The Peninsula - Issue 3: 2018 by The Antithesis

FROM THE CEO

he Peninsula New York is proud to be celebrating 30 years of heritage, passion, service, hospitality and memorable moments since first opening its doors in 1988. These elements, which not only define The Peninsula New York, but The Peninsula Hotels as a brand, continue to redefine the concept of luxury hospitality provided to our guests, resulting in an unforgettable experience to all that choose to stay at this wonderful property. The Peninsula New York is celebrating its 30th anniversary in many exciting ways, one of which is through an exceptional museum-quality art installation throughout the hotel, featuring original works by leading artists who rose to prominence during the 1980s - Andy Warhol, Francesco Clemente, Keith Haring, Jean-Michael Basquiat, Barbara Kruger and Michael Halsband. Installed in various public spaces of the hotel until the end of October 2018, the exhibition is part of Circa 1881’s ongoing partnership with The Peninsula New York to present rotating exhibitions of world-class contemporary art. This year has also seen a cultural partnership between The Peninsula New York and the globally-acclaimed American Ballet Theatre. For this special commemorative issue of The Peninsula magazine, we were granted exclusive backstage access to The Metropolitan Opera House during ABT’s Spring season, and in the following pages we share that with you, alongside never-before-seen images of three of the company’s leading dancers. In terms of giving back to the community, The Peninsula New York has been a strong supporter of the New York Center for Children (NYCC) since 2009, and earlier this year more than 30 of the hotel’s staff contributed to a refurbishment project at the Center. The Peninsula has also hosted the NYCC’s Annual Spring Celebration Benefit for the past five years. In this issue, we meet Executive Director Christine Crowther, who has tirelessly worked at the Center for almost 20 years. As at every Peninsula hotel, one of our most important assets is our staff. Testament to each hotel’s friendly working environment, they have all become part of The Peninsula family, and we salute the 18 employees who have been part of our American family since the day The Peninsula New York opened its doors in August 1988. As always, I hope you will enjoy this special issue of The Peninsula magazine. With Best Wishes,

Clement K M Kwok Chief Executive Officer

CONTENTS ISSUE 3: 2018

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FROM THE CEO CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF HOSPITALITY The Peninsula New York has for 30 years been renowned for its discreet elegance, luxurious interiors and sublime food and service, earning it AAA Five Diamond and Forbes Five Star hotel status. For this majestic property to run smoothly day after day, it takes a team of staff who work deftly behind the scenes to ensure gracious service, attention to detail and the highest level of luxury hospitality.

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A GOTHAM EVOLUTION The early 1900s saw major construction on one of the most iconic streets in the world - Fifth Avenue in New York City. There was the new site for the University Club - whose Mediterranean Revival Italian Renaissance palazzo-style exterior is argued to be the first to set Fifth Avenue’s patrician tone – as well as the opening of the New York Public Library’s main branch and the St. Regis hotel which, at 18 storeys, was the tallest in the city at the time of its completion in 1904. Also joining this league of legends was The Gotham – now The Peninsula New York.

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30 YEARS OF SERVICE For 30 years, since the opening of The Peninsula New York on December 8th, 1988, the staff has been loyally serving guests in true Peninsula style. Testament to the hotel’s friendly working environment, they have all become part of The Peninsula family. For this special commemorative issue of The Peninsula magazine, we salute the 18 employees who have been part of that family since the day the hotel opened its doors.

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AN ARTISTIC MOVEMENT The Peninsula New York is proud to celebrate its 30th Anniversary with a specially curated art installation throughout the hotel featuring original works by Andy Warhol, Francesco Clemente, Keith Haring, Jean-Michael Basquiat and more. Installed throughout the public spaces of the hotel until the end of October 2018, the exhibition comprises works by artists who rose to prominence in the 1980s and is part of Circa 1881’s ongoing partnership with The Peninsula New York to present rotating exhibitions of world-class contemporary art.

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THE LIFE OF A LEGEND He may have died young at the age of 27, but his legacy has transcended generations. A classic yet tragic tale of rags-to-riches, Jean-Michel Basquiat changed the way people viewed art, and the world, through his primitive yet incredibly intellectual and sophisticated works. The Peninsula takes a look inside one of the greatest minds in the history of modern art.

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BEYOND LOGIC Suffused with energy and brutal honesty, Julian Schnabel’s works are undoubtedly a product of the man behind the canvas. Since his first show in 1979, Schnabel has unerringly embodied the vigour, vivacity and tenacity required to be an important presence in contemporary art history. The Peninsula meets the man who wears his art on his sleeve.

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SLAVE TO THE RYTHYM Grace Jones was cyber before cyber existed. In the company of Warhol, Rubell and other 70s and 80s hedonists, she was one of the most prominent characters to emerge from New York’s Studio 54 disco scene. The Jamaican Amazon Queen always had a futuristic edge to both her looks and her performances, and there are very few cooler players to have emerged to reach such cult status since the gender-bending groove mistress slid liquidly out of obscurity in 1977.

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LIFE IS A CABARET Photographer Dustin Pittman stood steadfast behind his camera and watched the latter half of the 20th Century tell its story before his curious eyes. Even to this day, his life-is-a-cabaret vision serves as his passport to fashion shows, rock concerts, nightclubs, and the biggest spectacle of all - the streets of New York.

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REMEMBERING TINA CHOW Tina Chow was the first internationally recognised Asian style icon who first came into the spotlight in the 1980s in New York. In January 1992 she was the first prominent woman to die of AIDS, the curse of the 80s and beyond.

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A MEASURE OF SUCCESS At this year’s Met Gala, designer Prabal Gurung took the opportunity to officially launch Atelier Prabal Gurung, his made-to-measure collection, which has been received with critical acclaim. Gurung chose The Peninsula New York to prepare his coterie of models for their grand entrance at what is indisputably fashion’s biggest night of the year.

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DANCING WITH THE STARS The American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is considered one of the greatest dance companies in the world, revered as a living national treasure since its founding in 1939. Few ballet companies rival ABT in size, scope, and outreach. Though located in New York City, ABT tours the United States – performing for 300,000 people annually – and is the only major cultural institution to do so. The Company has also made more than 30 international tours to 50 countries in order to share American ballet with the world. Three of the company's main dancers exclusively strike a pose for The Peninsula magazine.

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AMERICA’S QUINTESSENTIAL BALLERINA For over 20 years, Susan Jaffe was a Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre and one of the most talented and beautiful ballerinas ever to perform on stage. Chosen and mentored by the legendary Mikhail Baryshnikov, she was dubbed by The New York Times as ‘America’s Quintessential Ballerina’. Jaffe retired from ABT in June 2002, much to the chagrin of the dance fraternity and fans across the globe.

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THE HARLEM SHUFFLE Next time you’re in New York, take a taxi, a subway ride, or a Peninsula MINI over to Harlem. The area’s newer residents are strikingly diverse: straight and gay, black and white, Asian and European. They’re here for the neighbourhood’s history and the immaculate houses on Strivers’ Row - plus fixer-upper brownstones that cost 20 percent of what they would a mile to the south. Harlem is undoubtedly very different to what it used to be, and is chock full of culture, restaurants and historic landmarks.

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PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known more commonly as the architect Le Corbusier once said: “New York is a vertical city, under the sign of the new times. It is a catastrophe with which a too hasty destiny has overwhelmed a courageous and confident people, though a beautiful and worthy catastrophe.” Photographer Antonio Saba captures the past, present and future of “the city that never sleeps”.

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KEYS TO THE KITCHEN

In celebration of its 30th year, The Peninsula New York has introduced ‘Keys to the Kitchen’, a curated above-and-beyond culinary experience in partnership with New York City’s most coveted restaurants.

A SHARED VISION It’s a sweltering hot Friday afternoon in New York City and hundreds of thousands of commuters are making their way towards Grand Central Terminal to escape the city for the weekend. A quintessential New York location that took 10 years and US$80 million to build, a staggering 700,000 people pass through the Beaux-Arts style transportation hub every day. So what’s new?

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DEFYING TRADITION Adam Sandow, Chairman and CEO of Sandow, is one of North America’s biggest players in publishing. He has built his phenomenally successful business through a combination of organic start-ups and strategic acquisitions, and is highly focused on creating and developing new brands across beauty, fashion, design and luxury that defy traditional rules. The Peninsula magazine speaks with him about how it all started, where it’s all going, and his “secret weapons” to success.

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A HAVEN OF HEALING Originally Founded in 1995 as The Children's Advocacy Center of Manhattan, The New York Center for Children (the name by which it is known today), is the only independent center in New York City to provide free, comprehensive evaluation and therapy services to children who have experienced physical and sexual abuse, for as long as their healing requires. Since its inception, the Center has admirably welcomed and treated more than 15,000 children and their families.

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CONTRIBUTORS The Peninsula Hong Kong Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong Telephone: (852) 2920 2888 Facsimile: (852) 2722 4170 E-mail: phk@peninsula.com The Peninsula Shanghai No 32 The Bund, 32 Zhongshan Dong Yi Road Shanghai 200002, The People’s Republic of China Telephone: (86-21) 2327 2888 Facsimile: (86-21) 2327 2000 E-mail: psh@peninsula.com The Peninsula Beijing 8 Goldfish Lane, Wangfujing, Beijing 100006, The People’s Republic of China Telephone: (86-10) 8516 2888 Facsimile: (86-10) 6510 6311 E-mail: pbj@peninsula.com The Peninsula Tokyo 1-8-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo , 100-0006, Japan Telephone: (81-3) 6270 2888 Facsimile: (81-3) 6270 2000 E-mail: ptk@peninsula.com The Peninsula New York 700 Fifth Avenue at 55th Street, New York, NY 10019, U.S.A. Telephone: (1-212) 956 2888 Facsimile: (1-212) 903 3949 E-mail: pny@peninsula.com The Peninsula Chicago 108 East Superior Street (at North Michigan Avenue), Chicago, IL 60611, U.S.A. Telephone: (1-312) 337 2888 Facsimile: (1-312) 751 2888 E-mail: pch@peninsula.com The Peninsula Beverly Hills 9882 South Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90212, U.S.A. Telephone: (1-310) 551 2888 Facsimile: (1-310) 788 2319 E-mail: pbh@peninsula.com The Peninsula Paris 19 Avenue Kléber, Paris 75116, France Telephone: (33-1) 5812 2888 Facsimile: (33-1) 5812 2999 E-mail: ppr@peninsula.com The Peninsula Bangkok 333 Charoennakorn Road, Klongsan, Bangkok 10600, Thailand Telephone: (66-2) 861 2888 Facsimile: (66-2) 861 1112 E-mail: pbk@peninsula.com

ROLAND HAGENBERG

ANTONIO SABA

Roland Hagenberg grew up in Vienna, Austria. In 1984, living in New York meant being a lonely afternoon artist, an early evening gallery reveller, and a late night party crasher at postStudio 54 venues such as The Palladium. And those were also the ‘80s years when he documented such art stars as Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Francesco Clemente and Julian Schnabel, eventually releasing a book of these portraits in 2008, entitled New York Artists.

Born in Sardinia, Antonio spent his childhood in his hometown of Cagliari. After completing his studies at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan in 1987, where he specialised in advertising photography, Antonio began working professionally, mostly for Italian clients until 1996. In 1997 he set up his own studios in Milan and Cagliari shooting primarily for international clients and magazines. In 2013 Antonio began working in Dubai where he is now based fulltime, shooting more and more for the Middle East and the Far East markets. His projects today span across the world. In addition, he works as a personal photography consultant for one of the most important Royal Families in the United Arab Emirates.

ALEXANDRA HAMLYN Alex has always had quite a case of wanderlust – she has swum with Olive Ridley sea turtles in Costa Rica, studied the ways of the conquistadors in Spain, and backpacked through Asia, Europe, Africa and Central America. She likes to read and write about places as far as her imagination can take her, as well as observing shifting trends in the contemporary art world.

CHRISTINE LAM Christine graduated from the Hong Kong Design Institute with a degree in animation but soon realised that her passion lay in graphic design. A creative of many talents - she bakes, hand makes clothes and accessories, and speaks fluent Japanese. Christine draws inspiration from music as well as movies and she is the Chief Designer for The Peninsula magazine.

ANN TSANG Ann Tsang is the Editor-In-Chief and Creative Director for The Peninsula Magazine, as well as several luxury custom publications in Asia and the United States. She began her career in television, working for many of the world’s biggest broadcasters, and also ran her own marketing consultancy before founding The Antithesis, a bespoke, luxury publishing venture in Hong Kong.

COCO MARETT A Chinese-French hybrid, Coco has spent her life living between Hong Kong and Melbourne and travelling the spaces in between. She began chasing the dream of becoming a writer at a young age and her work has since been published in the US, Australia and Hong Kong. She credits her love of words to her father - also a writer - and finds inspiration in people, places and food.

The Peninsula Manila Corner of Ayala & Makati Avenues, 1226 Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines Telephone: (63-2) 887 2888 Facsimile: (63-2) 815 4825 E-mail: pmn@peninsula.com Reservations can also be made through: The Peninsula Global Customer Service Centre 5/F, The Peninsula Office Tower, 18 Middle Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong Telephone: (852) 2926 2888 Facsimile: (852) 2732 2933 E-mail: reservationgcsc@peninsula.com Toll Free from: Australasia • Australia: 1 800 116 888 • China: 4001 200 618 • India: 000 800 852 1388 • Japan: 0120 348 288 • Korea: 00798 8521 6388 • Singapore: 800 8526288 • Taiwan: 00801856908 • Thailand: 1800011888 Europe • France: 0800 915 980 • Germany: 0800 181 8418 • Italy: 800 789 365 • Russia: 810 800 2536 1012 • Spain: 900 937 652 • Switzerland: 0800 562923 • UK: 08007830388 Americas • Argentina: 0800 888 7227 • Brazil: 0800 891 9601 • Canada: 1866 308 8881 • Mexico: 01 800 123 4646 • USA: 1 866 382 8388 Middle East • Bahrain: 800 065 90 • Saudi Arabia*: 800 865 6047 • UAE: 800 065 0628 * Toll-free access number is only available through Saudi Telecom Company (STC). www.peninsula.com E-mail: info@peninsula.com

Published by: The Antithesis G/F, 1 Pak Tze Lane Central Hong Kong Tel: +852 2851 1150 Email: info@theantithesis.net Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director: Ann Tsang Graphic Designer: Christine Lam Cover Image: Bernard Decré

Media Agents: Hong Kong and Asia Nexus Ltd 4th Floor Asia Standard Tower 59-65 Queens Road Central Central Hong Kong Tel: +852 3911 1288 Email: tak.man@nexusmediaasia.com

THE PENINSULA is published by The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited. Incorporated in 1866 and listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (00045), HSH is the holding company of a Group which is engaged in the ownership, development and management of prestigious hotel, commercial and residential properties in key locations in Asia, the United States and Europe, as well as the provision of transport, club management and other services. The Peninsula Hotels portfolio comprises The Peninsula Hong Kong, The Peninsula Shanghai, The Peninsula Beijing, The Peninsula Tokyo, The Peninsula New York, The Peninsula Chicago, The Peninsula Beverly Hills, The Peninsula Paris, The Peninsula Bangkok, and The Peninsula Manila. Projects under development include The Peninsula Istanbul, The Peninsula London and The Peninsula Yangon. The property portfolio of the Group includes The Repulse Bay Complex, The Peak Tower and St. John’s Building in Hong Kong; The Landmark in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; 1-5 Grosvenor Place in London, UK, and 21 avenue Kléber in Paris, France. The clubs and services portfolio of the Group includes The Peak Tram in Hong Kong; Thai Country Club in Bangkok, Thailand; Quail Lodge & Golf Club in Carmel, California; Peninsula Clubs and Consultancy Services, Peninsula Merchandising, and Tai Pan Laundry in Hong Kong.

Europe Jean-Charles Abeille infopac S.A. 83 Rue de Villiers 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine France Tel: +33 (0) 1 46 43 00 66 Email: jcabeille@infopac.fr USA Couture Marketing Tel: +1 917 821 4429 Email: karen@couturemarketing.com

ORDERING FROM ADVERTISERS: Advertisers warrant and represent that the descriptions of the products or services advertised are true in all respects. THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI HOTELS, LIMITED assumes no responsibility for claims made by advertisers. THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI HOTELS, LIMITED, its officers, directors, employees or agents make no recommendations as to the purchase or sale of any product, service or item. All views expressed in all articles are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI HOTELS, LIMITED. All content contained within this magazine is the sole property of THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI HOTELS, LIMITED and may not be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without authorisation. (c)Copyright 2018 by THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI HOTELS, LIMITED. All rights reserved. The Peninsula is a trademark of The Peninsula Intellectual Property Limited.

