Urban Agenda New York City, Holiday 2014

uRban agenda: new york city

Holiday 2014 Broadway Musicals–A Jewish Legacy Gramercy Park–A Look Inside Backstage Tours–Behind the Scenes on Broadway and Beyond Urban Agenda’s Shopping Guide Destinations: Skiing Colorado A Well-Designed Life

Tiffany Triumphant the most famous store there is

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There’s a place that makes holiday shopping a present in itself. Turn your search for the perfect present into a treat. Great deals, hundreds of stores – not to mention amazing casino resort packages, restaurants, spas and nightlife – are just what you need to get in the spirit. And stay there.

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Bally’s Holiday Package Rate starting at $98 • Overnight Accommodations • Round of Drinks at one of Bally’s lounges • $50 Dining Credit at Guy Fieri’s Chophouse • Shopping Coupon Booklet to Tanger Outlets • Additional Value Added Offers with savings of over $150

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Resorts’ Holiday Package Rate starting at $69 • 1 Overnight Stay Sunday through Thursday • 2 Show Tickets to Allen Edwards presents Home for the Holidays • $20 Dining Credit

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holiday 2014 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Lynn Adams Smith CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jorge Naranjo art DIRECTOR Jeffrey Edward Tryon GRAPHIC DESIGNer Matthew DiFalco CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Linda Arntzenius Ellen Gilbert Anne Levin Ilene Dube Stuart Mitchner Gina Hookey Taylor Smith ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Robin Broomer SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER Jennifer McLaughlin ACCOUNT MANAGERS Jennifer Covill Kendra Russell Cybill Tascarella Erin Toto OPERATIONS MANAGER Melissa Bilyeu photographer Ricky Zehavi URBAN AGENDA: NEW YORK CITY Witherspoon Media Group 305 Witherspoon Street Princeton, NJ 08542 P: 609.924.5400 F: 609.924.8818 urbanagendamagazine.com Advertising opportunities: 609.924.5400 Media Kit available on urbanagendamagazine.com Subscription information: 609.924.5400

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Editorial suggestions: editor@witherspoonmediagroup.com

Urban Agenda: New York City is published 6 times a year with a circulation of 35,000. All rights reserved. Nothing herein may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher.

To purchase PDF files or reprints, please call 609.924.5400 or e-mail melissa.bilyeu@witherspoonmediagroup.com. ©2014 Witherspoon Media Group

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CONTENTS

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46

8

Tiffany Triumphant: The Most Famous Store There Is

BY ELLEN GI LBERT

8

Backstage Tours: B ehind The Scenes On Broadway and B eyond

BY ANNE LEVI N

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Urban B ooks Creative People: When Fashion Comes to Life

42

BY STUART MI TCHNER

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Shop Til l You Drop Urban Agenda’s Guide to Shopping NYC

BY ANNE LEVI N

HOLIDAY 2014

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Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy

BY LI NDA AR NTZENI US

32

54

16

Gramercy Park: A Look Inside New York’s Private Oasis

BY I LENE DUBE

42

32

Calendar 38

Destinations: Cruising the White B oulevards of Colorado

Urban Shops A Wel l-Designed Life 46

BY TAYLOR SMI TH

54

Cover Image: Tiffany & Co. holiday windows 2012, photography courtesy of Ricky Zehavi for Tiffany & Co.

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HOLIDAY 2014

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Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power “a visually stunning and thought-provoking exhibition” — Artnet “... a testament to vision, drive and chutzpah.”

— New York Post

NOW ON VIEW 5th Ave at 92nd St, NYC TheJewishMuseum.org #BeautyIsPower

2-for-1 admission through January 2015 when you mention Urban Agenda

Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power is made possible by The Jerome L. Greene Foundation.

Major support is also provided by the Eugene M. and Emily Grant Family Foundation and The David Berg Foundation. Additional generous support is provided by the Leon Levy Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Helena Rubinstein Fund / The Roy and Niuta Titus Foundation, the Helena Rubinstein Philanthropic Fund at The Miami Foundation, and Ealan and Melinda Wingate.

Rubinstein in front of a montage of some of the many portraits she commissioned throughout her life, 1958. Image courtesy of Fashion Institute of Technology / SUNY, Gladys Marcus Library Department of Special Collections The Jewish Museum is under the auspices of The Jewish Theological Seminary.

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FROM THE EDITOR

I

am pleased to announce that this is our three-year anniversary publishing Urban Agenda and we are going strong, thanks to our dedicated readers, valued advertisers, and a talented, hard working staff.

At a glance, our cover image could be mistaken for an elegant pre-war apartment with expansive city views. But it’s actually a Tiffany & Co. holiday window! You can understand the scale of this window by looking closely at the pillow on the chaise longue, which in reality, is a piece of Tiffany jewelry.

Ellen Gilbert wrote the cover story and it includes an interview with Tiffany’s Vice President of Creative and Visual Merchandising Richard Moore, who shares the inspiration for this year’s windows and reveals details about decorating the flagship store with a giant diamond egret to tie in with the 75th anniversary of the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

This was one of the most enjoyable stories I have worked on. The folks at Tiffany’s were enthusiastic, knowledgable, and down-to-earth. The sales staff was welcoming and eager to answer questions whether you were there to buy or not.

Richard was very generous with his time and the marketing people were experts about all aspects of the jewelry from the design of a clasp to the origination of the gemstones. I found it interesting that many of the precious stones come from Montana.

Tiffany & Co. is steeped in tradition and it was very charming to see couples shopping for engagement rings while sipping champagne. I immediately recognized the classic “Tiffany Setting” which was created over a century ago and is still a best seller. My father purchased one for my mother 70 years ago.

Yes, Tiffany’s is steeped in tradition and nostalgia, but it’s also very exciting that they have their first ever female Design Director Francesca Amfitheatrof, who has introduced fresh new designs with her Tiffany T Collection.

I hope you enjoy Ellen’s article about Tiffany & Co. and the other stories in this issue. If you would like to read more of our stories from past issues, please visit our website at urbanagendamagazine. com. Thank you in advance for getting the word out about Urban Agenda by liking us on Facebook, pinning our photography, and tweeting about our stories.

As always, I welcome suggestions and comments from readers. You can contact me at editor@witherspoon mediagroup.com.

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy holiday!

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFFREY E. TRYON

Welcome to the Holiday issue of Urban Agenda: NYC

Lynn Adams Smith Editor-In-Chief

uRban agenda: new yoRk city

uRban agenda: new yoRk city

Holiday 2014 Broadway Musicals–A Jewish Legacy Gramercy Park–A Look Inside Backstage Tours–Behind the Scenes on Broadway and Beyond Traveling for Healthcare Destinations: Skiing Colorado Urban Agenda’s Shopping Guide A Well-Designed Life

Tiffany Triumphant the most famous store there is

h o l i day 2012 h o l i day

Holiday

Holiday 2012

2013

2014

Bergdorf Goodman Through a Glass, Brightly

The Perfect Pied-à-Terre • Best Apps for NYC • Buy & Sell at Sotheby’s & Christie’s • Museum Cafés • Holiday Markets Famous New York Christmas Trees

Urban Agenda, Holiday 2012

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Simon Doonan

New York’s Classy Iconoclast Gilded New York • Unique Toy Stores in NYC • The Nutcracker—New and Old • Books as Gifts • The Explorers Club • Destinations: Mont Tremblant

Urban Agenda, Holiday 2013

Urban Agenda, Holiday 2014

HOLIDAY 2014

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“ We c a t e r t o c l i e n t s w h o b e l i e v e t h e i r s p a c e s s h o u l d b e t re a t e d a s w o r k s o f a r t t h a t b e l o n g t o t h e m a l o n e .�

- Joanna Shirin

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Tiffany & Co. holiday windows, 2013.

