywood, the Sunset Marquis hotel, and on to Aspen with a slate of topflight travel writers. We check out buzzy new foodie spots such as HaSalon, which is drawing the crowds to its chic Tel Aviv vibes on Manhattan’s west side.

And GW saves the biggest kudo for our incredibly brilliant and supremely talented Art Director, Paul Crawford, who has dazzled from the get-go with his elegant yet dynamic look for this book. Clio Award Winning Magazine design if you ask me.

Lastly, every three months we create a timeless take on the zeitgeist, and we love to laud heritage and pedigree and the chic nostalgique. We know that print still holds the magic. Thank you for taking the ride with us.

This is GW. And I will be in touch.

26 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Wayne Letter.indd 26

3/9/22 11:52 PM

CARLTON FINE ARTS LTD. Exhibition With Artist Presence Wednesday, May 11th, 2022 543 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022 | Tel: 212-593-2800 | Fax: 212-593-2802 | Email: info@carltonfa.com PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 27

3/11/22 3:50 PM

ICON

BETH RUDIN DEWOODY

BUNKER Artspace the

WEST PALM BEACH

BY CHRISTINE K. SCHOTT

BETH RUDIN DEWOODY - DAUGHTER OF THE

late real estate mogul Lew Rudin, is a New Yorker through and through. However, while she serves on the boards of the Whitney Museum of American Art, The New School and The Brooklyn Academy of Music, she also serves on the Photography Committee at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach -- where she maintains a second home, and in 2017, opened The Bunker Artspace to house and share her abundant personal collection of art.

28 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Bunker .indd 28

3/9/22 11:51 PM

Andy Warhol by Firooz Zahedi, 1978, Gelatin Silver Print. Zahedi is reflected in Warhol’s glasses. parkmagazineny.com | 29

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Bunker .indd 29

3/9/22 11:51 PM

ICON

Above: Warhol Polaroids Right: Gail Cook and Andy Warhol, Francesco Scavullo, 1985 Gelatin Silver Print

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Bunker .indd 30

3/9/22 11:51 PM

“PALM BEACH IS CATCHING UP TO THE MIAMI ART SCENE.”

PHOTOS OF WARHOL POLAROIDS AND THE BUNKER ARTSPACE BY NICK MELE

Beth DeWoody

Robert Mapplethorpe to Niki de Saint Phalle Built in the 1920s as a toy factory and utilized as a munitions armory during World War II, The Bunker provides the perfect stage to showcase the wide range of contemporary art by both well-known and emerging artists she has acquired - from Robert Mapplethorpe and Niki de Saint Phalle to Lee Quiñones and Jamaican- born artist Ebony G. Patterson. The collection is shown by invitation only and through scheduled private tours. “I created The Bunker Artspace because I wanted a place to show my art collection and curate thematic shows. I wanted to invite art lovers and those new to art, not just to see my collection, but to see that Palm Beach was catching up to the Miami art scene,” says DeWoody.

SoHo Art Scene DeWoody’s interest in art took root as a child where she attended the Rudolf Steiner School in NYC and the University of California, Santa Barbara. She also took classes at the New School - where she met Benny Andrews and acquired her first piece from him. After marrying artist James DeWoody, she began to get deeply involved in the SoHo art scene where she began to nurture young contemporary artists such as E.V. Day and Tom Sachs.

She and DeWoody share two children: Kyle and Carlton DeWoody, both now involved in the art world as well. In 2012, she remarried to photographer Firooz Zahedi. Beth’s passion, vision and continuing support of emerging and, at times overlooked, artists have helped

redefine the boundaries of collecting. Along with cocurators Laura Dvorkin and Maynard Monrow, she has assembled a collection that is truly unique.

Themed Room: Celebrity Themed rooms at the Bunker include Feral Friends, The Puppet Saloon and Celebrity - an exhibition of more than fifty photographs both by and of the late Andy Warhol, juxtaposed to one another and curated entirely from the Collection. Accompanying the artworks are aluminum-painted walls, an homage to The Factory, and two antiques—a silver Zenith projector and an oversized Contax camera presented at the 1939 World’s Fair. It has been said that “Beth’s collections have collections,” and this is truly the case with Warhol. An internal database search will find close to 300 works, and that includes editioned monographs and rare books also residing in the Collection. Drawn to atypical or early examples by artists, she admires works demonstrating risk or an integral step in the artist’s practice. While her Collection does not include the quintessential Basquiat, she has Working Class Heroes, a drawing the artist made when he was merely seventeen.

Andy Warhol “I met Andy a few times in New York during the ‘70s and was friends with many that ran in his circle. My husband Firooz shot for Interview magazine and knew Andy well. I always had a sense of Andy’s importance in the art world and popular culture. I have an extensive collection of ephemera and photography of this period,

parkmagazineny.com | 31

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Bunker .indd 31

3/9/22 11:51 PM

ICON

“ANDY NEVER GAVE ELIZABETH A PAINTING TOO CHEAP TO DO THAT.” Firooz Zahedi Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns, Gelatin Silver Print

so images of Andy by the great photographers of the time are historically important to me, as well as his Polaroids,” says DeWoody.

Warhol Polaroids Taken between 1974-1986, the Warhol Polaroids, owned by DeWoody and featured at The Bunker, are unique pieces of history, not often seen. As many of the Polaroids went on to become studies for Warhol’s bestknown works, in them, one can see how his mind worked and what inspired him. Intentionally exhibited in their original, acquired frames, the variability in framing illustrates DeWoody’s collecting over time. A portrait of Robert Rauschenberg was the first Polaroid Beth acquired, around twenty years ago. The celebrity lineup depicts what she’s collected since then—Halston, Truman Capote and Dolly Parton, among others, now grace the walls of the The Bunker. In the second segment, the camera is turned to focus on Warhol, himself, a man that for the most part was found behind the camera, directing his subjects. Important photographers of the time, such as Editta Sherman, Philippe Halsman and Robert Mapplethorpe, shine their gaze upon him in diverse ways—capturing Andy in action, joyous, posed, and at times vulnerable, pensive, tender, and humble. These are moments when the “Andy” persona dissipates and magical details—a smile, a gesture, a glance— reveal themselves.

Elizabeth Taylor & Firooz Zahedi “I’d returned from a trip to Iran with Elizabeth Taylor,

and we were staying at the Waldorf Towers in Manhattan. Elizabeth wanted to have Halston come over for drinks. Andy knew I was in New York, so he called and wanted to meet Elizabeth. When I suggested that she invite Andy, since he was friends with Halston, she said absolutely not! I asked why, and she said he’d made a fortune selling paintings of her and had neither gotten her permission, nor ever offered her one of the paintings. Somehow I charmed her into including him. He was thrilled and put on his best behavior.

She suggested to him that he should publish my photos of her in Iran for Interview magazine. He was more than happy to do so. Though I’d been shooting for Interview for a few years, I now got a cover story and Andy established a friendship with Elizabeth that lasted until he passed away. He never gave her a painting - too cheap to do that - but did give her a lithograph of herself. Back then, the lithos went for very little, but after she passed away, when Christie’s auctioned her possessions, her’s sold for over $600,000!” says Zahedi.

Coinciding with the Brooklyn Museum’s Revelation, the Lighthouse ArtCenter’s Warhol! Warhol! Warhol!, and too many international exhibitions to count, it proves that decades after Andy’s passing we are still Warholenamored. He is just as much an enigmatic icon now as he was then. Simply put, Warhol’s obsession was with the Celebrity, and our obsession is with him. P The Bunker Artspace 2021/2022 Season is on view until May 13, 2022.

Reservations required: thebunkerartspace.com

32 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Bunker .indd 32

3/9/22 11:51 PM

Oversized Contax Exhibition Camera made for the 1939 World’s Fair, Aluminum

Andy Warhol and John Lennon, Christopher Makos, 1989, Gelatin Silver Print

Andy Warhol, Henry Geldzahler, David Hockney and David Goodman, Dennis Hopper ,1963, Gelatin Silver Print

parkmagazineny.com | 33

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Bunker .indd 33

3/9/22 11:52 PM

SOCIETY

Overflow crowd on East 75th St at Bob Colacello’s party

MORTIMER’S

MOMENTS IN TIME

BY BENNETT MARCUS

34 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Mortimers2.indd 34

M 3/11/22 1:43 PM

M

MORTIMER’S, THE UPPER EAST SIDE SOCIETY WATERING HOLE, was, simply, legendary, as was its proprietor, Glenn Bernbaum. “Mr. Bernbaum built Mortimer’s on the sheer force of his personality. An unassuming, brick-walled, moderate-size restaurant at Lexington Avenue and 75th Street, it became virtually a private club to the sort of fashionables whose names fill the gossip columns,” the New York Times wrote in Bernbaum’s 1998 obituary. The Gray Lady dubbed Bernbaum the “Solomon of bistro seating” because on the rare occasions when his regulars - Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Brooke Astor, Gloria Vanderbilt, Bill Blass, Reinaldo and Carolina Herrera, weren’t occupying table 1B, at the front window, Bernbaum had to make decisions that would stump Solomon. The hot spot, with only 19 tables, was a roaring hit with New York’s movers and shakers from its start in 1976 until its 1998 demise, with Glenn Bernbaum the arbiter of who was admitted to this elite “club.”

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Mortimers2.indd 35

parkmagazineny.com | 35

3/11/22 1:43 PM

SOCIETY

Above: Judy Peabody, Nancy Kissinger, Bill Blass & Casey Ribicoff Below: Glenn, Jean Howard & Lauren Bacall Above: John Richardson, Paloma Picasso & William Luers Below: Henry Kravis, Carolyne Roehm & Henry Kissinger

Iris Love on the bike

“Its social prominence caught on quickly as a luncheon spot for the ladies of the neighborhood—that being Park and Fifth Avenues,” wrote David Patrick Columbia in a new book, Mortimer’s: Moments in Time, out in March. “It was picked up by Women’s Wear Daily in their natural quest for fashion news. And soon the fashionable lunched and dined there. It wasn’t a fashion scene so much as a clientele from the social world, both national and international, who always looked in fashion. There was a feeling of clubbiness to it, and you dressed as if it were one.”

Pat Buckley & Nan Kempner “Nan Kempner (who lunched there every day, all snazzed up because she never left her apartment at SeventyNinth Street and Park Avenue without looking smashing) and Pat Buckley, Nan’s “partner in chic” who staged the annual Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with all the Swells (and the Nobs) turned out looking glam,” DPC added. “By the beginning of the 1980s and the Reagan era, it was without peer socially in New York.”

“I loved the worldliness of Mortimer’s and the elegance of the clientele,” said Robin Baker Leacock, the book’s author. “Mortimer’s was not a place that celebrated youth.

It was a place of sophisticated culture, leaning a little to the wild side. And full of some very humorous people, some even with a twinkle in their eye. I liked that!”

“Glenn, Mortimer’s crusty owner, knew me slightly and

soon began to enlist me to photograph the celebratory events that filled Mortimer’s night and day, with socially frenetic people who loved going out, through that socially frenetic decade, until his sudden death in 1998,” wrote Mary Hilliard, whose joyful photographs are the heart of the new book. “I would often get an abrupt phone message—Glenn’s gravelly voice saying, ‘Mary, call me.’ He would hang up just as abruptly. Never a goodbye or thank you, just the clunk of the receiver.”

Robert Caravaggi, Mortimer’s longtime maître d’, notes that one of Glenn’s best ideas was founding an annual HIV/AIDS benefit, Fete de Famille. “In the ‘80s he became upset and frustrated, losing friends and staff members to the disease, and did not think that the usual philanthropic social set was in tune with this devastating health issue,” Caravaggi says in the book. “He gathered his best and most influential friends and formed a very impressive committee. The event would be a street-circus-like fair. He planned a huge cocktail block party with magnificent food stations created by Mortimer’s and the A-list caterer, Glorious Food.

The proceeds of the events went to New York Presbyterian Hospital for AIDS research and later their AIDS care center, now referred to as the Center for Special Studies: Glenn Bernbaum Unit. The thirteen events over the years raised millions of dollars and introduced and influenced highsociety philanthropy to this horrible disease.”

To Robin Baker Leacock, Mortimer’s was magical. The

36 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Mortimers2.indd 36

3/11/22 1:43 PM

Below: John Galliano & André Leon Talley

Above: Anne Slater, Glenn & Aileen Mehle ( a.k.a. Suzy) Below: Sami Ali Sindi birthday party 1996 Glenn & Billy Norwich.

book compiles memories of Mortimer’s in a specific time and place: New York City in the late 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s.

Remembrance of Things Past

Cornelia Guest Uncle Glenn would always make me a delicious Flight Kit for my travels: Sandwich, salad, chips, tons of goodies, and a sweet note to send me on my way. It kept me wellfed for a few days. I was always the envy of everyone on the plane!!! A lady once asked me where my yummy food was from, and I said Mortimer’s. She called, got Uncle Glenn, and he said, ‘No way... Only for Cornelia.’ Uncle Glenn was the best... Everyone at Mortimer’s was wonderful. I miss them all and wish Mortimer’s was still there.

David Patrick Columbia Quality was at the forefront and those who possessed what Glenn considered “quality of qualities” were given the table in the window and those close to it. You couldn’t make a reservation for that or any other table, although “no reservations” was for the hoi polloi. C. Z. Guest or Babe Paley or Jackie Onassis always had their social secretaries call ahead. Glenn was otherwise democratic with the rest of us, although it might have required waiting at the bar (which was part of the main room and not a bad place to wait and people-watch).

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Mortimers2.indd 37

André Leon Talley I remember C. Z. Guest of Old Westbury drove in and held her daughter’s debutante dinner at Mortimer’s. She took over the entire restaurant. It was a black tie, and Cornelia went rogue modern, wearing a blue Fabrice spangled short evening sparkler. The heavy candelabra with white candles burned down and almost spilled onto my table, seated jammed up to the main bar in the large room.

Bob Colacello I think my most memorable time at Mortimer’s was the night Reinaldo and Carolina Herrera invited me to a little dinner for Princess Margaret in the side room. Glenn had ordered a centerpiece of pink and lavender sweet peas for their table, which he thought was very English. I got there early with Carolina, who hated the sweet peas. . .But she loved the peonies on the table reserved for Betsy Bloomingdale, so she switched the arrangements before Betsy arrived.

Michael Gross As the years went by, and I started covering life in the city’s tonier precincts for magazines like Manhattan Inc. and Vanity Fair, and then The New York Times and New York Magazine, it seemed that somehow, I’d been issued a membership card, and given a second-row seat at the circus of vanity, ambition, wealth and insouciance that was Bernbaum’s boite.

3/11/22 1:43 PM

SOCIETY

Andy Warhol, Friend & Daniel Dror

Main room at Mortimer’s set for a party Lindsey Smith, Crystal Perry, Nina Tower, friend & Bill Butler

Brooke Astor

Mortimer’s Meat Loaf Recipe

I clocked the comings and goings of the impeccably-clad widows, Edna Morris, Brooke Astor, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, whom Glenn placed in the vitrine, the large single table by the sun-swept front window. Glenn would whisper, too, sometimes, nudging me toward this story and away from that one.

The Bonfire of the Vanities Billy Norwich I remember piling into a car with Nan Kempner and Glenn and going to our screen tests to play ourselves, or reasonable facsimiles, in Brian De Palma’s film version of Tom Wolfe’s novel The Bonfire of the Vanities. Nan was cast almost immediately, given a couple of lines of dialogue too, and stayed behind to talk to the costume people. Anne Slater, Glenn, and I returned to Mortimer’s to nurse rejection. Would Glenn and I never get out of our respective typing pools?

Not only were we rejected, but so too was Mortimer’s itself. The studio didn’t think the movie-going public would believe Mortimer’s, in all its understated simplicity, was the society watering hole in New York. As I recall, an ornate brass and crystal situation in Rockefeller Center was cast in the role of dining palace. “Well, darlings,” Mrs. Slater

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Mortimers2.indd 38

said, smiling and consoling, and laughing behind her cobalt blue eyeglasses.

People Like Us Dominick Dunne Back in 1988, I wrote a best-selling novel called People Like Us, which concerned itself with New York society.

Mortimer’s was the center of the novel. I called it Clarence’s, at the suggestion of Sisi Cahan, who thought Glenn might mind. The character I based on Glenn was named Chick Jacoby, and Chick was a martinet who had a genius for placement and ruled his domain in exactly the fashion that Glenn ruled Mortimer’s. Mind? He didn’t mind at all.

He was thrilled. At the book lunch party, he changed the name on the awning outside on Lexington Avenue from Mortimer’s to Clarence’s.

[Glenn] absolutely roared with laughter when Hollywood producers of the mini-series of People Like Us didn’t think Mortimer’s had the right “look” for Clarence’s. They wanted something grander, not getting it, that the lack of grandeur was the very point of it, as were the prices. “There’s nothing the rich like better than a bargain,” he once said to me, and I used the line in the book.

3/11/22 1:43 PM

Fete De Famille, an annual fundraiser for AIDS health care at Lenox Hill Hospital.jpeg

Ryan O’Neal & Farrah Fawcett Faye Dunaway & Jim Brady

Kelly & Calvin Klein

Robert Caravaggi at the guitar

André Leon Talley [Glenn] once hosted a party for me, to entertain John Galliano in 1993. We sat outside on the sidewalk in an enclosed special tent. Iman came in wearing a long red Alaïa dress and caused a stir. John wore white powder on his hair, and John Bult—who helped fund the rebooting of Mr. Galliano with the March 1994 collection in Paris, at the late Sao Schlumberger’s landmark mansion—attended. He later took the Concorde to Paris and decided to give Galliano fifty grand to make that legendary show, which really launched his career as a visionary designer. That all happened because of Glenn Bernbaum at Mortimer’s.

Robert Caravaggi My relationship with Glenn Bernbaum was a love-hate one, and during my extended time there I either quit or was fired a few times but was always asked back by Glenn.

You see, he needed maître d’s to be nice to his customers.

He generally was only nice to his friends, a list that would grow as time went on. With Mortimer’s he had found his vehicle for becoming a social arbiter, a position he relished beyond any other and that ultimately would seriously cloud his judgment and health.

Robin Baker Leacock Mortimer’s embraced eccentricities, just as Europeans have for centuries. There was always a party going on with fashionable and interesting people to meet, who loved living slightly outside the culture of the mundane day-today. Mortimer’s was full of people attempting to live life to the fullest, and I was attracted to this attitude!

Mary Hilliard At one early Fête de Famille, Glenn was actually sitting down near a little stage where Peter Allen was singing and playing the piano. Glenn and his friends, Anne Slater (of the blue-tinted glasses), John Cahill, and Brooke and Peter Duchin were whispering so loud that Peter, in the middle of his song, turned and demanded, “Glenn, be quiet! You can gossip with Anne later!”

Robert Caravaggi In the late ‘70s, Mortimer’s one-room roared every lunch and dinner with many chic European and American young types partying hard alongside owner Glenn Bernbaum’s friends named Blass, KJ Lane, Zipkin, Adolfo and Short.

These gentlemen brought in the society ladies and a legend was born. P

parkmagazineny.com | 39

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Mortimers2.indd 39

3/11/22 1:43 PM

SOCIETY

My

Mortimer’s

BY R. COURI HAY

Francesco Scavullo, Cornelia Guest, R. Couri Hay, Fabrise, Patricia Hearst & Nikki Haskell

“THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTH 40 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Mortimers2.indd 40

3/11/22 1:43 PM

I

Deb of the Decade coined the phrase “Deb of the Decade” at Mortimer’s, for Cornelia Guest who was the ‘80’s most glamorous It Girl. This happened during a dinner party her mother, society swan C.Z. Guest, gave at the legendary Upper East Side boite to celebrate my friend, Cornelia’s, debut into high society. I asked C.Z. and Mortimer’s owner Glenn Bernbaum to sit me next to Eugenia Sheppard, the New York Post’s Society columnist, so I could subtly “feed” her Cornelia’s new “title”, it was the headline of her next column. Who else would tell you these things?

Cornelia and I called the inimitable Mr. Bernbaum “Uncle” Glenn, and he treated us like his favorite niece and nephew. He always gave us the window table, known as the restaurant’s best perch, as long as Jackie Kennedy or Truman Capote weren’t there. Uncle Glenn encouraged us to bring our friends, including Anne Hearst, Jay McInerny, Boy George, Tama Janowitz and stars from Andy Warhol’s Factory, to Mortimer’s for late-night drinks and suppers after the grown-ups had all gone home to bed. Andy often came with us as he liked to be around lively young people. N’est-ce Pas? Fête de Famille “Uncle” Glenn and I were both gay, so we bonded over many things, including in 1986 when he started hosting his Fête de Famille, an annual benefit for the New York Presbyterian AIDS Foundation. Glenn asked Cornelia and I to join his Junior Committee to help sell tickets and bring our fancy friends to the party, which was one of the most important events of the fall season. All the era’s most prominent ladies and gentlemen including, Mrs. and Mr. William F. Buckley, Blaine Trump, Nan Kempner, Bill Blass and Reinaldo and Carolina Herrera would come. Of course, Bill Cunningham, the New York Times Evening Hours

photographer, was there to capture everyone in all their glory as was Aileen Mehle, AKA Suzy, the ne plus ultra society columnist for WWD and W. The Best Dressed List One of the fun features of the charity was an auction, where Glenn would get his friends to donate various items. I was often asked to not only help get the gifts, but to pull the lottery tickets. Glenn, a master marketer and press agent, taught me a few naughty tricks. The naughtiest of all was instructing me that no matter what ticket I pulled out of the glass bowl, to announce the winner of the Harley Davidson motorcycle as Nan Kempner, whether she was on the ticket or not. This resulted in massive publicity because Nan was on The Best Dressed List and the idea of her riding a motorcycle in a Yves Saint Laurent tuxedo was irresistible to the press.

RIP Glenn Bernbaum Another year, I procured an expensive painting from my friend Mark Kostabi. Again, Glenn instructed me that no matter whose name was on the ticket I was to announce the winner as the designer Bill Blass. This, again, resulted in major PR not only for Mortimer’s and Glenn, but for Bill Blass and Kostabi. Everybody won, except for the poor soul whose name was really on the ticket. I’m only telling this story now because “Uncle” Glenn is now in heaven, entertaining the angels and pulling new favors out of the clouds for his friends. I hope one of those “tricks” will include getting the Pearly Gates to open upon my arrival, which I hope won’t be anytime soon. RIP Glenn Bernbaum, there will never be another Mortimer’s! P

OTHER MORTIMER’S!” R. Couri Hay parkmagazineny.com | 41

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Mortimers2.indd 41

3/11/22 1:43 PM

LOOK BACK

Joan Rivers Karen LeFrak & Leonard Lauder

The Hat Luncheon F R E D E R I C K L AW O L M S T E D AWA R D S

Andy Warhol once said, “If you don’t know Patrick McMullan, you ought to get out more.” Here, McMullan shares a photo history of the Women’s Committee of the Central Park Conservancy’s signature event, The Frederick Law Olmsted Awards Luncheon, always the highlight of the Spring’s social season. This benefit, founded in 1983, is fondly known as the Hat Luncheon because the city’s chicest ladies don their most fabulous chapeaux. McMullan has covered this luncheon since its inception and has picked a few of his favorite photos from the 2005 to 2021 events. This glamorous lunch, attended by over 1,200 park lovers, raised over 2.8 million last year towards the care, restoration, and enhancement of the park. To date, the Women’s Committee has raised more than 195 million for NYC’s urban oasis. This year’s luncheon will be held in May. I suggest you buy your tickets early as this stellar afternoon always sells out. centralparknyc.org​ PHOTOGRAPHY BY PATRICK MCMULLAN

42 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Hat Luncheon .indd 42

3/9/22 11:51 PM

Bette Midler

Blaine Trump & Joanne de Guardiola

Lucia Hwong Gordon

Bill Cunningham

parkmagazineny.com | 43

PARK_Spring22_Hat Luncheon .indd 43

3/9/22 11:51 PM

LOOK BACK

Hilary Dick & Mia Matheson

Tiffany Gardner

Nina Griscom

Sharon Jacob & Dr. Areta Podhorodecki

Muffie Potter Aston & Andrea Stark

44 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Hat Luncheon .indd 44

3/9/22 11:51 PM

Margo Langenberg

Stephanie March

Gillian Miniter & Elyse Newhouse

Amy Fine Collins

Roger Webster & Sharon Bush

parkmagazineny.com | 45

PARK_Spring22_Hat Luncheon .indd 45

3/9/22 11:51 PM

LOOK BACK

Hilary Geary Ross, Audrey Gruss & Jamie Gregory

Brooke Shields

Blair Hussain

Marcia Mishaan

46 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Hat Luncheon .indd 46

3/9/22 11:51 PM

Debbie Bancroft, Somers Farkas, Cynthia Lufkin & Wendy Carduner

Evelyn Lauder

Lauren Santo Domingo

Yaz Hernandez & Alexandra Lebenthal

parkmagazineny.com | 47

PARK_Spring22_Hat Luncheon .indd 47

3/9/22 11:51 PM

INSIDE STORY

MODELING’S MISCREANTS

FACE THE MUSIC

BY MICHAEL GROSS

PARK_Spring22_Feature_MichaelGross.indd 48

3/11/22 2:39 PM

‘‘The music pounds, the champagne flows,”

Carré Otis, now Carré Sutton

went the opening lines of my 1995 book, Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women. “There is brimstone in the air along with Poison, Obsession and Vendetta.

It is the smell of a factory that feeds on young girls.” In the century since the fashion modeling industry was invented by a failed actor named John Robert Powers, it has shrugged off scandal with supermodel-caliber suavity. But in the six years since agent Jean-Luc Brunel’s name was first associated with that of pedo-perv Jeffrey Epstein, the fashionably-connected money manager with a heavy jones for young female flesh, it’s become more difficult for the industry to ignore the smoke and flames.

Brunel went into hiding in 2019 and was arrested by French authorities in December 2020, at Charles de Gaulle Airport outside Paris, while trying to board a flight to Dakar, the capital of Senegal. The next fall, he was indicted for raping a 17-year-old model, a charge he denied; then, in the early hours of February 19th, the 75-year-old was reported to have hung himself in the prison outside Paris where he was being held pending trial. Questions swirl, as they did over Epstein’s “suicide,” and may never be answered.

Meantime, in August 2021, Carré Otis, now Carré Sutton, who’d made headlines in 1994 when she was stalked during New York Fashion Week by her estranged husband, the actor Mickey Rourke, grabbed the spotlight again. She sued Gerald Marie, another notorious French model agent, and the longtime head of the Paris office of Elite Models, alleging he’d repeatedly raped her when she was 17 years old, and trafficked her “to other wealthy men around Europe.” More than a dozen other models promptly came forward with similar allegations of their own in a criminal investigation against Marie in Paris. He’d been regularly accused of being a sexual predator, first in the pages of Model, then in a 2000 BBC documentary. But Marie has steadfastly denied the charges and has not been arrested; he is reportedly still living the good life on the Spanish island of Ibiza, where Elite’s elite all had homes. Yet, even his ex-wife, Linda Evangelista, has reportedly spoken out in support of her fellow models, saying, “I believe they are telling the truth.”

Evangelista was standing beside Marie at a Vogue party in Paris in the 1990s when he threatened my life for writing about the couple. “Paris is my town and if you ever write another word about me or wife, you will never take another step here,” he spat at me, shoving a warning finger in my face. Yet, not long afterward, he consented to an interview for Model, as did Brunel, and their role model, Elite founder John Casablancas, who successfully danced away from charges of sex with underage girls for decades before his 2013 death. None of them was willing to admit, in 1994, when they sat for those interviews, that they’d ever done much wrong. Indeed, they smirked with pride over the notches on their belts, as long as specifics like the age of their conquests were left vague.

Lately, it’s me who’s been interviewed, by innumerable journalists and filmed for about a half-dozen documentaries about these men and others. And Sony Pictures Television and Neil Meron, who produced Hairspray, Chicago, Footloose, and most recently, Annie Live! on NBC are developing a limited series based on Model. This time, it seems, the bad boys of modeling won’t be dancing away from their deeds quite so easily. For now, meet the men, one dead, one still very much alive, behind the latest scandal, in these excerpts adapted from Model.

parkmagazineny.com | 49

PARK_Spring22_Feature_MichaelGross.indd 49

3/11/22 2:39 PM

INSIDE STORY

“JEAN-LUC IS CONSIDERED A DANGER,” SAID JÉRÔME BONNOUVRIER. “OWNING KARINS WAS A DREAM FOR A PLAYBOY. HIS PROBLEM IS THAT HE KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT GIRLS IN TROUBLE ARE LOOKING FOR. HE’S ALWAYS BEEN ON THE EDGE OF THE SYSTEM.’’

JEAN-LUC BRUNEL

J

ean-Luc Brunel grew up among the haute bourgeoisie in Paris, started his career in public relations, specializing in restaurants and tourism, and got into fashion by arranging location trips for magazines. He married a Swedish model, Helen Högberg, who was with John Casablancas’ first modeling agency, Élysées 3, and organized dinners where celebrities like Johnny Halliday and Omar Sharif met models. Högberg later joined Paris Planning, where Brunel did P.R., but when Gérald Marie arrived, Brunel gave an ultimatum to its owner: “He said, ‘It’s Gérald or me.’”

Jean-Luc and Helen moved to Ibiza, where he opened a bar and restaurant called El Mono Desnudo—The Naked Monkey—with a few partners. “He had no money or at least not enough to support his tastes,” said someone who knew him there. “If not for Helen, he would have starved.” But Ibiza was a refuge of decadent chic. Young British lords and ladies with heroin habits mixed with dethroned royals and Paris models, and they all went to El Mono Desnudo. There were lots of women. “He had them all,” said Brunel’s friend.

Gaby Wagner, the model, was Högberg’s friend. “I knew he was taking coke,” she said. “I knew he was cheating on Helen.

I traveled with her to Ibiza, and I went out with the crew at night, and I saw all these girls sitting on his lap.” But then

Brunel ran afoul of some powerful people who gave him twenty-four hours to get off the island. “Whatever it was that he did, it was real bad,” the friend said. Borrowing money from one of his partner’s parents, Jean-Luc ran.

Divorced, he was looking for something to do in 1979, when another of his ex-wife’s friends, Karin Mossberg, asked him to work for her Karins model agency. She needed a man around because male competitors “were cleaning Karins out completely,” Brunel said. “Karin called me up and said, ‘As you’re going out a lot, and you know everybody, can you come and help in the agency?’” He said he agreed to give it six months and buy half the agency if things worked out. Two years later he owned the place and many modeling folk say that after he took over, he started sharing his models with his friends.

Where Gérald Marie operated “for himself,” said Jacques Silberstein, Brunel already “operated for other people.”

“Jean-Luc is considered a danger,” said Jérôme Bonnouvrier.

“Owning Karins was a dream for a playboy. His problem is that he knows exactly what girls in trouble are looking for.

He’s always been on the edge of the system. John Casablancas gets girls the healthy way. Girls would be with him if he was the butcher. They’re with Jean-Luc because he’s the boss.

Jean-Luc likes drugs and silent rape. It excites him.”

“I really despise Jean-Luc as a human being for the way he’s cheapened the business,” said John Casablancas. “There is no justice. This is a guy who should be behind bars. He was the guy flying all the girls from Karins for the weekend to St.Tropez. They were very well known in Paris for roaming the clubs. They would invite girls and put drugs in their drinks.

Everybody knew that they were creeps.”