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1961 ASTON MARTIN ‘2 VEV’ DB4GT ZAGATO Sold for £10,081,500 ($13,292,241) at The Festival of Speed Sale, Goodwood, UK

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Image: Antonio Saba

Celebrating 30 YEARS of HOSPITALITY TEXT: ANN TSANG IMAGES: ANTONIO SABA & COURTESY OF THE PENINSULA NEW YORK

The Peninsula New York has for 30 years been renowned for its discreet elegance, luxurious interiors and sublime food and service, earning it AAA Five Diamond and Forbes Five Star hotel status. For this majestic property to run smoothly day after day, it takes a team of staff who work deftly behind the scenes to ensure gracious service, attention to detail and the highest level of luxury hospitality.

Image: Antonio Saba

n December 3rd, 1988, The Peninsula Hotels’ parent company, The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited (HSH), established its first flagship hotel in America when it purchased the 23-storey Beaux-Arts landmark building perfectly situated on the corner of 55th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City. At that time, The Peninsula New York was one of the first Asiabased hospitality brands to establish itself in the United States, and the property was set to follow in the footsteps of the hotel group’s Grande Dame, The Peninsula Hong Kong, by providing luxurious comfort combined with exceptional, personalised service. According to the October 24th 1988 edition of Travel Weekly magazine, at virtually the same time that the Hotel Maxim’s de Paris was celebrating its grand opening with suitable fanfare, representatives of the owners were quietly negotiating with HSH to sell the hotel. “We were contacted in Hong Kong in late June by the broker, who asked if we were interested in Maxim’s, because they knew we had been in New York looking for a property,” said Onno Poortier, Executive Vice President of HSH at the time. “I flew to New York, inspected the hotel, liked it very much, and then went back to Hong Kong. We had several meetings, after which we declared our interest and I came back to New York and negotiated for seven weeks.” By summer’s end, HSH had purchased the 252-room hotel– formerly known as The Gotham – for US$127 million, making it the first U.S. property to be 100 percent owned by the Group.

After looking at many New York properties, why did Mr. Poortier settle on Maxim’s? “The Beaux-Arts façade has a relationship to The Peninsula Hong Kong. They’re not the same of course, but they’re both Old World,” said Poortier. “Also 252 rooms is a good size for us, and the location is very good. The hotel is newly renovated, and the rooms are very well appointed. The classic staircase in The Lobby makes you feel like you’re not coming into a hotel, but to a private mansion…we aim to make The Peninsula here one of the leading hotels in the city.” In 1998, a comprehensive US$45 million reconstruction project orchestrated by the architects Brennan, Beer, Gorman and the design firm of Hirsch Bedner Associates, updated The Peninsula New York’s ambience, seamlessly merging contemporary fabrics, furnishings and technology with the many classical design elements already present within the property. A few elements of the original Gotham hotel remained inside, including the heavily ornate lobby ceiling and the rear fire stairs, but almost everything else was new, including sumptuously spacious bathrooms with televisions over the tubs. A representative room was No. 1600, with its spectacular view north up Fifth Avenue, past the brownstone spire of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. One of the most distinctive elements of the new Peninsula New York then was the technological equipment: an ISDN telephone line for fast Internet access in each room, plus a single master console on the bedside table that controlled the television, lights, temperature and guest messages.

15 Image: Antonio Saba

The Sun Terrace Image: Courtesy of The Peninsula New York

Salon De Ning Terrace Image: Courtesy of The Peninsula New York

The Peninsula New York continued its tradition of excellence in 2008 with the refurbishment and updating of all its guestrooms and suites. The Peninsula Hotels’ Hong Kong-based design team gave the rooms a fresh look with a soft grey, taupe and gold colour palette, adding new furniture, carpeting and drapery. Even the beds were given new clothes in crisp linen by French luxury linen house D. Porthault. The Suites were also given a more contemporary look, with sophisticated accent colours including blue, grey and green, as well as new living room furniture, including cream leather chairs and sofas. For the business traveller, the hotel also added new oversized desks and all-in-one printer, fax and copier machines to every guestroom and suite. In addition to the guestrooms, The Peninsula New York also updated several other parts of the Five-Star property. The Lobby was given a new, brighter colour scheme and the Gotham Lounge benefitted from fresh carpeting and new furniture. The rooftop bar, formerly The Pen-Top Bar & Terrace, was also renovated during this period and re-opened in 2008 as Salon de Ning, featuring a new Asian-inspired design concept. Continuing its philosophy of creating signature venues in its hotels in Asia and the USA, Salon de Ning offered an innovative lounge and bar concept. Resembling an elegant drawing room in a private residence in Shanghai in the 1930s, the venue presented a seamless combination of a clubby lounge venue and a unique collection of travel mementos, art and objets reflecting the glamour and style of 1930s Shanghai.

Salon de Ning gained immediate popularity with both local residents and hotel guests alike with its spectacular views over Fifth Avenue and the glittering skyline of Manhattan, a small interior bar featuring an eclectic art collection, and two large outdoor terraces. In 2009, The Peninsula continued to delight by unveiling a dramatic renovation of the top three levels of the luxury landmark building, which comprised The Peninsula Spa, a fitness facility, a pool and terraces. The designer for the project was Alexandra Champalimaud of Champalimaud & Associates (ACA) and the architectural team was spearheaded by Stonehill & Taylor, a fullservice architectural and design firm based in Manhattan. The 35,000 square foot Spa, located on the 21st and 22nd f loors, received a complete transformation, featuring 12 new treatment rooms, including one spacious couple suite, relaxation lounges, and men’s and women’s locker facilities. The fitness facility was outfitted with state-of-the-art cardiovascular and weight training equipment, including a studio for yoga and aerobic classes. The pool was also refurbished, providing a rooftop oasis for hotel and spa guests. In July 2011, The Peninsula took the term “urban oasis” to the next level with the re-opening of its outdoor wrap-around Sun Terrace. Featuring stunning city skyline views, the 2,700 square foot open-air space occupies the mezzanine level of The Peninsula Spa. The Sun Terrace expands upon the chic elegance of The Spa, and relaxing sun loungers and tables for outdoor dining create a zen atmosphere in which to enjoy the captivating city views.

In September 2012, The Peninsula New York unveiled its crown jewel with the debut of the newly renovated Peninsula Suite, the hotelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s premier accommodation with 3,300 square feet of luxurious living space. Occupying most of the 19th floor, the Suite offers striking views of Fifth Avenue and comprises six rooms, including a spacious master bedroom and bathroom, a dining room with adjoining kitchen, an elegant living room, a study and a second bedroom. Designed by New York-based designer Bill Rooney, The Peninsula Suite exudes the feeling of a grand New York residence with an ensemble of furnishings and finishes curated to create a cohesive, fresh and confident style. Rich woods, polished marble floors, hand-tufted carpets and distinctive sophisticated plaster details define a space that showcases the Suite's fine furnishings, art, a grand piano, and proprietary Peninsula in-room technology. Simultaneously, the hotel also unveiled its new-look Grand Suite, the epitomĂŠ of high style, resplendent with chandeliers, white and cream upholstery, blond wood furniture, a faux fireplace, and deep dove grey carpeting. Incorporating a living room, dining room, master bedroom, two bathrooms and a private pantry, the icing on the cake is the stunning view of 5th Avenue through the window, looking towards Central Park.

Master Bedroom, The Peninsula Suite Image: Courtesy of The Peninsula New York

Clement Restaurant Image: Antonio Saba

Coinciding with its 25th anniversary in 2013, The Peninsula New York opened Clement restaurant and bar on the mezzanine floor. Occupying the space of the hotel’s former restaurant, ‘Fives’, the new restaurant and adjoining bar, named ‘Clement’, after the Chief Executive Officer of HSH, Clement Kwok, seamlessly blends its Midtown Manhattan surroundings with the liveliness and eclectic feel of the downtown art world, offering guests fresh ingredients, a sense of conviviality and genuine warmth. Clement features a design concept by the international awardwinning design firm. Yabu Pushelberg, which has been creating timeless and artistic interior designs for the hospitality, restaurant and retail industries worldwide for more than 30 years. George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg’s goal was to create a restaurant that would create a buzz in Midtown. Exuding effortless elegance, the restaurant feels like a quintessential New York home – with different rooms that cater to a range of moods, desires and occasions. The carefully planned spaces scale gracefully from an intimate lounge to larger dining areas, providing a setting for both power lunches and lively suppers, with private and semi-private dining areas for quieter gatherings. “Due to the mid-size space and relatively low ceilings, we decided to break the venue down into three smaller spaces to give it a more intimate and artistic quality as opposed to a very commercial feel,” states Yabu. The back room of the restaurant features a whimsical mural in hues of orange, which Pushelberg describes as “a make-believe city, a fantasy version perhaps, of Central Park.” The room also displays a collection of mirrors in varying shapes and sizes, as well as plush seating in muted tones to offset the orange of the mural. In the middle room, the textural walls are fashioned from stacks of paper to almost resemble books, a nod to the former literary scene of The Algonquin, whilst banquette and free-standing seats seamlessly blend into the environment. The entrance room is adorned with towers of ceramics displayed in shelf-like structures, which Yabu states is “a reflection of the urban, artsy New York scene which has been thoroughly revived in the last 10 years.”

Clement Bar Image: Antonio Saba

Living Room, Fifth Avenue Suite Image: Courtesy of The Peninsula New York

The adjacent bar area was specifically revamped to offer a more intimate feel and a suitable area for socialising. “The main feature of this area is a long oblong of banquette seating, for people to observe what’s going on elsewhere in the bar and to more freely mingle with fellow guests. The design is also highly conducive to people-watching,” says Pushelberg. And of course, as with any Yabu Pushelberg project, lighting is key in creating an atmosphere and Clement is no exception. “We had to consider the prime Fifth Avenue location and as the restaurant had to work for breakfast, lunch and dinner, we had to modify the light according to the time of day,” notes Yabu. Following a makeover in October 2014, the Gotham Lounge reopened with a chic ‘Manhattan Deco’ aesthetic and an updated menu. Elegant and intimate, the Lounge is reminiscent of a chic townhouse with a geometric theme in vibrant sapphire, rich chocolate brown and molten chrome. The comfortable lounge includes a bar set against a striking floor-to-ceiling metal lattice and walls adorned with museum-worthy art on loan from private collectors. In the fourth quarter of 2016, The Peninsula New York unveiled the newest addition to its collection of signature suites, the Fifth Avenue Suite. Inspired by New York’s prominent art scene, and located on the 17th floor with spectacular views of Fifth Avenue, the suite occupies over 2,500 square feet and is the second largest

area of accomodation at the Forbes Five Star and AAA Five Diamond rated property, with an elegant dining room, expansive living room, gourmet kitchen and custom handcrafted touches by world-renowned artisans. The Fifth Avenue Suite also marked the introduction of The Peninsula Hotels’ signature advanced guest room tablet technology to the property. Designed by New York-based Bill Rooney of Bill Rooney Studio Inc. to reflect a modern design reminiscent of a grand New York apartment, the one-bedroom suite opens to a crisp entryway complete with fully panelled white leather walls and black and white granite flooring to exude a chic and elegant look. An expansive, bright living room was intentionally designed to highlight the views of Fifth Avenue from the oversized windows. The Suite features polished fine woodtrimmed walls with herringbone walnut flooring, an 80-inch flat screen television and a relaxing seating area. The 10-seat dining room can be combined or separated from the living room by hand-crafted, decorative glass panel doors with a New York-inspired geometric motif created by local artisan Michael Glickman. Diners are enveloped by hand-painted floral motif murals by Hong Kong-based artist David Qian. A gourmet kitchen with state-of-the-art Gaggenau appliances connects to the dining room, complete with an interior wine cellar accommodating up to 50 bottles.

Living Room, Fifth Avenue Suite Image: Courtesy of The Peninsula New York

In addition to the recently launched 24-hour check-in for web bookings, a new Mobile Concierge provides instant guest service support by text message, directly to cell phones. An added benefit for domestic and international travellers alike, all phone calls made from the guest room phone are complimentary via VOIP. This pioneering technology was developed by The Peninsula Hotels’ Research and Technology Department. Based in Hong Kong, the department has been responsible for some of the most advanced, yet intuitive innovations in the global hotel industry since 1985. In 2016, Salon de Ning introduced a fresh new look that brings the cool, chic scene of the Hamptons to the centre of midtown Manhattan. The new look exudes a resort feel, complete with crisp linens, iron rod tables and chairs, large umbrellas and six large lounge seating areas on both the East and West Terraces. Available by reservation only, the lounge seating areas allow for an exclusive, relaxing experience ideally situated and overlooking the finest views of the bustling city. The landscape is dressed in lush plants and colourful florals to complement the lively ambience. As The Peninsula celebrates its 30th Anniversary, it continues to enjoy phenomenal success as one of the most desirable luxury hotel properties in New York.

In the bedroom, a custom-made headboard crafted from embossed leather to highlight the Manhattan skyline was hand sculpted by London-based artist, Helen Amy Murray, whilst a southern-facing window with views that expand down Fifth Avenue delivers an ideal backdrop of the cityscape below, inclusive of a bird’s eye view of the Museum of Modern Art’s Sculpture Garden. An expansive walk-in dressing area with custom-built millwork connects to the bedroom to accommodate all luggage and clothing needs. Around the corner sits a magnificent marble bathroom with a large soaking Jacuzzi tub framed by a tryptic glass mural created by Brooklyn-based artist, Michael Davis. A separate study is located off the main entrance, complete with a working desk, a 65-inch television and a closet. With the introduction of The Peninsula’s signature tablet technology to the hotel, the Fifth Avenue Suite features all essential functions, entertainment and guest services available in 11 languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Korean, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese). All room functions are just a touch away using the bespoke tablet technology, including lighting, temperature controls, restaurant menus, hotel services, city information and attractions, and TV channels. LED touch-screen wall panels offer weather details and privacy options.

Photo: Hiss & Weekes

A GOTHAM Evolution The early 1900s saw major construction on one of the most iconic streets in the world - Fifth Avenue in New York City. There was the new site for the University Club - whose Mediterranean Revival Italian Renaissance palazzo-style ex terior is argued to be the first to set Fifth Avenue’s patrician tone – as well as the opening of the New York Public Library’s main branch and the St. Regis hotel which, at 18 storeys, was the tallest in the city at the time of its completion in 1904. Also joining this league of legends was The Gotham – now The Peninsula New York.

he Fifty-Fifth Street Company purchased and demolished a row of mansions across the avenue from the St. Regis in 1902 and began construction almost immediately. The initial concept for what was to become The Gotham was described as a ‘family hotel’ for wealthy New Yorkers who didn’t want the effort involved in maintaining a private home, and which also served as a second home for out-of-towners who spent a substantial amount of time in the city. The Fifty-Fifth Street Company took architects Hiss & Weekes on board - famous for their buildings in the Beaux-Arts, academic neoclassical architectural style - to design the building. “The Gotham was arranged in the shape of a C, with the light court facing south over the University Club, ensuring a protected view...it was arranged with single rooms at the core and suites of apartment scale on the outside,” wrote Christopher Gray for The New York Times. Sculptures of the ancient Roman goddesses Pomona and Diana still adorn the entrance of the building today. Pomona, Goddess of Orchards, is seen carrying a cornucopia while Diana, Goddess

of the Hunt, carries her signature bow and arrow, acting as symbols that represent agriculture and commerce respectively. In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, agriculture formed the basis for much of the wealth at the time, while commerce was, and still is, a perpetual hunt for profits and advantage. The Beaux-Arts characteristics of these sculptures – Diana naturally rests her hand upon the more formal building decorations– have been interpreted as a more modern representation of life, as opposed to mere decoration. While the St. Regis across the street donned a lavish Frenchstyle façade, The Gotham’s Belle Epoque design was more subdued. “The furnishings of The Gotham, while extremely rich, are far from garish. There is not the slightest striving after gaudy effects, the whole atmosphere being one of good taste,” gushed The New York Times shortly after the hotel’s opening. On the day The Gotham opened, October 2nd in 1905, every room with a Fifth Avenue frontage was occupied by Mrs. Charlotte Augusta Hanna (Rhodes), widow of Senator Hanna, the first ever resident.