Courtesy Ricky Zehavi for Tiffany & Co.

Tiffany Triumphant The Most Famous Store There Is by ellen gilbert | Photography by Ricky Zehavi

“T

he more I do, the more people want,” says Richard Moore, Tiffany & Co.’s current vice president of creative and visual merchandising. He is more than happy to oblige.

Moore’s job includes year-round responsibility for the look of no less than all the windows and display cases in Tiffany’s more than 200 retail stores around the world. New York City at holiday time has an especially magical aura, and Moore’s window designs at Tiffany’s flagship store at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street can always be relied on to do their part with extravagance and panache.

1950’s New York This year’s windows, Moore hopes, will hit the jackpot once again by evoking what he describes as the “very optimistic energy” of the 1950s. The theme is, as usual, a paean to New York City at holiday time. “Finding jewels in Tiffany’s windows has become something of a New York sport like searching for Ninas in an Al Hirschfeld drawing,” observed writer Judith Goldman in Windows at Tiffany’s, published in 1980, and a bit of cat-and-mousery still holds true. This year, pieces of jewelry are incorporated into depictions of skaters at Rockefeller Center and horse-drawn carriages in Central Park (check out that wagon wheel). In a bit of self-referential whimsy, a young woman gazes wistfully into a Tiffany window unaware that next to her, her boyfriend is holding a Tiffany gift box behind his back. Moore cites old New Yorker covers and the use of a bluish-gray palette with yellow accents for helping to capture the feel of the times. She isn’t really there, but viewers may squint and wonder if that’s jazz pianist Marian McPartland in the back of the tail-finned car, on her way to a gig at Hickory House.

For sheer over-the-topness (almost literally) this year’s extravaganza at the flagship store will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the 1939 New York World’s Fair by decorating the store’s façade with replicas of a giant diamond egret created for the fair by Tiffany. A valence on top of the building will pull the whole thing together.

Many hands, from designers to lighting experts, to set-builders, play a part in creating the finished product before it is unveiled in mid-November.

By then, Moore and his colleagues will be well into planning next year’s windows. This means already having some sense of which pieces from Tiffany’s many different collections they want to promote. It also includes being alerted by colleagues abroad to nuances of scenes that will not fly in their respective neighborhoods—e.g., no champagne and no kissing in MidEast store window scenes.

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(top-left) A family warms a snowy night with a fire reflected in gleaming Tiffany T bracelets and enjoys a view of the Empire State Building. (middle) A couple exploring Times Square with its glittering marquees and Tiffany Keys sparkling on billboards. (top-right) In a restaurant overlooking the Empire State Building, a couple toasts the season and their engagement with the legendary Tiffany® Setting. Illustrations courtesy Tiffany & Co.

The Ring

dramatically changed the way pieces are designed and put together, the hunt for the “right” gem for a particular ring or pin can take up to two years.

Tiffany’s association with New York City dates to 1837, when 25 year-old Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young opened a “stationery and fancy goods” store with a $1,000 advance from Tiffany’s father. Tiffany’s authorized history describes “fashionable ladies in silks, satins and beribboned bonnets” facing “a gauntlet of narrow streets teeming with horses and carriages” as they made their way to the new emporium at 259 Broadway. “At Tiffany & Co. they discovered a newly emerging ‘American style’ that departed from the European design aesthetic, which was rooted in ceremonial patterns and the Victorian era’s mannered opulence. The young entrepreneurs were inspired by the natural world, which they interpreted in patterns of simplicity, harmony and clarity.”

In 1878, Tiffany acquired one of the world’s largest and finest fancy yellow diamonds from the Kimberly diamond mines in South Africa. Gemologist George Frederick Kunz cut the diamond from 287.42 carats to 128.54 carats with 82 facets, giving the stone remarkable brilliance. Named the Tiffany Diamond, it secured the company’s legacy. The engagement ring as it is known today was introduced in 1886. Unlike earlier diamond rings that were set in bezels, The Tiffany® Setting lifts the stone off the setting, allowing light to flatter the brilliance of the cut. It is, says Tiffany’s “the most sought-after symbol of true love,” and the store’s second floor is largely devoted to selling them. At lunchtime on a recent weekday, couples were seated at various counters where, over flutes of champagne and petits fours, they examined the possible ways to manifest their true love.

Louis Comfort Tiffany, the founder’s son, became Tiffany’s first art director in the late 1800s. His influence went well beyond the company: in 1882, President Chester Arthur invited him to redecorate the White House. The younger Tiffany was a world leader in the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements around the turn of the century, creating a wide range of design that included technically brilliant leaded glass as well as colorful enameled and painterly jewels based on American plants and flowers.

Designer Jean Schlumberger arrived in 1956, and his creations—bejeweled flowers, birds and ocean life—are still in demand. Elsa Peretti and Paloma Picasso made names for themselves designing Tiffany jewelry in the late 20th century.

In recent years, Tiffany’s has had to accommodate political and geological changes, being careful not to deplete stores of certain gemstones, or cutting off trade with inhospitable governments. While technological advances have

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(opposite, top ) Tiffany & Co. holiday windows, 2013. (opposite, bottom-left) Tiffany & Co. holiday windows, 2012. (opposite, bottom-right) Tiffany & Co. holiday windows, 2012.

Courtesy Ricky Zehavi for Tiffany & Co.

The Old and the New Think about early Tiffany customers and names like Vanderbilt, Astor, Whitney and Havemeyer come to mind. More recently, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, and fashionista Diana Vreeland sported Tiffany creations.

Tiffany commemorative pieces commissioned by the U.S. Government include ceremonial swords for Civil War generals; the Congressional Medal of Honor (the nation’s highest military award), and the 1885 redesign of the Great Seal of the United States, which appears on the one-dollar bill. Sports fans will be interested to know (if they don’t already) that one of Tiffany’s best known professional designs is the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the National Football League Super Bowl Championship, which Tiffany has created since the first Super Bowl in 1967.

“Our Flagship Store on Fifth Avenue is simply the most famous store there is,” observes Tiffany’s web site. “Every cab driver, every New Yorker, every visitor knows where to find Tiffany & Co. This is the marvelous place where dreams come true.” Women in little black dresses routinely recreate Audrey Hepburn’s croissant and coffee breakfast from the 1960 movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The Official 50th Anniversary Companion to the movie published by Rizzoli is replete with photos of Hepburn; costars George Peppard and Patricia Neal; writer Truman Capote, and director Blake Edwards, not to mention the words and music for “Moon River.” The location is also the lookout point for the irrepressible “street photographer” Bill Cunningham, who keeps New York Times readers in the know about who wore what at last weekend’s galas.

It’s a little disconcerting then, when Derek Conrad, Tiffany’s current coordinator of Global and Media Relations, observes without any apparent irony, “we like to think of ourselves as your hometown jeweler.” The scene of this conversation, a private showing of Tiffany’s Masterpieces collection for Fall 2014, adds to its unlikelihood; imagine someone calling, “Honey, I’m just running down to Ti’s for a new Swatch battery. Should I bring back a couple of gyros?”