Despite his bad behavior, Brunel led a charmed life. It couldn’t have been otherwise with the American modeling

50 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Feature_MichaelGross.indd 50

3/11/22 2:39 PM

Karin Mossberg

queen Eileen Ford as his guardian angel. “Eileen took JeanLuc as her son,” said Jacques Silberstein. “She let him become very powerful.” Some saw a flirtation between them. “JeanLuc made her feel girlish and desirable,” a model school owner said.

“Not with my girls” was the motto of most agents who sent models to Europe in the days when that meant dropping them like raw meat into a tank of piranhas. Brunel seemed to honor that pact with Ford. “I love Jean-Luc. I think Jean-Luc’s great,” Christy Turlington said in 1994. “I stayed at his apartment all

Helen Högberg

the time, and never once did I ever see anything wrong, never once did he treat me wrong.”

Finally, though, people began warning Eileen Ford that her Paris partner was up to no good. Bonnouvrier told Ford how Brunel was thrown out of a modeling convention in Las Vegas after a drug party in his room. “She started screaming, ‘You’re jealous, he’s successful!’” Bonnouvrier recalled. “I said, ‘I’m not sure jealous describes my feeling. I’m talking about drugs.’ She refused the evidence. She said, ‘He makes me laugh.’”

parkmagazineny.com | 51

PARK_Spring22_Feature_MichaelGross.indd 51

3/11/22 2:39 PM

INSIDE STORY

BRUNEL SAID THAT TEENAGE GIRLS SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO GO TO PARIS BY THEMSELVES TO MODEL. “I’M AGAINST IT, IT’S CRAZY, IT’S NUTS,” HE SAID. “I DON’T LIKE HAVING GIRLS WHO ARE FIFTEEN, SIXTEEN. THE ONLY THING THEY GIVE YOU IS TROUBLE.’’

A 60 Minutes investigation wiped the smile off her face. John Casablancas told reporter Craig Pyes he was covering “a conspiracy of silence, greed, and fear,” and then declined to go on camera. But Eileen Ford agreed to an interview that turned into a sneak attack.

Pyes had found models who called Brunel’s parties a “meat market … for the purpose of somebody wanting to take you home to bed.” Brunel was “the matchmaker … he’s got the girls.” And if a girl said no, she got no work. “I was personally proposed to … by Jean-Luc,” one said. “I laughed in his face, and I had no more appointments and I never worked.”

Another model said Jean-Luc had given her cocaine and taken it himself. “He’d always give me a little vial of cocaine,” she said. “He did that with all the girls.” Finally, Christy Turlington an fourth model said Brunel gave her a drink at his house that made her pass out. She awoke the next morning in his bed, positive she had been raped.

“American Models in Paris” aired in December 1988. Within months Ford cut off its relationship with Karins. But Brunel survived and remained a power in modeling, a partner in Next, an agency in New York and the owner of Karins, where he received me in an office he shared with a woman who’d been made his partner after the 60 Minutes broadcast.

Brunel was, as advertised, a charmer, small, with hollow, Gallic features, a broken nose, long, wavy brown hair, and a slightly dangerous air, softened by a blue cashmere sweater and a pair of tortoise-framed glasses. “I’m no saint,” he said by way of introduction. “But I never messed with the girls of

the agency, and not one girl left me.”

He readily allowed for another difference: that he had a problem with cocaine for half a decade. “I admit it,” he said.

“So, big deal! I never did it in the day. I was not mixing it; it never happened in the agency. I did it as an experiment. Fine, it lasted maybe a bit longer than it should. I started to do it for a few years, and then I stopped it; it was ruining my life.”

Brunel said he’dlived the night life in Paris since he was a teenager and admitted that models have passed through his bed. “You get laid tonight with a model, is that a crime?” he asked. “I don’t understand why people go into your personal life, what you do yourself, and to yourself, and they don’t look

52 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Feature_MichaelGross.indd 52

3/11/22 2:39 PM

at things that are really important!” What’s important? Brunel said that teenage girls shouldn’t be allowed to go to Paris by themselves to model. “I’m against it, it’s crazy, it’s nuts,” he said. “I don’t like having girls who are fifteen, sixteen. The only thing they give you is trouble. You just have to mother them; you just have to look that they’re fine. When that image of big supermodels started, it gave hope. But it doesn’t work that way. And what happened was a lot of agencies took too many people that weren’t the right people. There were so many girls with nothing to do.”

Brunel had heard all the stories told about him and brought them up to deny them. “You’re going to hear I bring girls to

St.-Tropez,” he said. “I never took girls to parties, to dinner, never, never.” But he admitted to inviting girls to dinners with his friends. “If I have a dinner, I don’t pay any attention,” he said. “I’ve dined with many girls from my agency, and then it becomes like twelve, twenty people, but the girls they can go whenever they want, nobody’s going to bug them.”

Karins was “a business,” he went on.

“Otherwise, it would not last this long. Then, you have my life. My life is not a story as long as I don’t take young girls to serve either my own, or … I mean, I don’t need those doors to open,” he said, referring to the sorts of men who would invite him places because he might bring models along. “I know tons and tons and tons, and I don’t want to see them,” he said. “I don’t want to be invited for a girl. How many times have I been invited Roberta Chirko on a boat and this and that; I never said yes, never, never, never.”

Brunel married model Roberta Chirko the day before 60 Minutes aired. Though the timing was curious, they’d been together for two years, he said. Others added that she was so in love with him she’d stop girls on the street and recruit them for Karins. Nonetheless, people talked.

“Jean-Luc married Roberta right after 60 Minutes to clean up his image,” said an American model who worked in Paris. But he hadn’t cleaned up his act, she adds. “He’d call her from other girls’ beds and say, ‘I’m so lonely.’” And the night after our interview, I ran into him in a nightclub, where his marked agitation, and a friend with a bad case of sniffles made me wonder. Later, Eileen Ford would tell me that 60 Minutes was “the end” of Brunel for her.

parkmagazineny.com | 53

PARK_Spring22_Feature_MichaelGross.indd 53

3/11/22 2:39 PM

INSIDE STORY

“She proposed to me that I work with her,” Marie said. “I didn’t know a thing, frankly. But I knew how to look at a girl, how to talk to her. I think [the head of Paris Planning, a competing model agency in Paris] heard about me. He was in the middle of a kind of war with John Casablancas, and he proposed that I work with him.”

That competitor didn’t like what was happening in modeling. “The work was different, more aggressive and much more money-looking,” he said. Casablancas also slept with the girls. “giving new services,” another competitor, the late Jérôme Bonnouvrier, smirked.

A street fighter by temperament, Marie learned to charm but didn’t make it a habit. His new boss “was too much of a gentleman for the concert that was playing at the time,” he said.

Rough around the edges, Marie was a road show John Casablancas and soon earned the nickname Chevalier de Longue Queue, or Knight of the Long Tail, a not-so-subtle reference to his sexual prowess. “He was the stud,” said Gerald Marie with ex-wife Linda Evangelista photographer Jacques Silberstein.

By all accounts, Marie changed his women as often as the sheets on his bed. Said Bonnouvrier, “He’s funny, but he’s a pimp who fucks the girls.” He didn’t deny it. “I’m not an angel,” Marie said. “But I’m very picky about the women I date, and I don’t n the wake of the rise of Elite agency founder John Casa- work by quantity. We are men in the business of women. We blancas, a new breed of agent rushed into the model trade. love women, and I think we’re just acting normally. The The most successful by far was Gérald Marie. At least, woman at a model agency is using another kind of charm, that’s what he calls himself now. In the beginning he used an playing mommy, sister, confidante.” aristocratic name, Gérald Marie de Castellac. “I didn’t want For what? “Money,” Marie said. to work under my name at the time,” he (sort of ) explained.

Those were different times. Models who met Marie then “I didn’t know what was possible, and at the time everybody saw nothing particularly sinister or sexist about him. “He was was working under a different name. Maybe I was stupid or the cock of the court,” said model Gaby Wagner, “Of course, crazy enough to say I was going to work and invent myself he wanted to screw me.” He would tell new models that they another personality, another system. I didn’t have anything would get editorial work if they slept with him. “I’d just go, in common with myself, so I worked with that a little bit and ‘Fuck you,’” Wagner said.

I dropped it.”

Another model said, “he was like a kid in a candy store, Though some people who have worked with him believe awed at finding himself in the position to sleep with all these he was an orphan, Marie has said he is the son of a hospital girls.” He struck her as “somebody you could fuck for work,” administrator. He apparently grew up near Marseilles and she said. “It was the only time I ever compromised myself, but entered show business as a go-go dancer on local television, it didn’t seem so serious. I liked him.” Their interlude lasted or at least that’s what he told one of his many model lovers a few weeks. “I never loved him, and he never loved me. And who marveled at his bedroom acrobatics. Marie said that as funny thing, I don’t think he got me any work.” a student he promoted ballroom dance concerts. “It worked “He was an episode in everybody’s life,” said another of quite well, and through that I started to meet a lot of girls Marie’s model lovers with a tolerant sigh. “His persistence because they followed the bands, and some of them happened amused me. He is relentless to the point of being humorous to be models,” he said. He fell in with an older woman, and and I had nothing better to do for the day. There’s a hundred she offered him a modeling agency. They called it Modeling. thousand guys like that in Paris. They’re nurturing, madly in

GERALD MARIE

I

54 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Feature_MichaelGross.indd 54

3/11/22 2:39 PM

Angie Everhart was discovered

by Jean-Luc Brunel

parkmagazineny.com | 55

PARK_Spring22_Feature_MichaelGross.indd 55

3/11/22 2:40 PM

INSIDE STORY

RUTLEDGE WAS OUT OF MARIE’S LIFE—OUT OF PARIS ALTOGETHER, IN FACT—AND CHRISTINE BOLSTER, A CALIFORNIA BLONDE, WAS IN. “CHRISTINE BOLSTER WAS FIFTEEN,” SAID A FEMALE MODELING AGENT. “GÉRALD MARIE WAS REALLY A VERY BAD MAN. FIFTEEN!”

love, and then they’re out of your life as fast as they got into it. A brief encounter of the most odd kind.”

Two years later, Marie’s agency had surpassed Elite in profitability, and Casablancas’ business partner secretly offered Marie an equity stake in Elite and in 1986, he became a one-third partner and director. “John was furious,” said an Elite employee of that era. “He said, ‘He’s a sleaze. He beats up girls. He rapes them. He takes coke.’”

Casablancas had long been a proponent of the theory that models were raw stones that needed to be having sex to become glittering diamonds. “European men are important abrasives in the finishing process; they tend to be male chauvinists,” he’d said. “That attitude … gives the model an awareness of her femininity, which is an indispensable quality.” Originally, that service was provided by the playboys who surrounded the agents. By the time Marie joined Elite, the sexual polishing process was more often conducted in-house. “He’s a good lay, I’m sure of that,” said his former boss “I’ve heard it from all of them.”

Marie said his first serious romance was with the Australianborn model named Lisa Rutledge. They lived together for five years and had a daughter, but domestic life did not domesticate him. “Gérald wanted to fuck the girls,” said Jacques Silberstein. “His way was, if you want to work, fuck me.” Just before he made the move to Elite, Rutledge was out of Marie’s life—out of Paris altogether, in fact—and Christine Bolster, a California blonde, was in. “Christine Bolster was fifteen,” said a a female modeling agent. “Gérald Marie was really a very bad man. Fifteen!”

In fact, she was only fourteen when she came to Paris, began sleeping with her agent, and ended up living with him for six years, before another model, Linda Evangelista, did to her what she’d done to Lisa Rutledge. “I stick pins into a voodoo doll of him,” Bolster told me, launching into the tale of what can hardly be called their romance. “I was fourteen and a half

Monica Belluci was discovered

by Jean-Luc Brunel

when I started modeling.” She was in Paris within days of being discovered in California. “At first I shared an apartment with two other models…Then suddenly I found myself moving into an apartment that Gérald Marie paid for. It all started about two weeks after I got there. You kind of get a feeling when someone’s interested and you’re interested. So, I was waiting for him to ask me to dinner, but I went into his office one day after work, and he just jumped on me. There was no way that he was going to get turned down. It was like I had no choice!

56 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Feature_MichaelGross.indd 56

3/11/22 2:39 PM

“I knew what I was getting myself into. I wasn’t like the naïve girl from Podunk that came in and got drugged at a party and sold to the Arabs! I had my reasons, you know? I knew that ultimately I was not going to be with this guy. But I didn’t know how powerful he was, and so it was a little more serious and involved than I ever expected it to be. But I walked into it because he was an agent, because he could get me what I wanted. At first it was a mistress kind of a thing because he was still living with Lisa [Rutledge] when I met him. It was very sudden. It was like, a decision he made, and then she was just gone. He sent her home.”

Marie made her a star. “He was like God; he gave birth to me. He decided that I was going to be ‘big shit.’ That’s what he used to call me. Big shit. And he did it. “Suddenly there I was in the middle of it all! At a very wild time, too. Everybody was doing drugs. … He used to do coke in his office, on his desk, with the windows open, right on the rue du Faubourg St.-Honoré. He’d do it on the table in La Coupole; he didn’t care. He was untouchable as far as he was concerned.

Their relationship and careers flourished for two years, “then it got very cold,” Bolster continued. “We didn’t really have sex all that often or really wild sex. He was always too tired from running around. And he did so much blow. I think that drugs had a lot to do with it, and the fact that he had as much power as he did. He was overwhelmed by it. He took advantage of it, and he really became sinister.”

Marie fell in with a new group of friends an “started not coming home at night, Boslter said. “They were so promiscuous it got to the point that our freezer was full of shots, the stuff you take when you’ve got VD—a box of this in our freezer! I, amazingly enough, didn’t get anything because I think he gave himself his own shots! I’d walk in, and they’d be bending over the kitchen table with their pants down, and Gérald would jam them, and they would pay him for these shots!

Every now and then something like that would happen that would make me sick to my stomach.

“We ended up with separate bedrooms because he was seeing other people and I’m not stupid. I would find my clothes walking around Paris. I approached him saying, ‘How come so-and-so has my Azzedine dress on? I know that’s my dress because it’s missing!’ I spent at least a year and a half trying to catch him because he was so sneaky. He tried to make me feel stupid. He would say, ‘But I spent the night in jail,’ or some ridiculous story.” He gave her the nickname casse-couille, which means ball breaker.

Just after Marie started seeing Linda Evangelista, Bolster started to work more in America. “I was going to start going back and forth between Paris and New York. I’d moved most of my stuff there. I came back to get the rest of my stuff. They didn’t know I was back in Paris. I got in the apartment. Gérald

was at work. Linda walked in, with a key. I couldn’t believe it.

I thought, Just the person I want to see. “I said, ‘So, what’s going on? And she said, ‘Well, I guess it’s obvious, isn’t it?’ I was so angry. I said, ‘I want you to get out until I get the rest of my stuff packed up.’ It was pissing rain, and she said, ‘But I don’t want to go wait in the rain.’ She was just beside herself.

She’s very whiny. I can’t stand her.”

On his return to their apartment , Marie “was threatening.

“He said no one would ever believe that I left him. The world would think that he left me. He said, ‘You will never get away with this! In New York you’d better take care, and don’t walk past too many dark alleys.’ I sort of died when I left Paris. I lost all desire to create, and New York didn’t help any, because it was the nine-to-five grind, and it was so cold, and my apartment there was the dingiest place. The truth is, I was so depressed that I just couldn’t get up in the morning. Everything that I enjoyed, anything to do with modeling made me think about him, and I just wanted to forget about him. Modeling was my life for six and a half years, twenty-four hours a day, and I loved every second of it. I have to thank Gérald for that, but that’s why I dislike him so much, because he took that away from me. I have a completely different life now.

“I’m just amazed I survived!”

The publication of Model changed nothing. Both Marie and Brunel remained in the modeling trade, the latter eventually in a quiet partnership with Jeffrey Epstein. Their days of reckoning were still decades away. Now that Brunel has met his end, perhaps Gerald Marie has also begun to wonder how much longer he can survive. P

Adapted from Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women.

Copyright © 1995

by Idee Fixe Ltd. All rights reserved.

Courtesy of HarperCollins.

parkmagazineny.com | 57

PARK_Spring22_Feature_MichaelGross.indd 57

3/11/22 2:39 PM

PARK_Spring22_AlessandraPhotoFeat.indd 58

3/11/22 2:50 PM

ALÉ PHOTOGRAPHER STEWART SHINING DEBUTS HIS BOOK ON ALESSANDRA AMBROSIO ‘ALESSANDRA BY STEWART SHINING’

BY BENNETT MARCUS

PARK_Spring22_AlessandraPhotoFeat.indd 59

3/11/22 2:50 PM

PORTFOLIO

F PARK_Spring22_AlessandraPhotoFeat.indd 60

3/11/22 4:03 PM

F

ashion photographer Stewart Shining and Brazilian supermodel Alessandro Ambrosio have had a symbiotic relationship, working closely together for more than two decades, since meeting at a photo shoot in 1998.

“You’d be hard-pressed to think of many photographer/ model combos that stretched over that amount of time with the consistency that she and I have had,” says Shining. “Her children are 13 and 10 now- I photographed her pregnant with each one of them.”

That also speaks to how Ambrosio, perhaps best known for her work as a Victoria’s Secret Angel, has endured in a notoriously fickle field.

From Wallpaper to Victoria’s Secret PINK The two worked together quite a lot for Victoria’s Secret, and company executives noticed their chemistry in the photos and asked them to shoot images for the newly imagined Victoria’s Secret PINK line. “We had a blast, and we came back with these pictures that didn’t look like anything that had ever been seen before at VS,” Shining recalls. “Again, we were thrown together. People just picked up on... whenever Alessandra and I shot together, they’d get twice the amount of work, and they loved the pictures twice as much as anyone else’s because we just had this chemistry.”

The two first met shooting one of the earliest covers

for now-legendary Wallpaper Magazine. “She didn’t speak a word of English. She pretended to, but I could tell that her agents told her to say that,” Shining says.

Ambrosio was cast along with another female model.

After Shining had photographed them both he said, “We have our star,” and they politely let the other girl off for the day. “That was it. That really began our shooting together.”

The New Book “That was more than twenty years ago, and many things have changed since that amazing shoot we did together,” Ambrosio wrote in their new book, Alessandra

by Stewart Shining, which celebrates their creative relationship. “First, I speak English now so I’m able to write this essay. I have two kids, I have worked with brands and people that I could have only dreamed of, and I got somewhat older. But all that aside, one constant thing is Stewart, my lifelong friend, confidante and everlasting source of inspiration.”

For the book project, Shining delved into his archives and kept coming across beautiful pictures that they’d done off the clock. “We’d finish the job and then I’d say, ‘Hey, let’s just you and I go down to the beach and shoot some pictures on our own.’” Some he had never seen, because he’d edit the work photos and didn’t bother to look at the personal ones.

parkmagazineny.com | 61

PARK_Spring22_AlessandraPhotoFeat.indd 61

3/11/22 2:50 PM

COVER STORY

“ALÉ IS A MUSE WHO CONSTANTLY INSPIRES ME.”

Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing

62 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_AlessandraPhotoFeat.indd 62

3/11/22 2:50 PM

parkmagazineny.com | 63

PARK_Spring22_AlessandraPhotoFeat.indd 63

3/11/22 2:51 PM

PORTFOLIO

“YOU’RE SEDUCED, RIVETED. THIS IS WHY THE PHOTOS RESONATE WITH ME.”

Calvin Klein They decided to shoot some new photos for the book, and quickly realized it was a dream project because, for the first time, they weren’t tethered to someone else’s constraints, of showing certain product details. “Picture 20 years of doing that together and then you’re let loose to do what you want.

It was like the sky was our limit. We just exploded with creativity. And your rhythm, you’re so in sync. It’s an intimate experience, photographing someone.”

Rio de Janeiro: For Carnival Over the course of a year they shot in Joshua Tree, in El Mirage, a dry lakebed in the desert outside L.A, in Santa Monica, and in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival. “Rio gave me an opportunity to put her with other people and show how joyous and how involved and how participatory she is with life, and that was a really key element. I don’t think the book would be half of what it is without it.” There were fashion shots in designer clothing, as well as nudes, which Ambrosio had rarely done before.

Calvin Klein The magic of their relationship comes through in the pictures.

“Alessandra’s naturally gorgeous, yes. But something more is going on in these photos. They’re personal,” Calvin Klein wrote in the book’s introduction. “As often as she has been photographed by others, Stewart captures what no one else

has: an intimacy and fascination that draw you in. You’re seduced, riveted. This is why the photos resonate with me. I appreciate and identify with the emotion Stewart evokes.”

Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing Balmain’s creative director Olivier Rousteing met Ambrosio by chance while traveling, and soon after asked her to open his upcoming Paris fashion show for Fall 2015. “As she strode out onto my runway with that iconic walk of hers— that signature mix of beautiful sensuality and confident swagger— well, I couldn’t have been happier as I watched from the backstage monitor,” he recalls in the book. “Since then, Alé has been a key ingredient in many runways and campaigns for this house... Together, we’ve been able to form a sort of unique and exciting duo—Alé is a muse who constantly inspires me, and that inspiration can be seen today on every Balmain runway as well as in the pages of this amazing book shot by Stewart Shining.”

Shining brought his vision to this issue; he shot Cornelia Guest for PARK’s cover. “Stewart is a dream to work with. I never worry about anything as I know he always makes us look good,” Guest says. “He is lovely, kind, funny and a fantastic photographer. And..... he loves animals!” P stewartshining.com alessandrabook.com

64 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_AlessandraPhotoFeat.indd 64

3/11/22 2:51 PM

PARK_Spring22_AlessandraPhotoFeat.indd 65

3/11/22 2:51 PM

COVER STORY

66 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_AlessandraPhotoFeat.indd 66

3/11/22 2:51 PM

PORTFOLIO

‘‘WE JUST EXPLODED WITH CREATIVITY. IT’S AN INTIMATE EXPERIENCE, PHOTOGRAPHING ALESSANDRA.” Stewart Shining

parkmagazineny.com | 67

PARK_Spring22_AlessandraPhotoFeat.indd 67

3/11/22 2:51 PM

GUES CORNELIA

TALES FROM A R E M A R K A B L E LIFE

68 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Cornelia .indd 68

3/9/22 11:49 PM

S ET Guest in Carolina Herrera skirt, Ralph Lauren sweater, and Pinto Ranch hat, walking Pearl, her Dalmation puppy in the front field at Templeton West.

parkmagazineny.com | 69

PARK_Spring22_Cornelia .indd 69

3/9/22 11:50 PM

COVER STORY

BY BENNETT MARCUS

HOW DID ANDY WARHOL CONVINCE A TEENAGE

Cornelia Guest to pose topless for a portrait?

“Oh, he didn’t, I couldn’t wait,” says Guest, who is now an actress, animal advocate and author. This happened in the early 1980s, way before social media and Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian’s infamous tapes. “Andy said, ‘Your mother’s going to kill me,’” – her mother being C.Z. Guest, a Boston Brahmin and Best Dressed List Hall of Fame fixture and one of Truman Capote’s most famous swans, who remained at the pinnacle of high society throughout her life. “Listen, find me a 16-year-old girl that does not want to piss off their mother royally,” says Guest, laughing at the memory.

“I was like, this is going to be a good one!”

P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y S T E WA R T S H I N I N G Stylists: Greg Collard and Jane Sublett Hair and Makeup: Heather Fitzgerald Catering: corneliaguestevents.com

Guest in J Crew shirt Surveying the grounds of her East Texas Ranch

70 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Cornelia .indd 70

3/9/22 11:50 PM

parkny.com | 71

PARK_Spring22_Cornelia .indd 71

3/9/22 11:50 PM

COVER STORY

Cornelia Guest and Coot in her family’s Long Island home in 1967

Cornelia Guest, Beverly Johnson and Grace Jones

Cornelia Guest, The Duchess of Windsor and Count Vega del Ren

Jane Holzer, Andy Warhol and Cornelia Guest

Halston and Cornelia Guest

Keith Haring and Cornelia Guest Halston, Cornelia Guest and Jean-Michel Basquiat

Cornelia Guest by fashion photographer Bruce Webster

Cornelia Guest and R. Couri Hay

Cornelia Guest and Lyle Peter Marino and Cornelia Guest Fabrice, Cornelia Guest and Joey Hunter

PARK_Spring22_Cornelia .indd 72

3/9/22 11:50 PM

“MY MOTHER WAS SO SMART. SHE JUST KNEW EXACTLY HOW TO HANDLE ME.” Winston F. C. Guest & Ernest Hemingway Her mother, she adds, never batted an eye. “My mother was so smart. She just knew exactly how to handle me. I’m sure she probably shut the door and beat a doll in my place, but she never flinched.” Her society doyenne mother, a renowned gardening columnist and equestrian had herself posed in the nude for painter Diego Rivera while in Mexico in her younger years and had a short stint performing with the Ziegfeld Follies.

Guest’s father, Winston F. C. Guest, an heir to the Phipps steel fortune and a cousin of Winston Churchill, was a worldclass polo player, businessman and close friend of Ernest Hemingway, who was best man at their wedding. Guest’s parents eloped to Havana and wed at Hemingway’s ranch there; Enrique Rousseau, Lilly Pulitzer’s husband, married them. “I have their original marriage certificate; it’s all written by hand. It’s quite amazing,” she says.

Templeton Guest’s childhood home, Templeton, on Long Island’s Gold Coast, where her parents entertained a Who’s Who of society, fashion and royalty, including Cornelia’s godparents, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, has been razed.

As sad as it was to see the place where she grew up demolished, in a sense, Guest doesn’t mind, because the place was so well-loved until the family sold it. “It was so beautiful, and we had so much fun there,” she says. “It was just a beautiful old country house; it wasn’t modernized, and I’m glad, in a way, it’s gone.”

Guest’s teen rebellious streak didn’t hurt her reputation in the slightest – she was pronounced the “debutante of the decade” when she came out in the 1981-82 season, and no one since Brenda Frazier, whose 1930s debut made such a splash that she appeared on the cover of Life magazine, has had as much acclaim as a debutante.

Guest grew up surrounded by renowned people from different circles, and in addition to Warhol, close friends from her earliest years included Truman Capote, Halston, Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta, Diana Vreeland, Francesco Scavullo, Boy George(who lived with her for six months), and Sylvester Stallone, whom she dated and accompanied to a Reagan-era White House event where they ended up on the cover of the New York Post. Many of these folks were at her 18th

PARK_Spring22_Cornelia .indd 73

birthday party at Mortimer’s, the Manhattan bistro favored by movers and shakers.

Sex and Vanity And Cornelia continues attracting interesting people and making her mark on the culture – Crazy Rich Asians author Kevin Kwan is a dear friend, and Cornelia is a character in his latest novel, Sex and Vanity.

An award-winning equestrian, Cornelia is an actor whose recent roles include a recurring part in the Twin Peaks reboot Twin Peaks: The Return. The native New Yorker also made a decision to move her nonprofit animal sanctuary, Artemis Farm Rescue, to Texas, where land is plentiful, and the weather is warm. She’s a longtime board member of the Humane Society of New York and a vegan.

Acting Career: Twin Peaks, David Lynch & Lena Headey Being cast in a key role on Twin Peaks was a dream job for Guest. Producer Mark Frost and creator David Lynch were “amazing” to work with. Lynch told her to go all out, “go for it and have fun.”

Guest, who has shot more than 30 film and TV projects, gets parts in various ways – sometimes she auditions, sometimes there’s serendipity involved, like The Shuroo Process, currently in theaters and starring Eric Roberts, Donal Brophy and Emrhys Cooper. “They were using a friend of mine’s farm down the road from my place in upstate New York as a location,” says Guest. “And she said, ‘You know, there’s a great part in this. You need to meet these guys.’ So, I met them, and kaboom, next thing I knew, I got the part.”

She recently wrapped production on Nine Bullets, with Lena Headey, Sam Worthington and Barbara Hershey. Gigi Gaston, an old friend, directed and wrote the film, and invited Guest to audition. She also appeared as Halston’s Directrice D.D.Ryan in the Amazon docudrama Halston. “I wore a black wig and glasses, and no one knows it’s me,” she laughed.

Artemis Farm Rescue In 2015, Guest purchased a 456-acre estate in Ancramdale, in upstate New York, to house her animal sanctuary, Artemis Farm Rescue, which specializes in miniature horses and donkeys. She hates cold weather, but Long Island, where she spent

3/9/22 11:50 PM

COVER STORY

Bronze statue of Artemis, goddess of wild animals, from Guest’s Long Island home Templeton.

It now sits in a place of prominence at Guest’s East Texas Ranch.

much of her life, never got very cold. “It never occurred to me in all my genius that if I moved up north in New York it would be any colder. But who thinks of New York as a tundra? I never did,” she laughs. “And so, after being negative 17 and with five feet of snow outside, I said this is just not for me.”

She considered Tennessee, and then a friend mentioned Texas, where she’d spent time in Houston promoting her cruelty-free line of bags and jackets. Guest had never spent time in Dallas, so decided to check it out. “I’ve never been one of those people that research things endlessly. I make a decision pretty quickly. Right or wrong, I’m a jumper. And so some-

times you jump in a puddle and sometimes you don’t. And even when you jump in the puddle, you wash yourself off.” She went to Dallas, found a house, and when the pandemic arrived shortly after, it turned out to be a good place to be locked down - she could walk her dogs everywhere, stores and restaurants remained open, and it wasn’t cold.

East Texas Recently she found a 450-acre place in East Texas for her animal sanctuary. Before leaving the New York location, Thirteen Hands Rescue adopted what was left of the two hundred

74 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Cornelia .indd 74

3/9/22 11:50 PM

Guest and her pooch, Winston, taking in the local color in Texas.

PARK_Spring22_Cornelia .indd 75

3/9/22 11:50 PM

“THIS TORTOISE HATED NEW YORK SO MUCH IN THE WINTER.” Wearing her mother’s vintage earings and getting face time with Socrates, her 18-year-old African Sulcata tortoise.

PARK_Spring22_Cornelia .indd 76

3/9/22 11:50 PM

COVER STORY

PARK_Spring22_Cornelia .indd 77

3/9/22 11:50 PM

COVER STORY John Deere Hat, Rayban Sunglasses

“WHEN YOU FIND A LANE THAT’S GOOD FOR YOU, STAY IN IT.” 78 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Cornelia .indd 78

3/11/22 4:06 PM

COVER STORY

Her pal Winston at checkout in the local Tractor Supply

of the mini horses and donkeys she had rescued, so this is a fresh start. “I have to get settled in. Last year we had a major ice storm. I want to get through another winter to sort of see what I need and what I don’t need.” Although a few animals she rescued from a kill shelter are on the way, and she is building a barn on the property.

For now, she has two miniature donkeys, Madonna and Snooks, and one mini horse, Hubert – that are really pets with which she will never part. She also has an assortment of dogs and cats, and her 18-year-old African Sulcata tortoise, Socrates.

“This tortoise hated New York so much in the winter. He’d stick his head out and look at me like, what is wrong with you?

I am an African Sulcata. I am not from the North Pole.”

Raiding Carolina Herrera’s closet, washing ponies with Oscar de la Renta Carolina Herrera is a longtime family friend. “I adore her, she’s so elegant and I always think what, would Carolina say?” says Guest. She’s a perfectionist with a classic look, and over time Guest has realized that classic style works best for her as well. “Carolina’s clothes are always so beautiful. Her closet is my favorite place to steal clothes from. I will steal whatever I can get my paws on, and she knows it.”