Early advertisements for events at The Gotham

The Gotham’s success was short-lived, however, primarily due to the strict laws that followed the prohibition period. One such law forbade any liquor sales within 200 feet of a church. The Gotham, sitting directly across 55th Street from The Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, was directly in violation of that law. The hotel found a loophole, however, and hired young boys who would rush to a supply base a block from the hotel to fufil guests’ orders for wine or liquor using wicker baskets or milliners’ boxes. Since the money was turned over to the off-site vendor and not to the hotel directly, the liquor law was skirted – despite the hotel’s protests that there was “no attempt to evade the law”. “We are in the hotel business and if our guests ask us for anything we don’t have, there is nothing to prevent us from sending out and getting it,” explained the Hotel Manager at the time, Frank V. Bennett. “Suppose a man likes wine with his dinner, or a cocktail beforehand, is there any law to stop us from getting it for him? Well, I rather think not.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough and The Gotham went into foreclosure in 1908. The hotel, which cost US$4 million to build, was sold for just US$2.45 million to Benjamin P. Cheney, President of the Hotel Holding Company, who resolved the financial problems and in 1914 sold the hotel to Franklin Pettit. Refurbished and redecorated, the hotel sold once again in 1920 to brothers Julius and William Manges who were on a buying frenzy of hotels in Manhattan – they had also purchased the Hotel Cumberland and owned The Netherland, The Edicott, The Martha

Washington, The Great Northern and The Grand – but following the Great Depression, The Gotham underwent another US$2 million foreclosure in 1932. The Gotham continued to be sold and resold until it was taken over by Swiss hotel owner Rene Hatt in 1979, who initiated an epic renovation, spanning nearly a decade, at a cost of US$200 million. The renovation included the construction of the hotel’s iconic rooftop health club and pool and, Hatt being an avid lover of discos and jazz, New York’s first ever public discotheque, L’ interdit, was built in the basement. Handed down more times than a family heirloom and soldiering through numerous foreclosures and financial meltdowns, it wasn’t until 1988 that the building fell into the stable hands of The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited (HSH), who opened The Peninsula New York that same year, and in 1998 closed the building for renovation once again, to the tune of US$45 million. Teresa Delaney, a spokeswoman for HSH at the time, said that “the 241 guest rooms were gutted and rebuilt to a new standard think luxurious oversized bathrooms with televisions over the bath tubs - which would place The Peninsula in competition with the most élite, expensive hotels in New York.” But even after countless dramatic renovations, hints of the original Gotham remain, including the heavily figured lobby ceiling and the rear fire stairs, proving that old certainly doesn’t always read as outdated. Ms. Delaney certainly called it and The Peninsula, still sitting proudly on Fifth Avenue, is without a doubt a New York landmark.

Fifth Avenue in the early 1900s

L-R: Hung Li (Housekeeping Attendant); Mindy Liu (Mini Bar Attendant); Le Mang Lieu (Seamstress); Marion Shepard (Room Attendant); Caroline Lyons (Room Attendant); Jacqueline Rodriguez (Clement Cashier); Raymond Yuen (Bell Captain); John Ou (Assistant Technology Manager) Photographed in The Peninsula Suite living room, June 2018

30 YEARS of SERVICE PORTRAIT: ANTONIO SABA

For 30 years, since the opening of The Peninsula New York on December 8th, 1988, the staff has been loyally serving guests in true Peninsula style. Testament to the hotelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s friendly working environment, they have all become part of The Peninsula family. For this special commemorative issue of The Peninsula magazine, we salute the 18 employees who have been part of that family since the day the hotel opened its doors.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;As

I contemplate the magnificent 30-year history of The

Peninsula New York, and the fact that I myself first started my career with The Peninsula Hotels in New York 18 years ago, I am extremely privileged to be a part of this group and salute the loyal, friendly, hardworking staff who have become a part of the Peninsula family over the last three decades. The camaraderie and the special sense of purpose demonstrated by all reflects the bond between our staff and our valued guests who continue to come back year after year. These elements are a true testament to our brand and I am honoured to be a part of this team of talented individuals.â&#x20AC;? Jonathan Crook, General Manager, The Peninsula New York

Jonathan Crook, General Manager, The Peninsula New York Portrait: Antonio Saba

“I

love being here. This is like my second house with all of my family in

it. Filled with uncles, sisters, nephews, cousins, sons and daughters, they are all here. I have loved taking pictures over the years of my Peninsula family.” Le Mang Lieu, Seamstress

John Ou, Assistant Technology Manager “My first job here was in housekeeping 30 years ago and 10 years later after I had finished studying, I wanted to look for another job at The Peninsula. I had a computer science degree and so I was able to move out of housekeeping to join the ESD (Electronic Services Department). It was an interesting time back in 1988 when ESD was a new department. We built all of the systems in the guestrooms at the time and the most interesting thing about my role was the constantly changing technology – it made every day different. My two most memorable events were the September 11 blackout of the city and when the subway stopped because of the 2005 transport strike. Many locals came to stay at the hotel and I saw how much they really cared about their families and friends.”

many different ways. I have witnessed the growth of the hotel over the years and am very proud to have been a part of that. I consider it a real privilege to be a member of The Peninsula New York family.” Caroline Lyons, Room Attendant “When The Peninsula first opened in 1988, it was a lot of hard work, but we also had great staff parties where they would take us all out in an open-top bus to different locations. It was good for staff morale.” David Camejo, Banquet Server “You want me to tell you everything now? Wow, the last 30 years...” Jacqueline Rodriguez, Clement CashIer “I have always enjoyed our staff outings when we leave the hotel to celebrate. My favourite was when we took a yacht around Manhattan.”

Helen Moy, Room Attendant “Every day is a happy day at The Peninsula; we are like family. We have been through many crises together, including 9/11, the transit strike, Hurricane Sandy and SARS, but these events have brought us even closer together.”

Patrick Wong, Bell Captain “There are so many familiar faces that I love to see. Guests who have stayed with us for decades I am always happy to see whenever they are with us. I also appreciate the great management. We really are encouraged to stay five-star strong in everything that we do and that makes me proud.”

Hung Li, HousekeepIng Attendant “I see my co-workers more than I see my wife!” Marion Shepard, Room Attendant “I had my son during the time that I have worked here; he is now 24 years-old. When I came back to work after the renovation in 1998, the rooms were much bigger and more beautiful. I had more mirrors to clean!”

Pedro Luis Alequin, Cafeteria Steward “I love that I get to know all the staff. I’m like their bartender, it’s my job to keep them happy. As long as they’re eating well, they’re happy.”

Le Mang Lieu, Seamstress “I love being here. It’s like my second home with all of my family in it; filled with uncles, sisters, nephews, cousins, sons and daughters - they are all here. I have loved taking pictures over the years of my Peninsula family.”

Vivian Chiu, Seamstress “My daughter is a ‘Peninsula baby’ and five years ago she obtained a scholarship to study science, which I am thrilled about.” Rafael Firpo, StewardIng SupervIsor “This was my first job when I came from the Dominican Republic – The Peninsula was like a gift for me at the time. I really appreciate the loyalty that the hotel has shown me and I have given mine in return – it’s not about money, it’s about feeling comfortable and happy.”

Alden Inniss, Watch EngIneer “I have worked the night shift from midnight to 8:00am for the past 30 years. I was also here during the major renovation period when all the staff were off except for the engineers. I was also part of the kitchen and Spa renovations when I had the opportunity to assist in

36 Image: Antonio Saba

An ARTISTIC Movement ALL ART IMAGES REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION FROM © THE ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR THE VISUAL ARTS, INC.

The Peninsula New York is proud to celebrate its 30th Anniversary with a specially curated art installation throughout the hotel featuring original works of Andy Warhol, Francesco Clemente, Keith Haring, Jean-Michael Basquiat and more . Installed throughout the public spaces of the hotel until the end of October 2018, the exhibition comprises works from artists who rose to prominence in the 1980s and is part of Circa 1881’s ongoing partnership with The Peninsula New York to present rotating exhibitions of world-class contemporary art.

‘Untitled’, Keith Haring Image: Joe Russo

Keith Haring, Houston Street, New York, 1983 Photo © Roland Hagenberg Keith Haring’s rise to fame in the 1980s is attributed to his Pop Art and graffiti-like drawings in New York City’s subways, which he considered to be his “laboratory”. Upon arriving at The Peninsula New York, guests will immediately notice Haring’s large-scale piece, ‘Untitled’, which overtakes the Lower Lobby seating area, filling the space with red and black hues painted on metal. Another Haring work, ‘Untitled Subway Drawing (1)’ (1981-1985) is on display in the hotel’s Palm Court, while his work ‘Totem’ (1981-1982) is featured to the left of the Concierge desk. In addition, his work, ‘Untitled Subway Drawing (2)’ is available for viewing in the Upper Lobby across from the front desk reception area.

The

very first dollar I earned in New York didn't come

from writing or publishing or taking a photograph, but from carrying a Keith Haring sculpture through Manhattan down to the gallery district in Soho. It was a thick wood panel covered with Haring's gold graffiti. Since the sculpture was too big to fit into a taxi and no moving company was around at 11:00pm, I simply wrapped the artwork in plastic sheets and took it with me on the subway. In the early 80s this was quite a dangerous undertaking, but I arrived safely at Tony Shafrazi's gallery, where Keith gave me US$50. The sculpture is probably worth several hundred thousand dollars today. - Roland Hagenberg

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Totemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, 1981-1982, Keith Haring

‘Number 5’, 1984, Francesco Clemente and Jean-Michel Basquiat (Detail) Image: Joe Russo Warhol, Basquiat and Italian artist Francesco Clemente produced an artistic collaboration together during 1984 and 1985 at the suggestion of gallerist Bruno Bischof berger. The idea originally came up during a visit by Basquiat to the gallery owner and dealer’s home in St. Moritz. Both Basquiat and Clemente had painted in the past with Cora, Bischof berger's daughter, in the family guestbook. Basquiat had even painted an acrylic on canvas with the little girl who at that stage was not even four years old, and so the gallerist proposed a collaboration with Warhol, whom Basquiat admired, and another artist. Ruling out Julian Schnabel, Basquiat suggested Francesco Clemente, one of the most renowned artists of the Italian transavant-garde movement and whose friend he had been for some time. Thus emerged a series of 15 paintings that were exhibited in September 1984 at the Bischof berger Gallery in Zurich at an exhibition entitled ‘Collaborations - Basquiat Clemente Warhol ’. After this experience, Warhol and Basquiat continued working together on dozens of collaborations that materialised into largescale canvases. Warhol relished the energy and spontaneity of the young artist, who, influenced by the Pop Art master, had begun to

include silk-screens in his work. Similarly, Warhol began painting freehand again upon the recommendation of Basquiat, recovering some of the content that he had created on canvas during the early 60s. An exhibition staged at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in 2002 showed a group of 47 pieces of which 10 were collaborations between Warhol, Basquiat and Clemente. Each worked separately on the canvas that was then delivered to the next to continue painting over it. They did it independently, without consulting each other on aspects such as iconography, style, size or technique, however, the results seemed to be part of a greater plan. The painting, ‘Number 5’, on view across from the Front Desk reception, was done in 1984 and is indisputably a collaboration between Clemente and Basquiat, who along with their three-way collaborative paintings with Warhol, also did two-way collaborations. The multiple Xerox-sheet background is all Basquiat, and it is possible that Clemente’s dreamlike overpainting - with its toy boat chained to an anchor to the androgynous figure’s heart, is responding to the younger artist’s nautical references including battle ships, cruisers and sailors. In another collaboration of art genius, Clemente’s self-portrait of Andy Warhol can be seen in the hotel’s Palm Court (see opposite page).

‘Andy Warhol’, watercolour on paper, 1982-1987, Francesco Clemente

“Do

you have time?” asked Clemente as he led me into the kitchen. “Can I take your portrait?” After two hours

my turquoise blue head was painted and I could see myself already as a proud owner of a Clemente artwork. “The paint has still to dry,” he said, and put my portrait in a corner next to the stove. The following weekend I visited the Castelli Gallery on Mercer Street, where there were several portraits by Clemente hanging on the wall, among them my own. When I asked the receptionist about the price, she told me it was already sold to Switzerland. - Roland Hagenberg 41

‘Untitled’, 1984, Jean-Michel Basquiat Image: Antonio Saba

In addition, works from Jean-Michel Basquiat (1984, ‘Untitled’) and Barbara Kruger (1980, ‘Untitled, Your Pleasure is Spasmodic and Short Lived’) are on display at the top of the stairs as guests enter The Gotham Lounge and in the Palm Court, respectively.

‘Andy Warhol & Jean-Michel Basquiat #133’, July 10, 1985, Michael Halsband

When

I met Jean-Michel Basquiat in his Soho studio, he had not yet adopted the habit of wearing Armani

suits whilst painting. That happened years later, after he had fallen under the spell of Andy Warhol. Like Andy, JeanMichel never spoke much, answering only with "yes" or "no", his eyes watery and focusing on something people around him couldn't see. His studio was a mess, and looked like it had been devastated by an earthquake and then occupied by homeless people. Julian Schnabel's film ‘Basquiat’ describes it too, but the film version is much too clean and doesn't come close to reality. Years later, when I heard the news of Jean-Michel's death, I remembered his first studio. "He could afford to wear a new Armani suit every day," I thought, "but he couldn't buy an escape ticket, that would have freed him from where he came from." - Roland Hagenberg

Jean-Michel Basquiat melancholic, studio on Crosby Street, New York, 1983 Photo © Roland Hagenberg

Alongside the celebrated works from a private collection, the exhibition features three iconic portraits of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat by famed photographer Michael Halsband, from when the two visited his studio on July 10, 1985. The images were taken to create a boxing-style poster to announce the collaboration of the two artists for a future exhibition. The three portraits, ‘Andy Warhol & Jean-Michel Basquiat #133’, ‘Andy Warhol & Jean-Michel Basquiat #1 (first roll, first frame of the sitting)’, and ‘Andy Warhol & Jean-Michel Basquiat #143’ are on display in The Peninsula’s Palm Court.

Andy Warhol, Union Square, New York, 1983 Photo © Roland Hagenberg

“Oh,

hi!” said Andy, when I met him for the first time in Berlin, as if we had known each other for a long time. Years

later, when I visited Andy Warhol’s Factory, his famous studio on Union Square, he said the same thing again: “Oh, hi!" But of course he didn't remember me. I explained that we had met before in Berlin and he said “Oh, yes?” After that, no matter where we ran into each other, at openings, restaurants or bars, the only thing I could get out of him was “Oh, hi!” and “Oh, yes?” He never objected to being photographed and never changed his facial expression. He reminded me of a robot or an android. I thought if I would look under his wig, I'd find wires and microchips. Everyone was surprised, including me, when Andy suddenly died in 1987, but when I heard the news, only two words came to my mind: “Oh, yes?” - Roland Hagenberg

Image: Antonio Saba

ndy Warhol is widely known as the father of a movement that shaped the New York art world during the 1980s. The story of his famed Campbell’s Soup can works not only established the beginning of the Pop Art movement in 1962, it became one of the most iconic, signature pieces of the artist’s career, and as such, The Peninsula New York has installed 10 original screen prints of these works in the Upper Lobby seating area for visitors to view. Warhol’s interpretation of Chairman Mao resulted in the creation of a portfolio that contains 10 brightly coloured, large portraits that cover the walls of the hotel’s Gotham Lounge. These images illustrate Warhol’s fascination with the clash of philosophies between Communist propaganda and Western fashion, and which are stylistically in keeping with the artist’s portraits of other famed celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Elvis Presley. Additional works by Warhol available for viewing through October at The Peninsula New York include ‘Sausage Tree’ (1986), ‘Toy Painting Robot’ (1981) and ‘Diamond Dusk Candy Box’ (1981), all of which are on view in the Upper Lobby.