Still, Conrad seems sincere, and recent press about the arrival of Tiffany’s first female design director, Francesca Amfitheatrof, has kept PR people busy as they try to appeal to grand and everyday sensibilities, the old and the new. Recent Tiffany press releases have wordily noted that while several of Amfitheatrof’s

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(top-left) A family takes the subway to a holiday celebration, with Blue Boxes in hand and Jean Schlumberger’s Bird on a Rock brooch. (top-right) Ice-skating at Rockefeller Center, a New York tradition, beautifully illustrated with the famous tree and Tiffany T jewelry. (bottom) A couple gazing at the diamond engagement ring and wedding band in Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue windows, captivated by the world’s most beautiful gems. Illustrations courtesy Tiffany & Co.

pieces for the new Masterpieces collection were “inspired by archival jewels of diamonds set in square bezels that are delicately linked,” her “mixture of custom cut princess, baguette and round diamonds in elegant necklaces and bracelets . . . exemplify a new clarity and lean confidence.” Her new “Tiffany T Collection” is being touted as “unapologetically modern,” “very personal,” and reflecting “a new clarity and lean confidence.” The Times Style Magazine got into the spirit of things with a recent article about Amfitheatrof that described her as “lissome and fair, with a profile that calls to mind a John Singer Sargent portrait. . . a vision from a bygone era,” but “very much a modern woman.”

Shifting gears seems to come easily to Moore as well. Next to images of this year’s holiday windows he keeps a bobble-headed, pocketbook-carrying, gloved-hand-waving (it’s solar powered) figure of Queen Elizabeth II. In between worrying about whether or not instructions for mounting windows in Paris, London, and Rome have been followed, he watches his Fitbit activity wristband and worries how his team is doing in Tiffany employees’ Appalachian Trail Challenge competition.

Moore was born and raised in England where he graduated from the University of Leeds with a major in theatrical design. Before coming to Tiffany’s in 2009, he was “head of visual identity” at Liberty’s of London, another venerable old shopping institution that benefitted from his upbeat outlook. In addition to working with Tiffany’s in-house teams, Moore has enjoyed some noteworthy collaborations with other bold-face designers since his arrival at the company. These include a 2012 Oscar season homage to Hollywood glamour with stylist Rachel Zoe, and, the following year, several well-received Gatsby-themed windows created with movie director, producer and co-writer Baz Luhrman and his wife, costume and production designer Catherine Martin.

This is all to the good: Moore’s predecessors, the everelegant Robert Rufino, now interiors editor at Elle Décor, and the late Gene Moore (1910-1998) set the bar pretty high. The two Moores were not related, but Richard has been asked often enough

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about the possibility that he is prepared with a cockamamie story about Gene spending a lost weekend in England thirty-some years ago.

In any case, Gene Moore’s 39-year tenure at Tiffany’s is indisputably noteworthy. He is credited with bringing whimsy and joie de vivre to what was a highly traditional, staid environment. “To fully appreciate the impact of his artistic genius,” said New York Times obituary writer Robert McG. Thomas when Moore died, “you must take a stroll down memory lane, force yourself to stop in front of a typical Tiffany window of the 1940s and yawn as you regard a neat, linear arrangement of silver platters, bowls, candlesticks and the like.”

Gene Moore worked at several area stores before he settled at Tiffany & Co.; the “fanciful wonders he worked with shoes” at the I. Miller shoe chain and his “whimsical way with diamonds” at Tiffany’s had “Fifth Avenue pedestrians doing delighted double takes for more than half a century,” wrote Thomas. In addition to the aforementioned Windows at Tiffany’s (subtitled The Art of Gene Moore) by Judith Goldman (with commentary by Moore), My Time at Tiffany’s, coauthored by Moore and Jay Hyams, offers beautiful images and accounts of Moore’s work.

When I’m 85 Richard Moore lives most of the week in a downtown apartment in New York City’s Soho neighborhood and enjoys an upstate home on weekends and holidays. He regularly hosts or visits friends and family from England. If he happens to be in London at Thanksgiving time, he says that he especially loves foisting Thanksgiving celebrations on unwitting company who don’t quite get this “large lunch on a weekday.”

Moore responds quickly when asked if he will follow in Gene Moore’s footsteps by remaining with Tiffany until he’s 85. “I will stay ‘til I’m 85 and Queen Elizabeth will outdo Queen Victoria,” he says happily. “It’s a great job; I’m very lucky.”

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BACKSTAGE T URS BEHIND THE SCENES ON BROADWAY

AND BEYOND

RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL

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LEVIN

PHOTO BY: SHUTTERSTOCK

BY ANNE

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PHOTO BY: SHUTTERSTOCK

O

LINCOLN CENTER

nce, during a backstage tour of the Metropolitan Opera House, visitors were treated to a glimpse of soprano Natalie Dessay rehearsing for the evening’s performance of Bellini’s “La Sonnambula.” Nearby in the wings, they strolled by towering stacks of sets for three different productions that were being presented that week.

They visited the wig and costume shops and spoke with members of the crew. Finally, they stood in front of the footlights and gazed out into the glittering auditorium, sensing the magnitude of what it must be like to belt out an aria or dance a pas de deux (American Ballet Theatre performs there, too) on the celebrated stage where countless stars have made their debuts.

Such are the possibilities of a behind-the-scenes tour at some of New York’s most popular performing arts venues. At the NBC Studio, you might catch a young cast member of “Saturday Night Live” or late night television host Jimmy Fallon arriving for rehearsals. At Radio City Music Hall, Rockettes in full costume are known to pop out of dressing rooms to chat with visitors. At “Behind the Emerald Curtain,” a mini-museum and tour focused on the musical “Wicked,” enthusiastic cast members clue tour-goers in on the mechanisms of that elaborate production.

Have you ever wondered just how the bed in the snow scene of “The Nutcracker” at Lincoln Center’s Koch Theatre whirls around the stage during the onstage blizzard? Are you curious about just how the Rockettes achieve their famously precise kickline at every performance? A behind-the-scenes

tour is a way to find out. Even the most seasoned patrons of New York’s cultural attractions can learn something, not only about stagecraft and special effects, but history and architecture as well.

Some tours take visitors behind the curtain. Others, like the one at Carnegie Hall, stick to the other side of the footlights. One of the world’s most prestigious concert venues for both classical and popular music, the National Historic Landmark building’s stage has been host to Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Benny Goodman, and Judy Garland. Dr. Martin Luther King spoke there in 1968.

While visitors aren’t taken backstage during tours of the building, they get a view of the hall from several unexpected vantage points. They view historic documents and artifacts and learn about the 123-year-old building’s distinctive history. Experienced guides tell the dramatic story of how the hall was saved from destruction in 1960, largely by the efforts of violinist Isaac Stern. Through the violinist’s persistence, the City of New York purchased the building for $5 million and put aside another $100,000 to spruce it up. Stern even got the family selling the hall to lower the price by $250,000 as a contribution to the project. It makes sense that the main hall is known as Stern Auditorium.

Carnegie Hall is at 57th Street and Seventh Avenue. Tours are given daily, subject to performance and rehearsal schedules. Tickets are $15 ($10 for students and seniors and $5 for children under 12). Visit www.carnegiehall.org/ tours for more information.

A bit uptown at Lincoln Center, there is more than one tour to choose from.

The Metropolitan Opera Backstage Tours are held during performance seasons on weekdays and Sundays, but not on the days when final dress rehearsals or special events are being held. Tickets are $22 ($18 for students or groups of 10 or more). Visit www.metguild.org.

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PHOTOS BY: JORGE NARANJO

More comprehensive tours of the performing arts center are given daily.

While backstage at the David Koch Theatre, Avery Fisher Hall, the newly transformed Alice Tully Hall, or the Vivian Beaumont Theatre is usually off-limits, each tour is different and can include stops inside the auditoriums.

Special tours focused on art and architecture at the performing arts center, which recently received a long-awaited renovation, are also offered. Tours depart from the David Rubinstein Atrium, on Broadway between 62nd and 63rd streets. Tickets are $18 ($15 for students). Visit www.lincolncenter.org for more information.