Oscar de la Renta would visit the Guests on Long Island often, and take Cornelia’s brother, Alexander, to play miniature golf. She was much younger, but the late designer would teach her. She’d wake him up early in the mornings to help her bathe her pony, Memo. “He’d come back in the house, and my mother would say, ‘Oscar, where have you been?’ And he’d say, ‘I was with Cornelia in the barn washing Memo.’” And while you’re trying to picture that elegant man slopping around a barn, Guest doesn’t remember if he dressed down, she was only four or five years old at the time.

Halston Halston was a neighbor and friend and greatly influenced Cornelia, teaching her how to walk properly in a dress, with her shoulders back. “I’ve always had good posture from riding, but you kind of relax. And he was like, ‘no, no, no, you never relax.’”

He gave Guest a pair of Elsa Peretti hoop earrings that she still has. “I wear them all the time, and the simplicity, yet again. You look at these people that really have stood the test of time and it’s so beautifully classic. They sort of stayed in their own lane. This is a lesson in life. When you find a lane that’s good for you, stay in it.”

She also notes that the late designer was ahead of his time, utilizing cruelty-free Ultrasuede fabric back in the 1970s. When Guest launched a bag line, she also used Ultrasuede. Halston didn’t use the synthetic fabric to avoid animal cruelty, it was so that women could throw a dress in the wash and shake it out and it was ready. “But think of the maverick that Halston was. None of these people could have done what they’re doing today without him because he really paved the way.”

Studio 54 As for Halston’s substance abuse problems which were documented in the recent TV miniseries, Halston on Netflix, Guest was unaware. “I was so young. I was so protected.

People always say to me didn’t you see this at Studio 54?

Well, I think I was probably the best-protected person in New York between Halston and Steve Rubell, no one ever hit on me, no one ever offered me a drug. So, I was very protected in this crazy world. I really never saw what was going on upstairs. I never saw any of that, and so I had such a different perspective of it than everybody else.”

parkmagazineny.com | 79

PARK_Spring22_Cornelia .indd 79

3/9/22 11:50 PM

“I LOVE MANNERS AND I LOVE DISCIPLINE AND TRADITION.” Truman Capote While attending the exclusive boarding school Foxcroft, in Virginia, Guest wrote letters to Truman Capote complaining about the place, which she detested. So, Capote tried phoning her repeatedly, and the dorm mother, an English teacher, thought it was a prank.

This happened four days in a row and, unaware of the calls, Guest was hauled into the principal’s office and told that her friend was pranking the dorm mother every night, calling and saying it’s Truman Capote. I said, “It probably is Truman Capote.” The teacher accused her of lying and grounded her for the upcoming weekend when Guest’s mother was coming to visit. “I said, ‘Mom, I can’t leave.’ She said, ‘What do you mean you can’t leave?’ And I said, ‘Well, I think Truman’s been trying to get me and they think I’m lying.’”

Her mother barreled into the head mistress’s office, demanding, “How dare you accuse my daughter of lying?” She told them that she’d spoken to Capote, and he was, in fact, trying to get in touch. C.Z added, “Cornelia informs me that the dorm mother is an English teacher, and if this woman is stupid enough to not know Truman Capote and his voice, she shouldn’t be here. I’m taking my daughter out of your school.”

Diana Vreeland C.Z. was holding her newborn daughter in her arms, and when Diana Vreeland approached to see the new baby, the infant saw the hands and the nails and started to cry. “Later in life, I was fascinated, I used to sit and watch her,” Guest says.

“She always said, ‘I terrified you when you were little. You didn’t like my red nails.’ It’s funny!”

The Duke & Duchess of Windsor The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were Guest’s godparents, and the Duke enjoyed watching the young Cornelia ride.

She called him ‘Sir,’ while Wallis Simpson was ‘Duchess’. She was scary for a little girl, Guest recalls. “She was very stern, and he was very open and would talk to me. I don’t think she really had a lot to say to little kids. But he loved ponies and would watch me ride, so he showed a little interest. She, not so much.”

The Duke passed away in 1972, and the Duchess lived until 1986, and Cornelia visited her at her home in Paris a few times as a teen. “It was still very formal, but that’s so much that gen-

eration, the formality of it, that we really don’t have so much anymore.”

The Infirmary Ball At the Infirmary Ball, an annual staple on the New York City social circuit formally known as the Debutante Cotillion and Christmas Ball, the girls are lined up in the Waldorf kitchen and sent out one by one to curtsy, and then they sit down, in formation, on the floor, holding candles. The debutantes are required to wear white dresses.

When Cornelia Guest made her debut at this event in a white dress by Carolina Herrera, her mother waylaid her just as she was about to sit. “Pssst, come here,” C.Z. Guest whispered to her daughter. “You’re not going to sit down on that filthy floor in this dress.” “She grabbed me and we left for Studio 54,” Guest says. The dress ended up getting filthy anyway when she fell on the dance floor which was covered in artificial snow while dancing with her pal R. Couri Hay. When they brought the dress to Madame Paulette, the famous Manhattan society dry cleaner, the proprietor took one look at it and asked, “Where was Mademoiselle?”

Looking back at the debutante scene of the decadent 1980s, Guest says it was fun. “We had a good time, and I never took it seriously. I mean, I took it seriously because I had respect for it, but it needed a little spicing up.”

She appreciates the social graces instilled in her growing up in such a lofty atmosphere. “I love manners and I love discipline and tradition.” “In life, you have to work hard. It’s like acting, you’re always honing it, and I think that’s important.

You have to know the history of things; you have to know how things came to be.”

As mother and daughter both indulged their rebellious sides while embracing high society, today they share a love of life’s simple things. “I always say, we’re country people. The cities are great. We like to go out. We like to have fun, but we’re happiest at home with our animals and our gardens and being out in nature,” says Guest.

“I’m so happy in the mud, planting carrots, taking care of my dogs, mucking out a stall. That’s what makes me happy, that and being on a movie set. ” P corneliaguest.org instagram.com/corneliaguest

80 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Cornelia .indd 80

3/9/22 11:50 PM

Heading out to feed the miniature pony in Michael Kors coat and Stetson Hat from Kemosabe Aspen

parkmagazineny.com | 81

PARK_Spring22_Cornelia .indd 81

3/11/22 4:06 PM

No Place Like Home

CORNELIA GUEST SETTLES INTO HER SPRAWLING TEXAS RANCH, TEMPLETON WEST, AND SPENDS THE WEEKEND RELAXING AND RUNNING LINES WITH FELLOW ACTOR DUSTY LACHOWICZ. P H O T O E S S AY B Y S T E WA R T S H I N I N G

PARK_Spring22_CorneliaPhotoFeat.indd 82

3/9/22 11:49 PM

Stylists: Greg Collard and Jane Sublett Hair and Makeup: Heather Fitzgerald Catering: corneliaguestevents.com

PARK_Spring22_CorneliaPhotoFeat.indd 83

3/9/22 11:49 PM

PARK_Spring22_CorneliaPhotoFeat.indd 84

3/9/22 11:49 PM

COVER STORY

PARK_Spring22_CorneliaPhotoFeat.indd 85

3/9/22 11:49 PM

COVER STORY

86 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_CorneliaPhotoFeat.indd 86

3/9/22 11:49 PM

Dusty Lachowicz is a Wisconsin native and former firefighter and EMT. He moved to New York City to pursue his acting passions and used his skill in front of the camera to model for many big brands including Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Frame. He is currently the face of the Stetson Spirit fragrance campaign and commercial. He has recently made his acting debut as Jasper Collins in the TV series, 13TH STEPPING.

PARK_Spring22_CorneliaPhotoFeat.indd 87

3/9/22 11:49 PM

FASHION

THE FINAL FRONTIER It’s a new world and we’re ready to take it on - just grab your helmet and heels

P H O T O G R A P H E R : D U K E W I N N P R O D U C E R : PA U L M A R G O L I N FA S H I O N D E S I G N E R : M A R C B O U W E R S T Y L I S T : D O M I M U A : M A R K P H O N G H A I R : YA J A I R A D A N I E L M O D E L S : M I C H E L L E K - F O R F AT I M A

PARK_Spring22_Fashion.indd 88

3/11/22 4:17 PM

PARK_Spring22_Fashion.indd 89

3/11/22 4:17 PM

RISE AND OUTSHINE PARK_Spring22_Fashion.indd 90

3/11/22 4:17 PM

parkmagazineny.com | 91

PARK_Spring22_Fashion.indd 91

3/11/22 4:17 PM

FASHION

92 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Fashion.indd 92

3/11/22 4:17 PM

WE COME IN BLUE HUES parkmagazineny.com | 93

PARK_Spring22_Fashion.indd 93

3/11/22 4:17 PM

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

FASHION

94 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Fashion.indd 94

3/11/22 4:17 PM

parkmagazineny.com | 95

PARK_Spring22_Fashion.indd 95

3/11/22 4:17 PM

FASHION

20 Loving

BY JULIE SAGOSKIN

Years of

Libertine IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING, YES, JOHNSON HARTIG, the force behind the fashion brand Libertine, is just as cool as his “punk-esque” and whimsical chic label, which truly reflects his own personality. Libertine, known for its edgy embellishments and striking silkscreen prints, has also resonated with a wide range of consumers, including celebrities - almost all of them, in fact.

96 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Libertine .indd 96

3/9/22 11:49 PM

E

veryone from A-list actors to rock stars, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Cher, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Beyonce, Stephen Hawking, The Killers and everyone in between is a fan of the brand, which is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Not only has the stylish label sustained itself for two decades, but it keeps growing to reach new generations. Sarah Jessica Parker is even wearing a Libertine coat and hat in a recent cover story for Vogue.

A pretty chic “cherry on top” anniversary gift.

Let’s just say that Libertine was designing with skulls before skulls were a thing. While many of his original designs have gone mainstream, which has left Johnson frustrated at times, he does admit that he is also somewhat flattered. This dedicated designer just wants to make sure that the fashion world remembers that those designs were in Libertine’s DNA first, and they will always continue doing it their way - and remain stronger than ever. They are Libertines, after all!

The secret to their style? Well, secrets.

“We create beautiful clothes, but we never take ourselves too seriously,” explains Johnson. “We are always including insider and subtle secrets within the clothes. There are lots of poetry and art references which appeal to a certain type of person who is into the same things. It is an incredibly unique brand.”

Johnson also acknowledges his satisfaction regarding how much influence the brand has wielded while remaining a small team. Despite larger companies essentially emulating his concepts on a larger scale, Johnson has remained good friends with his biggest supporters, including Betty Halbreich, the 94-yearold fixture of Bergdorf Goodman. Halbreich, who can be found on the Bergdorf’s sales floor almost every day, calls Johnson on a weekly basis with the latest news on who is wearing his designs - or who is trying to copy him.

parkmagazineny.com | 97

PARK_Spring22_Libertine .indd 97

3/9/22 11:49 PM

FASHION

Aside from finding Libertine fashions in high-end retail stores, clients are invited to experience Libertine in the intimate Los Angeles showroom, which can only be described as a candy store for design lovers, with plenty of chic eye candy.

While he is known for his many adventures abroad (especially when you follow his Instagram), Johnson was able to keep himself busy when the pandemic put any traveling plans on hold. He had a new house to decorate and decorate he did, for the bet-

ter part of five months. His interior aesthetic has been featured on the cover of many magazines, which is why his fashion fans can have something new to look forward to - a new home decor line, so we will all be able to truly live the Libertine life!

After finally being able to travel again, with Spain and Istanbul some of his first post-pandemic destinations, Johnson is excited about his latest project with Desigual, which is launching in March. “Christian Lacroix, who I have admired more than anyone

from the last 50 years, is the person who recommended me. I had a Schumacher collection with wallpaper and home fabrics and am working on another one launching next September. I’m talking to people about doing tabletops and bedding and the whole bit.”

Johnson also explains that there is an “authenticity to the brand, and you really feel it, along with the love that goes into each garment which is touched by real human beings. It has heart, it has soul, it has energy.”

Perhaps it is this feeling which is why

98 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Libertine .indd 98

3/9/22 11:49 PM

JOHNSON RECALLS WHEN KARL LAGERFELD, A BIG DEVOTEE OF THE BRAND, WALKED INTO THE STUDIO IN NEW YORK AND BOUGHT EVERY PIECE AVAILABLE. “I WOULD SEE THE WHOLE CHANEL CREW COME THROUGH WEARING LIBERTINE!” Libertine is adored not just by celebrities, but also other fashion legends. Johnson recalls when Karl Lagerfeld, a big devotee of the brand, walked into the studio in New York and bought every piece available.

“I would see the whole Chanel crew come through wearing Libertine! Karl invited me to a gala and gave me a matching high-collar shirt and people were taking pictures of us, but I never saw it. That was before smartphones.” (If anyone has a picture, please let us know!) There is even a Libertine piece on

view at the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute, which was purchased by Karl, though the skull on the back was covered up with beading due to Karl’s fear of death.

Libertine has certainly come a long way since Johnson, along with his partner Cindy Greene, started the anti-fashion fashion brand in Koreatown 20 years ago. It only makes sense that to honor this longevity, the last couple of collections honored some of the brand’s original ideas, including a lot of hand silk screening. “It seems really fresh

again after so many years. Bringing back these designs feels like a super renewed energy - I feel like every day I’m meeting someone else who is just discovering the brand and that energizes me so much. I’m living in the gratitude of having been provided with this incredible creativity and curiosity.”

Johnson and his brand might be basking in their anniversary year, but Libertine lovers still have a lot of fashion to look forward to. P ilovelibertine.com

parkmagazineny.com | 99

PARK_Spring22_Libertine .indd 99

3/9/22 11:49 PM

FASHION

M

eet Kylie Vonnahme, the 24-year-old Texas model who was scouted at a Taylor Swift concert and never looked back.

Kylie Vonnahme isn’t your traditional runway model. Behind the high fashion Patek-wearing images of her seen on Vogue covers and Versace runways, comes a John Deere-riding country girl with a unique heritage. Hailing from a small suburb of Dallas and raised as a “country girl,” Kylie built her modeling career from scratch after being scouted by a talent agent at a Taylor Swift concert when she was just 16 years old. “Agents find unique and creative ways to discover talent,” Kylie told PARK magazine. “You hear everything from girls being found at flea markets to music festivals to just on the street.” The encounter with the scouting agent was initially dubious, but Kylie and her family let their guard down after the agent flashed a business card from Ford, one of modeling’s most reputable talent agencies. “It was completely random, I was always short growing up and I got a crazy growth spurt, and all of a sudden I was this tall skinny girl which was something that the scouts saw as potential.” said Kylie, “I still had my braces on, I definitely never got into it much. Scouts are amazing in that they have an eye. I look back and don’t see the model in that 16-year-old me with braces, but it worked out.”

Alexander Wang, Versace & Chanel.

It wasn’t long after her first encounter with an agent that Kylie was gracing magazine covers and hitting the runways. Her first job was for a JC Penny advertisement when she was 18 years old. “It was a very foreign experience,” Kylie told

Kylie Vonnahme

A Modern Supermodel

BY J A K E D R E S S L E R

PARK, “There’s absolutely no training or courses or anything so you’re kind of just thrown into the mix and have to figure it out for yourself. It was intimidating.” Shortly after her JC Penny shoots, Kylie’s career turned to top runways and high fashion like Alexander Wang, Versace and Chanel. “The turning point in my career was the first season on the runway

I debuted with Alexander Wang in NY, Versace in Milan, and Chanel in Paris.” Kylie said, “You start to create a name for yourself in the industry and you’re finally being put up for the big jobs and the big campaigns.”

The quick rise from John Deere-riding Texan to high fashion debutante had a profound impact on Kylie. The fast-paced career path

100 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Profile_ Kylie.indd 100

3/9/22 11:49 PM

grinding pandemic has been with daily meditation and physical exercise. “I make a point to move my body every single day,” Kylie said, “My favorite types of workouts are Pilates and weight training. When I’m working out consistently, six or seven days a week, I feel my best both mentally and physically. Fitness has become a big passion of mine and I truly believe it’s good for both the body and the mind. I am a big morning person and find waking up early and starting my day off in a slow and controlled way has played a big role in keeping me in my best headspace. I wake up and meditate every morning and that has made a world of a difference.” Kylie recommends taking baby steps for those embarking on their wellness journeys.

demands a rigorous lifestyle with many ups and downs happening behind the scenes. For one, models like Kylie need to keep in shape in order to fit their modeling profile. “When you’re sixteen the body comes kind of naturally,” Kylie said, “As you get older it becomes difficult to maintain.” Additionally, models are faced with constant rejection, which can lead to financial and emotional insecurity. “It’s like any other career - we work very hard and it’s taxing both mentally and physically. We are rejected daily, and it’s a career full of ups and downs.

Our work can go through phases where we are working every day and flying around the world, to phases where we only book a few jobs in a couple of weeks,” Kylie said.

Kylie’s Podcast: The Not So Simple Life When COVID-19 hit the globe, the modeling

industry ground to a halt. As a result, Kylie’s career went on hiatus for 6 months. But under the cloud of uncertainty that descended over the industry’s future, Kylie was able to stay positive by practicing mindfulness and by launching her own podcast. “To take care of my mind and body during covid I started a passion project, my health and wellness podcast,” Kylie told PARK. “I found it was important to stay inspired and mentally stimulated during these hard times; it was easy to get caught up in the news and madness but by working on something so centered on how to look and feel your best I was able to stay in a good headspace and keep distracted from these stressful times.”

The podcast, The Not So Simple Life, explores ways to enhance physical and mental wellness by providing tools for our emotional toolboxes.

One of the ways in which Kylie copes with the

Helping Endangered Wildlife In her free time, Kylie advocates for endangered wildlife, with a focus on elephants.

“There are many declining wildlife species that are soon to become extinct, and I don’t feel the awareness is where it should be,” Kylie said.

Kylie believes that through social media we can raise awareness. “Social media has provided a way that a population can put pressure on governments to fix things that are harming these animals; for example, poaching is a major problem in Africa. Social media has the power to put the pressure on these governments which in turn would make a huge difference in helping these animals to survive.” P To listen to Kylie’s podcast and learn more about her advocacy visit (linktr.ee/ TheNotSoSimpleLifePodcast) Instagram.com/kylievonnahme

parkmagazineny.com | 101

PARK_Spring22_Profile_ Kylie.indd 101

3/9/22 11:49 PM

B ICON

ETTE

DA VIS &ME

BY R . CO U R I H AY

How My Mother Helped Me Land An Interview With the Legendary Star

102 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Betty Davis .indd 102

3/11/22 12:30 PM

parkmagazineny.com | 103

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Betty Davis .indd 103

3/11/22 12:30 PM

ICON

I FIRST MET BETTE DAVIS WHEN I WAS A TODDLER. My mother introduced me not to the legendary star but as Mrs. Merrill, the mother of one of my schoolmates. We were all backstage at the Wynflete School in Portland, Maine after our school play. I had a starring role while Bette’s son Michael, who she adopted with the actor Gary Merrill, played a secondary one. Mummy was proud but, later in life, I was told Bette wasn’t amused. Bette married Gary in 1950 and she dutifully moved to Cape Elizabeth, Maine to be with him and bring up their two children for nearly ten years. Merrill appeared in many films including the iconic All About Eve, which starred Bette Davis.

Others in the film included Marylin Monroe, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, and Celeste Holm. The two fell madly in love and Bette married Gary, the last of her four husbands. My father and Gary were golf and drinking buddies and members of the Portland Country Club. I remember my mother donning a blonde wig and a Charles James dress to go to a “come as a movie star” party at the club with the Merrills. Mummy went as Marylin Monroe in How to Marry a Millionaire and Bette went as, well, Bette Davis. Not surprisingly they won the top prize. The next parental adventure didn’t go as well and ended up with Gary being booted from our snooty private club. On that infamous day, after several rounds of golf and too many rounds at the bar with my father, Merrill found all the showers in the men’s locker room were taken so he wrapped himself in a towel and staggered to the women’s locker room causing pandemonium and the expulsion - it was, after all, the ’50s!

Years later, after the Merrills divorced and I lost track of Michael, I ran across Bette at Cinandre; we both had the same hairdresser, the much-beloved and talented Eugene.

Much to my surprise, Bette remembered everything, and we laughed about those times while getting shampooed. I was working for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine and knew a juicy scoop when I bumped into one; we agreed to the first of several interviews, excerpts of which appear below.

I also interviewed Gary Merrill for Interview and, although I was tempted to run it as a companion piece, you’ll have to settle for a few bitchy quotes.

Mummy always said Bette was one of the wittiest and wisest people she’d ever known, and I think you’ll reach the same conclusion after you read this piece. I also suggest you read her blindingly honest autobiography The Lonely Life and it goes without saying you should binge her movies starting with the immortal All About Eve, the best film ever made about life on Broadway.

God really doesn’t make them like the divine Miss Davis anymore.

‘‘MUMMY WENT AS MARYLIN MONROE IN HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE AND BETTE WENT AS, WELL, BETTE DAVIS. NOT SURPRISINGLY’ THEY WON THE TOP PRIZE.’’

104 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Betty Davis .indd 104

3/11/22 12:30 PM

parkmagazineny.com | 105

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Betty Davis .indd 105

3/11/22 12:30 PM

ICON

ALL HAIL

BETTE DAVIS!

E

xcerpts from these interviews were first printed in Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine in 1972.

What I didn’t ask Bette Davis was how many years she spent in psychoanalysis; as no movie star with her history could possibly be as well adjusted to the past, present and future as she is without help.

I interviewed Miss Davis at New York’s New School before a film seminar conducted by my friend, the critic John Gruen.

I’ve included the best bits from our conversations with the legendary film star. Bette was vivacious and demonstrative, dispatching everyone’s questions between cigarettes, back in the days when smoking was still fashionable.

What was she wearing? Azure satin gloves and shoes, cocktail dress, bag, and her own hair. She looked great, frankly fifty, but timeless with her blood-red lips and nails. She was witty and stinging; but you already missed the best part, because her gestures, intonations, and timing tell her story in a way peculiar to Bette Davis. It was like she just walked out of All About Eve, sat down and started talking.

Bette Davis is a woman who, through some ninety motion pictures, has engaged her image into some corner of all of our psyches. In each of us there is a Bette Davis; somewhere there lurks this lady because she has taught us, on the screen, how to suffer, how to walk, how to talk, how to smoke. She has taught us how to be incredibly bitchy and she has taught us something about the nature of independence. Because in most of the films in which Miss Davis has appeared, she has always reigned supreme, not merely as a star but also as an individual; as a woman who was able to somehow survive.

106 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Betty Davis .indd 106

3/11/22 12:30 PM

Miss Davis, you have said that you were born between a clap of thunder and a streak of lightning; your mother said that the gods were going mad.

After that, my mother went mad, but it is true that I was born during a thunderstorm.

Shall we talk about that cliched subject, mother?

Yes, it’s very sad that it has become a cliched subject in our country. Today if you’re a mother or a grandmother you’re rather ashamed, you’re either too old or too bossy or too much in the way. But I had an extraordinary mother in that she believed in me from a very early age. There is a cliche among theater people that if your mother was an important part of your life then she was a stage mother. Well, Ruthie wasn’t a stage mother - she just believed I would make it, and she believed it much more than I ever did as a young woman of nineteen starting out in the theater. In fact, I didn’t believe that I would ever make it at all for she was a glorious, glorious mother.

There you were, twentyish, and on the stage, and someone said you might have a chance in pictures, but most said you wouldn’t and to forget it.

Everybody in the theater was tested by Hollywood; because this was the beginning of talking pictures, and whether they liked the way we looked or not, we did know how to talk. Everybody from Broadway was signed as an experiment. I was on Broadway for about three years, the scouts came and saw me, tested me, and signed me. My contract was for three months, with a three-month option, at a fantastic sum of money, nothing. I really didn’t want to go to Hollywood; I loved the theater, but it was an opportunity, and I thought that one must take advantage of opportunities as a young unknown performer.

When many of us got there, after examples of such glorious beauty as say, Miss Harlow, after all those fabulous looking women in motion pictures, we were the shocks of the earth. They did not know what in the world to do with us. And I was particularly peculiar to them, because I didn’t have bleached

hair - they called me the little brown wren because I was ash blonde, which was sort of brown. I didn’t have any belief that you wore lots of makeup in life, you only wore that to work as an actress. I didn’t think that there was any necessity to go around terribly naked and sexy so, I was just an ordinary Yankee girl who loved acting. It took me a long time to get anywhere because I was an utter, utter mystery to what Hollywood had been; it was the real Revolution.

You reigned in Hollywood for eighteen years.

Well, no, I was there for eighteen years. And I finally had the good fortune to make money for them, it’s all business, theater is to make money, it’s not just to amuse oneself, and motion pictures are to make money. Hopefully, the product is something you’re proud of. I finally gave them back their investment in me, for which I was very grateful, I never thought I’d be able to.

What about the hassles over bad scripts, and bad directors; that became so bad that you sued Warner Brothers and fled to England.

And lost everything. . . but that was in the very beginning, the first ten years, the last eight were great. I wanted good directors and scripts, that’s the only reason I ever walked out. I was not getting good directors and I was not getting good scripts and motion picture is absolutely a director’s medium.

The actor when they finish the film is not in control of what you see on the screen, because from then on they edit it, they cut it, they can take the thing dearest to your heart and decide to cut it out; so the actor is not in control of that finished product. Good directors and scripts were what I wanted and finally, they were good to me.

It became legend that you were absolutely impossible to work with because you were a hellion, a woman who demanded things and got them.

There is no way that anyone who gets there will not be known as a monster; until you’re known in my profession as a monster, you’re not a STAR. Don’t smile at this Couri, it’s a very serious point; I’ve never

parkmagazineny.com | 107

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Betty Davis .indd 107

3/11/22 12:30 PM

ICON

been a monster, I’ve never fought for anything in a treacherous way, I’ve never fought for anything except for the good of the film and not always for just what I was doing in it. No, no, I will not take that from you.

And this is not my reputation at all, in California.

You can talk to any member of those gorgeous crews; ooh they were for me. And I’ll tell you one thing I always did, I went to the head man, I never bugged some poor little man on the set who behaved badly, I never was late for work, I never walked off the sets, I never did all those things I finally became famous for. Until this kind of reputation happens to you, nobody cares. I had to learn to be tough. I was not brought up as a woman to be tough, but this is a business and if you don’t fight for yourself, it doesn’t matter what business, if you want to become the head of Ford Motor Co., if you’re not Mr. Ford, you can’t do it by smiling and saying, “Yes sir”, you must fight for what you believe in, and I think the world has forgotten to fight for what they believe in, it’s a namsy pamsy world. I don’t care what the business or the concern; whether it’s fighting for your children or against them. The fight has gone OUT of America and it’s shocking.

In many of the roles that you have portrayed on the screen, there is always the character that you portray, and then there is always Bette Davis as well. Now there are some who say that you bury yourself in your role and sacrifice everything for it, and others who say you just portray it as you do it.

This is a very interesting subject; there is an integral part of every human being, whether you write or whether you act, that cannot be completely disguised, it is an essence of your personality. I have probably played more different kinds of women than almost anybody because that was always my love and desire - to play different people. There is that essence of a human being that can never be disguised.

However, you will never become a star if you don’t have that essence in every part that gets the public to know you, if in every part you are so completely different that they have to look at the credits and say, “Was that Bette Davis?”. No Good! The public doesn’t get to know and love you unless there is an essence of you that can never be disguised, otherwise, you’re

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Betty Davis .indd 108

always a different person. And that has been a great criticism of mine from many, many critics that I was always the same, truthfully for my pride’s sake I must say it is not true, but there was an essence there.

You won two Academy Awards, one in 1935 for a movie called DANGEROUS. The most dreadful movie. I won it for Of Human Bondage which they didn’t give me the year before.

The second Oscar was in 1938 for JEZEBEL. That one I will accept, that was an honest win.

But you did not win it for GONE WITH THE WIND. . .but you were going to play Scarlett??

It was bought for me by Warners. This was when I finally revolted because I wanted good directors and good writers. Mr. Warner sent for me in a last-minute desperate plea to please not leave, to stay, he had just bought me the most marvelous book, and I said, “I’ll bet!” He said, “Yes it’s by Margaret Mitchell, it’s called Gone with The Wind.”

I said, “Nuts!” and walked out of the office.

When I came back from England a year later, I certainly knew what Gone with The Wind was. Yes, big mistake, big mistake.

Bette, tell me what the rewards and tortures of stardom are.

The reward for recognition in a field you love enough to work in for over forty years is the fact that you made it. Being in the public eye - and this would apply to any politician, not to just Hollywood people - you are often judged unfairly, it hurts.

Whatever you do is commented on, and if it’s not the way you felt about it, you just have to take it, and this is a discipline. But there should be no complaints when you go into a business where fame is involved. If you are going to run for the presidency of the United States, every member of the press is not going to be charming to you for the next four years and you must accept

3/11/22 12:30 PM

‘‘I SAID, “NUTS!” AND WALKED OUT OF THE OFFICE. WHEN I CAME BACK FROM ENGLAND A YEAR LATER, I CERTAINLY KNEW WHAT GONE WITH THE WIND WAS. YES, BIG MISTAKE, BIG MISTAKE.’’ this as part of the pleasure of having gotten where you wanted to get.

And the tortures?

The tortures that I had were in my personal life, not the result of my stardom. That’s been rather glorious. A torturous personal life might happen whether or not you become famous. Your life could be that way, some peoples are, but I don’t blame fame at all. I can’t blame my profession for what happened in my personal life. If I was a fool in my personal life, I can’t blame acting for that.

Yet in your autobiography THE LONELY LIFE, you do blame your profession to a certain extent on the rather unhappy time you did have in your personal life. You were married four times, first to Mr. Nelson, second to Mr. Farnsworth, third to Mr. Sherry, the painter, and lastly to the actor Gary Merrill. Your marriage to Mr. Sherry produced a daughter B. D., and later you adopted two other children. Wasn’t the reason none of these marriages worked out was because it was

impossible for the man to continue to be Mr. Davis?

That is the one area in which...there is a problem there. There’s no question about it, there is a forfeit there. There is no man who really likes this, with all the good intentions of the famous women, no matter what profession she’s in, this is a murderous situation for a man, and I certainly believed in marriage and in all sincerity never married without believing in it, and I think that it is the ideal way of life and at this age, I realize that I should never have expected that it was going to work because I understand now that which I didn’t understand years ago.

You said in your book that you bring out violence in men.

I didn’t find one of them violent enough. Maybe if they had been more violent, we would have made it.

They became defeated by it, and it wasn’t my fault. It isn’t any woman’s fault in my spot. I chose the wrong men, and this can happen to any woman. Love is a big joke on all of us. We can make terrible mistakes while we’re in love. Think of the men that pick women because sexually they’re just divine and when the sex is gone, they look at them one day and say, “My God, who is that?” No, this is the fooler of mankind and one has to be very wise about it. I chose very foolishly, but how can one regret this choice? I believe in one thing in this world, out of everything comes some good, even if you just learn something. But out of this marriage, which was not a very easy one for me, because he (Mr. Sherry) was a very childish type of human being, came this marvelous daughter who has been the greatest fun of my life.

You have often said that many male leads were much more vain and their egos were bigger than any woman’s.

Erroll Flynn was the most charming man in the world; if he sat right here beside us, I could say he was never an actor and he would admit it. But he was just heaven, beautiful, and women adored him and that’s important too. . . Steve McQueen. . . It wasn’t until Steve McQueen that great white hope for a marvelous man in our business, came along that we had any. Once I asked him, “Why do you ride those motorcycles like that and maybe kill yourself?”, and he said, “So I won’t

parkmagazineny.com | 109

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Betty Davis .indd 109

3/11/22 12:30 PM

ICON

forget I’m a man and not just an actor.” You know in back of this is a very big truth. Rather odd people become actors and they are vain; they are much vainer than women.