Warhol at The Whitney The first Andy Warhol retrospective organised in the U.S. since 1989 will reconsider the work of one of the most inventive, influential, and important American artists. Building on a wealth of new materials, research and scholarship that has emerged since the artist’s untimely death in 1987, the exhibition Andy Warhol - From A to B and Back Again to be staged at the Whitney Museum of American Art from November 12, 2018 through March 31, 2019 reveals new complexities about the Warhol we think we know, and introduces a Warhol for the 21st Century. The exhibition illuminates the breadth, depth, and interconnectedness of Warhol’s production: from his beginnings as a commercial illustrator in the 1950s, to his iconic Pop masterpieces of the early 1960s, to the experimental work in film and other mediums from the 1960s and 70s, to his innovative use of readymade abstraction and the painterly sublime in the 1980s. This is the largest monographic exhibition to date at the Whitney's new location at 99 Gansevoort Street, with more than 350 works of art, many assembled together for the first time. Andy Warhol - From A to B and Back Again Nov 12, 2018–Mar 31, 2019 Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street, New York, NY 10014 whitney.org

The LIFE Of A LEGEND TEXT: COCO MARETT PORTRAITS: ROLAND HAGENBERG

He may have died young at the age of 27, but his legacy has transcended generations. A classic yet tragic tale of rags-to-riches, Jean-Michel Basquiat changed the way people viewed art, and the world, through his primitive yet incredibly intellectual and sophisticated works. The Peninsula takes a look inside one of the greatest minds in the history of modern art.

n the surface, this story may seem like another romanticised depiction of New York City in the 1980s – artists were glorified as rock stars, people sported mohawks, they were hedonistic, punk collided with jazz, and ‘cool’ went underground. “The secret of a man who is universally interesting is that he is universally interested,” American author William Dean Howells once said. It would be hard to find a quote more suited to the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Basquiat was many things – an intellectual (and this is not to be confused with an academic), a noise musician, a good friend to Andy Warhol and above all, an artist whose drawings and paintings defined and shaped not only a crucial generation for art, but one of the most revolutionary periods in modern America. Basquiat was born in New York City to a Haitian father and a Puerto Rican mother, and endured a childhood more difficult than most people realise. After his parents divorced in 1968, his mother, with whom Basquiat was very close, was admitted to a sanitarium for a mental condition. In an interview with Tamra Davis and Becky Johnston later on in 1986, Basquiat was asked what he would do if he had 24 hours left to live. He replied, “I don’t know, I’d go hang out with my mother and my girlfriend, I guess.” Basquiat dropped out of school at 15 and ran away from home that same year, sleeping on benches in Washington Square Park or couch surfing at friends’ homes, scraping together what money he could by drawing and selling postcards, sporting a blond mohawk and often shoeless. “I thought I was going to be a bum for the rest of my life,” the artist once said, and he couldn’t have been more wrong. Little did he know that a spectacular career was just around the corner. It was in those defining years that Basquiat’s surroundings and influences came together to shape his distinctive painting style. One was music, his genre of choice being be-bop, a style that breaks down melodies and harmonies in a way that had never been done before, the same way Basquiat’s paintings are a collage of different elements, inspirations and ideas. But more than anything else, street art and graffiti were Basquiat’s heaviest influences. While living on the streets of New York, he made the city his canvas, tagging buildings under his moniker SAMO to create art using words and phrases, turning graffiti into more than just guerilla art, and something to provoke thought in everyday people. It got people talking about this mysterious SAMO and ultimately became one of the elements which were quintessential Basquiat; the repetition of certain words, phrases and more curiously, his crossing out of words in his paintings. “I cross out words so you will see them more. The fact that they are obscured makes you want to read them,” he said. Another significant point in the development of Basquiat’s creativity and curiosity happened much earlier when he was just eight years old. While out playing on the street one day, he was struck by a car and hospitalised. The near-fatal accident was so

serious that it resulted in Basquiat having his spleen removed. To keep him entertained, his mother brought him a heavy textbook to keep him busy – ‘Gray’s Anatomy’ – a bible of the human anatomy read by most first year medical students. Why she chose such a peculiar gift, such advanced reading material, for her injured son is a mystery, but it certainly left a lasting impression on the young boy. Up until the end of his career, Basquiat continued to paint with references to his unyielding fascination with the human anatomy; from diagrams of body parts such as teeth or tongues, the scribbling of scientific names, or depictions of the human heart with all of its ventricles and valves. He even named his noise rock band ‘Gray’, which he founded in 1979 with four other members, including Vincent Gallo and Michael Holman, who is also the screenwriter of his deceased friend’s biopic, simply titled ‘Basquiat’. But despite his circumstances, by the time Basquiat was 18 he found himself at the epicentre of the best music and the best art in New York City in the 80s. He was adored by those around him, who described him as “charming” and “someone who had tremendous energy.” Not to mention the amount of attention and respect he received for the vital role he played in the revival of painting during a period in which minimalism, conceptualism and video-based art dominated the scene. “I thought it divided people a little bit,” he said. “I think it alienated people from art.” It wasn’t until 1981 that gallery owner Annina Nosei, who was known for her knack for discovering young international talent, recognised the young artist’s potential and proposed a show at her gallery. Still couch surfing at this point, Nosei provided canvases, paints and even the basement of her Prince Street gallery for him to use as a studio. Until then, Basquiat only had drawings on scrap paper and had never had a proper studio to work in. “He would come in quite early in the morning, just after the gallery opened and would often bring a croissant from Dean & Deluca,” remembers Nosei in the documentary ‘Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child’. “And he put on music which drove me crazy; classical music. Ravel, over and over again with the ‘Bolero’. I would bang with my umbrella [on the floor] like ‘quiet down!” Basquiat held his first solo show at Annina Nosei in March of 1982. Every single painting sold on the first night, rocketing him into his brief yet meteoric career. The world simply couldn’t get enough. Yes, he was different, cool and fresh. Not only did his paintings look like nothing anyone had ever seen, what people found most endearing about Basquiat was the nature and the philosophy behind his works. Despite such a troubled and turbulent upbringing, and having no formal education, Basquiat remained aware and awake to the world. He was a voracious reader and had a sensitivity which allowed him to empathise with the social and political issues happening around him. Some have even suggested he was somewhat of an oracle, gathering as much information as he could from the world and distilling it through his own vision before giving it back to the world through his art.

Beyond LOGIC

TEXT: ALEXANDRA HAMLYN PORTRAIT: ROLAND HAGENBERG

Suffused with energy and brutal honesty, Julian Schnabel’s works are undoubtedly a product of the man behind the canvas. Since his first show in 1979, Schnabel has unerringly embodied the vigour, vivacity and tenacity required to be an important presence in contemporary art history. The Peninsula meets the man who wears his art on his sleeve.

innocuous…” Simply put, Schnabel makes a very profound point that many art historians overlook. The journey that shot Schnabel into the public eye included the development of his works that incorporated broken crockery into his multi-media art. Self-Portrait in Andy’s Shadow is a good example of Schnabel’s famed “plate” paintings on a grand scale. But his moment of inspiration in a hotel room to create these works had its origins in his childhood, demonstrating a degree of artistic clairvoyance and a sophisticated understanding of what art is, in essence. “When I was a kid I used to watch The Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa. And I used to think, how does painting compare with these guys riding horses through the rain, through the puddles… and all the extraordinary drama that is going on across this screen. And this was the moment when I decided that I shouldn’t compete with them because they were moving, and painting is still”. Schnabel’s style of discussion is extremely anecdotal, and from stories of traversing the Atlas Mountains to buying some tarpaulin off a Moroccan butcher’s awning, painting on it and writing ‘Goya’ on it in his writing, there is something tongue-in-cheek, and yet philosophically weighty, about his journeys colliding with ordinary objects and transforming them into fine art. This in itself recapitulates aspects of the substance and meaning of art from contemporary times. There is deliberate intention behind the seeming randomness to Schnabel’s works, but he is also guided by the urge to create, which for him is deeply reliant on instinct and feeling. He taps into some very visceral emotive qualities through his works, and listening to him speak, one can sense the immediacy of his commitment and impulses. But this does not preclude the understanding of his viewer’s psychology, “I think people who like paintings are people who are interested in mystery. I certainly am,” Schnabel declares. “When you make a movie, people are interested in the beginning, middle and end, but with a painting, I like the idea that no-one can tell how it was made. What is interesting is that if you stop a frame out of context and put some white on it, you end up with something that is beyond logic, and yet it’s human because it’s not made by machine.” There is great truth to what Schnabel says, but the most heroic thing about his works, beyond their grand scale, is undeniably their humanity.

ulian Schnabel is one of the greatest living American artists today, condemned by some critics for verging on vainglorious, and loved by others for being passionately different. After obtaining his B.F.A. from the University of Houston in 1973, he sent an application to the Independent Study Programme at the Whitney Museum in New York. This application consisted of a selection of his works on slides, sandwiched between two pieces of bread. He was accepted. Schnabel is different,very different. The charismatic personality behind his works saturates his oeuvre with a dynamism not found anywhere else. For him, art is as much about the point of inspiration and the process, as it is about the final product. Part of the very popular Neo-Expressionist group from the mid-1980s, Schnabel has also tried his hand at filmmaking, to great success. He is the acclaimed writer director of Basquiat, a biopic of the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat, Before Night Falls which was nominated for an Academy Award in the category for Best Actor for Javier Bardem’s outstanding performance, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly which won the 2007 Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director. But Schnabel is still most renowned for his achievements as a painter. He was notably the youngest artist to have a retrospective of his works at The Tate Gallery in London, and is collected by Saatchi – a stamp of approval and artistic value, at least monetarily. Schnabel paints on a heroic scale, with some of his canvases occupying 12 ½ x 23 feet, a size which can still at times barely contain the unbridled emotive zeal that he energetically and creatively injects into his paintings. “I reserved that right for myself; to change my mind. I didn‘t become a painter to have a career, nor did I become a filmmaker to have a career. There is something wrong with me, I’m unemployable,” states the artist. Evidently, this unemployability has ironically manifested itself in a career as an artist. And it is perhaps due to Schnabel’s unique philosophy on the creative processes and intrinsic meaning to his works that he has preserved a raw artistic integrity in his works. “Painting is not like reading. When you paint, you take everything that you know about the world, and what you don’t know, you let it go through your body, and then you take this thing and you pause it in some way. Art is an active process. It’s a good activity, it’s not

SLAVE To The RYTHYM 54

TEXT: ANN TSANG IMAGE: PAUL MORGAN

Grace Jones was cyber before cyber existed. In the company of Warhol, Rubell and other 70s and 80s hedonists, she was one of the most prominent characters to emerge from New York’s Studio 54 disco scene. The Jamaican Amazon Queen always had a futuristic edge to both her looks and her performances, and there are very few cooler players to have emerged to reach such cult status since the genderbending groove mistress slid liquidly out of obscurity in 1977.

she would appear with a crew cut in tailored men’s suits, the latter of which became the look that would be simultaneous with her name. In 1985 Jones collaborated with Keith Haring in a performance staged at Paradise Garage, an alternative dance club in New York City. For the performance, Haring painted her body in his characteristically stylised white designs. Interestingly, Haring's body art was inspired by the body paintings of the African Masai. Jones also adorned her body with a complex sculptural assemblage of rubber, plastic and metal, created by Haring and David Spada, and a towering sculptural headdress topped off the costume. Through the painting, adornment, and most importantly through her performance, Jones played with iconic signs of "the primitive", and transformed these signifiers and her body into a site of power. Following the release of Living My Life in 1982, Jones as a singer took a break, and evolved into Jones the actress, picking up memorable villainess roles in such movies as Conan The Destroyer and the Bond flick A View To A Kill. When she returned to her recording career in 1985, Jones hooked up with über-producer Trevor Horn to create Slave To The Rhythm, a somewhat autobiographical work that catapulted her back into the music scene faster than a crack of a whip. Her penchant for working with big-name producers continued on 1986s Inside Story, on which she collaborated with Chic’s Nile Rodgers. The album spawned Jones’ successful single, I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect For You) and after 1989’s Bulletproof Heart, she seemed to turn her back on her recording career (although 1993 saw the release of a new single, Sex Drive), as she again focused primarily on movies, including a role in Eddie Murphy’s hit 1992 comedy Boomerang. The double-disc set Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions (a collection of 26 tracks that Jones recorded with Sly & Robbie during their early ‘80s union) was released in 1998 and included covers of artists from David Bowie to Roxy Music and Chrissie Hynde to Tom Petty, as well as her self-penned and extremely successful Pull Up To The Bumper and My Jamaican Guy. As if any further material was required to reinforce Jones’ status as a musical icon, that was surely it.

orn in Kingston, Jamaica in 1952, Grace Jones studied theatre at Syracuse University before launching her first career as a model. Her unique, flamboyant look turned heads regularly in the New York nightclub scene, as she towered head and shoulders above the rest, with an attitude to boot. With her striking chiselled looks and deep dark chocolate vocals, Jones set out to gain attention and one of the first commercial entities to give her that was Island Records, who offered her her first recording contract in 1977. Although such disco-based albums as Portfolio (1977), Fame (1978) and Muse (1979) didn’t do much to break the singer commercially, Jones soon amassed substantial followings with her outrageous sexually-charged live shows. With or without the music charts, Jones was there to stay, whether the radio stations or the music conservatives liked it or not. Within its hedonistic decadence, the 80s brought with it an anti-disco movement, as music diversified into everything from Techno to Rap and New Romantic to House, which paved the way for Jones to focus on more New Wave and experimental work, and resulted in three of her best-known and strongest releases – Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981) and Living My Life (1982). These heavily sexual and memorable albums were recorded together with the high-profile Island Records’ house band that comprised Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Barry Reynolds, Mao Chung, Wally Badarou and Sticky Thompson, and they proved to be a formula for success. Combined with the singer’s self-created reinvention of herself as a statuesque androgyne, the scene was set for Jones to become an icon of her time, following in the footsteps of Marlene Dietrich and Josephine Baker who went decades before her, and both of whom she seemed to embody in one unusual and inimitable figure. Throughout her career, Jones has boldly interrogated both racial and sexual stereotypes associated with the black female body through her performance. Her unabashed and confrontational dress and style has always questioned and played with the myths surrounding black sexuality. Through her collaborations with artists such as Jean-Paul Goude and Keith Haring, Jones transformed her body into a medley of characters, many of which satirised the black female body. The multiple personas of Grace Jones ranged widely from highly charged dance performances for which she donned gorilla or tiger suits, to very masculine self-representations, where

LIFE Is A CABARET TEXT: RONALD SKLAR IMAGES: DUSTIN PITTMAN

Photographer Dustin Pittman stood steadfast behind his camera and watched the latter half of the 20th Century tell its story before his curious eyes. Even to this day, his life-is-a-cabaret vision serves as his passport to fashion shoots, rock concerts, nightclubs, and the biggest spectacle of all - the streets of New York.

Anna Wintour Wintour was appointed Editor-In-Chief of American Vogue in 1988, the same year that The Peninsula New York opened.

Calvin Klein

two cows, Heidi and Flower, were my first two models. That’s where I really started to learn about photography and light. The light slats in the barn, and the way the light flowed, intrigued me.” Later, his older brother, a poet, moved to Greenwich Village, and Dustin soon followed suit. This was just in time for the 60s – and bohemian Manhattan – to flower, along with Pittman himself. “I wanted to immediately network and start the ball rolling from day one,” he says. "I enrolled in film school at SVA and started assembling images right away. I was kind of lucky. With everything that was going on, I met a lot of people fast; I was on a roll.” Soon enough, he rolled with Andy Warhol and the cast of his famous Factory. Pittman’s walk on the wild side allowed him to get up close and personal with some of the most out-there characters of the in-crowd. “At a fountain in Central Park on Sundays, there was this big fashion scene,” he recalls. “At that time, there was a café serving sangria. Everybody would dress up and walk around strutting their stuff. One weekend I was there, and [Andy Warhol protégé] Ingrid Superstar started talking to me. She then took me down to The Factory where I met Warhol. We clicked immediately and started hanging out together, going to parties, dinners, openings and events. During those periods, I would make these little short films using the Factory cast of characters: Sylvia Miles, Holly Woodlawn, Candy Darling, Jackie Curtis, Taylor Meade...We would shoot any time, at the drop of a hat. If they had something to say, I wanted to record it on film.”

ustin Pittman’s clicking camera always makes itself heard above the noise, from the dazzling decadence of Studio 54 and the claustrophobic chaos of CBGBs to the insanely magical runways of Bryant Park (and the behind-the-scenes drama that fuels the flow of the catwalks). He has captured icons as diverse as Anna Wintour, Calvin Klein, Naomi Campbell, and countless others, and his work has appeared everywhere from LIFE magazine to Rolling Stone and Vogue. In the late 1970s and into the late-80s, Pittman brought his bluntly spontaneous black-and-white style to the fashion industry’s centre of gravity, W magazine, as house photographer. He went on to capture fashion in London, Paris and Milan for the New York Times fashion magazine with the legendary style editor, Carrie Donovan. Today, he continues to capture images of the world’s most fabulous people, both on the street and from the streets. He proves time and time again that people are strange when you’re a stranger. Pittman’s pre-Big-Apple beginnings however, were as humble as apple pie (even to talk to him today, he comes off like an innocent Huck Finn). He grew up on a farm in the Mohawk Valley in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. It was there where he went to work inside a barn, not to milk and bail hay, but to snap (with his Brownie camera). His eye was on the future, though, beyond the blue horizon. “I started out in fashion, believe it or not, shooting animals,” says Pittman. “We had a farm full of horses, cows, and chickens. My