Radio City Music Hall also offers a variety of tours, most of which go backstage. The one-hour Stage Door tour can take in a rehearsal hall, dressing room (on non-event days), the lighting booth, or projection room. The Art Deco Tour goes further, giving guests a detailed examination of the interior design including the massive auditorium (1.8 million cubic feet), the Grand Foyer, elegant lounges, and the Roxy Suite. The Career Educational Tour is for groups interested in combining the Stage Door Tour with insight into just what it takes to run this huge theater, which is located at Avenue of the Americas and 50th Street. Tickets are $24 for adults ($18 for seniors, and $17 for children 12 and under). Call (212) 247-4777 or visit www.radiocity.com.

Nearby at Rockefeller Center’s NBC Studios, tours have been going on since 1933. On hiatus during a major renovation this year, the tours are set to resume in mid-2015. They are very popular, so it’s advisable to reserve in advance.

Visitors get a glimpse of the studios where “Saturday Night Live,” “Nightly News with Brian Williams,” “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” “Football Night in America,” “The Today Show” and MSNBC take place. Other stops include the

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NBC/Sharp Globe Theater, Broadcast Operations, the make-up room, and the High Definition mini-control studio. You can even have your photo taken at the news desk and help give a weather demonstration. For updated reopening and price information, visit www.nbcstudiotour.com.

Fans of the Tony-Award-winning musical “Wicked” are known to return again and again to “Wicked: Behind the Emerald Curtain,” an intimate look beyond what is seen onstage. Anyone interested in behind-the-scenes Broadway might enjoy a tour of this mini-museum, which displays sets and costumes, props and wigs. Commentary is by former and current members of the cast, who talk about the $2.5 million spent on costumes, the masks made specifically for each actor, and why it takes 125 people, cast and crew, to do each show. A video and a question-and-answer session are part of the experience. The location is the Gershwin Theatre, 222 West 51st Street, and tickets start at $30. Tours are given on Saturday mornings at 10 AM. Visit www.wickedthemusical.com for information.

If the “Wicked” tour whets the appetite for more Broadway behind-the-scenes, try The Inside Broadway Tour, a 1 hour and 45 minute trek around the theater district. The tour explores the history of Broadway and tells backstage stories of how to make it in show business. Guides relate how some of the theaters evolved after the Great Depression to become radio and television studios. Professional actors, singers, and directors who are licensed tour guides lead these expeditions. Tickets are $35 and leave daily at 1 PM and 4 PM from the George M. Cohan statue at 46th and Broadway in Times Square.

Visit www.insidebroadwaytours.com for more information. U

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URBAN BOOKS

Creative People

When Fashion Comes to Life

BY STUART MITCHNER

Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent, and independent with tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play.

—Henri Matisse

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n my dissheveled outsider’s view, the fashion world is best approached when it relates to art or cinema or literature, or, as I’ve just learned, when it’s embodied by designers who live up to Matisse’s definition of creative people. After scanning some new fashion-oriented publications appropriate to the holiday season, I’ve found the virtues of curiosity, persistance, independence, a spirit of adventure and a love of play in people like fashion legend Loulou de la Falaise (1948-2011) and Alber Elbaz, the creative director of Lanvin.

I have to say that I prefer a smiling Loulou to the somnolent, tranced-looking creature (or should I say creation) on the cover of Loulou de la Falaise (Rizzoli $65), written by Ariel de Ravenel and Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni and designed by Alexandre Wolkoff, with a foreword by Pierre Bergé, and afterword by Loulou’s husband Thadée Klossowski. Not that there’s anything not to like about the cover image, with its compelling evocation of the bohemian chic for which Loulou was famous (or infamous, some admirers say). Given my comfort level with literature, I find it hard to resist a face styled to suggest a romance of the demi-monde: a touch of Colette and Coco Chanel mixed with the earthy charisma of a courtesan out of Balzac, and Marlene Dietrich as a bored femme fatale who yawns as she sends men to their doom. The most bizarre touch is the cigarette, which is as much an ornament as the necklace and earrings, there not to be smoked but to be worn. The sly, outré humor of the cigarette reflects the “love of play” Matisse mentions, a characteristic of Loulou and Yves Saint-Laurent (1936-2008), for whom de la Falaise was both muse and co-author of an epic narrative of design that galvanized the fashion world.

Jeffrey Felner’s review of Loulou de la Falaise in the New York Journal of Books refers to “a museum worthy showing of photographs that lays testament to who and what she was during her life.

What comes through it all is the feeling that you would want to be friends with someone who was that creative, that free, that inclusive. She was indeed crazy about her husband, her family, and her extended family, and even those who wanted to dislike her fell under her thrall. She was truly creative and infused her being into the lives of those she adored and into a business where she was more likely to have been ostracized than loved.”

To see why Loulou was loved you need only look at photographs of the Bois de Boulogne reception following her June 1977 wedding

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to Klossowski. Shown in one photograph with Bianca Jagger and SaintLaurent, the beaming Loulou is radiant in a star-strewn midnight blue chiffon sheath, an iridescent tiara shaped like a crescent moon in her hair, starlight flashing around her ears, an enchanted vision out of a Midsummer Nights Dream world that is equally worthy of her wish to appear “like a summer night sky in Marrakech.”

THE MATISSE LINES It’s refreshing to find that Saint-Laurent himself related to literature, Proust in particular (he sometimes signed hotel registers as Msr. Swann); in fact, it would be hard to imagine a more Proustian setting for a fashionable wedding than the Bois. Needless to say, Saint-Laurent also related to art. One of the featured works in MoMA’s current show, Henry Matisse: The Cut-Outs, is The Sheaf, also a feature in SaintLaurent’s fall/winter 1980 haute couture collection where it inspired a black velvet and moiré faille evening dress with multicolor satin appliqué leaves. The premier art event in New York this season, the Matisse exhibit was the “blockbuster summer exhibition” at the Tate Modern in London, which the June issue of Vogue observed that “the tumbling stream of Matisse’s memories... make for an ideal style cue.”

Meanwhile an article on www.architecturaldigest.com features “ten creative talents” who have been inspired by Matisse. Blue Nudes, the cover image on the MoMA exhibit monograph, inspired the stainedglass window of fashion executive Carla Fendi’s Roman apartment, and a Matisse drawing was the model for interior designer Billy Baldwin’s creation of the fabric for a client’s Manhattan living room. And you don’t have to look far online to find Oscar de la Renta’s Matisse Embroidered Bell skirt, which at last sighting had been marked down to $399 from $2,650.

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YOUNG OSCAR The recent death of de la Renta, who singlehandedly accomplished the sartorial education of Hillary Clinton (still a work in progress), sent me to Sarah Mower’s The Style, Inspiration, and Life of Oscar de la Renta (Assouline $125), featuring images from the designer’s personal album, with a foreword by Anna Wintour, updated this year from the 2002 edition.

Matisse’s “spirit of adventure and love of play” is in the picture of young de la Renta provided by Mower: “At nineteen, he left home [the Dominican Republic] and sailed to Spain, to live in Madrid and soak up the culture, in the hope of earning a living as an artist. He bought a third-class train ticket to see the country, was befriended by a family of gypsies on board and invited to a three-day wedding. The music and the flounces and the shawls and the color stayed with him forever, as did the sight of the splendid embroidery and swagger of the matadors’ costumes at bullfights.

It was at a Madrid bullring that he first set eyes on Ava Gardner, who he charmed and later met in a nightclub.

‘And I danced with Ava Gardner...I remember the color of her blue-green eyes, her very matte skin, her chiseled nose and cheekbones—just unbelievably beautiful.’”

It’s a mother and a daughter.’ I find the logo very emotional.” Another revealing admission is what he says about his travels: “I don’t ever look anymore at the geography—just enough to catch galleries and paintings.