I smell smoke. Where’s the fire? Tell me everything, all about the co-stars that you didn’t like, like Robert Montgomery.

Well, we had an unfortunate experience . . . yes, some stories. . . I feel it’s our private family business; we did not get along, no. But I think that Mr. Montgomery had a smashing career and I’m not going to sit here and say what I think.

I hear you didn’t get along with Alec Guinness in THE SCAPEGOAT. Where do you get all these stories? I don’t think it’s a very interesting story. It was a very bad film, he was never meant to play a straight part, Mr. Guinness.

This was in, what was it called, The Scapegoat. The whole situation was just unfortunate, he wasn’t very pleasant to me; he made it difficult for me. And who knows why he did, often actors are going through something difficult and they’re just not in a very good mood and with me he was not in a very good mood.

You say you consider William Wyler your passion.

Yes, my passion, the greatest director for an actor, at least he certainly was in my mind, and I think that his record in Hollywood is extraordinary.

Yet you feel that your performance in THE LITTLE FOXES is not your best and you blame Mr. Wyler for it and then there was Miss Bankhead.

The real argument was, you see Miss Bankhead in The Little Foxes was absolutely sensational in the New York theater, as a matter of fact, I begged Mr. Goldman, I said, “Please let Miss Bankhead record this on the screen.” It didn’t work - he wanted me to do it. And Mr. Wyler did not want me to play it the way Miss Bankhead did. Miss Bankhead played it the way Miss Hellman wrote the play, and there is only one way to play Regina, which is the way Miss Bankhead played it and Mr. Wyler fought me very much on this, to play it in a different way and I couldn’t see it in a

different way. So, it made it an unpleasant experience.

In OF HUMAN BONDAGE, we find you playing a slut, a girl of the streets, a mean, bitchy waitress.

Well, you see that was the only reason I was given this part. On that day in California, this was actually the first leading woman’s part in a film. That was a totally unpleasant ugly, bitchy woman. And I was given this because none of the established women of that day would play this part. It was the first time; it was a first. And naturally, this was the beginning of my career because it was such a marvelous part, and it was the kind of part that fascinated me. I have to tell you that I was a Yankee girl, I never really understood Mildred at all, I really don’t understand any man who would put up with her for five minutes. I used to go to male friends of mine and say, “If you ever kept on going out with a woman who treated you like this,” and it was very interesting. With every human being I now know in my own life, there has been one situation when a male or a female has been involved with another human being even though they knew that it was no good but couldn’t get away. And that’s what Mr. Marr wrote about. But at that age, I didn’t understand it entirely.

You had leading ladies as co-stars.

You are going right into Miriam Hopkins. I’ve never

110 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Betty Davis .indd 110

3/11/22 12:30 PM

been dishonest about Miss Hopkins; I don’t think there was ever a more difficult female in the world, but Miss Hopkins has died since I was last asked this question and I just think that’s the end of the conversation.

Joan Crawford is still living.

That’s all press, Miss Crawford and I on What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, never, we are far too professional, both of us. And I’m going to tell you something, we made this film, Joan and I, in three weeks, that’s all the money they would give for us to make it with.

Truthfully, we couldn’t get backing, everybody told Mr. Aldrich that if they would recast these two broads, we’ll give you some money. Seriously. And Mr. Aldrich insisted on making it with us. And Joan one day suggested that we should put up on the set a sign that said, “With this schedule, we haven’t got time not to get along.” We got along absolutely; this is just ridiculous.

There was a time, prior to WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE when you couldn’t get good scripts and you placed an ad in Variety.

No, no, not prior to Jane. I took that ad out while I was making Jane, finally employed with plenty of money, that was not an ad as was mistaken by the general public. That was an ad ribbing a banker who had lists of people that they would employ and would not employ, and I took it out completely with tongue in cheek. If I say so myself it was brilliantly done. I took it like a newspaper employment ad, and I even printed a picture of myself and said mother of three children, etc., and sort of described my life. No, it was a rib. But a diabolical rib because these lists were terrible. How can you know if you can make money in a film if you’re not given a chance to make a decent film? And this

still goes on today.

That is one of the tragedies and one of the ironies of having achieved such unbelievable stardom: having made so much money for the studios, then having to be in the position, as time passes and as one gets older, to have to struggle for good scripts and parts. How do you deal with this?

One expects it. Scripts are basically written about younger women. One doesn’t want to work as much anymore; I certainly don’t want to make five and six films a year. You do lament the quality of scripts today, but I do not expect at my age to find many where I’m the leading character. And I don’t expect it, and I’m not sad about it; I could wish we would never have to grow old. You know I think that if every woman could stop at thirty-five and every man at forty-five it would be a heavenly life. But that’s not the way it is planned, and you prepare for this. You know that it is going to happen. You don’t fight against it, while you lament that you are older, you must accept this because that’s the way it is.

Sometimes one is parodied or even parodies oneself. There are even people who have tried very hard to imitate Bette Davis. The Bette cults are endless, acts are built around you.

But this is the sincerest form of flattery. Wouldn’t it be horrible if they didn’t, really? For years nobody ever characterized me, and it worried me to death.

Sincerely, until you find people that imitate you there’s nothing that’s definite about you. And for ten years nobody ever did an imitation of me, then you know they made up for it.

THE LONELY LIFE, are you alone now?

Of course, I’m very alone, I’m not alone because I have children, but I live alone. But you’re never alone if you have children, even though you see them very seldom… So of course, I’m lonely, but my book was not called A Lonely Life, it was called The Lonely Life.

Because I feel people in the arts, whether it’s in the theater or sculpting or painting or writing, they are a people who as I say in my book, who travel light. Also, if they are ambitious to get there, they do not have time for many friendships, friendships take time, and it’s a life where you dedicate thirty or forty years to get

parkmagazineny.com | 111

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Betty Davis .indd 111

3/11/22 12:30 PM

ICON

where you want. I think it’s a life where you are within yourself, very alone many times. But this was not a pathetic title, The Lonely Life, because many people misunderstood it. I know so many artists, it’s just a lonely life.

How has the movie business changed, and has it changed for the better or for the worse?

Look what’s happening in the world; theater reflects the world. Authors write about lots of things that are happening in the world. So, motion pictures and plays, and books are all different from what they were forty years ago when I started. We didn’t have any of these problems, we did not have the drugs or even the racial thing like we have today. We didn’t have anything like this so naturally, we’re going to have different kinds of stories and different kinds of acting, and we’re going to have different kinds of characters in films played by different kinds of people. They do not stand still, the arts. Theater reflects the world, and the films are reflecting what’s happening on the outside.

It was during World War II that you and John Garfield started the Hollywood Canteen.

Yes, Johnny and I started it; and ran it for four years. It was an extraordinary experience, a lot of work, but I am proud of it. The guys were coming through and Hollywood was an interesting place to them. They wanted to see lots and lots of actors, so we decided that they should, and they did.

How do you prepare for your roles on the screen?

I never did really prepare. I had lots of thoughts about it, but I would just sort of start, and be the person. Somebody once asked my beautiful friend, the brilliant actor Claude Rains, what his method was and he said, “I learn the lines and pray to God.” And Spencer Tracy said the same thing. It’s an instinct you have about what you think the character is, and some people have an easier time becoming somebody else.

In ALL ABOUT EVE, you brought every facet of your gift into play, you were everything that everyone expects Bette Davis to be.

This is probably true, yet there isn’t anyone more remote in character from me than Margo Channing.

I’m not that kind of an actress at all, in life, not at all.

I’m sort of a dungaree kid over the kitchen stove, sincerely. But to play Margo Channing was like being given a new lease on life. It is the essence of what every woman really goes through who becomes a great star like Margo Channing. She said it all in that gorgeous car speech. When she says, “I act like a witch riding around on a broom,” to be an actor you’ve got to have a childlike quality because it’s really like playing dolls. You’re always pretending to be something you are not; you basically don’t like yourself, so you love to be somebody else, that’s really what acting is all about. And this whole speech incorporated all that from Mr. Mankiewicz. These are the sacrifices of fame. But every woman in the world, no matter how famous, still wants the same thing, a man, no question.

And curiously you found your man in real life, at that time Gary Merrill was your co-star and the man you married.

Yes, I did.

And afterward? (Ms. Davis is now giving me a naive, deadly, and silent look.) Back to ALL ABOUT EVE or APPLAUSE ... you sing and dance, why didn’t you play Margo on the stage?

Actually, six or seven years before they finally did it, I did try to get somebody to write the musical for me. But there were enormous complications with the rights with Fox and then when it did come along it was too late.

When I first started to think about doing it, I was fiftyish and so it would have been fine, but it was a little late.

Did you see it with Ms. Bacall?

Yes, she’s a great friend of mine and enjoyed it very much.

Then Anne Baxter took over.

112 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Betty Davis .indd 112

3/11/22 12:30 PM

‘‘AH-HA! BABY JANE. THERE ARE CERTAIN PERFORMANCES THAT ARE SUITABLE FOR AN ACADEMY AWARD, AND WHEN I LOST OUT WITH JANE, NEVER HAD I HAD A SHOCK LIKE THAT BEFORE.’’ I thought she was absolutely marvelous in it too. And it was an extraordinary experience for Anne who played Eve, some twenty years later to be playing Margo. I stayed backstage and I couldn’t believe it, I thought, it can’t be twenty-one years. Anne played it so terribly, terribly well. It was fate for her to play both parts.

What do you feel about performers in politics?

I think the performer, who is very well known, must be terribly sure of his or her facts. Really knowledgeable about what is being advocated, because you can have an enormous influence on people, and therefore it becomes a dangerous weapon, otherwise it’s simply up to the individual if you believe in something then there’s no reason why not, but this I think has sometimes not been too well managed.

How do you feel about seeing yourself on the TV? It’s an odd experience. It’s like seeing somebody else. It fills you full of a certain amount of regrets, physically. I always thought I was absolutely hideous during my entire career. Little did I know, compared to today, I was a raving beauty. I never could stand myself, at all. Now I just sit there and say, “My God!”

Is there any film for which you feel you should have won an Oscar but didn’t?

Ah-ha! BABY JANE. There are certain performances that are suitable for an Academy Award, and when I lost out with Jane, never had I had a shock like that before. I thought, the year of Margo Channing, that if I lost, I would have lost with great, great graciousness to Miss Swanson in Sunset Boulevard, which was marvelous. However, I did feel that someone who had done a play for that many years, it’s not that big an accomplishment as starting from scratch on the screen and play the character, so I was a little bitter.

Which line in BEYOND THE FOREST did you enjoy delivering the most?

You’re talking about, “What a dump.” This line only became famous through Mr. Edward Albee, because literally, all I did in that film, and I checked on this because I became fascinated, was as I was dusting a table, in the quietest voice in the whole world, say, “What a dump”. And I might also add that that’s the only reason that that film will ever be thought of again.

Every star has his disappointments and one of yours must have been not playing in WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF. You have stated that you went to Mr. Albee and said, “I would kill for that part!”

Yes, it was true, but Edward had nothing to do with that. Edward had given up all rights, he might have been able to help me if he had had anything to say.

Interestingly enough, Mr. Warner wanted me very much to have this, he begged the producer, Lee Miller, but he would have no part of it, for me. You can understand his enormous temptation with the Burtons, I can’t quarrel. I can be heartbroken and wish I had had it because it would have been in these ten years just one of the great things for me, I was the right age and everything. But you can understand his temptation. I can, but I hate him for it.

Cosmetic deception is something that has been highly developed, especially for the big screen. And experts, including your hairdresser Eugene of Cinandre, who has cut your hair for years, has told me that they can make you appear young and glamorous very easily

parkmagazineny.com | 113

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Betty Davis .indd 113

3/11/22 12:30 PM

ICON

and then you would be able to play any part you wanted. Why won’t you let Eugene bring out the real Bette Davis all over again?

(Laughing) No, as much as I love him and I know he can do extraordinary things, I won’t do it. It’s true you can look much younger than you do, more so certainly than getting up at dawn and looking in the mirror. There are magic things, you can go and have your facelifted, but with a career as long as mine who am I kidding? Then to me, there is such an overemphasis in our country, that nobody is anything unless they’re just unlined, beautiful, skinny, smelling great.

You know, sincerely, I think one should grow old the way one should grow old.

Why did you reveal all those intimate details about yourself and others in your book?

I didn’t reveal any of the intimate things in my life.

About ten more people have to be dead. You see I don’t believe in really intimate things, but I do believe one thing and that is that you must tell in your book things that haven’t been in the press. The average biography or autobiography of motion picture people you read in the newspapers for a thousand years and they tell you nothing more, and therefore you learn nothing about the person. I never ever hurt anybody in that book by being too intimate. I never told the whole story of anything because I didn’t believe in it, and I wouldn’t want my children to read it if I had to write it. Or perhaps you’re talking about how hard I was on myself. If you’re not rough on yourself in an autobiography, you cannot be rough on anybody else. And it’s a very fine line, things that I wanted to really praise myself for the most, modesty did prevent. That’s for somebody else to write. One day I’ll write an intimate book.

Then come and see me again, Couri.

The Oscars have come under a lot of fire lately; exactly what do you think the benefit of winning it is?

The biggest thrill of your life, when your own industry, when the people you work with honor you, anybody who can stand up there and receive one of those nice young men Oscars and not be thrilled is dead. Really, inside they have lost enthusiasm, they’ve lost everything.

You have said that you don’t like yourself, have you or did you grow to like yourself more as your career progressed?

Success helps you, personally, privately. I never did like myself very much. And I think a lot of actors enjoy character parts because they can be other people; it must be something like this. For all the characters I’ve played I must have hated myself. I never was terribly fond of myself; I still am not terribly fond of myself.

You often play roles that are very wicked ladies, bad girls.

It’s a very divided career in this, honestly, about fiftyfifty. But people remember wickedness more than they remember goodness, newspapers couldn’t sell a copy with all good news. People are fascinated by wickedness, but oh so many. Now, Voyager, Dark Victory were all charming, basically normal people. I always wondered why I enjoyed playing wicked parts, but interestingly there is more to play because there’s something so definite. That was one thing I always believed about it; I always tried to make you see why they had become such wicked people. That’s very important, there has to be a reason, nobody is just wicked.

114 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Betty Davis .indd 114

3/11/22 12:30 PM

BETTE’S LAST HUSBAND

GARY MERRILL / MAINE MAN

O

n another day I found my way to Prout’s Neck, one of Maine’s most scenic summer colonies, to visit with actor, politician, philosopher, iconoclast Gary Merrill, whose main claim to fame is having been Bette Davis’s husband. They lived “hot and heavy” and legendarily for eight years in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, next to my Uncle Dewey’s house Dans la Maison “Witch-Way,” named after Bette, naturellement.

They met, married, and fell in love, or to hear it now (from either side), into purgatory, while filming All About Eve. Today (1972) they are divorced, she’s in Connecticut. . . he in Maine. . . and in the Grand Hollywood manner, Gary Merrill admits that Bette moved, “Because she didn’t feel the state was big enough for both of us. Recently, I understand, she was asked to come back and take part in a Portland Player’s Children Production. She said she would do it only if I was out of state. I was and she did it,” said Merrill.

Behind all the serious political talk was the twinkle of youth, and one knows that Gary knows how to have a good time. After a little chat about his exploits with my father, I launched into what I really wanted to know.

“Bette Davis told me that if the men in her life had been more violent it might have been better.”

“Oh, shit! You might say that there isn’t room for two people to be violent with her around, though I knocked her around a little, so what’s she complaining about?” “Do you ever see her?” I asked.

“I see her every four years at our son’s graduations, and more recently at his wedding.”

“What about your rumored reconciliation?”

“Oh, Shit!”

“What do you think of her as an actress?”

“She’s a good actress, but not all that she’s cracked up to be she’s always DAVIS. She can’t disappear into anything; this is a PERSONALITY thing in our world of movies. In England, they were more interested in the theatre, in playing and being something. There is nothing Davis does that ain’t Davis whether it’s the Queen of England or whatever she’s doing. She did Phone Call From A Stranger pretty well, she played a paralyzed person, but leave her on her feet and she’ll throw a part all out of whack. She has to be a star, so she does crap, there aren’t that many parts for people when they get older.”

“Would you please finally put an end to all this gossip about you wanting each other dead and buried?” I blurted out!

“Well, I remember one day when it was going hot and heavy over at the Cape and she looked me right in the eye and said, “Wouldn’t you be happy if I were dead and you had the house and children all to yourself?” and I said, “Yup!!” P

parkmagazineny.com | 115

PARK_Spring22_Feature_Betty Davis .indd 115

3/11/22 12:30 PM

Laura Jane Petelko

ONE OF CANADA’S RISING PHOTOGRAPHERS USES HER LENS TO

PARK_Spring 22_Petelko .indd 116

3/11/22 2:43 PM

BL

TO

BLUR DEFINITIONS AND BRING EMOTION TO THE FOREFRONT

PARK_Spring 22_Petelko .indd 117

3/11/22 2:43 PM

ARTS

BY JULIE SAGOSKIN

WHEN IT COMES TO HER WORK, LAURA JANE PETELKO seeks to create space for her audiences’ emotional experience.

This Canadian-based photographer, whose works now hang in world-renowned galleries as well as in the homes of devoted private collectors, is determined to draw people away from technological distractions and into a more intimate relationship with her imagery. Her most recent series, MA, featuring famed dancers, actors and choreographers, invites viewers to pause, reflect and regenerate – in their own way, of course.

A self-taught artist, Petelko, who knew from a young age that she wanted to be in the arts, went on her own path, reminiscent of her latest works. “I had a fairly tumultuous childhood where I wasn’t given the support to thrive. I was, however, lucky enough to have a few artists and music lovers to inspire me when I was really young. They introduced me to art forms that explored emotional landscapes.” These were the kinds of pieces that inspired her most and which she would later set out to create. “I had intended to go to art school here in Toronto, but my family life really fell apart at this time, so I had to make the tough decision to go into the work force as a young person and build my life from the ground up. I still knew that I wanted to be an artist but wasn’t sure how I was going to get there.

I worked some tough jobs to save money for the basics and do any schooling that I could. I just always felt pretty lucky to have well-educated and well-versed mentors around me.”

Despite those early setbacks, this dedicated artist continued to devour all things music and art- related, and eventually began working at a record store in her spare time. It was here that she started to photograph bands. With so many artist friends, Laura Jane recognized the opportunity to make a connection with a fine art production house. She soon found herself volunteering for fine artists based out of Los Angeles where she discovered her true passion: photography.

Laura Jane might have started in the background printing exhibitions for artists like Harmony Korine amongst other recognizable names out of the West Coast, but it wasn’t long before she was the one at the forefront and developing her own solo show. “These were real artists and here I was producing everything in the darkroom day in and day out. I was working in production and learning firsthand how it all comes together. I was deep into the mechanics of the whole thing.

I soon realized that I could do this for myself as well –

118 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring 22_Petelko .indd 118

3/11/22 2:43 PM

ARTIST PHOTO : DANIJELA GORLEY

parkny.com | 119

PARK_Spring 22_Petelko .indd 119

3/11/22 2:44 PM

120 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring 22_Petelko .indd 120

3/11/22 2:44 PM

ARTS

GALLERY PHOTOS: CHRISTINA GAPIC

“REMOVING DETAILS CAN LEAVE ROOM FOR THE VIEWER TO ENTER INTO A MORE EMOTIONAL SPACE WITHIN THE IMAGE AND BE ABLE TO PLAY IN THEIR OWN IMAGINATION.” before that it just felt like more of a faraway dream, I suppose.”

It was when she was entrenched in the backend of things that Laura Jane understood that there was a lot going on behind all the glitz and glamour of an art gallery. “It really takes a village! You need a team of producers and technicians to make something happen.” As she continued working with other artists, many of whom were on the academic side of things, this soon-to-be star photographer also concluded that she wanted her work to come from a place of exploring ideas. “The medium of photography in a deconstructed way which makes it possible to explore ideas that are more ambiguous and open. Photography captures time and place, but I am most interested in work that aims to broaden our senses or that speaks to our intellectual mind rather than getting caught up in details. To me, that’s the very nature of photography. My greatest goal is to create work that connects with people’s inner world in the same way that art and music has done for me over all these years, in a mostly poetic way.”

Laura Jane attributes her attraction to abstraction to an earlier time in her life and career when she was diagnosed with an eye condition that required intense treatment for a couple of years. This condition led her to see things, including her work, in a completely different

light. This greater interest in abstraction subsequently changed her relationship to photography. “Removing details can leave room for the viewer to enter into a more emotional space within the image and be able to play in their own imagination,” she explains. “Much like a song, having less details gives us the chance to have our own interpretations.”

Through her latest collection featuring well-known artists, including actors and dancers from the renowned National Ballet of Canada, Laura Jane is taking her ideals to higher - and more enlightened heights. This current body of work entitled MA, is a Japanese term which is based on the absent spaces in art and architecture that give form to an object. This concept of negative space relates to all aspects of life. The interval created, whether in the mind or the physical realm, is a regenerative pause.

“This is such an incredible metaphor for the time we’ve been living in,” explains Laura Jane. It was through this personal work that she was able to go back to abstraction. Let’s just say that getting the opportunity to work with such artists as choreographer and contemporary dancer Andrea Nann, actor Chloe Rose, dancer Adelaide Sadler, and National Ballet of Canada dancer Connor Hamilton, first soloist Calley Skalnik and principal dancer Siphe November, was one very shining silver lining of

parkmagazineny.com | 121

PARK_Spring 22_Petelko .indd 121

3/11/22 2:44 PM

ARTS

“ THERE’S THIS INCREDIBLE KIND OF EXCHANGE AND IT WAS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE TO WORK WITH THEM AND BRING THE SERIES INTO THE WORLD.” the pandemic. Laura Jane’s artistic perspective can be seen through these works where the dancers, impressionistic and solitary, become forms traced in space.

“Everything just came together. It was a real gift to be able to work with collaborators of such great distinction.

I might not have had access to any of this at any other time but was able to collaborate during this pause when the ballet company was on hiatus. The images are dark and magnetic, and the dancers’ own movements make their identities less clear. There’s this incredible kind of exchange and it was such a beautiful experience to work with them and bring the series into the world.”

With an opening in Toronto and representation in galleries throughout the US, including Cavalier Galleries which has locations in New York, Palm Beach and Greenwich, Connecticut, as well as in Virgil Catherine Gallery in Chicago, Laura Jane is most excited to share these special pieces with both old and new collectors.

“I think that my work tends to resonate with people more on an emotional level. It’s beautiful to see how work moves through the world, and I feel like I have the most wonderful collectors. Creating work that is then able to connect with people feels great. The connection is not just transactional, it feels like a bond. It’s the beauty of

that which keeps me going to the next one.”

Many of her followers are also huge fans of her previous works including Soft Stories. Featuring flawed creatures portrait-style in an almost odd and irreverent way against natural landscapes, the project alluded to a sort of poetry about our disconnection with nature. According to Laura Jane, although the images themselves are not blurred, the definitions were blurred. “It’s fun to give permission to not have all the answers and move into something more poetically rather than academically or technically, etc.”

Endless Gone is another thought-provoking series where endless landscapes trigger endless questions from admirers who often ask where everything was taken and how it was shot. Yet again, it is this removal of everything but the feeling the pieces provoke which allows the viewer to retreat into their own interpretations. “It’s about removing information in an age where we are exhausted with so much content and technology.”

As can be seen with her most celebrated works, especially MA, more pause can indeed mean more meaning – in whatever way that means for you. P laurajanepetelko.com

122 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring 22_Petelko .indd 122

3/11/22 2:44 PM

parkmagazineny.com | 123

PARK_Spring 22_Petelko .indd 123

3/11/22 2:44 PM

ARTS

Marcelo Zimmler Gallerist, Upsilon Gallery

BY B E N N E T T M A R C U S

U

psilon Gallery is expanding in Manhattan, with a new 2,000squarefoot space at 23 East 67th Street that opened in February. Specializing in international postwar and contemporary art with a focus on rediscovering overlooked artists within a historical scope, Upsilon Gallery also has a gallery at 146 West 57th Street, which will remain open.

Malzfabrik in Berlin, the Officina delle Zattere in Venice, and the European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM) in Barcelona.

Osvaldo Mariscotti exhibition The new UES space. launched with a solo exhibition of Osvaldo Mariscotti’s paintings, sculptures and mixed media works.. The show focuses on the artist’s study of symbols and the development of language.

“Osvaldo is a proper artist’s artist,” Marcelo Zimmler says. “He likes to lock himself up in the studio and paint all day.”

Mariscotti’s prolific career as a printmaker, painter and sculptor has spanned over four decades.. In 2015 the artist first participated in the 56th Venice Biennale with his now-iconic Book of Color I. His artwork has been exhibited around the world in prestigious venues including the MIIT Museum in Turin, the

Circuitous Route to the Art World Upsilon Gallery, which launched in 2014, also has representatives in Miami and London.

Its founder, Marcelo Zimmler, had a somewhat unusual path to discovering his passion for art and becoming a gallerist.

While studying computer science at Pace University in New York, Zimmler’s plan was a graduate program in applied math followed by a career in academia. A study-abroad program in London, where he met a lot of entrepreneurial characters and participated in competitions for business plans, upended those plans.

“Coming into London, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do, I was already

preparing for the GREs,” Zimmler says. “Then it all flipped upside down. I didn’t like it anymore.

I knew it wasn’t my passion.”

A museum buff, he’d always been interested in the arts, and once back in New York, he immersed himself in the world of fine arts, and found he loved it.

More kismet followed once he’d graduated: he met the artist Osvaldo Mariscotti, who he now represents, and whose show opened the gallery’s new space. “I offered to help him ” says Zimmler, “ Because he needed exposure.”

Zimmler designed a website, which received a good response, and built the business out from there, reaching out to art publications and initiating collaborations with several art groups within the US and Europe. “Eventually I put together an e-commerce site and a number of applications that combined Mariscotti’s aesthetics with things like sound synthesis and

124 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Profile_ Zimmler.indd 124

3/9/22 11:48 PM

“OSVALDO IS A PROPER ARTIST’S ARTIST,” MARCELO ZIMMLER SAYS. “HE LIKES TO LOCK HIMSELF UP IN THE STUDIO AND PAINT ALL DAY.”

many others, and his work is in the permanent collection of the Tate.

“This is the kind of caliber of work that we’re dealing with,” Zimmler says.

augmented reality to take the experiential aspect of the artwork to a whole new level. The work we did 10 years ago was highly experimental which in turn made it very exciting.”

London School of Economics After a couple of years as an artist’s manager, Zimmler began to think about starting a gallery, and enrolled in a master’s business program at the London School of Economics. “I used my thesis to study the art market, doing a quantitative study on certain features of the English auction, which is by far the most popular type of auction and the one used in the sale of fine art.”

After graduating, he returned to New York and started Upsilon Gallery.

Association of Print Scholars Relatively young, in his early 30s, Zimmler has surrounded himself with a team of art world heavyweights with deep knowledge and

connections in the industry. His director in New York is Andrew Horodysky, an authority on prints and printmaking, one of the gallery’s strengths. He has a background in art history, previous gallery work, consulting and appraising, and is a member of the Association of Print Scholars.

British Artist Clyde Hopkins In London, Upsilon’s director is Greg Rook, an established art advisor, collections manager, university lecturer and artist. “He’s super knowledgeable, especially when it comes to U.K. artists,” says Zimmler.

Rook worked with the estate of British artist Clyde Hopkins to bring in the second show at Upsilon’s new 67th Street space. Hopkins, who passed away in 2018, has exhibited at the Serpentine Gallery, Salisbury Art Centre and Francis Graham-Dixon in London, among

Miami Space He opened an office in Miami as a response to the influx of New Yorkers during the pandemic. In Florida the gallery has participated in art fairs for the past five years, so being able to work directly with clients there makes sense. “We’re building a good base in Miami; we get people from Palm Beach, Boca Raton, and other parts of Florida.”

Upsilon has always had an online presence; it started out online even before having brick and mortar locations, which helped during the pandemic. “You can work around clients not being physically in the gallery by being fully transparent, namely by supplying high resolution photography and video, accurate artwork specifications, full provenance, condition reports, etc.,” Zimmler notes. “As a result, our business ended up growing a lot.

Last year we had our best year ever, and it was over a 100% increase from the year before.” P upsilongallery.com

parkmagazineny.com | 125

PARK_Spring22_Profile_ Zimmler.indd 125

3/9/22 11:48 PM

ARTS

Micah McLaurin

Liberace for the Millennial Generation

BY J A K E D R E S S L E R

M

The Juilliard School

icah McLaurin is destined to become the Liberace of the Millennial generation.

He started playing the piano at the age of eight and spent his childhood studying under some of America’s most notable classical pianists including Enrique Graf and Gary Graffman.

When he was nineteen, he attended the Curtis Institute of Music, one of the best music schools in the country, before attending The Juilliard School for his master’s degree. When McLaurin was fourteen years old, he played his first solo performance with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, at 16 he played with the Cleveland Orchestra. Since then, he’s played all over the world at music festivals and concert halls including Lincoln Center. He’s also played with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Orquestra Filarmónica de Montevideo.

Micah’s won numerous awards including the Gilmore Young Artist award that picks two of the nation’s most talented up-and-coming musicians every year.

Rhapsody in Gaga Micah’s performances fuse two of his passions.

Layered on top of Micah’s playing is his obsession with fashion. His Instagram account, which boasts 117k followers, features his favorite outfits, some of which were designed by Zaldy,

126 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Profile_ McLaurin.indd 126

3/11/22 11:19 AM

“ I SAW THINGS WITH CRYSTALS, AND IT REALLY CAUGHT MY EYE. IT REALLY DEVELOPED MY TASTE FOR FASHION” the designer who’s worked with Michael Jackson, Lada Gaga, Britney Spears, Katy Perry and RuPaul. Zaldy and Micah’s collaborations have resulted in some unique creations, including their Royal Covid mask with gold-encrusted diamonds hanging off both sides. He wore the powder blue mask with a matching suit for his first post-Covid performance at the High Line Nine. Micah also worked with Zaldy on Rhapsody in Gaga an arrangement of Lady Gaga’s songs “Bad Romance” and “Paparazzi” that has just been released on YouTube.

Instagram & YouTube The 27-year-old has been performing since he was a child protégé .From the time he first laid his fingers on the piano he became hooked. He remembers being consumed with piano during his childhood. He never focused on school because he knew he was destined to become a pianist. Micah’s education at Curtis also unlocked a newfound love for fashion. “I only wore hand-me-down clothes; I never had the chance to go shopping until I went to Curtis. I saw things with crystals, and it really caught my eye. It really developed my taste for fashion,” Micah said. Through social media, Micah is helping create a new national appreciation of classical music. “It’s interesting how Chopin has millions of

monthly listeners on Spotify,” Micah said, “Even some pop artists don’t have that.”

Bohemian Rhapsody in Blue “ My mom got a book called Teach Yourself How to Play Piano and tried to sit us all down and teach us. When she gave up, I started going through it on my own and figured things out for myself. I was the 3rd of 7 children: 3 boys ,4 girls. It was pretty crazy; I shared a room with my two brothers for most of my life. I went to a Catholic school at one point and dropped out.