Naomi Campbell

“I think Andy saw my passion. I didn’t think of the historical aspect of it. All I knew was that these people were really interesting. They were intelligent and they were very creative. They were unusual and marched to a different drum. I liked that. Divine lived next door to me. I spent all day photographing Gloria Swanson as she posed for me, balancing a long-stemmed rose on her false eyelash. She was so proud of that trick.” Pittman’s bold style eventually cannonballed him through the exclusive doors of W magazine. Even though by the mid-70s he had a world of experience behind him, the photographer found himself on training wheels once again. “My training ground at W was pretty intense,” he says. “I was working right-hand with [owner and editor] John Fairchild. At that time, it was known as “the bible of fashion” and people didn’t mess with W. I shot everything. One day I would be shooting Halston and the next I’d be shooting on a seaplane for a swimsuit spread.” Pittman was trained to get things done. “These were major productions worth millions of dollars. I had to deliver and had to do my homework to make sure I had the right equipment and the right people. I worked with 67 different editors at W and one of the most important things I learned there was how to get along with people. Because Nancy Reagan loved W, I was the only photographer permitted to run alongside her and Ronald Reagan [during Reagan’s inaugural parade, in 1981]. All the rest of the press were in a truck following us.” Also on tap was the famous Calvin Klein campaign shoot of the early 80s, which even to this day is considered the most expensive

fashion photo session in history. “Calvin was on the top of his game,” recalls Pittman. “He hired 60 or so models, and I shot them. It was amazing. There was Jerry Hall, Iman…I didn’t have a lot of time to shoot; the models kind of knew what I wanted and I knew what I had to do.” Although Pittman’s ability allowed him to scale the heights of pop culture, his rules of thumb remain humble. “I started out with just one simple camera and natural light,” he says, “I used to watch this TV show called Million Dollar Movie, where they would show old black-and-white films with wonderful lighting and I got a lot of ideas from that. When I got to New York, my style and philosophy was always 'The Polaroid School of Photography' - keep it light. At one point in my career, I would travel with 35 cases, five assistants, two vans, account executives, art directors, creative directors, a crew of 60! Then I didn’t want to do that any more as I found that the more equipment you had, the more freedom I lost.” Pittman has since downsized everything but his imagination, and his love for the subjects that inspire him. “Life inspires me and the passion of people. New York really inspires me. Even if I take the same street scene twice, there’s always something different going on.” The photographer has always been fascinated by his surroundings. “I like watching people, the way they stand, their body language, what they’re wearing…my style has always been very spontaneous; I don’t want to miss the moment because as soon as it comes, it’s gone. You have keep your eyes open and look, watch and wait…”

Remembering TINA Chow Tina Chow was the first internationally-recognised Asian style icon who first came into the spotlight in the 1980s in New York. In January 1992 she was the first prominent woman to die of AIDS, the curse of the 80s and beyond.

hotos of the international jet set in the 1970s and 80s haven't aged particularly well. The two decades, in particular the 70s, were not really fashion's finest moments, and looking back, most people looked dreadfully embarrassing. But that was never the case for Tina Chow. Reed slim with short, slicked-back hair, wearing t-shirts and black pants or classic evening dresses, she was both timeless and current. Chow, whose delicate beauty, style and intelligence took her from being a model to a fashion icon to the wife of famed restaurateur Michael Chow to a jewellery designer and a fixture of New York’s high-living social circuit, died in 1992 at her home. She was 41. In so doing, she went through another transformation. Tina Chow became a symbol of the times, since she had contracted AIDS through heterosexual contact, a fact that she announced fearlessly to the world. “She was fearless too when she called us in 1989 to break the news that she was ill,” recalls Chow’s friend, fashion stylist Ruth du Cann. “We had been introduced by her sister, Bonny, the year before at a dinner party at Mr Chow where we felt desperately out of place – other guests were Bernardo Bertolucci and his producer, Jeremy Thomas, fresh from The Last Emperor and David Byrne of The Talking Heads – but Tina was quiet and generous and made us feel part of her inherited world.” Bettina Louise Lutz was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1950 to an American father and a Japanese mother. She remembered that, “In school I was very small and very shy. I wasn't all-American and there was no alternative, at least in Cleveland. Everyone was a cheerleader or aspired to be one. I wanted to be blonde and blueeyed.” In the 60s, her family moved to Japan where she “suddenly felt I belonged.” With the move, Tina began cultivating her Japanese side. She remembered being "inundated with the most utilitarian, humble objects - from bamboo plants, to leaves used to wrap dumplings, to exquisite tea ceremonies". It was in Japan, at the age of 16, that she began modelling. She became a Shiseido face and did runway shows in Tokyo and Paris alongside other newcomers like Jerry Hall and Grace Jones, appearing on numerous magazine covers. It was fashion designer Zandra Rhodes who first introduced her to her future husband, restaurateur Michael Chow, whom she began to work with at Mr Chow in London. Long a fixture on the ‘Best Dressed’ lists, Chow was asked by the fashion bibles where she bought her white t-shirts and got her very

short hair clipped: “US$6 in Chinatown” was her standard answer. Chow honed a pared-down style because she said, "I like to get on with it. I developed a kind of uniform so I wouldn't have to think. I simply refuse to be tempted by that which I know is not me.” Her look began with a white shirt, black Kenzo trousers ("I secretly had them copied dozens of times and he (Kenzo) later told me that he knew all along"), a man's cardigan and a pair of loafers. At night, she dressed in vintage couture by Vionnet, Schiaparelli and Fortuny (her collection eventually grew to 500 pieces, 80 of them Fortunys, which were exhibited at the FIT after her death). Following the phenomenal successes of Mr Chow in London and Beverly Hills, Michael and Tina moved to New York in 1979 and opened another branch of the restaurant – the one that would prove to be the jewel in their crown. “There was a lot to watch… the Chows attracted the newest names on the suddenly superheated art scene by trading food for art. Tina’s personality kept them coming. On any given night, Jean-Michel Basquiat might be found drinking Kir Royales with Andy Warhol and Keith Haring,” wrote Michael Gross in New York magazine in March 1992. “On a walk down Fifth Avenue with Andy Warhol in the early 80s, he pulled up his shirt to show me this crystal. He introduced me to crystals and to the special power they have on us,” Chow once said. “I went back to him [Andy] a few days later and showed him this natural uncut aquamarine crystal I had been carrying in my pocket for over a year, because it reminded me of the ocean and the sky and the sand in California. I told him that I was interested in incorporating bamboo and crystal to make jewellery - he believed in me when I didn't believe in myself.” Shortly after that conversation, Chow’s jewellery pieces emerged - quartz and other crystals as amulets and rings in bamboo and other settings and as pendants on silk cords, reflecting the aesthetics of her life in Japan – and were sold at her concession in Bergdorf Goodman in New York, as well as in London and Paris. Bridging again her American and Asian heritage, Chow said: “Women are acknowledging other voices in us and learning that we can assert ourselves and use our femininity at the same time to achieve our causes, to find new roles outside the home or marriage. We can use every ounce of our intelligence to produce in a harmonious way. Use your femininity, use it with intelligence, and do it with serenity.”

Image: Hans Neumann

A Measure OF Success At this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Met Gala, designer Prabal Gurung took the opportunity to officially launch Atelier Prabal Gurung, his made-to-measure collection, which has been received with critical acclaim. G u r u ng c ho s e T he Pe ni nsu l a N ew Yo rk to prepare his coterie of models for their grand entrance at what is indisputably fashionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest night of the year. The Peninsula meets the man whose eponymous brand will celebrate its 10th Anniversary in 2019.

TP: What are your favourite places in New York City? PG: To eat: Indochine, Sant Ambreous, Omen, Blue Ribbon Sushi, and Café Mogador are a few of my favourite spots. To shop: I love the Comme des Garçons store in West Chelsea. I also like to shop at Barneys, vintage stores in the East Village, The Strand when I need a new book, my friend Nell’s store Hill House Home on Bleecker Street for the best bedding, and Clover Grocery for artisanal and healthy snacks. We just opened our first retail concept on Bleecker as well, so I find myself stopping by there a lot and usually end up walking away with one of our hoodies or t-shirts, or our cashmere knits and blankets, the perfect gift for any occasion! To relax: I work out at Equinox which always relieves stress and gives me energy throughout the day. I also love the Tracey Martyn spa for a facial. To get inspired: The Met, The New Museum, Hauser & Wirth, Gagosian gallery, and just simply roaming the streets of New York. I love getting a better sense of how consumers are shopping as it has evolved so much over the years. From the uptown destinations to the downtown ones, you can see trends shifting and I find it fascinating.

The Peninsula: What prompted your decision to launch Atelier Prabal Gurung last year? Prabal Gurung: We launched Atelier Prabal Gurung this past May as it was timed with The Met Gala. We design all of our collections with a couture approach and the majority of our production is done locally here in New York, so we are able to offer pieces at this level. We have also been working with private clients for quite some time on special made-to-measure gowns and we wanted to make this service more available to women everywhere. It was so special to be able to host a table at The Met with Tasaki [the Japanese jeweller] and eight beautiful, talented, diverse, and unique international muses, so it just felt like the right time to take that next step with our bespoke creations. TP: Does this put a lot of additional pressure on you in terms of both creativity and time? PG: It’s really inspiring for me to work so closely and intimately with the woman we are designing for - I love getting to learn about her, her sensibility and work, and collaborate on something everlasting and that makes her feel special and absolutely confident.

TP: What is your favourite country in the world to visit and why? PG: I really am so inspired by my travels whether for work or leisure, but most recently, I fell in love with Asia. I was so in awe by how different the trends are and what resonates over there. And then of course there’s the food, which I absolutely adore.

TP: You are known to be a strong supporter of clothing being made in New York City, as opposed to perhaps countries where the labour and material costs are cheaper. What is the reason behind this? PG: New York is my home - it is the place I was able to achieve my American Dream, so it is important to me to celebrate the craftspeople here and to also be able to give back and support our economy. In addition, by producing locally, we are able to reduce our carbon footprint and build a more sustainably minded business. We do however work with a factory in Nepal for our cashmere knits. I am from Nepal so it’s equally as important to be able to give back to the economy there and create economic opportunity for the women who are employed at the factory. The level of craftsmanship is truly incredible and working with people from Nepal is something that we are very proud of.

TP: I read that you are a big fan of The Peninsula Tokyo and you chose The Peninsula New York as the venue to gather your muses together prior to the Met Gala in 2017. What do you particularly love about The Peninsula? PG:I am indeed! Not only are the rooms architecturally inspiring, but the service is also so superior. I always feel taken care of and at home when I am at The Peninsula. There’s a definite understanding of luxury. TP: What has been the most outstanding moment for you so far in your fashion career? PG: It’s so hard to choose just one! But I have to say that having former First Lady Michelle Obama wear our dress for the first time in 2010 was a definite turning point. It was only a year after we launched, so to have such an inspiring and powerful woman wear our clothes really gave our brand a sense of legitimacy. On a personal level, she is also such an incredible person and the work she does is very impactful, so it was an honour to be able to stand with and dress such a person. I remember when I first launched my brand, I’d call my mother in Nepal each time a celebrity wore one of my dresses. Her response was always, “that’s great, but call me when you’ve dressed the First Lady.” So to be able to pick up the phone and make that call is quite a vivid memory for me.

TP: Can you please tell our readers a little bit about your Shikshya Foundation in Nepal and what inspired you to set this up? PG: I started Shikshya Foundation Nepal with my brother and sister seven years ago. Through contribution to education, we aim to create a critical mass of leaders who will be instrumental in turning our society into a just, equitable, secular, accountable, thinking, questioning, and progressive one. Over the past seven years, we have been able to provide education for over 300 children and have impacted more than 15,000 lives. This Foundation is such a passion...it truly grounds me and drives me to continue to do better every day. TP: What are your main sources of inspiration? PG: My inspiration comes from various sources - art, architecture, film…the list goes on. However, Nepal will always be an inspiration for me, as is the woman I design for. I am constantly inspired by a variety of strong, poised, beautiful women with intellect and wit.

TP: What are your ambitions moving forward? PG: The ultimate luxury for me is to be able to continue designing and engaging with women who inspire me. There really is no greater feeling. We have our 10-year anniversary coming up this February so there are some exciting things happening and in the pipeline but I’ll have to wait until we turn 10 to share more!

A sketch of Diane Kruger's 2018 Met Gala gown. Photo: Courtesy Prabal Gurung

Dancing WITH The STARS TEXT: ANN TSANG IMAGES: ANTONIO SABA

Image: Jonathan Tichler

American Ballet Theatre is considered one of the greatest dance companies in the world, revered as a living national treasure since its founding in 1939. Few ballet companies rival ABT in size, scope, and outreach. Though located in New York City, ABT tours the United States and internationally â&#x20AC;&#x201C; performing for 300,000 people annually â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and is the only major American cultural institution to do so. The Company has made more than 30 international tours to 50 countries in order to share American ballet with the world.

The Metropolitan Opera House Auditorium

n the Autumn of 1939, ABT was launched with the mission of developing a repertoire of the best ballets from the past, and the creation of new works by gifted young choreographers, wherever they might be found. Under the direction of Luca Chase and Oliver Smith (1945 – 1980), the Company more than fulfilled this mission. Headquartered in New York City with Spring and Fall seasons at Lincoln Center, ABT’s repertoire includes full-length classics from the 19th Century - Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and Giselle, the finest works from the early 20th Century; Apollo, Les Sylphides, Jardin aux Lilas, and Rodeo, and acclaimed contemporary masterpieces including Airs, Push Comes to Shove, and Duets. Throughout the curation of this exquisite repertoire, ABT has commissioned works by the choreographic geniuses of the 20th Century - George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Jerome Robbins, Agnes de Mille and Twyla Tharp, among others. The legendary Mikhail Baryshnikov became Artistic Director of ABT in 1980, succeeding Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith. Under his leadership, numerous classical ballets were staged, restaged, and refurbished and ABT strengthened and refined the classical tradition. In 1990, Jane Hermann and Oliver Smith succeeded Baryshnikov and established an agenda dedicated to maintaining the great traditions of the past, while aggressively pursuing a vital and innovative future. In October 1992, former ABT Principal Dancer Kevin McKenzie was appointed Artistic Director and he continues in this leadership role today. McKenzie, steadfast in his vision of ABT as “American”, is committed to maintaining the Company’s vast repertoire and bringing the art of dance theatre to the great stages of the world. In upholding this mission, the Company has enjoyed successful engagements in Beijing, Brisbane, Havana, Hong Kong, Paris, Oman and Singapore.

Stella Abrera (Principal Dancer) Stella Abrera is the first Filipino-American Principal Dancer at ABT. Hailing from South Pasadena, California, she began her studies with Philip and Charles Fuller and Cynthia Young at Le Studio in Pasadena. She continued her studies with Lorna Diamond and Patricia Hoffman at the West Coast Ballet Theatre in San Diego. She also spent three years studying the Royal Academy of Dancing method with Joan and Monica Halliday at the Halliday Dance Centre in Sydney, Australia. Abrera received the Gold Medal at the Royal Academy of Dancing’s Adeline Genée Awards in London in 1995, and joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet a year later in 1996. She was appointed a Soloist in 2001 and further promoted to her current status as Principal Dancer in August 2015. Abrera's repertoire with ABT has included title roles in Giselle, Romeo & Juliet, Whipped Cream, and The Sleeping Beauty. The New York Times praises her dancing as "refined and compelling".

David Hallberg (Principal Dancer) Born in Rapid City, South Dakota, David Hallberg began jazz and tap classes at the age of 10. He began his formal ballet training at 13 with Kee Juan Han at the Arizona Ballet School in Phoenix where he studied intensively for four years. In 1999, he was accepted into the Paris Opera Ballet School where he continued his studies under the direction of Claude Bessy, Jacques Namont and Gilbert Meyer. Hallberg attended ABT’s New York Summer Intensive in 1999 and 2000 and was an ABT National Training Scholar for both of those years. Hallberg joined ABT’s Studio Company in September 2000 and became a member of the corps de ballet in April 2001. He was promoted to Soloist in January 2004 and to Principal Dancer in May 2006. As a Principal Dancer with ABT, Hallberg has danced leading roles in all of the major full-length classics and in contemporary works by many leading choreographers of the 20th and 21st Centuries. During the Autumns of 2008 and 2009, Hallberg was a member of ‘Kings of The Dance’, which toured Russia, Ukraine, Latvia and Estonia. His repertoire included Frederick Ashton’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits, Christopher Wheeldon’s Four for 4, Nacho Duato’s Remanso and Roland Petit’s Proust pas de deux. Dance of the Blessed Spirits was originally created on Sir Anthony Dowell, who staged the ballet on Hallberg especially for this tour, making him the first dancer after Dowell to perform this work. Hallberg has been a guest artist with many companies including the Royal Swedish Ballet, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and the Kiev Ballet. He has danced at galas throughout the world from Japan to the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Hallberg was a recipient of the Princess Grace Fellowship and the Chris Hellman Dance Award for 2002-2003. He received a nomination for the Benois de la Danse Award in 2006 and won the Award in 2010. Hallberg joined the Bolshoi Ballet as a Premier Danseur in September 2011, becoming the first American to join the company. In 2017, his memoir A Body of Work: Dancing to the Edge and Back was published by Touchstone.