Mostly, I look at the people, and people are what give me the energy.”

WOMEN IN CLOTHES Another new book worth mentioning is Kate Young’s Dressing in the Dark from the Silver Screen to the Red Carpet (Assouline $40), in which celebrity stylist Kate Young uses iconic fashion moments in film to focus on influential evening wear styles such as Elizabeth Taylor’s white silk chiffon dress in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Julia Roberts’s red gown in Pretty Woman.

Some other fashion-related publications of the holiday season are Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits, and Leanne Shapton’s Women in Clothes (Blue Rider $30), Green, The History of a Color (Princeton University Press $35), and a new and updated edition of The Fashion Book (Phaidon $59.95), which Vogue calls “the fashion Bible” and Elle “the ultimate fashion resource book.”

OUTING THE OUTSIDER

LANVIN AND ELBAZ Yet another elegant new publication is The Lanvin Anniversary Book by Alber Elbaz (Lanvin $450).

Bound in grosgrain silk with hand-gilded gold edging, it celebrates a decade of the Parisian fashion house with Elbaz at the helm. Looking for the humanity behind my outsider’s view of the couture elite, I found it in Ebaz’s conversation with Interview’s Stephanie Seymour Brant. Of Lanvin, which he joined in 2001 after stints with Saint-Laurent and Geoffrey Beene, Elbaz says, “I love and respect women. I work mostly with women. And you know, our logo for Lanvin is a mother and a daughter. I’ve always said, ‘It’s not a lion, and it’s not a horse.

As an outsider who believes in the creative spirit defined by Matisse, I enjoyed the February 2014 Harper’s Bazaar interview Sanjay Gupta conducted with Alber Elbaz, who says, “You know, I always think of myself as an outsider. I don’t feel like I have to promote my work by going to every party on the planet, and be a size 6 with blue hair and yellow leather python pants, and for people to think, Wow, he is so cool! Actually, the word ‘cool’ is the word I hate most in the world. I don’t like the people that are preserving some sort of pretension about that. I’m more of a director of a movie; I let the stars do the work.

I feel very comfortable behind the scenes.”

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URBAN AGENDA New York City

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SHOP Till You Drop Urban Agenda’s Guide to Shopping NYC

BY ANNE

LEVIN

Shop till you drop: [defn.] To go hard and nonstop with any task no matter how much rejection, fatigue, or obstacles you may face. Urban Dictionary

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Brooklyn is a shopping mecca in its own right, with neighborhoods like Park Slope, Williamsburg, Fort Greene, Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens, and DUMBO offering a variety of choices for browsing.

Beautiful Dreamers in Williamsburg opened three years ago and is known for its unique collection of clothing and household goods. With its bohemian furniture and wall-hangings, the store has everything from obscure books on photography to South American ponchos. The address is 326 Wythe Avenue. 718. 388.4884.

Bird has stores in Cobble Hill, Williamsburg, and Park Slope. The 15-year-old fashion destination puts an emphasis on sustainability, and its Williamsburg store is even LEED-certified. Look for clothing collections

by Alasdair, Alexander Wang, Ligne 6, and Rag & Bone, just to name a few. The stores also carry jewelry from Adina Mills, Blanca Monros Gomez, Melissa Joy Manning, Pamela Love and several accessory designers. Visit www.shopbird.com for locations.

Shoppers in search of unique jewelry have been flocking to Catbird for nearly a decade. Known for all things sparkly, the shop is big on non-traditional wedding rings, stacking rings and a wide range of gifts. The address is 219

Bedford Avenue. 718.599.3457 or www.catbirdnyc.com.

In God We Trust has shops in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, with another store in Manhattan’s garment district. Founded in 2005, the business makes its own apparel and jewelry and also sells pieces by other designers that fit with their own aesthetic. The store recently won a rave in Vogue magazine for its “fun, printed crop tops and girly rompers.” Visit www.ingodwetrustnyc.com for locations.

French Garment Cleaners Co. in Fort Greene is named after the neon sign that has graced its building since the 1960s, when it was a dry cleaning shop. This high-end store offers upscale, casual clothing by independent designers, including cuff-links, handbags, jewelry, lingerie, hats, and shoes. The address is 85 Lafayette Avenue. 718.797.0011 or www. frenchgarmentcleaners.com.

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hen it comes to shopping—purposeful or just browsing —there is nowhere like New York. The city has long been one of the world’s most coveted shopping destinations, both for bargains and high-end fashions and accessories. From Brooklyn to Harlem, there are countless boutiques, shops, and department stores to choose from. Here is a selection of some of the most popular, up-to-the-minute locations for discovering unique merchandise.

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Product selection by Taylor Smith

NEIGHBORHOOD SHOPPING: BROOKLYN Mast Brothers Chocolate Factory, Chocolate Bars Assortment 2.5 oz. (3-pack); $29 http://mastbrothers.com 111 A North 3rd St. 718.388.2644 A&G Merch, Leaf Map – Brooklyn; $49 http://aandgmerch.com 111 N. 6th St. 718.388.1779 Brooklyn Slate Company, Special Edition Slate Cheese Board; $36 www.brooklynslate.com 305 Van Brunt St. 877.648.8333 Saipua Soap and Flower, All Natural Soaps; $8 per bar; www.saipua.com 147 Van Dyke St. 718.624.2929 Whimsy & Spice, Classic Sampler Box; $25 http://whimsyandspice.com Depanneur – 242 Wythe Ave., 347.227.8424 Foxy & Winston, Leather Baby Shoes – Cat; $28 http://foxyandwinston.com 392 Van Brunt St. 718.928.4855 Catbird: designers, Small Amuletum Necklace

by Odette New York; $98 www.catbirdnyc.com 219 Bedford Ave. 718.599.3457

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beautiful dreamer photo by William Chan

BEAUTIFUL DREAMERS

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A few decades ago, SOHO’s neighborhood of cast iron facades and cobblestone streets was home to artists and out-of-the-way galleries. The elegant buildings still stand, but these days the streets are clogged with shoppers frequenting the big-box stores and trendy restaurants that have moved in. Still, there are a number of interesting, one-of-a-kind boutiques that make a visit to the area worth battling the crowds.

Looking for a hat to wear to a wedding, or maybe the Kentucky Derby?

Check out The Hat Shop, which provides custom-made headwear for men and women. It’s hard to resist a store that includes “Races,” “Nomad,” and “Evening” among its categories. The shop has been a fixture in Soho since 1995 at 120 Thompson Street. 212.219.1445 or www.thehatshopnyc.com.

The colorful, Barcelona-based Desigual specializes in bright colors and innovatively mismatched patterns, silk screens, and patches. Look for men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing, as well as shoes and accessories.

The address is 594 Broadway (also Fifth Avenue between 34th and 35th streets. 212.343.8206.

Karen Millen has been designing for chic British women for years.

We’re not talking here about tweeds or twin-sets. This is finely detailed wear for weekdays and parties, featuring updated, flattering styles that even allow for some curves. The shop, opened in 2007, has mirrored walls and an atmospheric, corrugated tin ceiling. The address is 112 Prince Street.

212.334.8492 or us.karenmillen.com.

Kirna Zabete stocks big names like Balenciaga, Chloe and Lanvin on its two levels, but also includes clothes by younger up-and-comers such as Alexander Wang. Despite the high-level merchandise, the space is simple and the atmosphere is laid back. You'll find art books and gifts as well as clothing. The address is 477 Broome Street. 212.941.9656 or www. kirnazabete.com.