I wanted to be homeschooled because I wanted to play piano; I really didn’t like school because I was too obsessed with piano to care. When I first started, I remember vividly how much I loved the sound. It’s so powerful, it’s so beautiful. It encompasses so many emotions, you play the whole piece - the melody, the bass, the accompaniment - you experience the whole work and the whole emotion. With the piano it’s complete, you have all the parts in one place. It can pretty much do anything; it almost has no limits, other than you can’t sustain a note it will die out.”

This summer Micah’s doing a tour in Italy with the cellist Ludovica Lana . “ We’re playing all Chopin. I’m also performing Bohemian Rhapsody in Blue in Germany. It’s going to be the world premiere.P micahmclaurin.com

parkmagazineny.com | 127

PARK_Spring22_Profile_ McLaurin.indd 127

3/11/22 11:19 AM

ESCAPES

The Desolate Beauty of

128 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Dec_IcelandUpdated.indd 128

Icela 3/11/22 2:53 PM

land PHOTOGRAPHY BY DUKE WINN

parkmagazineny.com | 129

PARK_Dec_IcelandUpdated.indd 129

3/11/22 2:53 PM

ESCAPES

130 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Dec_IcelandUpdated.indd 130

3/11/22 2:53 PM

‘‘In Iceland, you can see the contours of the mountains wherever you go, and the swell of the hills, and always beyond that the horizon. And there’s this strange thing: you’re never sort of hidden; you always feel exposed in that landscape. But it makes it very beautiful as well.’’

- HANNAH KENT.

parkmagazineny.com | 131

PARK_Dec_IcelandUpdated.indd 131

3/11/22 2:53 PM

ESCAPES

PARK_Dec_IcelandUpdated.indd 132

3/11/22 2:53 PM

‘‘When you live in Iceland so very far away from everything else, you have no concept that anything you do will be heard outside of Reykjavik. I still don’t know how we managed it.’’

–JON THOR BIRGISSON.

PARK_Dec_IcelandUpdated.indd 133

3/11/22 2:53 PM

ESCAPES

Aspen Rocky Mountain High

BY R . C O U R I H AY

134 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Dect21_ AspenNew.indd 134

3/11/22 2:56 PM

hile best-known as a ski resort, Aspen, founded in 1879, is equally enjoyable in all seasons. Originally a silver mining town, Aspen fell into decline once that industry died out, and during those fallow years, nature gradually took over, the area became pristine again the rivers pure, the land verdant. Skiing arrived in the 1930s, and by the 1940s, the snowy slopes surrounding the ghost town became a world-class ski resort. aspensnowmass.com Prince Harry to Jack Nicholson In Aspen, locals talk about sitting next to Jack Nicholson at the Jerome Hotel bar or passing Kate Hudson, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell on the street.

The Colorado ski resort has been favored by show-biz insiders since its earliest days. Mixing with locals in town during any season are A-list Hollywood stars, artists, musicians, and Davos-level power brokers. This year Prince Harry played in a polo match at the Aspen Valley Polo Club, a fundraiser for his Sentebale charity that supports the health and well-being of children in Lesotho and Botswana.

Billionaire Mountain Many renowned folks have set down roots in Aspen; Antonio Banderas, Will Smith, Michael Eisner, Sally Field, Ringo Starr, Neil Diamond and Lucille Ball have all owned homes in the mountain paradise. Red Mountain, where members of the Bezos and Walton (Walmart) families have homes, is nicknamed “Billionaire Mountain.” The writer Hunter S. Thompson moved to Aspen in 1968, buying a home with the proceeds from his Hell’s Angels book, and lived there until he committed suicide in 2005. Thompson, who personified “gonzo journalism,” famously ran for county sheriff in 1970.

Aspen at Dusk

Hotel Jerome

The J-Bar The J-Bar at the Hotel Jerome served as Thompson’s de facto office, and most days he’d eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner there after stopping at the post office to pick up his mail. A bartender served as a buffer between Thompson and visiting fans; even famous ones like Jimmy Buffet and John Denver had to request a meeting. Thompson once almost killed actor Bill Murray at the Jerome by duct-taping him to a lounge chair and throwing him into the hotel’s pool.

Upon his death in 2005, Thompson’s funeral at the Jerome’s Grand Ballroom was attended by Murray, John Cusack, Benicio Del Toro, and Johnny Depp, who footed the $3 million tab for blasting the author’s ashes on Thompson’s Colorado farm, from a cannon behind his Aspen home, as Thompson had requested in his will.

Hotel Jerome The Hotel Jerome was one of Aspen’s first, built-in 1889 by Jerome B. Wheeler, a co-owner of Macy’s, for whom it is named. The Jerome has had ups and downs through the years, fading as Aspen’s silver mining trade dried up, picking up again in the 1930s when ski trails opened, and by the 1950s it was a hangout for the movie stars, writers, and artists who were drawn to the town’s bohemian vibe.

Centrally located at the foot of Aspen Mountain, the Jerome is now a completely renovated Auberge property. aubergeresorts.com/hoteljerome

parkmagazineny.com | 135

PARK_Dect21_ AspenNew.indd 135

3/11/22 2:56 PM

ESCAPES

Little Nell Paepcke Suite The Little Nell Hotel My favorite hotel is The Little Nell, a five-star spot at the base of Aspen Mountain with direct gondola access to the slopes. Lively and hip, the Little Nell feels like a modern residence, with contemporary art on the walls and locally quarried stone fireplaces. All the luxurious suites have gas fireplaces, and most have balconies.

The ski concierge stores your equipment and warms your boots and helps you put them on in the morning.

It’s the only way really! Thelittlenell.com

‘‘THE SKI CONCIERGE STORES YOUR EQUIPMENT AND WARMS YOUR BOOTS AND HELPS YOU PUT THEM ON IN THE MORNING.’’

THE FOUR SKI AREAS Aspen Mountain, also known as Ajax, is my favorite, and the most popular for its celebrity scene. The slopes include steep glades and moguls, as well as a few relatively easy runs.

Snowmass has the most vertical feet in all of the U.S. With 91 trails and 21 chairlifts, there’s something for everyone, and experienced skiers won’t get bored here.

Buttermilk, despite being the home of the Winter X Games and its daredevil pro skiers, with its gently rolling trails, is perfect for beginners or those desiring a more leisurely skiing experience.

Aspen Highlands is the most laid-back of the four ski areas and is favored by locals and ski-world insiders for its uncrowded slopes. There are expert terrains and also plenty of easier long runs with spectacular views.

136 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Dect21_ AspenNew.indd 136

3/11/22 2:56 PM

Aspen Mountain Club Atop Aspen Mountain sits the Aspen Mountain Club, the resort’s most prestigious private club. This place’s exclusivity is inherent – the number of members is capped at 350 – and the membership medallion is the town’s ultimate status symbol. Members enjoy perks like access to ski the mountain before it opens in the mornings – essentially having the entire mountain to yourself. Like the best clubs, the venue is not overly pretentious; upon entering, members check their snowy boots and don slippers.

The daily buffet offers gourmet cuisine and exquisite wines. Annual fees are $6,000; however, the initiation fee will set you back $220,000. thelittlenell.com/occasions/weddings/venues/aspen-mountain-club Caribou Club: Founder Harley Baldwin The late and sorely missed art dealer and developer Harley Baldwin founded Aspen’s exclusive Caribou Club in 1990 as the city’s first members-only club, bringing to Aspen world-class cuisine. While dining inside the ultrachic club, guests are seated underneath its charming antlered chandeliers and surrounded by important art including the Cowboy and Indian series by Andy Warhol.

Members can also be seated in the Wine Room, where the clubhouses its 5,000 bottles of wine. The club is now owned by Baldwin’s partner, gallerist Richard Edwards who also runs the Baldwin Gallery, the best in Aspen.

When I was in town, they had a genius show by New York’s Will Cotton featuring cowboys and pink horses. Maintaining Harley’s high standards are his long-time collaborators and friends Billy Stolz and Louis Velasquez who have been with the club since its inception. caribouclub.com Andy Warhol Returns to Aspen My pal Andy Warhol loved Aspen and owned a ranch outside of town. I used to take him skiing on the bunny slope at Buttermilk, he was a terrible skier but liked the towns nightlife. Now, The Aspen Art Museum is presenting Andy Warhol: Lifetimes, a major new retrospective of Warhol’s oeuvre. The exhibition, which features over 200 pieces, focuses on some of his lesser-known works, exploring his early inspirations and his role as a gay artist. The show will run through March 27, 2022. aspenartmuseum.org Casterline|Goodman Gallery Casterline|Goodman is another top gallery worth checking out. Among the artists they represent are wildlife photographer David Yarrow and 25-year-old German contemporary artist Alexander Höller aka ‘The Emotion Artist’ who’s work will be shown through April 15th, 2022. casterlinegoodman.org

Will Cotton’s Airborne

Summer Festivals In the summer you can hike, bike, climb, and go rafting all with that beautiful Rocky Mountain backdrop. There are lots of fairs and festivals in the summer including the Intersect Art Fair, Aspen Music Festival, the Food & Wine Classic, and the Aspen Ideas Festival. aspenideas.org Aspen Food & Wine Classic The Aspen Food & Wine Classic features cooking demonstrations, wine tastings, and panel discussions with renowned chefs and vintners. This past summer Martha Stewart, restaurateurs Andrew Zimmern, Bobby Stuckey, Guy Fieri, and Stephanie Izard, and wine experts Mark Oldman and Belinda Chang were all there. classic. foodandwine.com Aspen Music Festival The Aspen Music Festival, founded in 1949, brings 400 classical music events to the Rocky Mountains over eight weeks each summer. The mix includes orchestral, solo and chamber music performances and operas, there is also a school component, with masterclasses, lectures, and children’s programs. Aspenmusicfestival.com

parkmagazineny.com | 137

PARK_Dect21_ AspenNew.indd 137

3/11/22 2:56 PM

ESCAPES

Kenneth Mark - Aspen

My Aspen Insider Tips

BY K ENNETH MARK

Aspen Maroon Bells in the Summer

Rocky Mountain Haven Aspen is full of interesting people who live life to the fullest. Locals love to say, “our lives are better than your vacation.” An avid skier and longtime Aspen habitue, Dr. Kenneth Mark is an ambassador for Aspen. “One of my favorite things in the world is to think about Aspen, talk about Aspen… and to be in Aspen,” says Dr. Mark, a top dermatologist with offices in Aspen, the Hamptons, and Manhattan. Dr. Mark spends three months per year in the Rocky Mountains haven, and he shared his insider’s tips with me. kennethmarkmd.com The Vibe Aspen is very much about the people, whether they’re living there or visiting, is passionate about being there. And part of the magic of Aspen is it’s difficult to get to, so it’s not an overcrowded place. It’s a real town that started as a silver mining hub and evolved into a place with big-city culture world-class recreation and a small-town feel.

It’s tiny, but you probably have more master sommeliers that either live there than anywhere else in the world.

Ski Gangs & Shrines to Elvis & Marilyn There are ski gangs, groups of people who ski together, and I’m a member of the Bell Mountain Buckaroos, one of the oldest, founded in 1971 by six guys trying out for jobs as ski school instructors. To this day, every Sunday they meet to ski. On Aspen Mountain, there are shrines, including ones for John Denver, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and Jerry Garcia. The Buckaroos also have their shrine on Bell Mountain.

Cathedral of Rocks & Snow My favorite mountain is Aspen Highlands.

A lot of people like Aspen Mountain, and it’s great, I like it, but my favorite mountain is Aspen Highlands. The terrain is some of the best in North America. Highlands, as the locals call it, has maintained a rustic feel. It’s very spiritual, you’re up there surrounded by peaks overlooking the Maroon Bells, two 14,000-foot peaks that are bell-shaped.

They’re the most photographed peaks in North America. It’s like you’re in this cathedral of rocks and snow and solemnness.

138 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Dect21_ AspenNew.indd 138

3/11/22 2:56 PM

‘‘AN ON-MOUNTAIN RESTAURANT AT AN ELEVATION OVER 10,000 FEET, YOU SKI TO GET TO IT.’’

Cloud Nine Alpine Bistro On Highlands

French Alpine Bistro

Cloud Nine Alpine Bistro In ski areas in Europe, they build a house on the mountain, and they stop for lunch. In most American ski areas, you might as well be at a cafeteria. Cloud Nine, located on Highlands Mountain, is the closest thing to your Austrian ski-hut-on-the-mountain lunch spot, and it’s only open in the winter. An on-mountain restaurant at an elevation over 10,000 feet, you ski to get to it. But non-skiers can get there by snowcat, and if you overindulge, you can grab a ride back down the mountain the same way. Started by an Austrian and now run by Tommy Tolleson, a Swede who has lived in Aspen for over 30 years, Cloud Nine has transformed into a full-on champagne-spraying lunch every day of the week. A typical Wednesday is as wild as a holiday weekend. The cuisine is Swiss inflected, think fondue, raclette, and steak tartare. It’s the hardest-to-get reservation in town, and Tolleson is by far the most popular guy in town. Everybody is always vying to get a table at Cloud 9, and it’s a very small place.

Tolleson’s Rosé Entourage A few years ago, Cloud Nine’s Tolleson

launched his own rosé wine label, Entourage, using grapes sustainably grown in the French Riviera. Born in St. Tropez, launched in Aspen, Entourage rosé has recently become available at select venues in similar resort areas, including Nantucket and the Hamptons.

Summer: Hiking & Biking In summer, it’s all about hiking and biking. I like to hike the Ute, named after the Ute Indians, because it’s known for being steep, so it’s a workout. I wouldn’t hike to the top of the mountain the first day in Aspen, because you need to get used to the altitude.

One thing I like to do on the first day is rent bicycles from Aspen Bikes and ride along the Rio Grande River. It’s relatively flat, but with enough incline to get a workout, and you’re still at 8,000 feet.

Dining in Aspen Tip: make your restaurant reservations in advance if you’re visiting Aspen in the high season and during peak times, like holidays.

The French Alpine Bistro One of my favorite Aspen restaurants, the French Alpine Bistro was named one of America’s top five romantic restaurants by the Food Network. Owner Karin Derly is Austrian, and you feel like you’re in the Alps.

Whether you sit in the outdoor chalet or downstairs, the ambiance there is unique and second to none, and the food is delicious.

I love their rack of lamb, and also the scallops. And for lunch, especially in the summertime, try the Moules-Frites. frenchalpinebistro.com Steakhouse 316 At Steakhouse 316 my favorite is the prime 38-ounce Tomahawk Ribeye. Steakhouse 316 also has an amazing wine list, with a great variety, including some real gems that are reasonably priced. Owners Samantha and Craig Cordts-Pearce also own several other great Aspen restaurants including Wild Fig, Monarch Steakhouse, and CP Burger, and they recently bought the Woody Creek Tavern. steakhouse316.com Cache Cache For over 30 years Cache Cache has served up fine French dining under the stewardship of owner Jodi Larner. I’ve always liked the osso buco, but these days it’s hard for me to go there and not have their rack of lamb. It’s just that good, and local, Colorado lamb. cachecache.com Campo I love Campo, an Italian restaurant that also has a popular bar scene that on some night’s morphs into a full-on party. Manager Dave Ellsweig is the maestro of orchestrating the transition from dining to party. campodefiori.net Joonas Aspen This is a new favorite, it just opened over the Fourth of July weekend. They have amazing tapas, and the chocolate mousse is some of the best in town. joonasaspen.com P

parkmagazineny.com | 139

PARK_Dect21_ AspenNew.indd 139

3/11/22 2:56 PM

ESCAPES

STILL THE COOLEST

The legendary lead guitarist Slash (Guns N’ Roses) captured by photographer Ross Halfin is probably the most definitive image of the Rock & Roll aesthete that defined the late 80’s to early 90’s ‘cool’ of the Sunset Marquis hotel.

PARK_Spring22_SunsetMarquis .indd 140

3/11/22 12:38 PM

THE

SUNSET MARQUIS

H O T E L I N H O L LY W O O D

BY G E O R G E WAY N E SO, THE SUMMER ITINERARY FOR THE HIPSTER NEW YORKER swinging through L.A. begins right here with yours truly. And the coolest hotel to lay your head as you go about embracing the role of astute Hollywood insider (for a few days at least) still begins at the iconic West Hollywood home away from home for legendary creatives for almost 60 years -- The Sunset Marquis Hotel.

For the New Yorker-in-the-know visiting Hollywood, it’s already a given that the base camp must always be in the environs of West Hollywood. WeHo for most New Yorkers offers the vibe we are accustomed to because it feels like a community and a neighborhood and because it remains the heartbeat to the vibe and buzz -- and soul of Los Angeles.

And for New Yorkers who still love to walk wherever they go, getting a room at the Sunset Marquis guarantees that you can stroll the neighborhood and not experience FOMO. Why? Because even to this day many of L.A.’s iconic restaurants and bars

and buzz spots, old and new, are still very much within a 15-minute radius of 1200 Alta Loma Avenue where you will take up residence. ‘’Nobody walks in L.A.’’ goes the refrain from a famous 80’s rock anthem. But that doesn’t apply if you are smart enough to know better.

So, what is Los Angeles like as we finally -- finally -- re-emerge from this seemingly never-ending pandemic era? Well, for the Sunset Marquis, unlike its decades-long rival up the hill, the Chateau Marmont, the vibe could not be more welcoming. If nothing else, the Covid-era lockdown allowed for a jowly,

parkmagazineny.com | 141

PARK_Spring22_SunsetMarquis .indd 141

3/11/22 12:38 PM

ESCAPES

‘‘THE ENTIRE OSBORNE FAMILY HOLED UP WHEN THEY FIRST MOVED TO HOLLYWOOD AND BEGAN THAT VILLA #2 TREND BACK IN THE BIG ‘80S.’’ aging rock and roll chick with the junky pallor and wrinkly lips to clean up and put down the whiskey.

She’s sobered up and re-invented herself with the requisite nip and tuck, and more, for a whole new groupie. And that is precisely what co-owner Mark Rosenthal and his team at the Sunset Marquis have done. Because this haven has never been more Zen, more sublime and more the ultimate definition of Hollywood cool.

I love hotel living, always have. So, after the quick unpack and surmising the marvelously top-class update to what is essentially my one-bedroom apartment for the next few days, I jumped in the ultramodern kitted out en-suite bathroom with the blasting shower heads like the waterfalls of Niagara and seriously spent the next hour meditating. I didn’t want to leave the amazing bathroom of Villa 52 of the Sunset Marquis. Room service was ordered in and the glass doors to my private bamboo garden were swung open to embrace the cashmere weather nights of Los Angeles in November as the quiet purr of the usual L.A. traffic provided just enough of a sign that yes, GW-- you’re in Hollywood, baby!

And it becomes evidently clear over the course of the next few days with all the luxe new details that this hotel has now fully re-imagined the narrative of the raucous Rock & Roll hangout to a hotel with even more charm and that word again- Zen feel whilst still maintaining its roots as a major cornerstone to L.A.’s culture of cool for 60 years. There are more opulent hotels with more breathtaking locations than this one. And there are other hotels in this neighborhood where celebrities are known to let loose. But none can rival the pedigree of ‘’The SM’’ and its generational and unrivalled hip factor.

And that hip factor began at inception when the cool hippies up in Laurel Canyon like Joni Mitchell would begin venturing down to Sunset Boulevard

to mix and mingle and pretty quickly the Sunset Marquis became the place for the true musical genius to feel right at home. ‘’It became a place where lots of things were accepted,’’ George Rosenthal, the visionary behind the property once quipped. George Rosenthal was a wild and crazy guy with a heart of gold who had the grand fantasy of creating his version of Alla Nazimova’s Garden of Allah Hotel on this incredible swathe of land he›d acquired in the heart of then un-defined West Hollywood. He, and his business partner at the time, Hugh Hefner, had been unable to obtain financing for a Playboy Hotel to house the guests and performers at the Playboy Club and office tower on Sunset Boulevard. This failure gave rise to a more realistic option just down the block, and so the Sunset Marquis opened in 1963 as a low-cost apartment hotel. Today it is a re-imagined secluded and re-invented escape in the heart of bustling WeHo with 154 superbly renovated suites and villas, a restaurant, spa and recording studio spread over almost four acres of lush flora and fauna under the guidance of his son, heir apparent and inspiration for the hotel’s name, Mark Rosenthal.

All through the ‘70s ‘80s and ‘90s this hotel truly was the refuge for ALL of Hollywood’s most legendary rock & roll creatives. Guns N Roses, and especially Slash, practically lived at the hotel and many did. At the height of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston love-life-mania, they kept the paparazzi at bay for almost a year whilst living at the celebrity favorite Villa #2 of the Sunset Marquis. Kate Hudson and her ‘90s lover Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes also lived for months in Villa #2, too, which was where the entire Osborne family holed up when they first moved to Hollywood and began that Villa #2 trend back in the big ‘80s. Jeff Beck still loves to strum his guitar in the gardens of his favorite Villa on the

The sumptuous gardens of this legendary hotel is still a source of creative fecund for the famous guitarist Jeff Beck.

142 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_SunsetMarquis .indd 142

3/11/22 12:38 PM

The pristine modernist chic of the revamped Sunset Marquis led by Eric Rosen Architects has transformed the hotel into the 21st Century

IMAGES OF SUNSET MARQUIS - JUSTIN CORDOVA (PHOTOGRAPHER)

Up on the roof with another of the hotel’s Hall of Fame regulars —Anthony Kiedis of The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Stroll under the canopy of Mandarin orange trees and over the Koi pond into the oasis that is the hotel’s social nexus - The Cavatina eatery.

occasion he’s in town. But the days of Agnetha Fältskog {the iconic lead singer of ABBA) lounging by the pool topless when that famous group first came to America on their very first tour are now just a part of this hotel’s charm and lore and myth. The fact that Green Day still holds the distinction as the only band that’s been banned from staying at the hotel on three separate occasions is a record likely never to be broken. Not in this age when social media has wrecked asunder any hope of flagrantly public bad behavior by the rich and famous. These days there is no reprieve from the Tweet, the TikTok for TMZ or post to the Instagram wall. These days Dave Grohl is the rock & roll ideal for the Sunset Marquis and is obvious homage is there to see the minute you check in to find his image on the plastic swathe of a room key. And why not? He did after all meet his wife Jordan in the hotel’s famous Whiskey Bar off the lobby entrance.

The days when John Oates of the famous Hall & Oates would whoop enthusiastically, ‘’The Sunset Marquis was like adult Disneyland’’ can still be applied but in a much different way. “The pendulum had to swing,’’ says the property’s namesake, Mark Rosenthal who, long ago, became a partner in the property with his father-- this is now about cementing the 21st Century narrative of the Sunset Marquis and so kudos to the maestro. Because this property has never been more beautiful.

Ziggy Marley could still check in to the Sunset Marquis and pile at least a pound of weed on the coffee table in his room like his father Bob Marley did back in the day when he gave that epic live gig up the hill at The Roxy -- and management wouldn’t give a fig but today, especially as we exhale and realize our blessings this post-pandemic era. I was washing down the most slurp-worthy plate of West Coast Oysters followed by the most amazing Bucatini

parkmagazineny.com | 143

PARK_Spring22_SunsetMarquis .indd 143

3/11/22 12:38 PM

ESCAPES

AS SLASH SO SUCCINCTLY FRAMED IT, ‘‘IT’S THE ONLY HOTEL AROUND L.A. THAT’S MAINTAINED ITS COOL FACTOR SINCE 1963.’’

Pasta and jotting and reminiscing. I giggled to myself as I thought about the last time I stayed in a Villa at the Sunset Marquis for an Oscar week in the early 2000s and going to party at Paris Hilton’s bachelorette pad overlooking Sunset Boulevard and practically being molested by James Brown’s widow in the kitchen. True story! James Brown’s widow wanted me to mount her. Suffice to say - that never happened. But such is the mood of creative fecund that sweeps the sense from my perch in the groovy communal dining al fresco scene of the in-house Cavatina restaurant. It’s easy to feel and understand mentally why this place has been so integral to writing and creating.

And then there is its one-a-kind locale. It is no cliche to say that the best way to discover any city is by walking the city you visit. But how to do that in a city like Los Angeles where you look like the only loser by wanting to stroll around? Taking up residence at the Sunset Marquis is the truly exceptional way to quash that worry.

Just a brisk stroll up the hill to Sunset Boulevard and you can quickly become the cool Los Angelenos, so sit and order a latte at the Coffee Bean or the Starbucks and people watch. And there is nowhere to people watch the most beautiful folk in L.A. than in West Hollywood. So, feel no shame in holding court by that still au courant coffee spot, or maybe it’s lunch at still popular eateries all along Sunset Plaza like the Chin Chin or Le Petit Four where you can ogle the Lululemon beauties strutting in and out of the vast Equinox complex next door.

On your Day 3 perhaps, one could go about shopping and power walking at the same time with a visit to start the afternoon at the coolest boutique on Sunset Plaza in H. Lorenzo and then stroll to the iconic Dries Van Noten boutique on famous La Cienega Boulevard before strolling onwards to the

Beverly Center a mile or so away from where it is a must to first stop by the Concierge Desk to L.A.’s most famous shopping mecca to find out which stores have special discounts for visitors to the city.

On your Night 4 perhaps, you will want to just stroll the most famous movie billboard corridor in the world! At night the twinkle and sparkle of the lights of Hollywood and the huge, glorious billboards of all the latest movie stars truly throttle the senses. You stroll it to feel it -- yes baby, you are truly in Hollywood.

It is the most intoxicating rush ever. And time to show off the fruits of the shopping spree by getting glammed up for dinner at the most craved sushi restaurant in town called Sushi Park, a five-minute walk once again to Sunset Blvd. Do not be surprised at all if you find yourself at Sushi Park seated next to Angelina Jolie picking over sea bass nigiri whilst batting her eyelashes at her new friend The Weeknd.

On your Day 5 after the morning latte, a visit to one of the world’s most famous bookstores in the Book Soup is a must to, not only pick up the morning Los Angeles Times or New York Times, but a few hardcovers for reading and sunning by either of the two pools at your disposal when you get back to the hotel. You could even do the macabre Hollywood tribute before all that and lay a rose by the Viper Room where to this day fans still leave wreaths and such at the site where River Phoenix overdosed decades ago. And you can then stroll by the most fabulous art gallery devoted to all things Andy Warhol at The Revolver Gallery. Later, an early evening drink or meal is a five-minute cab ride or Uber to the Polo Lounge of the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel, where the perfect Instagram moment awaits. And end the day with another round of shopping at the iconic L.A. boutique Fred Segal which has brand new headquarters just up the hill from your hotel room. Wear that perfect hoodie to the Abbey before

The current face, literally, of the hotel is the current modern myth figure of the Sunset Strip definition of cool is the rocker Dave Grohl who actually met his wife at the famous Whiskey Bar now revived postpandemic as Bar 1200. This Foo Fighters face is on every hotel room key card.

144 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_SunsetMarquis .indd 144

3/11/22 12:38 PM

The huge en-suite bathrooms and the shower you will never want to leave. Villa 58 is a particular favorite.

IMAGES OF SUNSET MARQUIS - JUSTIN CORDOVA (PHOTOGRAPHER)

Ross Hanklin’s other iconic image is this of Billie Joe Armstrong (center) and Green Day at the height of their mania and mayhem. Green Day still owns the infamous distinction of being the only guest(s) banned from the hotel on three separate occasions.

True WeHo creatives already know that a Cavatina power lunch is always forever cool.

you leave town and slingback tequila with the dancing queens. It’s all right there a quick walk or drive to all you need to see or do in Hollywood.

Regarding the Sunset Marquis’ future, Mark Rosenthal shares these thoughts, “In 2023, we will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Sunset Marquis Hotel. From modest beginnings, it became, and remains, a garden oasis for the creative class in the midst of one of the most densely populated and vibrant communities in greater Los Angeles the City of West Hollywood. As one of the few luxury hotels that have remained in the same family for nearly six decades, we are blessed with long-tenured management and staff who create a genuine and authentic hospitality experience that truly makes the property a ‘home away from home’ for our loyal customers – a place where they can find the room to live and create in our spacious suites and villas, and experience a vortex of connectivity with their peers in the restaurant and common areas all set in our lush gardens. Our goal for the next decade is to continually enhance this quintessential nature of the Sunset Marquis and introduce it to the next generation of creative spirits as their refuge in Los Angeles.”

There is not another hotel to beat the convenience and the pedigree of the Sunset Marquis Hotel. As Slash so succinctly framed it, ‘‘It’s the only hotel around L.A. that’s maintained its cool factor since 1963.’’ Even more profound are the words of Craig Allen Williams, co-author of If These Walls Could Rock: 50 Years At the Legendary Sunset Marquis Hotel who opined, ‘’It’s almost like the place itself has a beating heart and a pulse and a soul. When you walk in the door, and you come in that awning, it’s like you are going into this magical world.’’ P sunsetmarquis.com

parkmagazineny.com | 145

PARK_Spring22_SunsetMarquis .indd 145

3/11/22 12:39 PM

ESCAPES

Acqualina

Resort & Residences EAT DELICIOUSLY. SLEEP COMFORTABLY. GET PAMPERED. REPEAT.

BY L A U R E N B E N S

J

ust when you thought paradise couldn’t get any more perfect, you will prove yourself wrong when you stay at Acqualina Resort & Residences, Sunny Isle’s premier resort. Located on 4.5 pristine beachfront acres, you are sure to get swept up in luxury at this stylish yet laidback seaside haven. They also take safety seriously – you will find onsite Covid-19 tests upon arrival or when departing home, plus updated cleaning policies.

You’ll see - and feel - the difference of the A-list Acqualina when you roll up to this relaxed resort’s imposing gates featuring Mediterranean décor, serene spa options, delectable dining and ocean views – lots of ocean views.

Acqualina is not just the most stylish spot in South Florida, but also has plenty of activities within its own space. Feel at home upon arrival with a welcome amenity, plus three oceanfront pools including an adult’s pool, recreational pool and Beach Club pool, fitness center, wellness classes, Acqualina Hair Salon by Voi, as well as sightseeing tours and access to golf and tennis games at nearby private clubs.

Lounge out in luxury – after all, it’s only a click away when you check out Cabana and AcquaBed Bookings on the Acqualina App, where you will find a birds-eye

view of their cabana locations surrounding two oceanfront pools. Each Mediterranean-inspired cabana accommodates up to four guests. In order to make your stay as stress-free as possible, their 24-hour concierge services can get those hard-to-score dinner reservations or concert tickets, and if you need babysitting or pet-walking services, that can all be arranged on-site. The only thing you have to worry about here is having a good time.

Bite into deliciousness while enjoying gourmet bites on the beach. You will certainly feel – and taste – the mouthwatering magic of fine dining amidst the ocean waves and under the stars when their team of world-class chefs creates a carefully crafted menu for guests and residents. Other delectable dining options include Japanese fusion fare at KE-UH or get a taste of old school New York at their outpost of Il Mulino. More casual menus can be found at Costa Grill or allow them to put together a personalized picnic.

Each of the resort’s posh guest rooms and suites come with private balconies overlooking Intracoastal Waterway vistas and crashing ocean waves, plus modern touches and classic furnishings. Celebrated Miami designer Isabel Tragash dreamed up decadent designs

146 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_ Acqualina.indd 146

3/11/22 11:22 AM

EACH OF THE RESORT’S POSH GUEST ROOMS AND SUITES COME WITH PRIVATE BALCONIES OVERLOOKING INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY VISTAS AND CRASHING OCEAN WAVES, PLUS MODERN TOUCHES AND CLASSIC FURNISHINGS.

including zebra wood, as well as champagne bronze elements and smoked glass. You will also find plush satins, exotic woven textiles and sun-bleached hues throughout. Your getaway is made even more glamorous with a pillow-back sleeper sofa, wingback chairs, tufted walnut wrapper on wraparound headboards, carefully curated goods and artworks and amenities including seamless multimedia integration which anticipates every need of its tech-savvy guest. Relax in expansive bathrooms featuring marble flooring, double sinks and ESPA-branded bath products. No other Five Star Diamond resort has ever looked this shiny.