Calvin Royal III (Soloist) Calvin Royal III began his formal dance training under the direction of Suzanne Pomerantzeff and Patricia L. Paige at the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, Florida at the age 14. He was a finalist at the Youth America Grand Prix Scholarship Competition in New York City in April 2006 and joined the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre in September 2006. Royal was also the recipient of the Ethan Stiefel Scholarship in 2006 and 2007. While at the JKO School, he appeared in original works by Raymond Lukens and Jessica Lang. Royal joined ABT II (now ABT’s Studio Company) in December 2007 and danced leading roles including Prince Siegfried in the White Swan and Black Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake, George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Jerome Robbins’ Interplay, Antony Tudor’s Continuo, and works by Edward Liaang, Aszure Barton, Jodie Gates, and Brian Reeder. Royal joined the main Company as an apprentice in October 2010 and the corps de ballet in April 2011. He was appointed a Soloist in September 2017. He has danced leading roles in Songs of Bukovina, The Sleeping Beauty, Serenade after Plato's Symposium, among other ballets.

Kara Medoff Barnett, ABT Executive Director

The Peninsula speaks with ABT Executive Director, Kara Medoff Barnett about her current and future plans for America’s National Ballet Company®.

backgrounds, we are strengthening the ballet ecosystem. Through the ABT Women’s Movement, we are committed to commissioning, developing and staging work by extraordinary female choreographers. This year alone, we will have six talented women creating new work in our studios with ABT’s amazing dancers.

The Peninsula: On the ABT website, it states that you have “advanced innovation and inclusion, supporting a robust slate of new productions and increasing diversity in the training pipeline.” Can you elaborate on this? Kara Medoff Barnett: ABT’s mission calls us to innovate: “to create, to present, to preserve and to extend the great repertoire of classical dancing, through exciting performances and educational programming of the highest quality.” In extending our repertoire, ABT engages new ideas, forges new collaborations, and brings new work to the stage. ABT has commissioned new work since its earliest days in the 1940s, and Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie and I have committed to producing new ballets every season, and to collaborating with the most imaginative creators working today. As America’s National Ballet Company®, it is our responsibility to reflect the dynamism and diversity that make America unique. Through our diversity and inclusion initiatives, Project Plié and the ABT’s Women’s Movement, we provide opportunities where they may not have existed before. By bringing ballet classes to underserved communities through our partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, working closely with Project Plié partner schools in New York City, and training ballet teachers and aspiring arts administrators from underrepresented racial and ethnic

TP: What are some of the key elements that maintain ABT as one of the respected companies in the world? KMB: Few ballet companies equal ABT for its combination of size, scope and reach. In 2006, ABT was designated America’s National Ballet Company® by an act of the United States Congress. ABT tours the United States annually and has made more than 30 international tours to 50 countries. We are committed to excellence, and bringing that excellence to the widest possible audience as cultural ambassadors. Our repertoire has great breadth, demanding dancers who have exceptional versatility and skill in a range of styles. ABT performs the beloved full-length ballets of the 19th Century, and we also present and commission contemporary works by the leading dance-makers of the 20th and 21st Centuries. ABT dancers are known for their energetic approach and for their humanity. Our training ladder - with ABT Summer Intensives in five cities, schools in New York and California, and the ABT Studio Company continues to attract the highest calibre of dancers from around the world to bring ballet to vibrant life.

experience them in all their glory. We will also continue to invest in exciting new work that engages the imaginations of artists and audiences. And we will continue to bring the excellence of ABT’s productions to audiences across this country and around the world, exemplifying what’s possible when talented individuals from a wide range of backgrounds collaborate to achieve ambitious goals.

TP: You have now been with ABT for two-and-a-half years. What are your ambitions for the company and for the promotion of the art of ballet in general? KMB: I want to demystify the word “ballet”. Over the past twoand-a-half years, I have invited scores of friends to join me for their first ballet performance. These are individuals who enjoy art and culture. They appreciate many forms of entertainment, but they had never before considered attending a ballet. They were intimidated by an art form they had never experienced. After joining me for Swan Lake, or for Romeo and Juliet, or for Whipped Cream (ABT’s newest full-length production), they were astonished, and in many cases, smitten. ABT has the “American” and the “Theatre” parts of our name that we can further elevate and celebrate. The entrepreneurial spirit, the optimism, the sense of possibility, and the diversity of backgrounds that come together are all part of our DNA. And as a company that delivers theatrical experiences – lush productions and authentic acting – we can attract audience members who appreciate vivid storytelling, even if they don’t yet know that they appreciate ballet!

TP: How did the collaboration with The Peninsula New York come about and have you found it to be a fruitful partnership? KMB: Our collaboration began as part The Peninsula’s celebration of 30 years in New York City. ABT has collaborated with the hotel to grant guests access to private rehearsal viewings at our studios, as well as opportunities to meet our famed dancers and ballet masters and to enjoy fine dining in our Architectural Digest-designed lounge. During ABT’s Spring performance season at The Metropolitan Opera House, The Peninsula New York hotel transformed its Gotham Lounge into a whimsical wonderland filled with scrumptious treats in honour of our hit production, Whipped Cream. The Peninsula’s famous traditional Afternoon Tea menu was enhanced with balletinspired flavours and colourful confections, which was spawned from the delicious imaginations of Artist-in-Residence Alexei Ratmansky and pop surrealist visionary Mark Ryden. In Whipped Cream, a young boy overindulges at a Viennese pastry shop and falls into a delirium. To escape his physician, the boy dreams of his triumphant rescue by Princess Praline and her court, Princess Tea Flower, Prince Coffee, Cupcake Kid, and the Marching Marzipan. It truly is the sweetest of experiences. Overall, we have found our partnership with the iconic Peninsula New York to be creatively fulfilling and utterly delightful!

TP: Do you have a long-term vision for the company? KMB: ABT and our great performing arts institutions bring communities together for shared experiences. Live performances bring us together in a time characterised by polarisation. Together we share an ephemeral and precious experience. As ABT prepares to celebrate its 80th birthday in 2020, I am honoured to steward this company and propel it forward. We will continue to invigorate the classics so that new generations can

AMERICA’S Quintessential BALLERINA TEXT: ANN TSANG IMAGES: COURTESY OF SUSAN JAFFE

For over 20 years, Susan Jaffe was a Principal Dancer with the American Ballet Theatre and one of the most talented and beautiful ballerinas ever to perform on stage. Chosen and mentored by the legendary Mikhail Baryshnikov, she was dubbed by The New York Times as ‘America’s Quintessential Ballerina’. Jaffe retired from ABT in June 2002, much to the chagrin of the dance fraternity and fans across the globe.

weight, but nevertheless, the resulting events were somewhat daunting to the new slimmed down Jaffe. “I was the new kid on the block and entered into a three-month rehearsal period. It was very frightening. There were huge stars - a roster of legends - and there was little old me thrown in there amongst them. I could barely grasp the idea of it,” she recalls. Working her way through Baryshnikov’s classes, Jaffe’s big break came when she was selected to go to Washington to character dance in the ballet Raimonda, in which the famed Gelsey Kirkland was to perform as Principal. However, Kirkland and her partner failed to show up for the dress rehearsal (both had cocaine addictions and Kirkland also suffered from anorexia), so Baryshnikov fired them. “He asked me, age 18, to take the role and then he threw me in a studio with Alexander Godunov to rehearse for two days,” says Jaffe recalling the moment that changed her life. “I was just this little girl from Maryland and all of a sudden there was a media explosion. The performance got great reviews and people suddenly knew who I was overnight.” It was a promising start. Baryshnikov pushed Jaffe’s career and she focused on her art, but then to her devastation in 1989, her mentor left and the leadership of the Company was passed to Jane Hermann, who began to push other dancers. “I went from opening nights to fifth cast for a Wednesday matinée.” The same year, Jaffe also suffered a severe case of tendonitis, a disaster for a dancer. “I spent my whole life trying to figure out how to do things without injuring myself, but the tendonitis came from an imbalance in my back. I had to find the right coach and physical therapist to help me.” Enter Irina Kolpakova, the Kirov Ballet’s leading ballerina in the 1960s, who joined ABT as Ballet Mistress in 1990. “Misha [Baryshnikov] made me watch her on TV and I got choked up as she was absolutely extraordinary. She was his mentor and he asked

n June 24th, 2002, the dance fraternity and loyal fans from across the world globe converged at New York City's Metropolitan Opera House to witness the farewell performance of American Ballet Theatre’s Principal Dancer Susan Jaffe, as she danced Giselle alongside José Manuel Carreño, her beloved partner for the seven years prior to her retirement. The curtain calls at the end of the performance together with an unprecedented 30 minutes of continuous applause marked a deep respect for the ballerina’s achievements and an audience that was devastated to see her leave the stage for the last time as a dancer. "Thank you. I love you. I will miss you," mouthed Jaffe to her adoring fans. Susan Jaffe was born in 1962 in Washington DC and at the age of eight enrolled in modern dance classes. “I wanted to be an actress, a singer or a princess,” she pronounces. “Then I saw ballet and I had a dream that I was being raised overhead in a presage with a big spotlight on me. I woke up the next day and my legs actually ached. From then on, I was not to be stopped.” She went on to study at the Maryland School of Ballet, the School of American Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre School before joining American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in 1980. “I spent two years with ABT’s second company,” she recalls. “But I was not the star; I actually felt like I was being pushed aside.” Jaffe’s world changed one fateful day when the Company’s then Artistic Director Mikhail Baryshnikov came into a class that she was taking. “My teacher told me that he [Baryshnikov] thought I was very talented, and later Charles France, Baryshnikov’s assistant, came up to me and said, “Mikhail thinks you have a bright future, but you’re going to have to lose 10 pounds by the end of the summer.” I replied, “But I’ve been on a diet for four years already!” The budding star was subsequently dispatched off to a weightloss specialist and by the end of the summer she had lost enough

Susan Jaffe and Mikhail Baryshnikov

me if I’d like to work with her. I stood up in front of her and said, ‘I don’t know anything, teach me.’ I felt the lineage of what I was learning, the Russian curriculum. It really changed my dancing - it was easier, more refined, and there was no superfluous movement. She would give 20 corrections for one step.” At the same time that she started working with Kolpakova, Jaffe also met Byam Stevens, a theatre director, coach and actor, in Massachussets. “He showed up in the dressing room area at The Met and I was surprised,” she recalls. “He was there working with the Principal Dancers on their roles from an acting perspective, so I said to him, “You’ve got to work with me!” We worked on my inner roles and characters and talked endlessly. I could never go back. He taught me that the understanding and perception of each character had to come from inside of me and I had to believe in them very deeply. This was very important and very serious for me.” The work with both Kolpakova and Stevens paid off and The New York Times reported the following in 1992: “It became evident last year that Ms. Jaffe, always a ballerina with presence and highly developed technical skills, had been correcting a disturbing lack of fluidity that gave her dancing a static look. Today, phrase after phrase pours out of her like cream, the result of coaching from Irina Kolpakova, a former Kirov star who is still a ballet mistress at ABT. The changes were epitomised in Ms. Jaffe's portrayal of Nikiya, the doomed temple dancer in La Bayadere; the ballerina transformed Nikiya through the flow of her dancing and her thoughtful approach to characterisation.” Jaffe was back with a vengeance. She stayed with ABT for the rest of her career, dancing all the leading roles, touring the world, and often appearing as an international guest artist. In 1992, Kevin McKenzie took the helm of ABT and it was at this time that Jaffe began to tour internationally, one of the highlights for her being her performance as Tatiana in Onegin. “The role was full of heartbreak,

angst and beauty, and somehow I felt very close to the character,” she says, tears welling up in her eyes. “To go to Stuttgart where the ballet was created and to perform in that theatre was an incredible experience for me. I felt like it took me 10 years to live up to my name, and it took me a few more years to deepen as an artist. After Stuttgart, I no longer had to do so much soul searching. I knew myself by then and the tools that I had mastered.” Back in New York, McKenzie took note of the Jaffe reincarnation and subsequently cast her in the title role of Manon, and she continued to go from strength to strength. “I was madly and deeply in love with dance. There was nothing that meant more to me. It was a huge love affair,” she responds when questioned about the ups and downs she experienced. Another up came in 1995, when José Manuel Carreño joined ABT and he and Jaffe began to partner together. To this day he remains her favourite partner. The two danced lead roles together for years and became recognised for their unique chemistry. “José didn’t ever get nervous, but I did. It takes everything that you have to be up there on stage, almost naked, to have confidence. There are thousands of geniuses who are only good in their own living room, but people don’t realise how much work it actually takes. To do a tendu to perfection takes 15 years. Dancers work so hard because it takes so much courage, will and strength to really have movement that has depth, soul and spirit, and I had that with José.” In 2002, at the age of 40, Jaffe knew her time on stage was up, and she took her final curtain call at The Met. Life has been an interesting journey for Susan Jaffe so far, and when asked about the many physical and psychological challenges she has encountered along the way, she doesn’t waver. “I’m a survivor. I so deeply wanted my life to be beautiful, and thank god as an adult I had that choice.”

82 Image: Antonio Saba

The HARLEM Shuffle TEXT: ANN TSANG IMAGES: ANTONIO SABA

Next time you’re in New York, take a taxi, a subway ride, or a Peninsula MINI over to Harlem. The area’s newer residents are strikingly diverse: straight and gay, black and white, Asian and European. They’re here for the neighbourhood’s history and the immaculate houses on Strivers’ Row - plus fixer-upper brownstones that cost 20 percent of what they would a mile to the south. Harlem is undoubtedly very different to what it used to be, and is chock full of culture, restaurants and historic landmarks.

Amy Ruthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kitchen Image: Antonio Saba

A 97 year-old Harlem resident at Amy Ruth’s Image: Antonio Saba

f you’re a frequent visitor to New York City, you’ve no doubt seen most of it and done most of it, and the highlight of each visit now is a new restaurant discovery. You know where to go to shop, booked your Broadway tickets and know just how you’re going to spend those precious days. But give it a little more thought and hop in a taxi (15 minutes from Midtown) or the subway (30 minutes) and discover the fascinating district of Harlem, home to some of America’s most historical sites and a veritable melting pot of architecture, food, music and culture. The East Harlem/El Barrio (Spanish Harlem) community stretches from First Avenue to Fifth Avenue and from East 96th Street to East 125th Street. Central Harlem stretches from Central Park North to the Harlem River and from Fifth Avenue to St. Nicholas Avenue. And West Harlem stretches from 123rd to 155th Streets and from St. Nicholas Avenue to the Hudson River. If you’re limited in terms of time, half a day is adequate to get a taste of this wonderfully diverse area, and to be in the best shape to explore on foot, start off with a traditional home-style Southern brunch at the popular Amy Ruth’s at 113 West 116th Street. The consistently packed restaurant, opened in 1998, is named after Amy Ruth Moore Bass, a native Alabamian and mother of 10 children. She was a farmer, a gardener, the world's best cook, and apparently a very friendly person. It was the continuous love, nurturing, and direction that gave Carl Redding the inspiration to build and name this authentic Southern cuisine restaurant after his grandmother, and today Redding, his mother Inez Bass and the rest of her family welcome hundreds of customers every day. This is a place to see real Harlem characters, enjoying real soul food, from the popular The Rev. Al Sharpton (chicken and waffles) to The Dr. Walter Delph (fried shrimp, catfish and crab cake) and the famous collard greens. Everyone from Alicia Keys to Spike Lee and even ex-President George W. Bush has stopped off here for a true taste of the South and a whole lot of Harlem atmosphere.

Striversâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Row Image: Lakshmi Harilela

Originally located in a rented loft at Fifth Avenue and 125th Street, the Museum relocated in 1979 when the New York Bank for Savings donated its 60,000 square foot building. Inside, the two floors of gallery space have a polished feel, belying the political, provocative nature of the art on view, which reflects different strains of black liberation politics and celebrates the neighbourhood’s ethnic roots. Works range from historically significant Harlem photographers James VanDerZee and Aaron Siskand to newly established giants like Fred Wilson and Kara Walker, as well as impressive emerging artists of African descent. The Studio’s Permanent Collection houses over 1,600 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, and installations by artists such as Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence. Incorporating everything from tap dance to Hip-Hop, Abstract Expressionism to comic books, the Museum seeks to open a dialogue on the changing nature of black aesthetics. The contradictions of Harlem's cultural history and its gentrified present play out nicely in Hunter Tara and Jeannie Kim’s 2005 I Can't Afford to Live in Harlem postcard photographs, which depict apartments too expensive for Harlem's new generation of artists. 13 blocks down lies the famous Strivers’ Row, an integral part of African-American history as this is where the “strivers”, or people with ambition, have always lived. Its former residents include performers Eubie Blake, Fletcher Henderson and Vertner Tandy, as well as many other African-Americans who have excelled in law, dentistry, and the arts. The two rows of 1890s brownstones on 138th and 139th Streets were originally built for middle-class black families, but in the 1920s and 1930s, they started attracting wealthy and influential African-Americans. Today, the renovated Georgian style homes that line the streets are much sough-after. Strivers’ Row is also noteworthy because the first African-American architect David H. King, who also built Madison Square Garden and the base of the Statue of Liberty, built them. The Row houses on these two blocks reflect the architecture of the period. The northern part of 139th Street expresses the Neo-Italian style of McKim, Mead & White, an architectural firm that dominated New York at the turn of the 19th Century. Other designers that contributed to the building of Strivers’ Row include James Brown, Bruce Price, and Clarence S. Luce. Across on West 138th Street sits the Abyssinian Baptist Church. Founded in 1808, this is New York’s oldest gospel church which built its name through its visionary pastor Adam Clayton Powell, also a congressman and civil rights leader. Under Powell’s leadership, it became the most powerful black church in America. Today this fine example of Gothic architecture welcomes welldressed worshippers every Sunday who come from far and wide to listen to its outstanding gospel choir. Whatever your interest - be it architecture, art, music or culinary exploration - Harlem has a little bit of everything. Give this neighbourhood the once-over and guaranteed it will open up a whole new world...

You will be in dire need of a walk after eating at Amy Ruth’s, so upon exiting the restaurant head towards 253 West 125th Street (between Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd and Frederick Douglass Blvd), where you’ll find the world famous Apollo Theater. The venue is so much more than a historic landmark; it’s a source of great pride and a symbol of the brilliance of American artistic accomplishment. With its rich history and continued significance, the Apollo Theater, considered the bastion of African-American culture and achievement, is one of the most fascinating chronicles in American history. It all started in 1914 when the theater was constructed in the heart of Harlem. Originally, it was named ‘Hurtig and Seamon’s New Burlesque Theater’ and African-Americans were not allowed admission. In 1934, the Apollo Theater opened, presenting shows featuring the great band leaders and acts of the day: Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Jimmie Lunceford, Butterbeans & Susie, The Inkspots - and a chorus line of 16 of the most beautiful dancers in New York. Over the stage door a sign was painted: “Through these portals pass the most beautiful girls in Harlem.” They were the glue that held the shows together. While the headliners came and went, the chorus line rehearsed a new show each week, working 15 hour days, 7 days a week. The first show went up at 11am, and when the curtain came down at night, the chorus line rehearsed for another two to three hours preparing a new show. It is a little-known fact that these dancers led the historic first strike by African-American performers. On Saturday night, February 23rd, 1940, they walked out of the Apollo Theater in a successful bid for higher wages (their salaries were increased by $5 a week) and this resultedin the establishment of the American Guild of Variety Artists for black and white performers nationwide. In 1935, Bessie Smith made her Apollo debut followed by a then unknown vocalist by the name of Billie Holiday who graced the Apollo stage and mesmerised the audience with her undeniable style and talent. Soon after, the Apollo quickly became known as the place “Where Stars are Born and Legends are Made” and home to thousands of major performance artists, fans, and patrons of the arts from around the world. The legendary venue launched the careers of icons such as Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, James Brown and Lauryn Hill, and continues to maintain its position as the nation's most popular arena for emerging and established African-American and Latin performers. Further down West 125th Street at number 144 lies yet more culture within the walls of The Studio Museum of Harlem. Founded in 1968 to exhibit work by black artists and to promote local art, The Studio Museum considers Harlem to be more than just its location - the renowned neighbourhood is often the subject of its exhibitions. The Studio Museum is also a nexus for black artists locally, nationally and internationally, and for work that has been inspired and influenced by black culture. The Museum has played an historic role in addressing the lack of opportunities for black artists within the mainstream of American art and culture.

PAST, Present, FUTURE

88 Jane's Carousel in Brooklyn Bridge Park

IMAGES: ANTONIO SABA

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known more commonly as the architect Le Corbusier once said: “New York is a vertical city, under the sign of the new times. It is a catastrophe with which a too hasty destiny has overwhelmed a courageous and confident people, though a beautiful and worthy catastrophe.” Photographer Antonio Saba captures the past, present and future of “the city that never sleeps”.

The Flatiron Building The Flatiron Building (formerly known as the Fuller Building) is located at 175 Fifth Avenue, between 22nd and 23rd Street and Broadway. It was built between 1901 and 1903 for the George A. Fuller Company by Daniel H. Burnham, and stand at 21 storeys (285 feet) tall. The Flatiron Building was originally named after its owner and builder, but New Yorkers persisted in naming it after its distinctive shape, which is the result of the sharp angle of the crossing of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street. The Flatiron was an early example of a complete steel skeleton and its heavy French Renaissance faĂ§ades of limestone and terracotta were meant to allay fears about the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stability. Although the technique of steel framing was well established by 1895, when the construction of the building began in 1901, people were somewhat skeptical about its future. Several sections of the masonry wall were built from the top down, and this centrally located edifice provided firm proof to many that construction technology had made great advances.

Alwyn Court In 1902, the apartment market in Manhattan was invigorated by the new popularity of the co-op, beginning with a series of buildings on West 67th Street, and the sponsors included the artist and philosopher Walter Bowman Russell. In 1907, Russell, working with the developer Alwyn Ball Jr., bought a Seventh Avenue plot at the southeast corner of 58th Street, and in September of that year the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that Russell would build a ‘studio palace’ co-op, designed by architects Harde & Short. For some unknown reason, Russell dropped out, and Ball reworked the project into one of the most lavish apartment buildings up to that time. Alwyn Court had two apartments per floor, each with 14 rooms and five bathrooms, renting for up to US$10,000 a

year. Harde & Short created a plan with a square, 12-storey central light atrium and a series of entertaining spaces, including a music room, a living room, a library, a dining room, a gallery and a conservatory. From 1907 to 1909, Alwyn Court was the single most expensive apartment building for rental in New York City. Using the then new medium of glazed terracotta, Harde & Short developed the most intricate apartment façade in New York, with the assistance of the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company, creating delicate, Gothic details at the entrance. During The Depression the building went bankrupt and it was then re-constructed to have six apartments per floor. The building’s residents have included Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia, Liza Minelli, and many other luminaries.

520 West 28th The late Zaha Hadid’s international body of work is largely defined by graceful curves inspired by nature. In her last years, she took on a new challenge, that of designing a luxury condo complex over the High Line, bringing her unique signature style and sensibility to 520 West 28th, and marking a dramatic shift away from the hard angles that dominate standard residential architecture. The building’s elegant hand-crafted metal façade is driven by one continuous line, which loops its way skywards. These dynamic curves create a distinctive chevron pattern that embraces interlacing levels, maximising privacy and security between residences. As the chevron weaves up from the ground, its folds create a multi-level design that links residence exteriors and interiors together in one sweeping movement. The result is a vertical landscape sitting directly on the High Line, comprising 39 unique residences. Since it was Hadid's first building in New York City and one of her last designs, it will remain a testament to her legacy.

The High Line/West Chelsea Owned by the City of New York, the High Line is a public park maintained, operated, and programmed by Friends of the High Line, in partnership with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. The history of the High Line traces back to 1934, when it first opened to trains carrying goods directly into factories and warehouses on the west side. Since opening in 2009, the High Line has become an icon of contemporary landscape architecture, and is widely considered as a visonary example of urban innovation, responsible for transforming a neighbourhood like never before. The park extends from Gansevoort Street to 34th Street and snakes above a large portion of West Chelsea, a progressive hub of contemporary culture and the heart of New York City’s art scene. Within West Chelsea’s radius lies a sprawling mix of culture creators, eateries, bars, international stores, and learning institutions. Teamed with the relocation of the Whitney downtown and the imminent arrival of Hudson Yards - the city’s largest development since Rockefeller Center with a host of shopping, dining, and cultural opportunities - the current growth of West Chelsea heralds the revitalisation of the west side of Manhattan; a new destination for New York City.

West Side Yard Opened in the 1980s, West Side Yard, a sunken rail yard wedged above the High Line and two blocks away from Penn Station, is a critical nerve centre in New York Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s transit system. The 26-acre depot serves overflow Long Island Railroad trains during rush hour, and has 30 tracks and space for storage and maintenance. The second phase of the new Hudson Yards development project will be built over the Western Side Yards, and will span 28 acres.

Manhattanhenge The famous sunset known as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Manhattanhengeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; happens on four days each year, twice when the full sun aligns and twice when half the sun aligns. This phenomenon was named because of its similarity to when the sunrise aligns with Stonehenge in England. The dates it occurs fall around Memorial Day in May and in midJuly, and the best places to see it are clear cross streets, such as 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd and 57th Streets.

KEYS To THE Kitchen In celebration of its 30th year, The Peninsula New York has introduced ‘Keys to the Kitchen’, a curated above-and-beyond culinary experience in partnership with New York City’s most coveted restaurants.

The kitchen at The Modern Image: Antonio Saba

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Image: Antonio Saba

xclusively available to guests of The Peninsula New York, the ‘Keys to the Kitchen’ programme provides insider access to some of the city’s most upscale dining establishments including The Modern, Daniel, Per Se, Gramercy Tavern and more. Participants have the opportunity to enjoy an unforgettable meal complete with a bespoke experience ranging from a behind-the-scenes kitchen tour, a meetand-greet with the Executive Chef, a complimentary appetiser, or a sampling of something new on the menu. Daniel Since 1993, Daniel Boulud’s eponymous restaurant has earned its place among the pillars of New York’s bustling dining scene, receiving numerous accolades for its refined European cuisine, world-class cellar and gracious hospitality. Executive Chef Jean-François Bruel presents a modern, seasonal menu inspired by flavours from around the world. Peninsula Guest Exclusive: Tour of the kitchen and a personalied menu to commemorate the special evening.

Gramercy Tavern One of America’s most beloved restaurants, Gramercy Tavern has welcomed guests to enjoy its contemporary American cuisine, warm hospitality, and unparalleled service for over two decades. Chef Michael Anthony’s fiercely seasonal menu consists of elegant dishes with a rustic influence that showcases the restaurant’s relationships with local farms and purveyors. Peninsula Guest Exclusive: Tour of the kitchen and a complimentary glass of champagne.

Per Se Opened in 2004, Per Se is Thomas Keller’s acclaimed New York interpretation of The French Laundry. The three-Michelin-starred restaurant features a nine-course tasting menu and a nine-course vegetarian tasting menu using classic French techniques and the finest quality ingredients available. Peninsula Guest Exclusive: Tour of the kitchen and a personalised menu to commemorate the special evening.

Gabriel Kreuther Overlooking Bryant Park, Chef Gabriel Kreuther’s eponymous restaurant offers an Alsatian-inspired dining experience with a distinctly New York spirit. Gabriel combines his classic French training and Alsatian heritage with his love of New York City to create a comfortably luxurious experience in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. Peninsula Guest Exclusive: Tour of the kitchen, a complimentary mini tarte flambée and a treat from the Kreuther Handcrafted Chocolate Shop.

The Modern Founded by Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, The Modern is a Michelin-starred contemporary American restaurant at the Museum of Modern Art. Helmed by Executive Chef Abram Bissell, the restaurant features refined, unexpectedly playful dishes that highlight exceptional ingredients and seasonality in two distinct culinary experiences. Peninsula Guest Exclusive: Tour of the kitchen with a special bite and the opportunity to reserve the Kitchen Table, a front-row seat in the heart of the restaurant’s kitchen.

Jean-Georges The jewel of Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s empire, this restaurant offers the very best in fine dining. Awarded four stars by the New York Times and two Michelin stars, Jean-Georges presents exquisitely crafted dishes blending French, American and Asian influences. The local farmer’s market is the driving force behind the seasonal, everchanging menu. Peninsula Guest Exclusive: Tour of the kitchen and a complimentary dessert.

Keys to the Kitchen reservations are based on availability and must be booked with advance notice via the Concierge. Please call +1 (212) 956 3915 for reservations and enquiries. Guests are responsible for all charges accrued during the dining experience.

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2018 sees revered French Chef Daniel Boulud’s two-Michelin star restaurant ‘Daniel’ in New York celebrating its 25th year in operation. We speak to the chef about humble beginnings, feeding the famous and his dislike of bananas… Originally from Lyon, Chef Daniel Boulud is widely celebrated as one of America’s leading culinary authorities. Since arriving in New York City in 1982, he has continually evolved his cuisine and expanded his reach to properties across the U.S., as well as London, Toronto, Montreal and Singapore. His culinary empire has brought him many accolades, yet his inspiration remains grounded in the rhythm of the seasons. From his flagship, Daniel, to his properties across the globe, Boulud’s signature remains the contemporary appeal he brings to soulful dishes rooted in the French tradition. “My menus are very personalised, a reflection of being French in America – a French New Yorker,” proclaims Boulud. Driven by his love of French food, Boulud’s cookbook (one of several) My French Cuisine, published to coincide with the 20th Anniversary of his eponymous restaurant, is a definitive guide documenting more than 75 signature recipes, 12 home recipes and essays by Bill Buford on 10 iconic French dishes rarely seen today. The book also provides the deepest insight to date into the life of this highly-accoladed chef. My French Cuisine features essays on wine, cheese and bread and is a look into the illustrious history of Daniel, the restaurant, and a peek into the life of Daniel, the chef, the eater, the man. “Here it is!” He delights as he opens to a page of the stunning entrance to Daniel on New York’s 65th Street, previously home to the famed Le Cirque restaurant where Boulud was Executive Chef from 1986 until 1992, serving the good and the great from Presidents to Hollywood’s highbrow. “Norman Parkinson, one of the greatest photographers of the 20th Century, came to Le Cirque for lunch every day and he never opened the menu. He always let me cook for him and every time he would clean up his plate with his bread before taking his marker and writing on the plate how much he loved the food,” recalls Boulud, who prior to heading the kitchen at Le Cirque made his name at Le Regence in the Upper East Side’s revered Hotel Plaza Athenee, where he regularly cooked for Andy Warhol. “What’s interesting about New York is that if you go there thinking that you’re going to take advantage of it, New York doesn’t like that. If you give something to the city and you really contribute to what it’s is about, New York will give it back to you and more,” says Boulud. “New York has been my town; I’ve been in the same zip code for 35 years.” Boulud was only one week into his first job as a gawky 14-yearold kitchen apprentice in Lyon when he met the legendary Paul Bocuse at Les Halles market in Paris, who became not only a mentor– his first instruction to young Boulud was to “get a haircut” – but also a lifelong friend. “I remember that first day working in the restaurant and the smell of food I’d never experienced. The sauces, the lobster, the shellfish…” recalls Boulud, whose family lived on a

farm in St. Pierre de Chandieu and who only ate what they produced. “It was a revelation to taste all this food and the flavours. I wanted to try everything!” He proceeds to reminisce over first tastes, including truffles and avocado, which were love at first bite, to his affinity for gummi bears to items that didn’t quite tickle his taste buds. “I hate bananas. I never liked them and I never will,” says Boulud who, for a long time, wouldn’t even allow his pastry chefs to make desserts using bananas. “But my daughter happens to love bananas, so I had to make an exception.” Today, Boulud has five restaurants in Manhattan including Daniel, the more casual Café Boulud and DB Bistro Moderne, DBGB Kitchen & Bar, where brasserie meets American tavern, and Boulud Sud for a taste of the Mediterranean; two bars, Bar Pleiades and Bar Boulud,; and three branches of his deli-style Epicerie Boulud offering home made artisanal breads, charcuterie, pastries, ice cream and salads to go. “I put the same care into even my most casual restaurants so you can have Daniel for US$300 or you can have Epicerie Boulud for US$10. I like the fact that we have managed to offer various levels of dining for different types of people,” says Boulud. While most restaurants are putting away the white tablecloths and moving towards the trend of more casual but quality-focused dining, and despite the resounding success of his more relaxed establishments, Boulud insists that fine dining is here to stay. “What has to go away from fine dining is the pretentiousness; there’s nothing worse than a restaurant that looks fancy but can’t deliver. When the restaurant is super luxe and delivers in all aspects - food, service, wine, the experience - there is no price for that,” he says. “I love casual restaurants and I eat at them all the time, but I think it’s more about the fact that casual dining has got better than fine dining has got worse. And then there are the few crazy people like me who try to do it all!”