Photo by Desigual

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Product selection by Gina Hookey

NEIGHBORHOOD SHOPPING: DOWNTOWN MoMA STORE, Sunburst Wall Clock; $519 www.momastore.org 81 Spring Street 646.613.1367 KIRNA ZABÊTE, Givenchy Diamond Hobo Bag; $1,890 www.kirnazabete.com 477 Broome Street 212.941.9656 GREENWICH JEWELERS, Jamie Joseph Black Diamond Cluster Earrings; $1,080 www.greenwichjewelers.com 64 Trinity Place 212.964.7592 BLOOMINGDALES, L’Objet Platinum Garland Frame; $430 www.bloomingdales.com 504 Broadway 212.729.5900 JACK SPADE, Compass Cufflinks; $128 www.jackspade.com 56 Greene Street 212.625.1820 SUR LA TABLE, Bodum Eileen French Press Coffee Maker; $39.95 www.surlatable.com 75 Spring Street 212.966.3375 BLOOMINGDALES, Yves Saint Laurent Collector’s Palette, Holiday Color Collection; $95 www.bloomingdales.com 504 Broadway 212.729.5900 SEASONAL WHISPERS, Gold Swarovski Crystals and Black Wire Bracelet, $180 www.seasonalwhispers.com 71 Murray Street 212.233.8663

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Tiffany & Co. holiday windows, 2013. Courtesy Ricky Zehavi for Tiffany & Co.

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MIDTOWN Manhattan is the territory for those who prefer big retailers to small boutiques. Here is where you'll find Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord and Taylor, Henri Bendel, Tiffany, H&M, Louis Vuitton and FAO Schwartz. Even if you can’t afford the prices of Bergdorf Goodman, the store is definitely worth a visit. Be sure to stroll the seventh floor, where a selection of books, china, chocolates, children’s clothing, gorgeous linens, and one of the most sumptuous collections of Christmas ornaments, in season, are divided into precious little individual shops. The address is Fifth Avenue at 57th Street. www.BergdorfGoodman.com.

Midtown’s big stores have recently been joined

by Uniqlo, the multi-level flagship of the Japanbased chain selling stylish clothes—lots of black and white—for budget prices. The address is 666 Fifth Avenue. www.uniqlo.com.

FAO Schwartz courtesy of Wikipedia

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Product selection by Taylor Smith

NEIGHBORHOOD SHOPPING: MIDTOWN ABC CARPET & HOME, Jan Burtz Silver Luster Dining Set; Starting at $40 www.abchome.com 888 Broadway 212.473.3000 THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM, 500 Self Portraits (Phaidon); $19.95 www.themorgan.org/shop 225 Madison Ave. 212.685.0008 UTRECHT ART SUPPLIES, Sennelier Finest Artists’ Oil Paint Set, 6 Sample Colors; $52.99 www.utrechart.com 237 W 23rd St. 212.675.8699 TUMI, Astor San Remo Leather Duffel; $795 www.tumi.com 53 W 49th St. 212.245.7460 FRESH, Rose Face Mask; $58 www.fresh.com 872 Broadway 212.477.1100 BERGDORF GOODMAN, Portolano Cashmere-Lined Leather Gloves, Dune; $140 www.bergdorfgoodman.com 5th Ave. at 58th St. 800.558.1855 FISHS EDDY, Oldham and Harper Birds Dishtowel; $16.95 www.fishseddy.com 889 Broadway 212.420.9020

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Shops at Columbus Circle

upper east side

At 305 Columbus Avenue, stock up on jeans at Adriano Goldschmied, where women will find stylish looks from ultra-skinny to maternity, and men can find pants in a variety of fabrics and styles. www.agjeans.com.

BOC at 410 Columbus Avenue is stocked with clothing, bags, shoes and accessories by a whole list of designers including Derek Lam, Helmut Lang, Ella Moss and Franco Ferrari. www.bocnyc.com.

Further south, the Shops at Columbus Circle, in the massive Time Warner complex, include Eileen Fisher, Coach, Hugo Boss, Thomas Pink, Sisley, and a 59,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market for when you need some nourishment. The view east from the second level’s huge windows is awesome. www.shopsatcolumbuscircle.com.

So, put on your comfortable shoes and get down to the serious business of shopping in New York. The options are limitless and each neighborhood boasts its own flavor. If you can't find what you're looking for here, it is safe to assume, you probably can't find it anywhere!

Barneys New York photo courtesy of Wikipedia. Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle decked for the holidays Photo: MD

barneys new york

The UPPER EAST SIDE is all about Madison Avenue, where 57th to 79th streets boast some of the priciest real estate in the world. Barneys New York anchors the lower end, and the Ralph Lauren store, in a renovated mansion at 72nd Street, is worth seeing just for the architecture alone. Chanel, Chloe, Hermes, Christian Louboutin, and Tory Burch are just a sampling of what’s located along the way. And don’t forget the French crystalier Lalique, which is at 609 Madison Avenue.

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Not to be outdone but distinctly different is the UPPER WEST SIDE. There isWmore variety on this side of Central Park, where all sorts of shopping ES T HO US TO Nstores ST RE ET cater to the yuppie residents of the neighborhood, awaits. Small DE with young children. Columbus Avenue where there are plenty of families SIG UA is the best shopping street, from Lincoln Center at 66th street to about L PRINCE ST. 86th street.

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holiday 2014

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Product selection by Taylor Smith

NEIGHBORHOOD SHOPPING: UPTOWN MUSEUM SHOP AT THE FRICK COLLECTION, The Frick Collection Handbook of Paintings (Scala Publishers); $14.95 www.frick.org/shop 1 East 70th St. 212.547.6848 BARNEYS NEW YORK, Eugenia Kim Owen Trapper Hat; $525 www.barneys.com 2151 Broadway 646.335.0978 ANYA HINDMARCH, Georgiana Clutch Price Upon Request www.anyahindmarch.com 795 Madison Ave. 646.852.6233 CANINE STYLES, Horse Blanket Solid Coat (30”); $135 http://caninestyles.com 1195 Lexington (81st & 82nd) 212.472.9440 BOSE SHOWCASE STORE, Custom QuietComfort Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones; $399.95 www.bose.com 10 Columbus Circle 212.823.9314 ZABAR’S, Coffee Mug; $3.98. Zabar’s Tea; $8.98. www.zabars.com 2245 Broadway (at 80th St.) 212.580.4477 C. WONDER, Large Clover Stations Bracelet; $48 www.cwonder.com 10 Columbus Circle 212.956.9760 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY SHOP, Cuddlekins Plush Triceratops; $17.99 http://shop.amnh.org Central Park West at 79th St. 212.769.5100

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URBAN AGENDA New York City

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11/14/14 5:00:24 PM

BROADWAY MUSICALS

A JEWISH LEGACY How Jewish-Americans Forged The American Songbook via Broadway and Tin Pan Alley

BY LINDA

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ARNTZENIUS

ILLUSTRATIONS BY

JORGE NARANJO

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IRVING BERLIN

You won’t succeed on Broadway if you don’t have any Jews,” Eric Idle’s clever quip from Monty Python’s Spamalot never fails to elicit laughter from a Broadway audience. It’s long been taken for granted that the Broadway Musical is a particularly Jewish success story. Idle’s observation was expressed decades earlier by none other than Cole Porter, the exemplar of Broadway song composers.

Porter, who was not Jewish, was once asked how he would go about writing “American” music. “I’ll write good Jewish tunes,” he said.

Michael Kantor’s recent documentary, The Broadway Musical—A Jewish Legacy, celebrates the Jewish roots of this distinctly American form with a loving look at Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Kurt Weill, Sheldon Harnick, Jerry Bock, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, and Jule Styne, among many other giants of the Broadway stage.