Your stay is about to get even sweeter when you book one of their one-to-three-bedroom oceanfront suites.

Complete with a spacious separate living room, metal coffee tables, dining chairs, writing desk and multimedia center, these residential-style accommodations make for one very haute home away from home. Cook up anything you desire in your own gourmet kitchen in those suites with subzero built-in refrigerators, designer granite countertops and limited-edition Italian cabinets.

Spring into serenity at the two-story 20,000 square foot Acqualina Spa, featuring 11 state-of-the-art multi-

functional treatment rooms, plus water rituals, healing heat and a private suite. Their signature Orange Blossom treatment with relaxing poultice massage or Cryo-T shock therapy is sure to put some rejuvenation into your step. Featuring Fendi Casa furniture and a striking crystal chandelier, the Royal Spa Suite is a chic space for couples to reconnect in style. This private lounge leads directly to the oceanfront treatment room where guests will find a private steam room made from mother-ofpearl, a rainforest shower for two, and a private wraparound balcony with breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean. Other tantalizing treatments include new facials incorporating Cryotherapy technologies.

Become immersed in both ancient and modern therapies with the latest skincare advances, plus his and her locker rooms, relaxation lounges, outdoor spa veranda, spa pool and Roman waterfall jacuzzi. With your own wellness coach or nutritionist, as well as YOGiiZA, a local, high-end fitness company, you can have fun while staying fit.

Get your spring getaway off to a stylish start at Acqualina. P

acqualinaresort.com

parkmagazineny.com | 147

PARK_Spring22_ Acqualina.indd 147

3/9/22 11:48 PM

ESCAPES

Four Seasons Orlando Get Back Into Your Golden Rhythm

BY ALEX LEI

148 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring 22_FourSeasons.indd 148

3/9/22 11:48 PM

“A

ll I mean is that I was very young in New York, and that at some point the golden rhythm was broken, and I am not that young anymore,” the late Joan Didion famously wrote in her 1967 essay “Goodbye to All That”, capturing the essence of every New Yorker’s predicament – while you might not be ready to pack up permanently, most of us can at least relate to the sentiment that a little vacation never hurt anybody, and the warm weather and endless activities in Orlando might be the best penicillin this season.

Nestled in a secluded, residential setting within 26 sprawling acres, Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort is a AAA Five Diamond Resort featuring five-star dining, a serene spa and scenic surroundings which are sure to make your stay as magical as the nearby theme parks. From a relaxing couple’s retreat to a family-friendly getaway, a trip to this stylish yet laidback property offers something for even the most discerning traveler.

In the Park View Room, you can wake up to your outside view of the lush greenery surrounding the Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club. Kickstart your morning on a high note at the casual Ravello, where you can indulge in freshly brewed coffee, or enjoy a Truffle Forager Omelette while spending some quality time with Goofy & His Pals at the character breakfast offered every Thursday and Saturday.

After an energizing morning, head to Explorer Island, the resort’s private five-acre water park, where familyfriendly fun abounds, or tune into your inner senses upon listening to underwater music at Oasis, the adult-only pool. Make it a family fun day in their own 7,590 squarefoot family pool which offers complimentary supervised swimming twice daily. The pool menu offers mocktails, entrees and small bites. Meanwhile, the Hideout game room offers billiards, interactive touch-screen tables and all the latest in video gaming for indoor fun.

When lunchtime comes around, swing by Plancha for a delectable mix of American clubhouse favorites and Florida fare at the picturesque setting of the lakeside golf clubhouse, just a short stroll from the resort or a quick golf cart ride from the front drive. If the day calls for some rest and relaxation, retreat to your stunning Grand Suite

and enjoy a meal in the dining area set for eight. From here you can fill the day with endless possibilities – head back out to the Tom Fazio golf course for a second round, experience Disney World, located right in your own backyard, or forge new connections with loved ones at the spa which offers sticks and stones massage, as well as intravenous hydration and vitamin injections, and salon services which are sure to get you glammed up for an unforgettable night out.

Whether your day is filled with adventure or relaxation – or both - you are sure to want to settle into your table at Capa, the 17th-floor rooftop steakhouse and bar that showcases expertly wood-fired prime cuts and unique Spanish-influenced cuisine. Ease into the night with a drink of your choice from a wine and cocktail program that emphasizes both regional specialties and global classics, and then move on to tapas and charcuterie before finally feasting on the prime Porterhouse Steak.

When the gastronomy extravaganza comes to a halt, it’s time to carry on the night on Capa’s terrace, where you can relish an enchanted moment as the Magic Kingdom Fireworks set the night sky ablaze.

When you’re ready for some respite from the New York hustle, Four Seasons Orlando offers all the entertainment, thrills, and high-end amenities you need for a stylish stay this season. P

AFTER AN ENERGIZING MORNING, HEAD TO EXPLORER ISLAND, THE RESORT’S PRIVATE FIVE-ACRE WATER PARK, WHERE FAMILY -FRIENDLY FUN ABOUNDS, OR TUNE INTO YOUR INNER SENSES UPON LISTENING TO UNDERWATER MUSIC AT OASIS, THE ADULT-ONLY POOL.

fourseasons.com/orlando

parkmagazineny.com | 149

PARK_Spring 22_FourSeasons.indd 149

3/11/22 10:57 AM

ESCAPES

Atlas Ocean Voyages Luxe-Adventurers Set Sail in Style this Spring

A

dventurers seeking thrills without sacrificing stylish travel accommodations have found their ideal cruise liner in Atlas Ocean Voyages. Aside from posh amenities, this unique company prides itself on its off-the-beaten-path ports. After introducing readers to this one-of-a-kind travel company in

BY LAUREN BENS

our last issue, we invite you to see the world differently on the high seas with their upcoming spring itineraries ranging from Rome to the French Riviera.

Featuring seven-to 13-night voyages, Atlas Ocean Voyage’s World Navigator is able to call at smaller ports than other luxury liners due to their vessel’s ability to ply narrow channels and shallow waters. While onboard travelers can enjoy gourmet dining, stylish boutique-style accommodations and even SeaSpa by L’OCCITANE, the brand’s first-ever spa of its

kind by sea, offboard, passengers can experience one-of-a-kind excursions along the Mediterranean both in the city center and beyond.

Get ready for a getaway where you will be left spellbound by the night view of Gibraltar and delve into international wine cultures on the first itinerary of the season, a seven-night voyage departing April 24th. Your journey will begin in Lisbon before traveling up the Guadalquivir River to call at inland Seville, Spain, before heading to Gibraltar, U.K., and

150 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_AtlasOceans.indd 150

3/9/22 11:48 PM

WITH ROOTS TRACING BACK 2,500 YEARS, UNCOVER TREASURED CITIES SUCH AS THE FISHING VILLAGE OF CASSIS, PLUS SPOT CELEBS IN SAINT-TROPEZ, THE JEWEL IN THE HEART OF THE CÔTE D’AZUR.

Spain’s Costa del Sol. Throughout this tour, you will explore Lisbon like a local when you take a tuk-tuk through its narrow passages and take in sites sure to awe even the most seasoned traveler. Be transported to storybook settings when visiting castles dating back to the second century B.C.E., sail through 2,000 years of history of Seville and savor the tastes of Marbella.

Continue to the limestone caves of Gibraltar and make yourself at home in Málaga along the Mediterranean’s Costa del Sol, where a cosmopolitan aura converges with the quaintness local fishing villages.

From the hotspots of nightlife destination Ibiza to the historic architecture of Rome, plus UNESCO World Heritage Site landmarks in the renowned cities of Florence, Pisa and Lucca, go back into the past and experience the posh on the 13-day majestic voyage from

Malaga to Rome. Highlights include catching a catamaran to the magical and legendary rock of Es Vedrà, the stuff of legends – literally.

Jutting out of the ocean by more than 1,000 feet, this scenic spot is widely thought to be home to the Sirens of Greek mythology.

Before your trip is over, you will want to take a big bite out of Barcelona, especially upon visiting La Boqueria, one of Europe’s most famed food markets. With roots tracing back 2,500 years, uncover treasured cities such as the fishing village of Cassis, plus spot celebs in Saint-Tropez, the jewel in the heart of the Côte d’Azur. Get ready to channel your best James Bond at their Place du Casino in Monte Carlo.

If your wish is to find seductive streets filled with art and shopping districts, plus the best pizza around, your wish at the Trevi Fountain in Rome, the last port, has already come true.

Experience regal sights and revel in the nightlife as you sail along the Amalfi Coast on this unique cruise liner’s 10-day Rome to Nice adventure where you are sure to get plenty of Instagram-worthy shots of the Gulf of Salerno!

Glamour calls on your getaway when you arrive in Cannes – think majestic hotels, mega yachts and millionaires! Feel right at home – a

very haute home – when you dock in Nice, perhaps the most enjoyed resort town of the Riviera.

Become part of your own fanciful fairy tale as you find yourself in the middle of the medieval village of Carcassonne or stroll through the streets of Seville. Departing on May 31st, this 8-day voyage from Nice to Lisbon will you take you back in time as you travel towards each new and exciting city on the itinerary. As you leave behind the glamour of Nice, you will enjoy even more glorious sites as you reach your next stop of Sete, located at the foot of Mount St. Clair.

Adventurers can also enjoy a hike with some history when they climb to the top of the 207-step bell tower of the 13th century Valencia Cathedral where hundreds of fans will be waiting to greet you atop the promontory – Barbary macaques, Europe’s only wild monkey population. After a good night’s sleep, wake up to wondrous sights when you arrive in Lisbon, the captivating capital of Portugal.

Wherever you choose to explore next, Atlas provides an all-inclusive onboard experience including a focus on wellness activities. Dive right into even more fun with complimentary water sports including paddleboards and kayaks in warm water destinations and get ready to set sail in style! P atlasoceanvoyages.com

parkmagazineny.com | 151

PARK_Spring22_AtlasOceans.indd 151

3/9/22 11:48 PM

ESCAPES

The Loews Regency NE W YO RK The Poshest Address on Park

T

he Loews Regency New York, part of the brand synonymous with luxury, keeps making Park Avenue as posh as possible with its recently redecorated rooms and suites, famed Power Breakfast, event spaces and Julien Farel Restore Salon & Spa. Find yourself in the most fashionable part of the city right on Park Avenue and just steps from Madison Avenue, plus Central Park, world class

BY LAUREN BENS

shopping, museums, and restaurants. From the moment you enter the Loews lobby, featuring a full wall length Nina Helms sculpture, you will be transported to the majestic feel of Old New York. They might have over 300 guest rooms, but the hotel feels more like a boutique hotel, especially with their personalized concierge services.

From babysitting to hard-to-get show tickets, their staff will ensure that you take the biggest bite that you can out of the Big Apple.

Get your exercise on on one of the Peloton bikes at the hotel’s state-of-the-art fitness center. Just make sure you also make an appointment to get pampered at the Julien Farel Restore Salon & Spa. With over 10,000 square feet, this relaxing oasis offer an extensive array of hair and body treatments that will have you feeling serene and

looking stylish. Combining European spa customs with their own innovative anti-aging technology and treatments, Julien Farel is one of the most sought-after spas in the city. Their ‘Power Hour’, a combination of three simultaneous services in an hour, will be just the wondrous wakeup call you need to get ready for “Power Breakfast’.

Sit back and relax in style even more now than ever with their Spa and Stay package where guests can enjoy exclusive spa savings at Julien Farel Restore Salon & Spa, and $200 spa credit – perfect for a staycation or extra pampering this season.

Whether you choose the Luxury, Avenue, Grand or Superior tier room, you will be immersed in the ultimate luxe Loews experience. Featuring oversized workspaces, high-speed internet, neutral color tones, soft sheets and a spa bathroom,

152 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Dec21_Loews.indd 152

3/11/22 4:21 PM

58 RESIDENTIAL STYLE SUITES WILL GIVE A GLIMPSE INTO WHAT IT’S LIKE TO LIVE ON PARK, ONE OF THE NATION’S MOST STORIED ADDRESSES.

this will become your favorite new haute home away from home. All rooms also pay homage to the hotel’s renowned art deco decor with fine furnishings.

Offering large and refined living spaces, plus A-list amenities, their 58 residential style suites will give a glimpse into what it’s like to live on Park, one of the nation’s most storied addresses.

Their Terrace and Atrium suites make for an extra special and stylish stay. Boasting one-of-a-kind designs, full kitchens, living space for entertaining and breathtaking views, these spaces are ideal for staycations, glam getaways and family trips.

Pick your pied-à-terre poison and choose from signature suites including the Pop Art Suite, Uptown Bohemian pad, Bespoke Suite or Marilyn Monroe inspired Glamour Suite, all designed

exclusively for Loews by Nate Berkus, Meyer Davis, Hayns Roberts and Rottet Studios.

Serving up breakfast, lunch and dinner, The Regency Bar and Grill allows diners to enjoy fine fare in a sleek and intimate space. The people watching starts early here when you arrive for the “Power Breakfast”, where the city’s most influential players come to get their day started. It all started in the mid-70s during the financial crisis when Loews Regency New York founder Bob Tisch invited the biggest business and political leaders to dine at his hotel while discussing ways in which to help the city with its bankruptcy crisis. This tasty tradition continues to this day, with leaders from the world’s most prominent media, financial and entertainment industries discussing their power moves over homemade pancakes.

A carefully curated cocktail list and fresh, locally sourced ingredients from regional farms in a classic bar and grill atmosphere also make this a scrumptious spot for all day and night dining.

You can even grab a croissant and coffee at their own outpost of the beloved Sant Ambroeus before beginning your day in this metropolis.

With high-end design and cutting-edge technology, their stylish spaces are ideal for business meetings of all sizes. You will also want to say ‘I do’ to the Loews Regency rooms for your special day. Just watch your romantic dreams turn into reality.

Get your getaway or staycation started at The Loews Regency New York. P loewshotels.com

parkmagazineny.com | 153

PARK_Dec21_Loews.indd 153

3/9/22 11:48 PM

DINING

W Reimagining DANIEL

Chef Daniel Boulud A CONVERSION ABOUT ART & HAUTE CUISINE

BY JANIS GARDNER CECIL

hen Chef Daniel Boulud called me in the spring of 2021 to curate a new installation of art for Restaurant DANIEL, his beloved, Michelin-starred flagship at 60 East 65th Street, I was thrilled to begin another aesthetic journey with the acclaimed chef who I am lucky to call a friend.

We began working together in 2004 when I was a Director at Marlborough Gallery, with installations at Restaurant DANIEL and Café Boulud at the former Surrey Hotel. Now, with the renovation of the 65th Street establishment in process, I joined Chef Daniel, the fantastic team at his company Dinex, and the experts at Tihany Design, to reimagine the celebrated restaurant.

Alex Katz & Robert Mapplethorpe With Chef Daniel, we created a dedicated series of biannual exhibitions to be installed in the historic neoclassical dining room, the intimate Upper Lounge and the private Bellecour Room. This exciting initiative recently debuted with an exhibition of large-scale landscape paintings by the iconic American artist Alex Katz in collaboration with the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York. In the Upper Lounge, we chose a selection of sublime black and white photographs

by Robert Mapplethorpe, courtesy of the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and Gladstone. The exhibition of significant works of art at Restaurant DANIEL reflects Chef Daniel’s deep appreciation for artists and their unique visions, a parallel to his devotion to fine cuisine as an art in itself.

Best Restaurateur of the World Chef Daniel was recently proclaimed Best Restaurateur of the World by Les Grandes Tables du Monde, the celebrated association of culinary excellence founded in France in 1954. Given Chef Daniel’s already hectic schedule, this well-deserved award added even more demands to his agenda, but we carved out time for an interview to discuss his first experiences with art and its relation to cuisine.

Gleaned from a lively 45-minute conversation, Chef Daniel shared some early stories and his passion for art.

Picasso @ Le Moulin de Mougins

Calla Lilies, 1985 by Robert Mapplethorpe Silver gelatin print 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cm) 24 x 23 x 1 1/4 inches (61 x 58.4 x 3.2 cm) framed © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission.

Courtesy of Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and Gladstone Gallery

JGC: What was your first memorable experience with art as a young man?

DB: Where it really struck me – the relation between the artist and the chef - was at [three-Michelin star restaurant]

154 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_ChefDaniel_.indd 154

3/9/22 11:47 PM

Chef Daniel Boulud at DANIEL, photographed by Thomas Schauer

parkmagazineny.com | 155

PARK_Spring22_ChefDaniel_.indd 155

3/9/22 11:47 PM

DINING

JGC: So, it became a requirement, after that, to have a Roger Mühl in the restaurant?

Exterior of of Les Pres d’Eugenie

Le Moulin de Mougins, near Cannes, where Chef Roger Vergé was a friend. Especially going to the south of France with Mougins, Cannes, Nice, all those villages are very artistic, including Mougins. Mougins was a village of artists and also collectors. It was the village of Picasso. Picasso was living at villa Notre-Dame-de-Vie before he passed away [in April 1973]. I went to work at Mougins in November ‘74, so almost a year and a half after... There at the Moulin, the waiters were telling me stories about Picasso and his time there. Picasso had made a painting for Roger Vergé to put in the bar at the Moulin.

There were all these artists like César, [Jean-Michel] Folon, [Jean-Claude] Farhi and Arman, and other artists of the Ecole de Nice, who were hyper-creative and very resourceful. I remember César would take copper and take all the old cafetière - the coffee pots – to create sculptures. The garden was full of sculptures from many of those artists, and the restaurant, too.

The Mühl Movement There was an artist in Mougins called Roger Mühl [19292008] and he was friends with all the greatest chefs in France. He did the portraits of all the great chefs, but he also lived in Mougins, so he was also painting Provence.

Roger Vergé, and also [Chef Paul] Haeberlin in Alsace [at the Auberge de L’Ill], because Roger Mühl was from Alsace originally, they were the two who started the “Mühl movement.”

And then in every Relais & Châteaux, or sometimes threestar [Michelin] restaurants, they all had [works by] Roger Mühl on the wall.

DB: Exactly, it was a fraternité. Roger [Mühl] was a wonderful man. He would come to the Moulin de Mougins all the time, as he was very close friends with Roger Vergé. You could feel the passion of Roger Vergé through the art, and their friendship as well, and the kind of complicity and collaboration between all of them. Every one of the artists LOVED Roger’s cooking and food and there was always an opportunity to get together and party together.

And then from Moulin de Mougins, I went to live in Copenhagen; that’s where I started to buy my first pieces of art. I arrived in Copenhagen, I was 21, 22 and I was doing the galleries, and choosing some nice, interesting things.

In Copenhagen, there were a lot of good artists, nothing at the international scale, but at least some good artists. I still have these paintings in my home in France - a lot of landscapes, a little naïf...

Chef Michel Guérard @ Les Prés d’Eugénie After this, I returned to the South of France to work with Michel Guérard, Eugénie-Les-Bains, and there the art was much more curated. At Guérard, there were paintings that were unusual shapes, made to be in the restaurant; they are still there now.

JGC: This is the restaurant and inn, Les Prés d’Eugénie, in Southwestern France. Is that right?

DB: Yes, that to me was the quintessential luxury, to be able to have this kind of artwork custom made for the restaurant. After Michel Guérard, I was doing a lot of photography. I took a lot of pictures of artwork there. You know at the time I could not afford it, but at least I was inspired.

Le Cirque, Andy Warhol, Daniel, Les Pleiades & Leo Castelli JGC: Tell us about your time in New York. You arrived in 1982?

DB: I came to New York and I started to meet some artists.

I arrived on the Upper East Side and the galleries were there. So, I started to collect art at the time, or at least buy art that I could afford. I also met all kinds of artists. To fast forward - the first ten years - my time [as a chef ] at The

156 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_ChefDaniel_.indd 156

3/9/22 11:47 PM

Chef Daniel Boulud with chefs Guy Gateau, Gaston Lenôtre, Roger Vergé and Paul Bocuse at a charity event in Miami, 1983.

Westbury, Plaza-Athenée, Le Cirque, I met many artists of the time, including Andy Warhol. But then when I opened DANIEL, I met Leo Castelli. I opened the restaurant [in 1993] at Les Pleiades, it had been the most famous restaurant for artists’ gatherings. Les Pleiades was the rendezvous of the entire art world – artists, dealers, clients - because Sotheby’s was across the street where now Gagosian is. The ‘70s and ‘80s they [Les Pleiades] were basically fed by the art world. Leo Castelli was holding court every day there, with all the great American artists.

Then a friend of mine, Annie Cohen-Salal, do you know her?

JGC: Yes, you mentioned Annie Cohen-Solal, the French historian and writer. Her book, Painting American: The Rise of American Artists, Paris 1867-New York 1948, was published in 2001. She had the book party at DANIEL with you?

DB: Oui, we held her book party at DANIEL – a lunch. I have never seen so many artists together at once as on that day. I wish I could have asked each one of them to sign my jacket!

“Food is a Form of Art” JGC: Let’s discuss what art and food mean to you; how do they intersect and combine?

DB: Well, I think there is no artist that is not sensitive to art in a restaurant or in the kitchen. I think food is a form of art, for sure. It’s definitely a way of transforming and creating. You know art can be done in many ways, but it’s often layering something to find the harmony. You want to find the balance. You want to find creativity as to be unique, and yet it has to be understood - or, maybe not understood - but enjoyed for the fact that everyone has his own appreciation and interpretation of it.

I think with food sometimes “MY REAL DREAM there is a little bit of that. There ONE DAY WILL BE TO are certain things that are BUILD A STUDIO FOR obviously universally liked the MYSELF, AND MAYBE same way, and there are some PAINT FOR MYSELF.” things that are not always liked for the same reason or [in] the same way, by people, but still are appreciated for the creativity and artistry in it.

JGC: That’s an elegant way of putting it.

DB: Yes, I feel that it is very much like that. And, you know, even the composition of seasoning, the composition of texture. You know in food it is not all about the color, but more about the layers of taste, and the contrast in those layers, from crunchy, to gooey, to salty, to crunchy.

I think in art, the longer you look at a painting, the more

parkmagazineny.com | 157

PARK_Spring22_ChefDaniel_.indd 157

3/9/22 11:47 PM

DINING

Janis Gardner Cecil, Alex Katz and Chef Daniel Boulud at DANIEL, October 2021, in front of Katz’s painting, Tree, 2019.

The main dining room at DANIEL with Water Hyacinth, 2009, by Alex Katz.

Photographed by Thomas Schauer

you learn things about it. I think of a dish in that way; there is a different way of reflecting on it, especially when it becomes artistic.

JGC: Having the level of cuisine we are talking about here, which is what you create, is a complex thing. Savoring it, literally digesting it into your own body, is another way of internalizing a piece of art. I mean, we can never eat a painting, but it certainly affects your soul. And I have to say that really amazing food absolutely affects you. ‘‘I THINK THAT And, like visual art, the more you ALEX KATZ IS know about the technique and the A GRADUATION TO thought behind the process, the more THE MASTER!” you appreciate it.

Alex Katz: “A graduation to the master!”

JGC: The installation of paintings by Alex Katz has been very well received. Do you have a favorite painting of the four that are on view?

DB: Yes, well since I have been having art in all of my restaurants, I think that Alex Katz is a graduation to the master!

I think the one I like the most is the little tree. Of course, I love the hyacinths and the freshness of the hyacinths and the garden, but the little tree in the prairie, not even a prairie, exactly, but that lonely tree. This is the kind of painting I would love to have at home because I would never get tired of it. This is the kind of painting [that] you can meditate in front of, it will be there for you, and you feel good with it.

It’s very special.

JGC: Well, when you look at that painting up close, you can see that there are many layers of color wash in the technique. It’s very sophisticated. It’s a bit deceptive because from afar you think it might be simple.

DB: That’s what I love, the shadowy layers of the color wash.

It’s really abstract in a way, but then the tree in the middle of that makes the whole thing work. It’s almost like the preparation of the base was more important than the tree, and then the tree brings a focus to that.

JGC: The painting is almost a purely abstract painting, with a color field, but then when Katz adds the tree, the color field becomes the ground and there is a horizon created with the washes. The tree completely changes the understanding of the painting; what had been “abstract” becomes a landscape.

My Dream: “A studio for myself ” DB: My real dream one day will be to build a studio for myself, and maybe paint for myself. I don’t think it will be for any commercial purpose, just for myself.

JGC: That’s a wonderful thing! Well, in the meantime we are the beneficiaries of all of your creativity! There is so much amazing material here, Daniel, thank you so much.

The Alex Katz and Robert Mapplethorpe installation will be on view at Restaurant DANIEL through August 2023. P danielnyc.com jgcfineart.com

158 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_ChefDaniel_.indd 158

3/9/22 11:47 PM

Masterwork, unveiled.

The Re-imagined Villas at Sunset Marquis 1200 ALTA LOMA ROAD WEST HOLLYWOOD CALIFORNIA 90069

PM-2-2-22.indd 1 PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 159

800.858.9758 SUNSETMARQUIS.COM

3/8/22 4:53 PM 3/11/22 3:50 PM

DINING

Hudson Prime W Steakhouse S T U N N I N G S C E N E R Y, S C R U M P T I O U S S T E A K S A N D FA M I LY S T Y L E S E R V I C E , O H M Y !

BY LAUREN BENS

hether you commute to Westchester on a regular basis or want to visit the quaint town of Irvington for a day trip, make sure your final destination is the delicious Hudson Prime Steakhouse. They might be located in a uniquely-situated space featuring spectacular waterfront views and an A-list ambiance, but they’re more than just a pretty face – Hudson Prime takes its steaks very seriously. Let’s just say that this all adds up to some serious scrumptiousness.

If you start to feel like you are quickly becoming part of the family, it’s because husband and wife team Gino and Floria Uli, want to make you feel like just that. Gino started out washing dishes in his friend’s brother’s pizzeria at 16 years old and learning the business from the inside out after moving

160 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_HudsonSteak_.indd 160

3/11/22 4:23 PM

to the US when he was 14 from Albania and later opening his own restaurants in Florida.

While he might have pulled Floria into the business, she quickly realized that she had found her own passion as well and now is just as much of a familiar face in the restaurant.

“When they see you there, they know that you really care about and love the place and people appreciate it,” explains Floria.

You are sure to feel and – most importantlytaste the difference at this delicious hidden gem on the Hudson once you experience their chic ambiance and carefully curated meats, seafood and side dishes. With competitive steakhouse pricing, you will realize that the full value is in the memorable and mouthwatering memories you are sure to savor long after your meal. If you’re wondering what the secret sauce to their success is, it’s in Gino and Floria’s dedication and of course, the first dibs they get on the most in-demand meats.

According to Gino, it all has to do with the fact that their butcher is granted 4 am access to the meat market at Hunts Point, known as the most sought-after distribution hub for the best steaks in the New York area. Other well-known New York City steakhouses don’t make it there until 6 or 7 am. By having the opportunity to select prime steaks before anyone else, his picks are guaranteed to make for some very palatable plates. “We have our own aging box and age our steaks for 28 days,” says Gino.

“About the A5 Wagyu steak, many restaurants serve Wagyu that comes from New Zealand or Australia, but we fly our Wagyu over from Japan. It comes with a certificate and that traces everything back to the cow it came from.

There is nothing on the menu that we don’t know the origin of.”

Gino also credits his Albanian background, a

country which is located in the Mediterranean and borders Italy, Croatia and Montenegro, for giving him an advantage when it comes to his understanding of food. “I’m trained to walk in wherever I am, take five ingredients and come up with a dish.” His wife can also attest to his innate cooking talents. “I’m on this keto diet and the other day he went into the fridge and grabbed thyme and peppers, onions and chicken and put something together and it was amazing. The kids love his cooking, everyone loves his cooking,” says Floria. Some of his most creative culinary dishes have also been inspired by his travels. After visiting a small town in South Carolina, Gino fell in love with some Charbroiled Oysters made with parmesan and parsley and eventually got the recipe from the chef and with a few ‘tweaks’ can now be found

“WE HAVE OUR OWN AGING BOX AND AGE OUR STEAKS FOR 28 DAYS ”

at Hudson Prime Steakhouse.

The family, who were already well-known in the community for their other beloved spot, an Italian restaurant called Divino Cucina Italiana, located in Hastings-on-Hudson, just keep adding to their extended family of happy customers. Divino is located on a cliff on the edge of a bridge. The space, which is built downward, features a dining room on the first floor, a speakeasy bar on the second floor and a patio on the lower level with a view of the bridge. They were not looking for another space when, by serendipity, a mutual friend introduced Gino and Floria to the owner of the vacant space who insisted that they take over the spot which held sentimental value for him.

After completing a five-month renovation, Hudson Prime Steakhouse is now indeed in its prime.

What might have begun as a rocky start after opening in June of last year during the middle of a pandemic and struggling to find qualified staff, the restaurant has undergone a tasty transformation. “When workers are happy, they do a good job and grow with you,” says Floria.

With outdoor dining perfect for the spring weather just around the corner, Hudson Prime also hosts plenty of parties, events and a great wedding venue. Perhaps their ultimate crown jewel is the deck space with spectacular Hudson River views. The restaurant also boasts a private wine cellar that seats up to 16 people surrounded by 2500 bottles of wine.

We’ll salute to that!

Whether you want to make an enchanting day trip to the area of Irvington or even an extended weekend getaway, Hudson Prime is an experience which is worth every penny. P hudsonprimesteakhouse.com

parkmagazineny.com | 161

PARK_Spring22_HudsonSteak_.indd 161

3/9/22 11:47 PM

DINING

HaSalon

A “ H E A R T- O P E N I N G ” A P P R OAC H T O F I N E D I N I N G

BY A L E X L E I PHOTOGRAPHED BY MELISSA HORN

A

ccording to HaSalon founder Chef Eyal Shani, he is in “the heart-opening business,” a Hebrew expression akin to trusting your intuition and building a system driven by purpose. Since its inception in 2008, the trending Middle Eastern-inspired hot spot featuring an innovative and varied menu has always tread an unconventional path when it comes to its business operation and growth.

Shani and Shahar Segal, a noted film director and actor, had originally met on the set of a popular food show and decided to move the original HaSalon restaurant to a warehouse district in Tel Aviv where people could feast on the latest flavors of Shani’s latest culinary innovations while dancing to Segal’s DJ sets.

What started as a fun, biweekly experiment,

began growing deliciously quickly. It’s not uncommon for mere mortals wanting to savor their mouth-watering plates to have to wait up to six months for a table.

A Manhattan outpost of the avantgarde brainchild of two creative minds, the downtown HaSalon NYC location certainly lives up to its pedigree. With a dimly- lit space, intimately set tables, an open kitchen framed by a ten-meter-long counter space stacked with a medley of colorful produce and a tongue-in-cheek “DISPLAY ONLY” sign scribbled across the top in a sensual shade of wine red, the set up evokes Darren Bader’s installation “Fruits, Vegetables: Fruit and Vegetable Salad’’ instead of a restaurant. What the New York conceptualist and Shani do share is their philosophy when it comes to food; while the former produces sculptures exhibited on the 8th floor of the Whitney Museum by topping pedestals with carrots, pumpkins and kumquats, the latter takes tomatoes (the best of which should come “naked” according to the menu) and pairs them with tender rib chops as well as chewy octopus

162 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_HaSalon_.indd 162

3/9/22 11:47 PM

tentacles, resulting in uniquely satisfying dishes. With both, the line between food and art is blurred. Chef Eyal Shani’s open kitchen commands guests’ attention with its vivid colors and artful arrangement, transforming into a flavorful tableau through meticulous yet outside-the-box cooking.