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Image: Lakshmi Harilela

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A SHARED Vision TEXT: ANN TSANG

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a sweltering hot Friday afternoon in New York City and hundreds of thousands of commuters are making their way towards Grand Central Terminal to escape the city for the weekend. A quintessential New York location that took 10 years and US$80 million to build, a staggering 700,000 people pass through the Beaux-Arts style transportation hub every day. So whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new?

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Image: Joe Russo

quintessential New York location that took 10 years and US$80 million to build, Grand Central Terminal celebrated its 100th birthday on February 1st, 2013, and over the last two years has undergone a commercial revamp with the aim of transforming it into an even more attractive and upscale retail and dining destination. It’s a sweltering hot Friday afternoon in New York City and hundreds of thousands of commuters are making their way towards Grand Central Terminal to escape the city for the weekend. In fact, a staggering 700,000 people pass through the Beaux-Arts style transportation hub every day. So what’s new? Grand Central houses more than 100 retail and food and beverage outlets and with a number of tenant leases recently ending, the Terminal’s landlord, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), saw the need to appeal to a younger and more hip clientele. One part of this grand plan involves five of the location’s long-standing food and beverage vendors being replaced by trendier dining concepts, the first phase of which commenced in 2016 with the openings of the Great Northern Food Hall, in the Terminal’s high-ceilinged Vanderbilt Hall, and the high-end restaurant Agern, followed in 2017 by Prova Pizzabar, operated by celebrity chef Donatella Arpaia. Back to the hot Friday afternoon in question, and I am here in the main concourse of Grand Central to discover the latest new arrival on the dining scene - Art Bird & Whiskey Bar – a joint-venture between celebrity chef and philanthropist Art Smith (to many best-known as Oprah Winfrey’s former personal chef, but a successful restaurateur in his own right), Alfred Catalanotto, whose family has operated food shops in Grand Central Terminal for the past 31 years, and Joe

Germanotta, the successful proprietor of Joanne Trattoria in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, in addition to the several other hats that he wears, but more on that later. It’s day two of operations, and as is par for the course with any restaurant opening, the scene appears somewhat on the chaotic side. Chef Art is in full action mode in the open kitchen, serving up his signature buttermilk fried chicken which he has been cooking for countless customers and friends across the country for the past 30 years, including of course to the woman that he respectfully refers to as ‘Ms. Winfrey’, whom he says “got everyone eating fried chicken.” Catalanotto meanwhile, seems to be the man who knows exactly how things should be running; he is hawk-eyed, observing and handling every situation that presents itself, like a true veteran of the business. “My brother and I have operated food businesses here [in Grand Central Terminal] since 1977. Our expertise is in the commuter market, which is completely different to anything else,” he says. “Everyone is in a hurry and there is no room for time flexibility; the aim must be to help passengers get to their eventual destination as happy as we can make them.” The third partner, Joe Germanotta, is also looking over the frenetic scene, as customers line up, eagerly awaiting their piece of the ‘Art Bird’. Slightly bemused with a somewhat relieved look on his face, he eventually takes a moment to sit down. “It has been an 18-month journey to make this project come to fruition,” he says. “We initially met with the MTA with a view to operating a second branch of Joanne, but then we thought about it more and figured that the fried chicken concept [with Art involved] would make more sense, as people want something fast and they also predominantly want something that they

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Illustration: Mikey Dallas can just pick up and run with, so here we have it – chicken, southern sides, and cocktails in a fast-casual setting.” It transpires in the course of our conversation that Germanotta (incidentally the father of pop megastar Lady Gaga) had always dreamed of having his own restaurant since he was a young boy, but he tells me he “got sidetracked into finance, accounting software, and then telecommunications for more than 20 years.” And so the next part of the story takes us through a quick taxi ride across town to Joanne, the Upper West Side Italian-American trattoria, which became Germanotta’s dream come true. “When Joanne – named in honour of my sister who died of lupus at the age of 19 – opened its doors in February of 2012, it was the realisation of my childhood dream,” states Germanotta in the introduction to his cookbook Classic Recipes and Scenes from an Italian-American Restaurant. “We are more than a neighbourhood restaurant; we are a family…every dish we serve is personal in some way – either as a Germanotta family recipe or one that is significant to a member of the Joanne family.” It was here in fact that Germanotta first teamed up with Art Smith. “He [Art] was instrumental in developing the menu and in helping us get the restaurant up and running,” recalls Papa G, the name he is affectionately known by to those who are close to him. As we while away the rest of this Friday afternoon sitting on the outside patio of Joanne, drinking Gaga-labelled wine, Germanotta is keen to discuss his involvement with both awareness of Lupus and the Born This Way Foundation. The Foundation was founded in 2012 by Lady Gaga and her mother Cynthia Germanotta, with the goal of creating a kinder and

braver world. The Foundation works to provide youth with genuine opportunities, quality resources, and platforms to make their voices heard. Smith is also a tireless philanthropist. He tells me that the main reason for his involvement is Art Bird & Whiskey Bar is to be able to continue contributing to the school that he is building in his birthplace of Jasper, Florida, a town with a population of just 1,600 people. Responding to a request from the Mayor of Jasper, Smith purchased a grand antebellum mansion in nearby Madison that he is turning into a cooking and gardening school as part of the Reunion Alliance which is primarily focused on empowering communities to be healthy, one facet of which is the development of experiential courses with partner restaurants and communities in culinary arts, food systems, and community building, to be taught over a six-month period at the Madison school. When Smith decided to move back to Jasper, it was with the goal of creating jobs in this once-thriving agricultural community. He is hopeful that the school and acres of farmlands will boost the economy, drawing from local labour and local produce to fulfil his farm-to-table vision. Even his five children, whom he and his husband Jesus Salguerio adopted as an entire family, have a role in Smith's plan to improve his community. “I learned that there is no sustainable opportunity, environment, or security without the sustainable health of individuals and communities, and this is what Reunion stands for,” says Smith. “Reunion will change the way the world approaches food, one community at a time - and in doing so will empower folks and families through the same opportunities that I am so grateful to have had.”

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DEFYING Tradition INTERVIEW: ANN TSANG

PORTRAIT: COURTESY OF SANDOW

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Adam Sandow, Chairman and CEO of Sandow, is one of North America’s biggest players in publishing. He has built his phenomenally successful business through a combination of organic start-ups and strategic acquisitions, and is highly focused on creating and developing new brands across beauty, fashion, design and luxury that defy traditional rules. The Peninsula magazine speaks with him about how it all started, where it’s all going, and his “secret weapons” to success. The Peninsula: What initiated your interest in the publishing industry? Adam Sandow: My parents were actually in the printing business, so I grew up around printing presses and observing how it all worked. In high school, I was fascinated by computers and graphic design, so I started my own company at a pretty early age. I then set up a custom publishing business creating magazines for hotels and airlines, and ever since, my passion for design has just kept on growing. But even in those formative years, I always thought that I needed to do something more than just simply creating the publications themselves. Innovation has been the most important part of building this company, which involves thinking very, very differently. As we all know, the magazine industry continues to change, but it’s not simply about converting from print to digital; you have to do much more. TP: At the tail end of the so-called ‘golden age of magazines’, what was your strategy in terms of moving forward, and as you say, not just simply converting from print to digital? AS: In 2005, we created a very successful magazine entitled NewBeauty with the objective of inspiring, educating and guiding women to make smart, informed and confident beauty choices through the publication’s network of print, digital and multimedia platforms. Even with its high cover price of US$10, when it first hit stands, NewBeauty carved a unique niche as the only magazine 100 percent dedicated to beauty, and since its inception, no other brand has done more to educate millions of women on how to make the best beauty decisions. Building on the success of that title, in 2007, we invented the beauty sampling business through a concept we named TestTube, whereby we actually charge readers to sample the best beauty products on the market, and over the last decade, this spin-off has generated more profit than the actual magazine itself. TP: You started another very successful magazine in 2005 focusing on luxury interior design, and by revenue, you are now the largest publisher of design magazines in the U.S. What was the driving force behind that? AS: We started Luxe Interiors + Design in 2005 as a couple of hundred thousand dollar business, and today it generates more revenue than any other design magazine in the U.S. A critically important factor in the success of that magazine is regionality – for example, there will be a completely different design aesthetic for someone creating a home in New York City to someone doing the same in the Hollywood Hills – so we create one national version and 13 different local editions of the magazine. It continues to grow

year-on-year with affluent home owners in the various regions that we tailor the magazine for. We have never had a down year and in fact we continue to see consistent growth in print advertising revenue. TP: You also have a very unique and successful distribution model. How did you come up with that? AS: When I launched our early magazines, our strategy was to produce the highest quality publications with the most expensive prices at the newsstand. These days, in many cases, publishers are offering low subscription prices which has inevitably led to the erosion of newsstand sales, so essentially they are cannibalising their own businesses in a way. However, I have always considered the newsstand buyer as playing a critical role in our business, so between 2008 and 2010, we built our own network of newsstands called Mediajet at private airports. Coming out of the recession, private aviation grew at a phenomenal rate, and so in order to reach the most affluent individuals on the planet, we built newsstands at almost 300 private airports around the country. This creates highly engaged relationships with an extremely wealthy demographic and it is our “secret weapon” in terms of reaching these people directly. TP: You diversified even further in 2012 when you acquired the global licensing rights to the Fred Segal name, which is essentially outside of the realm of publishing and seems like a pretty bold move? AS: Whilst we continue to invest in our media platforms, we believe that layering new businesses on top of those assets has been key to our success. So we joined forces with Evolution Media Partners, a joint venture among Hollywood talent agency CAA, private equity firm TPG Growth and Participant Media, with the objective of enabling the Fred Segal brand to grow into a global luxury leader. As a result, there are now three stores in Japan, a 13,000 square-foot store on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, and an outlet at LAX International Airport, and this fall, new outposts will open in Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, and Zurich and Bern in Switzerland. TP: As a very frequent traveller, The Peninsula is your brand of choice when it comes to hotels. What has shaped that choice? AS: Back in the 1990s, a friend who is as demanding and picky as I am, introduced me to The Peninsula Beverly Hills, and in a country where service is becoming a lost art, it certainly hasn’t been lost at any Peninsula hotel. I spend around 100 days of the year in New York, and I only stay at The Peninsula, as nowhere else comes close in terms of personalised service.

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A HAVEN of HEALING TEXT: ANN TSANG PORTRAIT: ANTONIO SABA

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Originally Founded in 1995 as The Children's Advocacy Center of Manhattan, The New York Center for Children (the name by which it is known today), is the only independent center in New York City to provide free, comprehensive evaluation and therapy services to children who have experienced physical and sexual abuse and their families, for as long as their healing requires. Since its inception, the Center has admirably welcomed and treated more than 15,000 children and their families.

n 1995, The New York Center for Children (then known as The Children’s Advocacy Center of Manhattan) was established through the philanthropic backing of famed broadway producer, the late Martin Richards and Georgette Mosbacher, a business executive, entrepreneur and author, and Childhelp USA. Childhelp USA was founded in 1959 as a charity organisation that rescues children in distress and is a recognised leader in the field of child abuse prevention and treatment. Upon relocating to New York City from her native Florida in 1993, Mosbacher launched an initiative to improve care for victims of child abuse. Working with Childhelp USA, she was instrumental in helping to structure the action plan which resulted in the creation of the Children's Advocacy Center of Manhattan, and served as the first Chairperson of the Advocacy Center Board, which she remains a member of today. On the morning of July 16, 1996, the then Mayor of New York City Rudolph W. Giuliani helped cut the ribbon to formally open the Center located in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. "I am committedfirst, last and always - to protecting the children of New York City," pronounced Giuliani at the opening. "Here the basic goal will be to protect children through a multi-disciplinary approach that includes prevention, assessment, investigation, referral for prosecution and treatment of child victims.” The Center was designed as a child-friendly environment to promote a feeling of safety and nurturing, and is fully equipped with facilities to support counselling, medical examinations and law enforcement information gathering. It remains as the only independent center in New York City to provide free, comprehensive evaluation and therapy services to children who have experienced physical and sexual abuse and their families, for as long as their healing requires. Although the subject that the Center is focusing on is a harrowing one (one in three children in New York City experiences abuse by the time he or she is 18 years old), a visit to there is a positive and uplifting one, and speaking with Executive Director Christine Crowther provides messages of positivity and a feeling of optimism for the children and their families who seek refuge here for the necessary treatment. As Crowther leads us on a short tour of the facilities, it is immediately apparent that is has been carefully and thoughtfully designed for children. The walls bring vibrancy and animation with their colourful hand-painted murals, and each room is well-equipped with both learning tools, toys, and medical resources, depending on each one’s individual function. Overall, it provides a soothing, noninstitutional, therapeutic environment. Crowther, who has been working at the Center for almost 20 years, is one of the most experienced members of staff. “We have an excellent team of clinical social workers and psychologists onsite and our Therapy Program provides specialised counselling through weekly individual or group therapy sessions to help children address and

recover from their traumatic experience,” she explains. In addition to psychological counselling, an on-site paediatrician is present to provide sensitive and comprehensive medical examinations if required. The dedicated staff will never turn a child in need away, and to date, the Center has helped more than 15,000 families receive care, as well as providing groundbreaking training programmes on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of child abuse, attended by medical students, doctors, nurses and first responders worldwide. More than 20,000 professionals have been trained through the NYCC’s educational programmes. The NYCC is a registered non-profit organisation that primarily relies on fund-raising activities and donations to ensure its ability to continue to provide these services. The Peninsula New York has been a proud supporter of the NYCC since 2009, with employees volunteering on a regular basis. Earlier this year more than 30 of the hotel’s staff contributed to a refurbishment project at the Center. Later this year, Peninsula employees will once again donate their time to attend a special volunteer day at the NYCC as a way of giving back to the local community. Projects include replacing tiles, building shelves, painting, cleaning carpets and other maintenance touch-ups. Each year, the hotel kicks off the holiday season in partnership with the NYCC with a special Tree Lighting at Salon de Ning. Fifty percent of the night’s sales benefit Make-a-Wish® Metro New York and the NYCC. The Peninsula has also hosted the NYCC’s Annual Spring Celebration Benefit for the past five years, with this year’s benefit coinciding with National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Over 170 distinguished friends and supporters gathered at the hotel’s Clement restaurant and helped to raise US$180,000 to benefit the NYCC’s work. 2018 also saw the NYCC celebrating more than 23 years of helping the most vulnerable children achieve their full potential and the theme of ‘Lift Me Up’ for The Peninsula event aptly reflected the organisation’s aim to bring about further hope to help children achieve their dreams. Sadly, 2018 also saw the sad death of the NYCC’s most recent Honorary Chairperson, Kate Spade, and so it seems fitting to close with the organisation’s obituary: “We mourn the passing of our Honorary Chair Kate Spade, who was a wonderful supporter and friend of The New York Center for Children for more than a decade. We will miss her gracious kindness and warmth, and we are so thankful for her amazing dedication to our work. She cared deeply for children and we were incredibly fortunate to have known her.” To make a donation, please visit www.newyorkcenterforchildren.org/donate

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THE Penultimate

Did You Know? • Executive Chef Jim Reutemann oversees a kitchen staff of 40 people who turn out an average of 425 meals per day. The most ordered items are egg dishes from the breakfast menu and the ever-popular kale quinoa salad , while the most common instructions given to food orders are related to nut or gluten allergies. • The Peninsula room service staff delivers an average of 150 In Room Dining meals in a 24-hour period. The number of room service calls per day is between 100 and 120. The In Room Dining Team also delivers up to 20,000 guest room amenities per year. This includes welcome fruit plates, chocolate-covered strawberries, birthday cakes, and of course, special themed amenities. • The Peninsula New York launched Salon de Ning in 2008 on the hotel’s rooftop, gaining instant popularity. On their busiest days of the season, the bartenders make up to 1,300 drinks a night, many of which contain fresh fruit and herbs. • The Gotham Lounge is where business people and lovers of The Peninsula’s traditional Afternoon Tea come in equal numbers for the sense of seclusion offered by the generously spaced tables for every kind of meeting. A total of nine staff meticulously delivers an average of 25 to 30 Afternoon Teas daily. • From Thanksgiving to Christmas, The Peninsula New York has its very own candy store for children to visit daily. The hotel goes through approximately 125 pounds of candy during this time.

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