That Jewish musicians played such an important creative role on Broadway should come as no surprise when you consider rich influences that go back to Jewish immigrants at the turn of the 20th century, to Tin Pan Alley and to the traditions of New York’s Yiddish theater. The contributions to the Broadway Musical and to what is now called, The Great American Songbook, by the offspring of Jewish immigrants to the United States at the turn of the 20th century is undeniable, non-Jews like Cole Porter, Hoagy Carmichael, George M. Cohan, Walter Donaldson, Jimmy McHugh, and Johnny Mercer, notwithstanding.

Just think of the popular songs that almost every American can hum, even if they might be unclear of the words or of a song’s origins. Irving Berlin’s “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas,” “Easter Parade,” and “God Bless America” spring to mind. The latter is more popular than the National Anthem, which some contend it should replace.

FROM “YIDDISHKEIT” TO PORGY TO CABARET Kantor’s 90-minute documentary looks at the history that made the Broadway musical fertile ground for Jewish artists of all kinds. Combining interviews with performance footage, he reveals echoes of Jewish traditional and liturgical melody in works such as Porgy and Bess (music by George Gershwin, lyrics by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin, 1935), West Side Story (music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, 1957) and Cabaret (music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, 1966). One example is George Gershwin’s melody to his brother Ira’s lyrics in “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” which has its origins in a chant with the Hebrew words “Bar’chu et adonai ham’vorach” that is intoned before a reading from the Torah.

Kantor, who also made the Emmy Award-winning Broadway: The American Musical and The Thomashefskys with Michael Tilson Thomas, both part of the PBS Great Performances Series, demonstrates how “Yiddishkeit” (all things Jewish) from turn of the twentieth century stages of the Lower East Side informs many of America’s favorite musicals.

Narrated by Joel Grey, The Broadway Musical—A Jewish Legacy is rich with interviews. You’ll find references to the contemporary and the historic—Zero Mostel in Fiddler on the Roof, Betty Comden and Adolph Green in On the Town, Nathan Lane in The Producers, Al Jolson in Sinbad, Fanny Brice in The Great Ziegfeld, Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl, Joel Grey in Cabaret, and Ethel Merman in Gypsy. Rare film clips show Irving Berlin singing “God Bless America,” and rehearsals for Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim’s Gypsy. Richard Rodgers can be seen and heard at the piano with the original stage star of South Pacific, William Tabbert, singing “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught.”

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GEORGE GERSHWIN

LEONARD BERNSTEIN

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RICHARD RODGERS

TIN PAN ALLEY No one is exactly sure how “Tin Pan Alley” got its name. According to legend, “tin pan” captures the cacophony of sound made by numerous song peddlers as they plunked out tunes on less than first rate upright pianos (“old joannas”).

And that seems like a good bet. A sidewalk plaque on West 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue commemorates the fact that around 1885, music publishers and song-pluggers hired to promote sales of sheet music—the method by which popular songs entered the market place in the days before recorded sound—began setting up shop on West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Ultimately, the name came to refer to the music business as a whole.

Tin Pan Alley’s beginnings coincided with a mass immigration of East European Jews to New York City in the early 1880s. Its heyday, around the time of World War I, was also a time when African Americans were moving North from the Southern states. Jewish and African American cultures came together in the burgeoning city.

As Rachel Rubin, professor of American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, points out in her essay, “Way Down Upon the Hudson River: Tin Pan Alley’s New York Triumph,” Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Al Jolson, Harold Arlen and other sons of Jewish European immigrants, were key Tin Pan Alley figures influenced not only by their own ancestry, but also “intimately wound up with their relationships to actual African Americans and with the sights and sounds of blackness.”

Their work, says Rubin, was heir to a tradition going back to Stephen Foster and popular 19th century minstrel shows. The syncopated rhythms of Irving Berlin’s “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” George and Ira Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm,” Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein’s “Ol’ Man River,” and Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler’s “Stormy Weather,” borrow from jazz to create a distinctly American sound.

George Gershwin put it like this: “I’d like to write of the melting pot, of New York City itself. This would allow for many kinds of music—black and white, Eastern and Western and would call for a style that should achieve, out of this diversity, an artistic unity.”

Such songs formed the musical accompaniment to an era of change. The early part of the 20th century saw women’s roles transformed (along with their hair and hemlines). Social and racial divides were relaxed in speakeasies, jazz clubs and music halls.

According to Rubin, “Tin Pan Alley” also meant a style of music tending initially toward ethnic novelty songs and later, in the “classic” period (from the mid-1920s on), toward 32-bar love songs relying heavily on internal rhymes and punning. These are the songs that provided fodder for Broadway’s early musical revues.

FROM BACK ALLEY TO FRONT AND CENTER STAGE Over time, as song sheets gave way to recorded sound, and vaudeville gave way to the musical review, a new genre emerged. Showboat, written in 1927 by the successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, is regarded as the first fully-developed musical. Kern supplied the music and Hammerstein, the lyrics, with, oddly enough, a bit of help from quintessential Englishman P.G. Wodehouse. With a beginning-to-end narrative plot instead of a series of songs with some segue dialog thrown in between, Showboat was the beginning of the end for the light operettas and follies-style reviews that had gone before. In the history of Broadway, it’s described as “a watershed.”

Sandwiched between George Gershwin’s 1924 Rhapsody in Blue and his 1935 “folk opera” Porgy and Bess, Showboat handles the serious issues of racial prejudice and tragic love with songs made fresh by contemporary singers today; classics like “Make Believe,” and “Can't Help Lovin’ That Man of Mine.”

Based on Edna Ferber’s bestselling novel of the same name, the musical follows the lives of performers, stagehands, and dock workers on a Mississippi River boat, The Cotton Blossom, over four decades from 1887 to 1927.

It’s interesting to note that Showboat came out on Broadway in the same year that Broadway performer Al Jolson belted out “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet,” in Hollywood’s first talking picture, The Jazz Singer. Things would never be the same again.

In 1930, Harvard professor Isaac Goldberg published the first serious academic examination of the American music business. He titled his book: Tin Pan Alley: A Chronicle of the American Popular Music Racket. Goldman used the word “racket” to deliberately convey the slightly derogatory reputation that Tin Pan Alley and Broadway had in the popular imagination. More than seven decades later that perception is most definitely gone. As Michael Kantor’s documentaries make clear, the Broadway Musical has been elevated to American icon status. U

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FURTHER READING/VIEWING Explorations on this topic on YouTube reveal some historic gems such as George M. Cohan with a very young Jimmy Durante in a rare dance scene, to mention just one item that will lead to hundreds of other snippets.

KURT WEILL

OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II

For more, visit: The National Museum of American Jewish History, www.nmajh.org.