In the kitchen, Shani frequently instructs his chefs, “You’re working from intuition, from starving, under a big risk, you’re not trying to be safe, you’re on a journey,” and that’s exactly what the friendly servers might say to preface what’s in store for diners once they peruse the menu. Between the Dinosaur, a fire-roasted, tender chunk of beef on the bone, the Ocean Treasure, filled with uni, Japanese yellowtail, Osetra caviar and seaweed and Night Roasted

Lamb made for “2-5 humans”, the guests are rarely prepared for the rollercoaster ride designed as much for their adventurous tastebuds as for their inquisitive mind.

As the night unfolds, this experimental odyssey of gastronomy segues into a highspirited party, during which time guests are expected to indulge in more flavorful fare – and fun. During the 9 pm seating, you can let loose and have a dance-off on tabletops to catchy Israeli pop tunes in celebration of all of life’s joys and of course, tastes! While HaSalon currently offers two seatings on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, you can stop by bar LEFT, the bar/lounge located just outside of the dining room doors, for small plates and drinks.

Long gone are the days when a restaurant can leave its mark on the competitive New York City fine dining scene simply with delectable food alone. The name of the game in 2022 requires relentless creativity, authenticity, and genuine connection; or better yet, in the words written on a private dinner invitation from none other than Chef Eyal Shani himself: a restaurant should be a place where you can “imagine that all my life I dreamed about you, giving you my heart’s most intimate food secrets.”

Your delicious dreams are about to come true at HaSalon – let’s go – or as Israelis would say, Yalla! P hasalonnyc.com

parkmagazineny.com | 163

PARK_Spring22_HaSalon_.indd 163

3/9/22 11:47 PM

FOOD

substitute for shredded cheese. “For decades, Gayo Azul has been a go-to choice for Hispanic dishes, and the expansion of our line will surely bring some added flavor and variety to any meal, Hispanic or otherwise,” explains Debbie Seife, Marketing Director of FrieslandCampina, the parent company of Gayo Azul.

If you want to take part in a fiesta with both old and new friends across the country, be sure to sign up for a Chicken Enchilada class with Jen and Jamey’s Virtual Cooking Classes!

These fun, interactive classes allow you to stay in touch while cooking up something scrumptious. “The new Gayo Azul Cotija IF YOU WANT TO is the perfect TAKE PART IN A FIESTA WITH BOTH topping,” says Jennifer Earnest, OLD AND NEW co-founder of Jen and FRIENDS ACROSS Jamey Virtual THE COUNTRY, BE Cooking Classes.

SURE TO SIGN UP “Cotija complements FOR A CHICKEN ENCHILADA CLASS the Gayo Azul Creamy Edam that is the center along with the chicken, making this one of our most popular cooking classes,” adds Earnest.

In addition to the newest member of the Gayo Azul family, you can also enjoy their mild and creamy Dutch Gouda, fresh white Queso F O R A F L AVO R F U L F I E S TA J U S T A D D Blanco - which is ideal for pan grilling - the firm G AYO A Z U L’ S C O T I J A C H E E S E and flavorful Dutch Edam - perfect for use in baking dishes or in salads - and Sliced Swiss, a

BY LAUREN BENS rindless European variety with a sweet, nutty taste.

Whether you want to enjoy this versatile cheese for a snack or serve it as the star of your ake your next fiesta even more world - ever since. Their rich taste, with an next party, just look for the company’s iconic flavorful with Gayo Azul®’s new Cotija emphasis on authentic flavor, can be traced Blue Rooster – this English translation of Gayo Cheese. Known as the famed back to the brand’s rich heritage of both Dutch Azul has become the brand’s official symbol Caribbean Hispanic cheesemakers with a and Hispanic cheesemaking. and is sure to wake you up to what delicious deliciously Dutch influence, Gayo Azul is the Perfect for creating delectable Hispanic cheese really looks – and tastes like. Find your go-to brand for seriously standout cheese dishes, as well as any dish that is ready to take own wedge at local grocers throughout the selections. With a sharp and slightly salty its tastiness to the next level, Cotija always Northeast and Southeast, including BJ’s flavor, as well as a firm and crumbly texture, delivers deliciousness. Named after Cotija, Wholesale, Fresco Y Mas, Key Foods, Market this Cotija variety is yet another tasty addition Mexico, this Mexican-style cheese which is Basket, Presidente, Publix, Sedano’s, and Winn to Gayo Azul’s already palatable portfolio. made from fresh cow’s milk and then aged Dixie Supermarkets, as well as Walmart Due to their ability to retain freshness, Dutch makes all your favorite classics even more Supercenters. Check out their website for more cheese products have been popular in the mouthwatering. Use their Cotija cheese to top fun and tasty recipes – salud! P Caribbean for over half a century. After their street corn, with enchiladas – just sprinkle the own cheese wheels started turning, Gayo Azul cheese over the tortillas minutes before www.gayoazul.com introduced the company in the 1960s and has removing them from the oven – and for extra @gayo_azul_cheese continued to grow across the country - and the texture on tacos, it serves as an authentic

Gayo Azul

M

164 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_GayoAzul_.indd 164

3/11/22 4:24 PM

DR. SHAWN SADRI COSMETIC & GENERAL DENTISTRY NEW YORK CITY

STAR QUALITY & VIP TREATMENT IN A STATE-OF-THE-ART FACILITY Dr. Shawn Sadri and his extraordinary team provide a VIP experience every time you visit the New York office. When you choose our cosmetic and general dentistry services, you will enjoy a luxurious and comfortable atmosphere while receiving world-class dental treatment.

DRSHAWNSADRI

D R S H AW N S A D R I.C OM

OFFI CE@ DRSHAWNSADRI . COM

212.256.0687

5 1 5 M A D ISON AVENU E, SU I T E 1710, NEW Y ORK CI TY

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 165

3/11/22 3:50 PM

DINING

Kayco W Kosher C E L E B R AT I N G T H E E XO D U S B Y M A K I N G IT MORE EDIBLE WITH POPULAR NEW PA S S OV E R P R O D U C T S

BY BETTY TAYLOR

hether it’s adding new items to their holiday lineups, debuting hit shows on Kosher.com, or connecting people through a broader community, Kayco is making kosher cool again.

With an emphasis on innovation, Kayco Kosher is continuously at the forefront of distributing new foods in the kosher market.

According to Shani Seidman, CMO of this leading brand in the specialized food market, which is owned by the Herzog family, values their inventiveness as paramount. “The main drive here is always thinking about new products and our community. We never want consumers to feel limited when shopping for kosher products.”

Seidman, who had been a marketing and brand manager with Manischewitz, eventually became marketing director when Kayco acquired the 133-year-old company in 2019. Six months after helping to transition the brand into the already tasty Kayco portfolio, she was promoted to her current role. Shani also brings a youthful outlook to her position, which is seen in her dedication to driving the brand forward to even more deliciousness.

“I make sure to stay focused on what our audience is consuming and enjoy speaking with them authentically on social media to really see who they are and what kind of products and content they are looking for.”

After preparing for Passover all year long, Manischewitz is proud to introduce a plethora of new holiday products. With mouthwatering new matzo offerings - which are a cross between traditional matzo and sweet confections - you can choose between dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate and even mint chocolate flavor-covered matzos. “I really love having fun with combining sweet and salty tastes while maintaining the traditional part of the holiday.”

For more savory items, Tuscanini, known for its premium products sourced from Italy, also has an expanded lineup just in time for Passover. From a brand-new balsamic vinegar to organic and basil tomato pastes, you can make use of these delicacies in all of your upcoming holiday dishes. They also offer jars of Calabrian chili peppers in oil, calamata olives, sundried tomatoes, green and pitted olives, and even an extra virgin olive oil in a unique glass bottle with special topper. While they can certainly pass for Passover use, these authentic Italian favorites can be enjoyed all year long.

They might be 70% cocoa, but another one of their most beloved brands, Heaven and Earth, the better-for- you Kosher brand, offers a no-sugar-added kosher for Passover chocolate which is 100% heavenly. Uniquely positioned as the only product of its kind which is Passover safe, this chocolate scrumptiousness can also be found long after the holiday.

Kosher.com, which has millions of unique users throughout the year, experiences a truly tremendous surge of traffic in anticipation of the holiday – there is even a tab devoted to all things Passover which ranges from lifestyle articles to tips from kosher food influencers on how to perfect your Passover menu.

Serving as a source for Jewish culture around the world, Shani finds the community they have created to be the most special part of the brand. “I love seeing someone who is proud of their background sharing their recipes with someone on the other side of the world who is now cooking it for themselves or their own families.”

With plenty of Passover products available, don’t wait to make the exodus from your home to wherever Kayco products are sold near you! P kayco.com

166 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring 22_Kayco_.indd 166

3/9/22 11:47 PM

Philadelphia Luxury | Rittenhouse Square William Penn House Co-op Unit 1212-15 3 Bedrooms | 3.1 Bathrooms | 2,574 SQFT | $1.5 Million

Damon Michels

Associate Broker, Realtor® Office | 610-668-3400 Damon@DamonMichels.com www.DamonMichels.com PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 167

The

DAMON MICHELS TEAM

Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated

3/11/22 3:50 PM

FINANCE

An important lesson learned during the pandemic

Preparedness B Y P H I L I P W. M A L A KO F F

Provides Peace of Mind

I

t’s been about two years since the terms pandemic, social distancing, mask-up, and coronavirus (just to name a few) have become part of our daily vernacular. As a society we have learned about patience and resilience; as family members we have learned how to stay in touch from afar; as businesspeople we have learned how to effectively and efficiently work remotely; but above all else we have learned that unfortunately anything can happen at any time. The best safe guard against uncertainty is being prepared – something we at First Long Island Investors have been talking to clients about for nearly 40 years, especially when it comes to their financial well-being.

Many of our recent conversations have centered around stories of people who became ill with COVID, and while most of the stories have happy endings, some do not. As a wealth manager and trusted advisor to our clients, we have heard anecdotes of how the surviving partner or family member was overwhelmed trying to understand the family finances, including locating and accounting for all of the

assets. The pandemic has reminded us that it is important to ensure that everything is in order in the event that whomever serves as the family’s CFO cannot fulfill that role, even if only temporarily.

Let’s start with the basics – do you have a current health care proxy, a power of attorney, and a will? These are documents that everyone should have, and they should reflect your current wishes. If you do not, a reputable trust and estates attorney can help you obtain and/ or update these and ensure they meet your needs.

Next, do you have a list of all of your banking accounts and investments as well as the information for how to access each (advisor contact info or web site)? This list would serve as a way for your family to easily locate your assets and should include bank accounts, brokerage accounts (taxable and retirement), partnership interests, private investments, pension plan, employee/executive compensation, life insurance, etc. When was the last time you reviewed your beneficiaries?

Every brokerage account and pension plan

allows you to designate a beneficiary. You probably completed the form when you first opened the account, but it is also likely that your life has changed since then. If you got married, had children, got divorced, or became widowed you should review your designations and make sure they are as you intend.

Good financial preparedness can put your mind at ease all while serving as a way for you to review your current long-term asset plan.

We recommend that all investors have an asset plan which includes an appropriate cash buffer. A plan that can endure the unexpected, such as a pandemic. As a best practice, we recommend reviewing your financial assets annually and making any necessary updates.

Life changes and your finances need to change with it, but your confidence and peace of mind never needs to change. P

Philip W. Malakoff, Executive Managing Director at First Long Island Investors, LLC, a Long-Island based wealth management firm providing sound financial guidance for nearly 40 years.

168 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_FLIarticle.indd 168

3/9/22 11:47 PM

Smart ways to tighten up your home financing.

Discover Real Estate finance the Real Astute way.

Great rates. Great service. Smart move!

Melissa.Cohn@raveis.com 917.838.7300 MelissaCohn.raveis.com

William Raveis Mortgage, LLC • NMLS 2630 • 7 Trap Falls, Shelton, CT 06484 CT Mortgage Lender License 15524 • MA Mortgage Lender/Broker License MC2630 • NY Licensed Mortgage Banker-NYS Banking Department LMBC 106535/ B500898 • RI Mortgage Lender & Mortgage Broker 20051918LL & 20051919LB • NH Mortgage Banker 11083-MB • NJ Residential Mortgage Lender 2630 • FL Mortgage Lender MLD1388 •VT Mortgage Lender & Mortgage Broker #6952 & #1297MB

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 169

EQUAL HOUSING

LENDER

3/11/22 3:50 PM

Long View

BUSINESS

UNLIMITE PARK_Spring22_LongIsland .indd 170

3/11/22 3:03 PM

FO R E WO R D BY JA M E S C . M E TZG E R

‘‘Butch started with one ice cream truck, and now he owns a sprawling hospitality empire. His company, The Dover Group, is a bit like Procter & Gamble to Long Islanders. People know the brands, but they probably don’t think about or know who the parent company is. Ask a local about Peter’s Clam House; “Oh yeah, in Island Park. Great place, the best seafood. I’ve been going there as-long-as I can remember.”

What about The Milleridge Inn?

“My brother got married there.”

Or The Malibu Beach Club?

“One of the best beaches on Long Island, and we have the best.”

Did you know they are all owned by the same guy? “No, really? Who is he?” Butch Yamali and his company is called The Dover Group.

I’m honored and proud to be working with Butch handling the risk management and insurance for a dozen of his companies. Not only is the work we do for him and his employees important, but it’s also fun.

Whenever you are at one of Butch’s places, you’re never more than an arm’s length away from someone who has a big smile on their face.”

TED

BORN IN LONG BEACH, NY AND GROWING up in Island Park, Butch Yamali could have been a prime candidate to race off Long Island the first chance he got. Instead, he saw almost unlimited opportunity in Nassau County and beyond.

BY PAT R I C K S H A N N O N P H OTO G R A P H Y: U D O S P R E I TZ E N B A R T H

parkmagazineny.com | 171

PARK_Spring22_LongIsland .indd 171

3/11/22 6:01 PM

BUSINESS ARTS

‘‘WHEN YOU’RE AT ONE OF BUTCH’S PLACES OR EVENTS, YOU’RE NEVER MORE THAN AN ARM’S LENGTH AWAY FROM SOMEONE WITH A BIG SMILE’’

Elizabeth Hashagen, Anchor, News 12 Long Island, with Butch Yamali

According to Yamali, “I believe you can always judge a person’s character on how hard they work.”

As a teenager, Yamali was introduced to regular half days of work, just twelve hours, at his father’s specialty shop, Dover Gourmet. Rather than creating a distaste for the hospitality business, it set the stage for a career mostly making something out of nothing or fixing and rebuilding broken food service establishments and brands.

Yamali’s start was as innocent as a vanilla ice cream cone and perhaps just a matter of circumstance. It was the late 80’s and he was hired to work on an ice cream truck that was rented by a local community organization for an afternoon event.

Reflecting on making maybe $100 for a day’s work, he took the experience and the money and invested in his own ice cream truck. His first event netted him $2,000 and Carnival Ice Cream was on a roll.

One truck became more than 50 and further grew with a licensing / distribution agreement with Good Humor Ice Cream. Carnival Ice Cream is Long Island’s largest ice cream distributor and is the official distributor of Good Humor Ice Cream, Breyers, Ben & Jerry’s, and Sealtest products. Carnival only sells the name brand products which consumers know and trust.

Yamali targeted a nearly unlimited set of potential customers and venues for the Carnival brand including… town pools, at sporting fields, crowded parking lots, local events, sports tournaments, festivals, picnics, birthdays, Mitzvahs, corporate and private parties, among other functions. They established

the brand in more than 30 parks that reads like a Who’s Who of NY County and State Parks, and over the years they have earned exclusivity through hard work, reliability, and customer satisfaction. The parks and beaches in which Dover has operated over the years include, but are not limited to:

CARNIVAL ICE CREAM DOVER CATERERS CORAL HOUSE MALIBLUE OYSTER BAR HUDSONS ON THE MILE MALIBU SHORE CLUB MALIBU BEACH CAMP MILLERIDGE INN & VILLAGE DREAM EVENT PLANNING QUICK SNACK VENDING PETER’S CLAM BAR RAAY-NOR’S MAPLE MAINTENANCE & CONSTRUCTION

From Carnival Ice Cream came more, much more; again, from practically nothing, new businesses emerged in the form of Quick Snack Vending Machines, Dover Caterers, and Dream Event Planning…

Quick Snack Vending, the #1 On-premise Pepsi

172 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_LongIsland .indd 172

3/11/22 3:03 PM

‘‘IT IS AN HONOR TO HAVE BUTCH’S BACK FOR RISK MANAGEMENT AND INSURANCE MATTERS’’ parkmagazineny.com | 173

PARK_Spring22_LongIsland .indd 173

3/11/22 3:03 PM

BUSINESS ARTS

‘‘I’VE MADE IT A PRACTICE TO TAKE OVER ONCEGREAT PLACES THAT HAVE LOST THEIR LUSTER, WHERE OWNERS HAVE EITHER AGED OUT OR LOST INTEREST IN UPKEEP’’ distributor in Long Island and # 2 in NYS, is in hundreds of small, medium, and large businesses, as well as, educational facilities, municipalities, recreational facilities & high security locations such as, but not limited to: United States Department of the Interior | State of New York | Counties of Nassau and Suffolk | Towns of Hempstead, North Hempstead | City of Long Beach | Villages of Rockville Centre and Valley Stream | Internal Revenue Service | More than 25 local school districts | Mercy Medical Center Dover Caterers is rated as one of Nassau County Long Island’s finest, most elegant, stylish, and best priced off-site catering companies. Located in Freeport, Dover Caterers offers the highest quality, offsite catering services on Long Island, including outdoor catering for all occasions - weddings, family / corporate events, holidays, birthdays, baptisms, graduations, communions, and more.

Located in Freeport, Dover Caterers is rated as one of Long Island’s finest, most elegant, stylish, and best priced off-site catering companies on Long Island.; including outdoor catering for your next wedding, celebration, family or corporate picnic, holiday, birthday, baptism, graduation, communion, and more.

Dream event planning is a full-service event planning and production company, specializing in cutting edge decor, custom props, eye catching floral arrangements and centerpieces, lighting, linen, staging, entertainment, branding and interactive activities.

Dream also delivers DJ entertainment, videog-

Milleridge Inn – Cottage – Shops

raphers, photo montages, ice sculpture, party favors, music videos, limousine services, photo booths and more.

Long Island’s most elegant, picturesque, waterfront venue for weddings and special events.

Overlooking Milburn Lake in Baldwin, The Coral House offers an exquisite location for weddings, anniversary celebrations, corporate events, and holidays. Whether you’re planning a wedding for several hundred guests, an intimate party for family and friends, or a business gathering, the Coral House will make your special event an occasion to always remember.

“The original property can be traced back to 1672… the history of the place says Milleridge has had presidents eating there, settlers, British and Hessian soldiers, and even an underground bootlegging operation during the prohibition era,” says Butch Yamali, president of the Freeport-based Dover Group.

“I took the Milleridge property over in 2016. It hasn’t been a sleigh ride, but we’ve got everything back online, and headed in the right direction,” says Yamali. ”We’re blending new offerings with Milleridge tradition. It is a great combination with more than 100 special events planned for the rest of the year.”

The sprawling Milleridge complex is an impressive property able to accommodate about 1,000 diners. It also features a catering hall, cafe, pub, bakery, flower shop, and general store. Recently, they hosted the 2022 New York State Republican Convention Dinner at the Inn. P

174 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_LongIsland .indd 174

3/11/22 3:03 PM

Butch Yamali and Executive Assistant, Melissa O’Laughlin

parkmagazineny.com | 175

PARK_Spring22_LongIsland .indd 175

3/11/22 3:03 PM

PROFILE

PARK_Spring22_Profile_ Marci.indd 176

3/9/22 11:47 PM

Wake Up to Marci While Waking Up to Your Best Self

BY J U L I E S AG O S K I N

S MARTA CHODUR PHOTOGRAPHY

tarting your Saturdays watching Wake Up with Marci might be entertaining, but more importantly, the show is also a wake-up call to get people to start learning how to live their best lives. With a new book about to be released, Marci Hopkins is indeed making it her mission to inspire others to overcome whatever obstacles they may be facing. After all, she has had to combat many of her own.

Marci now uses her platform as host of Wake Up with Marci to share her own journey of healing in order to help others. Before being welcomed into peoples’ homes every weekend, this passionate television personality began her career behind the camera working in on-air promotions for FX Network in Los Angeles.

While she always had a creative side, she didn’t know where it would lead her. “It was a dream of mine to be on camera, but I was afraid,” explains Marci. After taking on the next chapter of her life as a wife and mother and moving to New Jersey, she decided to fulfill her desire of getting back into entertainment – this time at 40 - and in front of the camera.

While the stars started to seem like they were aligning, success also came with a dark side. “I had started modeling with a major agency in New York and also went to acting auditions. I was too insecure in front of the camera and ended up drinking a lot during this time. I really used wine as my liquid courage to cope with how I felt I was doing with my auditions. I really hit rock bottom and that’s when I stopped drinking – and stopped my work in front of the camera. I decided to take a

break when I started my 12-step program.”

After getting sober and hosting Coffee with Marci, a social media talk show, Marci realized she had found something she was really good at it and wanted to do it more.

In 2017, Marci made it onto television when Wake Up with Marci officially premiered for the first time. With a clear head and feeling spiritually connected from her 12-step program, Marci, who believes “we are guided and have signs from the other side”, now welcomes a range of influential and celebrity guests to her show on a regular basis. Her ultimate goal? To pull out the story that will educate or inspire the audience. Let’s just say that when it comes to getting guests to talk, they do. A lot.

Though she says that everyone has touched and taught her in some way, Patricia Heaton felt especially inspired by Marci and felt compelled to share her own story. “Patricia came onto set with a baseball hat on. We were just talking like we were old girlfriends. She was so open with me about how she had ended up with so much time on her hands that she noticed her drinking had started elevating. She finally made the realization that she had so much life left to do - and she wanted to do it.

She put down the glass, wrote a book and is now also trying to help others.”

Marci’s own memoir, Chaos to Clarity, being launched this May - with pre-orders beginning February 12th - does what Marci does best – helps others to help themselves. Whether it’s breaking bad habits or patterns, the book is meant to be a guide for healing from your past and making amends in relationships.

She also says that while sharing her story has been difficult to relive, it has been a cathartic

experience at the same time. “When I was growing up, you had to hide your feelings and shame, but in reality, we are all touched with addiction, grief and mental health issues, and if we don’t talk about these things there is no way to heal from them. I went to therapy for years over sexual abuse and trauma but that didn’t help me get to the core of my issues. I had to heal internally, and the 12-step program helped me to recognize that. It was only then that I stopped living in a victim role which so many of us do because it’s so easy.”

This busy host, who is also a mom to two teenagers as well as a wife who is about to celebrate 20 years of marriage, finds time for herself by working out with a personal trainer and eating right. She also loves traveling and taking in a show on Broadway. The family’s favorite outing, however, is escape rooms! She highly recommends the scavenger hunt at Grand Central Station.

Marci’s dedication to making a difference even extends to helping orphans in Uganda and is already on the road to starting her own foundation. With her show in talks to go national, a new book and the launch of a storage unit for cars called Carssentials, Marci has big plans – and with her passion, she always makes anything possible!

Make sure to catch Wake Up with Marci Saturday mornings at 10am EST on the CBS owned WLNY-TV 10/55 in the Tri-State area and HULU Live. P

wakeupwithmarci.com @officialwakeupwithmarci_

parkmagazineny.com | 177

PARK_Spring22_Profile_ Marci.indd 177

3/9/22 11:47 PM

PROFILE

N

Celebrity Weddings

ew York wedding event mogul Evan Tyler is enabling clients to plan the music for their weddings with the click of a button through his new website platform. Tyler has played the weddings of Kevin Hart and Eniko Parish, and The Jersey Shore’s Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino and Lauren Pesce. He has also performed for Jimmy Buffet, Clive Davis, Michael Douglas and Catherine ZetaJones.

2020 was a rough year for the event industry.

Pandemic restrictions halted all wedding

Evan Tyler

CEO of Starlight Music

BY J A K E D R E S S L E R

events, forcing CEO/President Evan Tyler to re-strategize his business plan. “One of the few things that helped us out, was that we are an elite boutique versus some of our competitors that were scaled much larger with overinflated infrastructures.” Evan told PARK, “Starlight was able to keep everyone from our family on the team and put programs in place to assist them with finances, getting unemployment, getting vaccinated, etc. I also made the choice to personally speak with every client and assist them through the difficult process of rescheduling.”

Revolutionary Online Booking Technology Out of the pandemic brainstorming sprang Evan’s novel idea to move the entire process of booking live bands online. His new platform,

178 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Profile_ EvanTyler.indd 178

3/9/22 11:47 PM

launching in March of 2022 as Starlight’s new website, allows users to instantly see which bands are available for their date and their pricing. The clients can shop, choose, customize and book their band with the click of a button. “None of my competitors have tried to do what we’re doing,” Evan told PARK, “The software is very complex, but the short version of the software is that we’re giving clients instant access to what bands are available and what they cost. Certainly, no one in the upscale market has done this; most websites for bands serve as just brochures.” Evan believes the new software will revolutionize the way wedding planning is done. “All a user needs to do is to provide us the event date, the venue, and event type. Then the software will immediately calculate the available bands, the pricing, allow the user to share the results with family, download proposals on every band, customize the bands on the page, add a percussionist, add string performers, remove a band member, or even book the band by going directly to contract using digital payments and e-signatures.” There will still be an option to book various length Zoom demos with Evan (The CEO).

Passion for Dance & Entertainment Evan Tyler has had a passion for dance and entertainment since his early teenage years. As a young boy attending bar-mitzvahs in New York, he always lit up the dancefloor with his spirited attitude and dynamic moves. DJ companies began taking notice of Evan’s high-energy performances and recommended

he audition as a professional dancer. “I got started when I was 13 after attending bar/bat mitzvahs where the DJ companies took notice of the short Jewish kid who could dance,” Evan told PARK, “When I was 16, I got hired by my first bar mitzvah company and now I was getting paid to go to events.”

After over 15 years of gaining experience as an event producer, salesman and performing at over 1000 events, Evan decided to create his own entertainment company. “I started Evan Tyler Productions in my living room, and eight years later in 2016 acquired an elite company with over 30 years of roots in the industry. The company grew exponentially over the next few years, into what is now called Starlight Music,” Evan said, “We focus primarily on live music, finding the best talent and providing a customized experience for our clients.”

to quality, the versatility of the bands and musicians has allowed Starlight to tailor experiences to any of the client’s needs. “We can offer full-scale show bands with dancing, lighting, choreography, or keep it simple with a high-energy party band.” Evan told PARK, “Some clients want continuous nonstop dancing that is twice as long as a Taylor Swift or Billy Joel concert, so we bring a secondary group of musicians that rotate seamlessly with the primary band to make sure the energy never stops. Sometimes we’ll combine dance bands with specialty acts such as French Jazz for the quieter moments. Our products can go out as small as 8 pieces and go up to 27 pieces. We use trumpets, trombones, electric violins, percussionists to enhance the bands and increase their interactive presence on the dancefloor.”

Interactive Presence on the Dance Floor Evan’s decades-old passion for dance and for producing top-tier entertainment shines through in his work at Starlight. The company offers a variety of full-scale bands that perform different genres and can adapt to any theme.

From acoustic rock to R&B to Country to Top 40 and everything in between, Starlight has it all. What’s truly remarkable about the productions are the quality of the musicians and the versatility of their performances. The musicians seamlessly mix from genre to genre without missing a beat. Starlight’s homepage shows one of Starlight’s vocalists covering a Rihanna song that sounds indistinguishable from a Rihanna live performance. In addition

Leave the Past Behind Evan concluded, “Our new system is designed to move the live music industry into the future and leave the past behind us. Technology has evolved and it is time that my business evolves with it. Our clients live and interact in a world that is entirely different than that of 20 years ago. They want to shop online, at their own pace, do much of their own research, and all of that without a salesman hovering over them.

Our new website and platform will put everything at their fingertips. Our customers will get to determine what type of a Starlight Experience they would like for their wedding.” P

starlightmusic.org

parkmagazineny.com | 179

PARK_Spring22_Profile_ EvanTyler.indd 179

3/9/22 11:47 PM

PROFILE

BY LAURA BENS

W

?

What Are Ivy League Colleges Looking For

hereas last generation’s college applicants were debate team captains and student paper editors, this generation’s college hopefuls are minting NFTs and trading Ethereum. Much has changed about the college application process over the past twenty years. Gone are the days when good grades, high test scores, and a “wellrounded” list of extracurricular activities were good enough to get you into some of the top schools in the country. In many ways, these changes reflect the massive social and technological changes our country, and the world, has undergone since the 1990s. The complication of society has similarly complicated the admissions game to top schools, and Gen-Z applicants and their strategy-savvy, modern parents are uniquely suited to handle these changes.

Gen-Z has been described as the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in America to date, as well as the most educated and technologically savvy. When college applicants of this generation are evaluated by top schools, they are viewed through the lens of these circumstances; compared to previous generations, they are the only generation to have grown up in a fully digital age, with all the world’s knowledge at their fingertips. Given this unprecedented access, colleges in this day and age want to see applicants who recognize the special circumstances of our current world, and have the enthusiasm and intellectual curiosity to chart their own path and attempt to make sense of it all, all while making an impact in their communities.

This is all to say that current college applicants face the toughest college application process of any generation so far. So how do students stand

out from the crowd in this exceptionally difficult evaluation process? The answer does not necessarily lie in their academics. “With most schools having received a record-breaking number of applications in 2020, they could fill their incoming freshman class several times over with 4.0 GPAs and 1600 SAT scores,” says Christopher Rim, Founder and CEO of Command Education, a boutique college consulting firm. “This means that elite colleges these days are looking for students with unique backgrounds or niche interests who are making an impact in “WE WORK LIKE AN INCUBATOR FOR TEENS, their community.”

Founded in 2015, PROVIDING SUPPORT AND Command Education EXPERTISE TO HELP works with students to STUDENTS DEVELOP THEIR help them craf t OWN PASSION PROJECTS’’ compelling applications centered on their authentic passions. Ultimately, top schools have their own passion projects, build a meaningful their pick of the litter. Fortunately for parents, nonprofit, or run their own company. Students Command Education provides an emotionally learn leadership skills within their community intelligent approach to college consulting, centered and this naturally helps them stand out to top on not simply improving an applicant’s chances schools,” says Rim. “It’s important that this initiative of success in the process, but also helping them develops the student’s own personal ambition build crucial life skills as they explore and develop and something they are truly passionate about their passions. Navigating the complexities of — that’s why it takes years for something like the elite college admission process can be stressful this to be developed.” to do alone, which is why many parents pay Although they may have vastly different $1,500/hour to work with Command Education. backgrounds and come from all over the world, “We work like an incubator for teens, providing the parents who work with Command Education support and expertise to help students develop are all seeking the same solution for their children:

180 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Command Education.indd 180

3/11/22 3:10 PM

an individualized, white-glove approach to help their child not only navigate the complicated college admission landscape and build authentic, compelling profiles, but also gain the independence and agency to take control of their education.

It is impossible to separate college admissions from the current state of society, which is why colleges are seeking students who not only have authentic intellectual curiosity, but also channel that curiosity into meaningful impact on their communities. Today’s college applicants are facing a world divided by racial and socioeconomic issues and threatened by climate change, among

other issues. Elite colleges are looking for students who recognize the unique circumstances and trends of today’s society, and take action to make their mark on the world. Command Education has helped students take their existing passions to the next level. For example, past students have transformed a passion for fashion into a sustainable clothing non-profit, an interest in American history into a national curriculum focused on highlighting historical figures of color, and an enthusiasm for finance into a peer-focused financial literacy initiative.

Elite colleges want to admit students who

will go on to add to that school’s stellar reputation; the type of internal motivation they are looking for is evident in a student who is able to galvanize change so early on as a high school student.

There is no formula for success in this process, which is why so many parents seek outside help for their child through companies such as Command Education. In this new era of college admissions, what top schools are truly looking for is this generation’s changemakers and trailblazers. P commandeducation.com

parkmagazineny.com | 181

PARK_Spring22_Command Education.indd 181

3/11/22 3:10 PM

BEAUTY

Dr. Adam J. Rubinstein

R A I S I N G P L A S T I C S U R G E R Y S TA N DA R D S

BY LAUREN BENS

H

e’s never been shy about educating others about potential plastic surgery risks, and now Dr. Adam J. Rubinstein is taking his passion to a national platform on the Lifetime show My Killer Body with K. Michelle.

This native New Yorker, who is now based in Miami, is no stranger to the type of secondary surgeries he performs on the show. “In Miami there is no shortage of people who have trouble, and it’s no different than the rest of the country. You get what you pay for, and sometimes that’s learned the hard way. I’ve had to correct lots of bad surgical outcomes over the years. I enjoy that kind of work. I find it extremely fulfilling.”

Known as much for his surgical skills as he is for helping patients stay clear of the pitfalls of potentially catastrophic plastic surgery outcomes, the Lifetime casting

crew took notice and approached Dr. Rubinstein about appearing on the series depicting surgery horror stories – and hope. “The show is really about showing people real stories, however shocking they may be. A lot of people are dealing with scarring and significant deformities. We also aim to show people that while bad things can happen, there is hope to get things corrected and feel good again.”

Rubinstein wants to reach as many people as he can so that they understand the importance of obtaining honest information, and that includes making sure they are aware of whether their doctor is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. “People can make their own choices, but they should at least be well-informed and aware of the consequences.”

From educational social media stories to

his Take a Breather initiative which helped disperse life-saving ventilators during the height of the pandemic, Dr. Rubinstein won’t take a breather himself until all prospective patients have the resources they need to protect themselves. “As long as a doctor has a license to practice medicine, they can perform any type of procedure, regardless of training and background. A pediatrician can do brain surgery,” explains Dr. Rubinstein. “You don’t see amateur pilots trying to fly commercial jets.”

He also has some advice when it comes to choosing a plastic surgeon that’s right for you. “I would say to see at least three doctors and choose the one whom you feel the best connection with. I say ‘no’ to performing certain surgeries as often as I tell someone that they are indeed a candidate for a particular procedure. Their ideals are not always possible or reasonable.”

Today’s most popular plastic surgery trends revolve around the sentiment that less is more – at least when it comes to downsizing breasts and butts. In fact, the show has showcased quite a few Brazilian butt lifts gone wrong, as well as bad injections.

Dr. Rubinstein wants to make sure that all patients have the information they need to stay on the right plastic surgery path, and he’s not done yet! His upcoming projects include a website where people will be able to enter a doctor’s name in order to obtain a free report on whether they are board certified or have ever been sued or disciplined. Aside from My Killer Body with K. Michelle which airs Thursday’s at 9pm on Lifetime, Dr. Rubinstein will soon be giving viewers a behind the scenes look at plastic surgery products and procedures – let’s just say that you will soon be able to find out where your fillers come from! P @miamiplasticsurgeon @doctorrubinstein @plasticsurgerytruths @drrubinstein dr-rubinstein.com

182 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_ Rubenstien.indd 182

3/9/22 11:47 PM

YOU’RE INVITED

SAVE THE DATE WHEN August 5-7, 2022 WHERE Southampton Arts Center 25 Jobs Ln, Southampton, NY 11968 RSVP REQUIRED Tickets Online: hamptonsfashionweek2022.eventbrite.com

MEDIA PARTNER

SCAN HERE NOW! PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 183

GET YOUR TICKETS! 3/11/22 3:50 PM

PINCUS PLASTIC SURGERY Empowering you through physical change

M P

+ Breast Augmentations

T do the

+ Breast Reductions + Liposuction

T t Dr

+ Tummy Tucks + Mommy Makeover

T ye m

+ Morpheus8

S

COME VISIT US

50 Route 111, Suite 300, Smithtown, NY5011787 Route 111 Suite 300, Smithtown NY 11787 pincusplasticsurgery.com (P) 631-352-3556 (C) 516-672-8279 PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 184

Call 631-352-3556 Text 516-672-8279

pincusplasticsurgery

pincusplasticsurgery pincusplasticsurgery 3/11/22 3:50 PM

Dr. David J. Pincus, MD, FACS

The road to plastic surgery success is paved with names that have been in the industry for decades, revered for their craft, and labelled as innovators.

However, with the onset of an evolving social time follows an evolution of beauty and idealism. The next generation of visionaries are making their mark with the understanding that beauty is no longer coupled with the concept of perfection or fits a mold, that of a "model." As the next generation takes the helm of plastic surgery royalty, Dr. David J. Pincus has soared into stratospheric success by being at the forefront of innovative, impeccable work that has been catered to the most important component of any plastic surgeon’s career-- his patients.

Dr. David Pincus conceived Pincus Plastic Surgery in 2018 and has since risen to colossal accomplishment. His patient clientele has increased over 700%. He is one of the most sought after surgeons in New York with a fully booked surgical schedule through May 2022 and an extensive waiting list eagerly anticipating a cancellation.

Many have questioned how it is possible to sky-rocket to such a level of success in this short period of time when Pincus Plastic Surgery is a practice where one surgeon does it all. The answer goes back to the most essential and simple way of practicing medicine- sheer talent and individualized patient care.

The secret to his success is not linked to the most talked about phenomenon of visual social media nor the new concept of doctor shopping online. It is quite the opposite. His secret is the rudimentary practice of individualized patient care without the current trend of outsourcing care to other surgeons under his umbrella nor any visual social media phenomenon. These new age concepts that the current literature speaks to only gets you so far as a surgeon that relies on visual results.

The intent and care of Dr. David Pincus can certainly make an impression on a patient at their consultation, but the true talent of a surgeon can only speak to you through the results of their work. As the saying goes, his results speak volumes.

Dr. Pincus does not believe in a mold or ideal of the human shape. His objective is to empower his patients by helping them achieve their individualized concept of beauty and confidence.

The success of Pincus Plastic Surgery is due to the unfiltered, unadulterated talent of a surgeon that was cultivated by 18 years of training in Miami, Boston, and Paris in order to achieve the expertise needed to be extraordinary. For Dr. Pincus, it most certainly did not take a decennary to become a trailblazer in his area of expertise. But as we all know, giving yourself the title of an expert in any field is completely different from proving your brilliance and talent. Dr. Pincus has most certainly proven his title as an innovator and continues to persevere. After three successful years of practicing in Smithtown, Long Island, Dr. Pincus is now opening up his second and third office in Manhattan and Boca Raton, Florida.

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 185

3/11/22 3:50 PM

SOCIAL SAFARI

Social Season Blooms Jackie Kennedy, White House @ 60, Marylin Monroe, Chanel @100, Pope Francis, The God Committee, Sylvester Stallone, Vivien Leigh & Gone with the Wind

Couri

PHOTO CONTRIBUTIONS

BY PATRICK MCMULLAN

BY R.COURI HAY

Caroline Kennedy & Genevieve McSweeney Ryan -

Photo Credit - Tony Powell

The White House Historical Association 60th Anniversary @ The Met Museum First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy envisioned a restored White House that conveyed a sense of history through its decorative and fine arts. In 1961, she established the White House Historical Association (WHHA) to support her vision to preserve and share the Executive Mansion’s legacy.

Current First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, Jackie’s daughter Caroline Kennedy and Al Roker greeted guests including Genevieve McSweeney Ryan at the WHHA’’s 60th Anniversary Gala which honored its founder at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. During her remarks, Kennedy noted that her mother shared her father, President John F. Kennedy’s, belief that the White House should serve as a stage for where America and the world could see the very best of American arts and culture. She also highlighted her mother’s civic accomplishments including her landmark televised tour of the restored White House in 1962.

Supported entirely by private resources, the Association’s mission

is to assist in the preservation of the state and public rooms, fund acquisitions, and educate the public on the history of the White House. Since its founding, the WHHA has contributed more than $50 million in fulfillment of its mission. whitehousehistory.com Chanel No. 5 Celebrates its First Century When Marylin Monroe was asked what she wore in bed, she quipped, “Chanel No. 5.” Coco Chanel debuted the legendary fragrance 100 years ago and to mark the anniversary the company gave a party dubbed “Chanel No. 5 in The Stars” at Rockefeller Center’s iconic ice-skating rink where champion Canadian figure skater Elladj Baldé performed a breathtaking routine to “Uptown Funk” and Mary J Blige sang a selection of her hits. The perfumed pack included Lily Allen, Dylan Penn, Ella Hunt, Brittany O’Grady, Lauren Ridloff, and artist Jemima Kirke who said, “I love a woman who wears the same scent every day.

It’s glamorous and classic. It’s old Hollywood.”

The French actress Marion Cotillard is among the fragrances’ ambassadors. chanel.com

Isabelle Bscher & Sylvester Stallone

Sylvester Stallone Painting in Palm Beach Sylvester Stallone, who lives in Palm Beach with his wife Jennifer Flavin and three daughters Sophia, Sistine and Scarlet, has had a long career, both as an actor and an artist.

Rocky showed 15 paintings at Isabelle Bscher’s Galerie Gmurzynska at The Palm Beach Show. Among the pieces was a pop-art interpretation of Superman from 1990 called Sublime Hero. Stallone said, “Both in art and film, I looked at figures like Spartacus or Hercules who radiated hyper-reality through their hyper masculinity. Painting is where I feel close to a bare-naked truth, so much so that I look at the canvas as some sort of an enemy.”

The acting icon also featured a political work titled The Blacklist, referencing the notorious 1938 list that accused actors of being communists, and a series of self-portraits of him as Rocky. Stallone said, “I made a self-portrait with a more defined ‘pug face’ than I had back then, but to capture his sadness, I switched the brush with a screwdriver and carved the eyes.” gmurzynska.com Vivien Leigh & Gone with the Wind Also at the Palm Beach Show were a pair of gold

Dylan Penn

186 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Couri.indd 186

3/9/22 11:47 PM

Carole Crist &Anthony Scaramucci

earrings that Gone with the Wind star Vivien Leigh wore in the film Cleopatra at M.S. Rau’s booth.

Additionally, a Vivien Leigh as painting by the Cleopatra, former Prime 1945 Minister titled Distant View of Venice was offered at $1.4 million, a bargain considering Angelina Jolie recently sold another work by Churchill from M.S. Rau for $11.6 million. The painting was given to her by ex-husband Brad Pitt. rauantiques.com

about the first person to receive a heart from a genetically modified pig, giving people with failing organs hope of a longer life. Grammer, who plays a doctor in the film with a heart condition, said, “I have done some parts for a little spending money but not this one. I was moved by the part and convinced my director, Austin Stark, to give me the lead role instead of the supporting one he had originally offered me.” paperstreetfilms. com

has an E-PACE Jaguar wrapped in one of her black and white paintings that never fails to create a stir when she drives around town. peterthomasroth.com

Richard Johnson, Jean Shafiroff, Richard Johnson, Robert Caravaggio & Sharon Bush

Richard Johnson He’s Back!

Kelsey Grammer, Richard Johnson, Julia Stiles & Director whose new gossip Austin Stark column in the New York Director Austin Stark’s Daily News is making critically acclaimed waves from NYC to film The God Hollywood, was the Committee guest of honor at a lunch starring Kelsey Jean Shafiroff hosted at Grammer, Julia Robert Caravaggio’s Stiles and Swifty’s in the Colony Euphoria’s Hotel in Palm Beach.

Colman Guests included Sharon Domingo is now Bush, Christine Schott on Netflix. The and George Leeds. In movie, about the celebrated the evening Jean politics of organ the unveiling celebrated her birthday transplants and of two of at the home of Kim and who gets a new Martina’s Greg Dryer. Among Peter Thomas Roth & heart and who paintings in those singing along with Martina Navratilova doesn’t, Roth’s new the Mariachi band were foreshadowed penthouse in Ava Roosevelt, Alex the front-page news Miami. The female Donner, Ramona sports icon created the Singer, Harry Dubin works by dipping tennis and Sylvester Miniter. balls into paint and then nydailynews.com hitting them onto a blank canvas Kevin O’Leary & creating the Carole Crist high-energy pieces Shark Tank’s Kevin of art. Martina even O’Leary, Wall Street’s Director Austin Stark, Kelsey Grammer, Julia Stiles & Colman Domingo

Martina Navratilova & Peter Thomas Roth Tennis legend Martina Navratilova and skin care mogul Peter Thomas Roth

Anthony Scaramucci, and Carole Crist, the former First Lady of Florida, moderated panels on Digital Assets, Trends and Financial Predictions for 2022 at Battlefin Discovery Day in Miami. Crist’s talk, which focused on women in finance, impact investing and ESG metrics, was titled “Doing well by doing Good.” carolecrist.com

HetrickMartin Institute Emery Awards Ball NY State Attorney General Letitia James, ‘Pose’ star Dominique Jackson, and Kiki Community Founders Aisha Diori, Luna Luis Ortiz and Raul R. Rivera were honored for their contributions to the LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities by the Hetrick-Martin Institute (HMI) at Chelsea Piers.

Pope Francis & Dr. The Emery Awards are Roman Tallaj presented annually to Somos Community honor outstanding Care Founder Dr. members and Ramon Tallaj was organizations invited back to the within the Vatican to meet with community Pope Francis to discuss who support, Covid vaccines and the inspire, and need to address lift up HMI misinformation about which is vaccinations. Back in celebrating its the USA Dr. Tallaj and 40th year. This his network of over 1,500 year’s Ball was doctors administered held during Trans over 2M vaccines, while Awareness Week attending to over 1.2M and included a patients who suffer from fashion show chronic disease in NY. Letitia James hosted by - Photo Credit He was also appointed Jack Mizrahi Andrew Werner to lead Mayor Eric Gucci and Adams’ Health drag Committee. performer and comedy somoscommunity queen Harmonica care.org Sunbeam. Guests included Marti G. Cummings. emeryawards.com

Dr. Roman Tallaj & Pope Francis

Please join me on a Social Safari of NYC’s top events on the following pages.

parkmagazineny.com | 187

PARK_Spring22_Couri.indd 187

3/9/22 11:47 PM

SOCIAL SAFARI

Zendaya

Drew Barrymore & Christian Siriano

The Event

CFDA FASHION AWARDS

Emily Blunt

The Story

Zendaya and Cara Delevingne were dazzling at the Council of Fashion Designer’s Awards at The Grill Room. This year’s host, Emily Blunt, presented the Womenswear Designer of the Year Award to Christopher John Rogers and the Menswear Designer of the Year honor to Emily Bode Aujla of Bode. The Council’s President Tom Ford said, “The American fashion industry has been called many things. But one thing we can agree on is that optimism and determination drive our industry.” Presenters included Anna Wintour, Carolyn Murphy, Ciara, Emily Ratajkowski, Iman and Michael Kors. Among the honorees were Dapper Dan, Anya Taylor-Joy, Aurora James, Nina Garcia, and Yeohlee Teng. In one of the most powerful moments of the evening, Beverly Johnson and Carré Otis recounted their experiences with assault and abuse throughout their careers, and the vital role The Model Alliance played in advocating for the rights and well-being of models. cfda.com

Cara Delevingne 188 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_PartyCFDA2.indd 188

3/9/22 11:46 PM

Beverly Johnson

Vanessa Traina, Catherine Holstein & Rebecca Dayan

Carolyn Murphy

Tom Ford

Iman

Anya Taylor-Joy parkmagazineny.com | 189

PARK_Spring22_PartyCFDA2.indd 189

3/9/22 11:46 PM

SOCIAL SAFARI

Vera Wang Kid Cudi & Eli Russell

The Event

CFDA FASHION AWARDS Ciara

Karlie Kloss

Eva Chen

190 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_PartyCFDA2.indd 190

3/11/22 4:27 PM

Sara Moonves & Ashley Olsen David Lauren & Lauren Bush Lauren

Rachel Zegler

Emily Ratajkowski Zazie Beetz

Karrueche Tran

Blake Gray

parkmagazineny.com | 191

PARK_Spring22_PartyCFDA2.indd 191

3/9/22 11:47 PM

SOCIAL SAFARI

YVONNE TNT

R. Couri Hay & Janna Bullock

Samantha Boardman, Gina Peterson, Dasha Zhukova, Ann Tenenbaum & Amy Griffin

The Event

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART ACQUISITIONS GALA The Story

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is famous for its Met Gala, but its elegant Acquisitions Gala is where you will find more billionaires in the room than movie stars. The evening was co-chaired by some of the city’s most glamorous ladies: Samantha Boardman, Dasha Zhukova Niarchos, Gina Peterson, Ann Tenenbaum and Amy Griffin. The night celebrated the Mets’ new acquisitions, including Ronald Lauder’s extraordinary collection of European Arms & Armor and an important Picasso straight off Leonard Lauder’s living room wall. The evening’s décor by Bronson van Wyck featured a gigantic white peacock in the museum’s rotunda where the guests had cocktails and dessert. Dinner was served in the Temple of Dendur which was turned into a swanky nightclub with plush banquettes and 3,000 candles. There were also performances

by John Holiday and Mikaela Bennett. In the mix were Christy Turlington and Ed Burns, Thelma Golden, Didi and Oscar Schafer, Mark Guiducci, Danielle Moné Truitt and Kristolyn Lloyd. The evening raised $3.6 million. metmuseum.org

MADISON VOELKEL

MADISON VOELKEL

Patrick Seabase & Allison Sarofim

Lauren Santo Domingo & Ana Khouri

192 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_MetMusArt

Acqus.indd 192

3/9/22 11:46 PM

Amy Astley & Aerin Lauder

Tory Burch & Pierre-Yves Roussel

MADISON VOELKEL

MADISON VOELKEL

Ronald Lauder & Jo Carole Lauder

MADISON VOELKEL

MADISON VOELKEL

MADISON VOELKEL

Max Hollein, Agnes Hsu-Tang & Leonard A. Lauder

Olivia Tournay Flatto, Andrew Solomon & Amy Fine Collins

Anna Weyant & Larry Gagosian

MADISON VOELKEL

MADISON VOELKEL

MADISON VOELKEL

Jeff Koons & Justine Wheeler Koons

Hillary Ross & Wilbur Ross

parkmagazineny.com | 193

PARK_Spring22_MetMusArt

Acqus.indd 193

3/9/22 11:46 PM

SOCIAL SAFARI

Xavier Herit

The Event

CUISINE SOLUTIONS: INTERNATIONAL SOUS VIDE DAY

Gerard Bertholon & Daniel Boulud

The Story

Chef Daniel Boulud welcomed Cuisine Solutions (CS) to his namesake restaurant to celebrate International Sous Vide Day. Erik Bottcher, 3rd District City Council Member, issued an NYC proclamation to Cuisine Solutions, the leading manufacturer and distributor of sous vide foods, and its chief scientist Dr. Bruno Goussault for their contributions to the culinary arts and their donations of meals to City Harvest. The night also marked the 80th birthday of Dr. Goussault. The companies CMO Thomas Donohoe and Chef Gerard Bertholon greeted guests including Grand Marnier Ambassador Xavier Herit, who created a series of specialty cocktails for the reception. . Among those sipping and nibbling on Daniel’s Sous Vide Day dishes were Chef John Karangis, Kevin and Elaine Levett, Gottfried Menge, Peter Bjorkefall-Davis and AJ Schaller, Executive Chef for CREA, the research and education arm of CS. For the events grand finale, Chefs Boulud and Bertholon presented a Bourbon Flambe Beef Shank with winter root and Einkorn croquettes in a Kentucky Michter emulsion.

Yummy! cuisinesolutions.com

Left: Sarah Toland Right: Micah McLaurin

194 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22 _PartySous Vide.indd 194

3/9/22 11:46 PM

Irene Lo & Peter Bjorkefall-Davis

AJ Schaller & Jason Logsdon

Arielle Lehman, Olivia Tarantino & Julia Tarantino

Paloma Saez & Emily Gerard

Tom Donohoe & Allison Sells

William Jarosak & Dr. Marie Hayag

Janna & Eugenia Bullock

Rachel Cothran

Martha & Harriet Cohen

parkmagazineny.com | 195

PARK_Spring22 _PartySous Vide.indd 195

3/9/22 11:46 PM

SOCIAL SAFARI

David Rockefeller & Susan Rockefeller

The Event

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

ANDY SABIN’S 75TH BIRTHDAY The Story

Susan and David Rockefeller, Kara Ross and her daughter Drew McCann, Jill Zarin, and Carole Crist, the former first lady of Florida, were among the guests at Andy Sabin’s 75th birthday at the American Museum of Natural History. Sabin, the founder of the South Fork Natural History Museum (SOFO) in Bridgehampton gave everyone their own natal gift by offering to match any of their charitable contributions up to 5k. The black-tie dinner dance for 270 friends was held under the museum’s iconic blue whale.

The program featured video tributes from Congressman Kevin McCarthy and Senator Rob Portman. Among those spotted on the dance floor were Congresswoman Virginia Foxx and Nobel Prize winner Jim Allison, Dick Grasso, Trammell Crow, Greg Manocherian, Arnie and Paola Rosenshein, Greg and Kim Lippmann, Jonathan and Susie Sabin, Kiera and Ava Sabin, and SOFO’s Diana Aceti. Livingston Taylor sang “Happy Birthday” to Sabin who is also known as the Salamander Commander for his work to protect the species. sofo.org

Colleen Rein & Paola Rosenshein

Carole Crist, Andy Sabin, Jill Zarin & Kara Ross

Chris Fischer & Nicole Ralston

196 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_MusNatHis.indd 196

3/9/22 11:46 PM

Gavin Freeman, Danielle Gingerich, Steven McKenna & Diana Aceti

Marianna McSweeney & Dr. Jorge Barrios

Brooke Taylor

Elaine Kwon & Trammell Crow

Kim Lippimann, Greg Lippimann

Jill Zarin

Atmosphere at the Museum of Natural History

parkmagazineny.com | 197

PARK_Spring22_MusNatHis.indd 197

3/9/22 11:46 PM

SOCIAL SAFARI

Marcus Samuelsson, Al Roker & Don Lemon

The Event

BLUE JACKET FASHION SHOW

Frederick Anderson & Anna Wintour

The Story

Anna Wintour led the perfumed pack to the sixth annual Blue Jacket Fashion Show, which honored the memory of the late Vogue editor André Leon Talley, who had been scheduled to host the event before his untimely death. The event’s co-founder Frederick Anderson said, “For a black man getting into fashion, André Leon Talley was an icon and inspiration. He showed me who I was and what could be possible.” Hitting the runway in blue ensembles were Al Roker, Mario Cantone, Don Lemon, Wilson Cruz, Dale Moss, Marcus Samuelsson, Omar Hernandez and others of that ilk and stripe. The night benefited the nonprofit advocacy group Zero -The End of Prostate Cancer. The show’s sponsor, Janssen Oncology, matched donations up to $10k.

Among those leading the applause were Blue Jacket co-founder Laura Miller, Deborah Roberts, Fern Mallis, Miss Universe Harnaaz Sandhu, J. Alexander and Orfeh. zerocancer.org PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMIE MCCARTHY - GETTY IMAGES

Left: Harnaaz Sadhu Right: Omar Hernandez 198 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_HolHouse&BlueJack.indd 198

3/11/22 4:29 PM

Joe Badilla & Rio Hamilton

The Event

HOLIDAY HOUSE BREAST CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION The Story

Jean Shafiroff, Thom Filicia, Iris Dankner & Amy Lau

Thom Felicia from Queer Eye for The Straight Guy, Andy Stark, and designers Amy Lau, and Campion Platt cochaired the annual Holiday House tabletop event at the Elizabeth Taylor house IN NYC. The benefit was founded by breast cancer survivor and interior designer Iris Dankner. who created a magical red and white themed room with a giant stuffed Teddy Bears, reindeer, and unicorns sitting around a tea table. Over a dozen designers participated including Barbara Ostrom and Beth Donner who partnered with caterer and lifestyle expert Andrea Correale of Elegant Affairs, to create a stunning tabletop. The event dubbed “Come Together” attracted divorce attorneys, Martha Cohen Stine and Harriet Newman Cohen and Ken Jewel. Sponsors included Waterford, Wolffer Estate Vineyard and Hamptons Real Estate Showcase. holidayhousenyc.org

Left: Vanessa Deleo Right: Purvi Padia

parkmagazineny.com | 199

PARK_Spring22_HolHouse&BlueJack.indd 199

3/11/22 4:29 PM

SOCIAL SAFARI

Gillian Hearst, Ariana Rockefeller, Georgina Bloomberg & Lili Buffett

Jean Shafiroff

The Event

NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN WONDERLAND BALL

Brian Drost, Kit Keenan, Larry Milstein & Brooks Marks

The Story

Young philanthropists flocked to the city’s most fashion-forward ball, the NY Botanical Garden’s Annual Winter Wonderland Ball, where the men made the same effort to dress up as the women.

The ball’s leadership included Gillian Hearst in a sparkly white Cinderella confection, Ariana Rockefeller in a chic pink column, Georgina Bloomberg, Lili Buffett, Larry Milstein in a white dinner jacket, Charlotte Diamond, Olivia Palermo and Johannes Huebl. The evening kicked off with flutes of Veuve Clicquot and a walk-about the garden’s best-in-class Train Show that was celebrating its 30th Anniversary. The trains zipped through an extraordinary collection of more than 190 replicas of NY landmarks. Bring the kids of all ages! DJ Mei Kwok drew Ivy Getty, Timo Weiland, Serena Marron, Kerry Joyce, Kit Keenan, Jessica Wang, Eric Rutherford and Alexandra Lebenthal to the dance floor before Alex tripped on the pink train of her divine dress and broke her wrist. Poor dear sweet Alex was rushed to the hospital in her gown. She’s recovered! De Beers created a festive hot cocoa and cookie cart to take the chill off, as attendees departed. The night was co-sponsored by Saks Fifth Avenue and raised funds for the Garden’s children’s programs. nybg.org

Julia Loomis & Seth Tringale

Kerry Joyce

200 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_PartyBotanical.indd 200

3/11/22 4:31 PM

Olivia Palermo & Johannes Huebl

Cristobal Gonzalez, Trinidad de la Noi & Di Mondo, Eric Javits

Merecedes de Guardiola & Serena Marron

Ivy Getty & Timo Weiland

Sara Murray & Holly Lowen

Igee Okafor

parkmagazineny.com | 201

PARK_Spring22_PartyBotanical.indd 201

3/9/22 11:46 PM

SOCIAL SAFARI

Riley Keough

The Event

PENELOPE CRUZ @ MOMA

Penélope Cruz & Ricky Martin

The Story

Penelope Cruz was honored at the Museum of Modern Art’s 14th Annual Film Benefit for “her significant impact on the film industry.” Guests included her director and collaborator of over 25 years Pedro Almodovar who said, “Penelope is a warrior, a survivor, someone who can overcome —that’s a quality that’s very strong in her. And then, at the same time, she has this almost childlike vulnerability.” Also in the mix were Lupita Nyong’o, Anne Hathaway, Diane Kruger, Rebecca Hall, Zac Posen and singers Ricky Martin and Rosalía. The evening featured clips from Cruz’s key films “Volver,” “Broken Embraces” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” The evening was presented by Chanel and featured a preview of her critically acclaimed movie Parallel Mothers. Previous honorees have included Martin Scorsese, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hanks, Julianne Moore, Quentin Tarantino and George Clooney. The night’s proceeds benefited the Black Family Film Center at MoMA. MoMA.org

Jonathan Tisch & Lizzie Tisch

Rosalia

202 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_PartyCruz.indd 202

3/9/22 11:45 PM

Diane Kruger

Leslie Mann

Rebecca Dayan

Rebecca Hall

Anne Hathaway

Jordan Roth

Kristen Wiig

Pom Klementieff parkmagazineny.com | 203

PARK_Spring22_PartyCruz.indd 203

3/9/22 11:45 PM

SOCIAL SAFARI Lil Nas X & Quenlin Blackwell

Isabelle Bscher

Billie Eilish

Jeff Bezos & Lauren Sanchez

The Event

LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM ART & FILM GALA The Story

Miley Cyrus, Lil Nas X, Jared Leto, Salma Hayek, Phoebe Bridgers, Billie Eilish, James Corden and gallerist Isabelle Bscher were among the 650 guests at LACMA’s Art and Film Gala which is the Met Gala of the West Coast. Artists Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley were honored along with Steven Spielberg who said, “I never know what to feel when people refer to me as an artist or call what I make art. Because I don’t think I’ve referred to myself in public that way.” Leonardo DiCaprio and Eva Chow served as the night’s co-chairs. The gala aligns with the opening of two exhibits: “The Obama Portraits” and “Black American Portraits.” Highlights of the night included a performance by Celeste who was joined by Florence Welch for a duet of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” The evening, which was presented by Gucci and sponsored by Audi, raised $5 million to support the museum’s film projects. lacma.org

Miley Cyrus Jared Leto

Salma Hayek

204 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Los AngelesGala.indd 204

3/9/22 11:45 PM

Kate Capshaw & Steven Spielberg

Diane Keaton Jodie TurnerSmith

Eva Longoria

Hailey Bieber

Sienna Miller

Jaime Xie

Jake Gyllenhaal Elle Fanning

parkmagazineny.com | 205

PARK_Spring22_Los AngelesGala.indd 205

3/9/22 11:45 PM

SOCIAL SAFARI

Kodi Smit-McPhee

Marco Bizzarri & Alessandro Michele

The Event

LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM ART & FILM GALA Camila Morrone

Paris Hilton

Sophie Hunter & Benedict Cumberbatch

Serena Williams

Bella Poarch

206 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Los AngelesGala.indd 206

3/9/22 11:45 PM

View without Limits View without Limits

KLAR STUDIO WINDOWS + DOORS 241 WESTPORT AVE NORWALK, CT 06851 (203) 908 5833 | info@klarstudio.com www.klarstudio.com

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 207

3/11/22 3:50 PM

AND FINALLY...

Cartoon Corner

By Anthony Haden-Guest

208 | parkmagazineny.com

PARK_Spring22_Backpage Cartoon.indd 208

3/9/22 11:45 PM

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 209

3/10/22 12:43 AM

Wempe-ParkAveMag-10.825x9-v1.pdf

1

3/9/22

4:07 PM

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

SENSUAL COCOON Sensuality in perfect form.

700 FIFTH AVENUE & 55TH STREET • NEW YORK • 212.397.9000 • wempe.com Hamburg Berlin Duesseldorf Frankfurt Munich London Madrid Paris Vienna

PARK_Spring_Epub.indd 210

3/10/22 12:43 AM