DVDS George Gershwin Remembered PETER ADAM, 1987, AMERICAN MASTERS SERIES

Irving Berlin: An American Song AGNES NIXON, 2005

The Great American Songbook ANDREW J. KUEHN, HOSTED BY MICHAEL FEINSTEIN, 2003

BOOKS Immigration and American Popular Culture RACHEL RUBIN WITH JEFFREY MELNICK, 2006

American Popular Music: New Approaches to the Twentieth Century RACHEL RUBIN AND JEFFREY MELNICK, 2001

Tin Pan Alley: A Chronicle of the American Popular Music Racket ISAAC GOLDBERG, 1930

The American Popular Ballad of the Golden Era, 1924-1950 ALLEN FORTE, 1995

Yesterdays: Popular Song in America CHARLES HAMM, 1983

A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song JEFFREY MELNICK, 1986

Making Americans: Jews and the Broadway Musical ANDRE MOST, 2004

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11/17/14 11:32:39 AM

CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS Thursday, November

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The 2014 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from Central Park West & W. 77th Street to Seventh Avenue & W. 34th Street. 212.494.4495 Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park. After you skate, enjoy some holiday gift shopping or dine at the rinkside restaurant, Celsius (through January 4, 2015). www.bryantpark.org

Friday, November

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Opening of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker performed by the NYC Ballet at David H. Koch Theater (through January 3, 2015). www.nycballet.com Friday Night Dinner at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Health. Every Friday night, students from the Natural Gourmet Cookery School whip up three-course vegetarian dinners for the public. www. naturalgourmetinstitute.com

Sunday, November

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Tuesday, December

Some claim that the GreenFlea Market on the Upper West Side is the best indoor and outdoor market in Manhattan. The market occurs every Sunday and features a variety of vendors selling vintage furniture, artisanal food and artwork. www. greenfleamarkets.com

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Friday, December

10th Annual UNICEF Snowflake Ball at Cipriani Wall Street. This year’s host committee includes Andy Cohen, Kelly Ripa, Emmy Rossum, Kristen Bell, Sarah Silverman, Seth Meyers, and Chloe Grace Moretz. www.unicefusa.org

Emmanuelle Haïm and Le Concert d’Astrée perform at Lincoln Center. The period-instrument ensemble returns with arias from Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto, featuring soprano Natalie Dessay, fresh from her star turn as Cleopatra at the Met Opera. She will be joined by countertenor Christophe Dumaux. http://lc.lincolncenter.org New York Knicks vs. Miami Heat at Madison Square Garden. www. thegarden.com

Cinema Tuesdays at the French Institute Alliance Francaise (FIAF) showcasing a roster of contemporary and classic Francophone films (every Tuesday). www.fiaf.org Opening of the Columbus Circle Holiday Market in Central Park (runs through December 24). http://urbanspacenyc.com

Wednesday, December

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The iconic Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting at Rockefeller Plaza. www. rockefellercenter.com

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Cabaret Cinema, a weekly, Friday-night film series at the Rubin Museum of Art that includes regular film screenings and guest speakers. www.rubinmuseum.org

Saturday, December

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28th Annual “Miracle on Madison Avenue” in which 85 of the world’s most prestigious brands and retailers will donate 20 percent of their sales to The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (one day only). http:// madisonavenuebid.org The Manhattan wine mecca, Italian Wine Merchants, opens up its Studio del Gusto for hungry oenophiles with informal talks that pair vintage Italian wines with top notch cuisine (every Saturday night). www. italianwinemerchants.com

ONGOING

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Radio City Christmas Spectacular; Radio City Music Hall

Monday, December

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The Grand Central Partnership educates natives and tourists alike on the idiosyncrasies of the terminal and its surrounding neighborhood with a free weekly tour, from the sculpture court at 12:30p.m., 120 Park Avenue and 42nd Street (through December 26). www. grandcentralpartnership.nyc

Saturday, November

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Arlo Guthrie’s Annual Thanksgiving Concert at Carnegie Hall, including a foot-stomping rendition of “Alice’s Restaurant.” www.carnegiehall.org

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“Madame Cézanne;” Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sunday, December

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Park Avenue Tree lighting outside Brick Church. More than a hundred illuminated fir trees will light up Park Avenue in honor of the men and women who have lost their lives defending our country. www.fundforparkavenue.org

Welcome aboard! An evening at Christie’s in Rockefeller Plaza dedicated to the ocean. Honorees include Steve Curwood, host and executive producer of NPR’s program “Living on Earth,” Julie Packard, executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Rome Kirby, the only American sailor on the America’s cup-winning ORACLE crew. www.christies.com

New York City beard and mustache competition sponsored by Gotham City Beards at Irving Plaza. http:// gothamcitybeards.com

The 15th Annual Winter’s Eve at Lincoln Square, New York’s largest holiday festival. Lincoln Square’s sidewalks and public spaces will come alive with music, street performers, dancing, and food tastings. www.winterseve.nyc Jeff Koons discusses his new book, Jeff Koons: Conversations with Norman Rosenthal at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square. www.barnesandnoble.com

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Dewar’s holiday pop-up shop arrives at the Wythe Hotel in Manhattan. Guests will have the opportunity to taste Dewar’s 15-year old Scotch whiskey while shopping the latest men’s fashion and accessories brands. http://livetrue. dewars.com

HOLIDAY 2014

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Thursday, December

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Uptown Nights Roundtable celebrating African American musical legacies at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse. www. harlemstage.org

Friday, December

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Saturday, December

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Sunday, December

Justin Timberlake performs live at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. www. barclayscenter.com.

An Evening with Tim Burton at the 92nd Street Y turns the lens on the filmmaker who will be joined by Margaret Keane, an artist famous for haunting paintings of big-eyed children. They will discuss their art and their passion for the big screen. www.92y.org

Tuesday, December

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Art Exhibitions:

Coney Island Polar Bear Club New Year’s Day Swim. Are you brave enough to partake in this chilly dip into the Atlantic? www.polarbearclub.org 41st Annual New Year’s Day Marathon Benefit Reading at St. Mark’s Church inthe-Bowery. Over 140 New York poets, artists, and performers gather to recite their work before a crowd of listeners. http://poetryproject.org

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Z100’s Jingle Ball at Madison Square Garden with performances by Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, and Pharell. www. thegarden.com

Progressive International Motorcycle Show at the Javits Center (through December 14). www.motorcycleshows.com

Thursday, January

Rumple Who? A live-action musical adaptation of “Rumpelstiltskin” for kids at the 13th Street Repertory Theatre (occurs weekly). www.13thstreetrep.org

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Wednesday, January

Performance of Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall. www.carnegiehall.org PlayWorks, a brand-new, 4,000 squarefoot exhibit space at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, is open every Tuesday through Sunday and is designed for kids from infancy through preschool with multiple levels of interactive play. http://cmom.org

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Start of the New York Jewish Film Festival at Walter Reade Theater (runs through January 29). www.nyjff.org The Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History hosts “Field Trip to the Moon,” in which the planetarium ceiling fills with awesome simulations of our moon’s violent creation. A wonderful experience for children of all ages. www.amnh.org

“Madame Cézanne;” Metropolitan Museum of Art “Dance & Fashion;” The Museum at FIT “New Territories;” Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) “Sebastião Salgado: Genesis;” International Center of Photography “A Shared Legacy: Folk Art in America;” American Folk Art Museum “Masterpieces from the Scottish National Gallery;” The Frick Collection “Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage;” New-York Historical Society “Sublime: The Prints of J.M.W. Turner and Thomas Moran;” The New York Public Library “Crossing Brooklyn: Art from Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, and Beyond;” Brooklyn Museum “Witness at a Crossroads: Photographer Marc Riboud in Asia;” Rubin Museum of Art

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Saturday, December

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NY Rangers vs. New Jersey Devils at Madison Square Garden. www. thegarden.com

Wednesday, December

Sunday, January

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Countdown to 2015 as the New Year’s Eve Ball descends from the flagpole atop One Times Square. An estimated one million people congregate in Times Square for this event and billions of people watch worldwide. www. timessquarenyc.org

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New Year’s Eve Fireworks in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. A favorite of families, the celebration begins in Grand Army Plaza with hot drinks and live music. www.prospectpark.org

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Na-Ni Chen Dance Company celebrates the Chinese New Year with a presentation of traditional Chinese arts at the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College. www.brooklyncenter.org

Saturday, January

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Chinese New Year Firecracker Ceremony and Cultural Festival at Sara D. Roosevelt Park on Chrystie Street.

The Better Chinatown Society will light nearly 500,000 firecrackers to welcome the Year of the Goat. http:// betterchinatown.com

HOLIDAY 2014

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ONGOING

“Masterpieces from the Scottish National Gallery;” The Frick Collection

Theatre Performances: Radio City Christmas Spectacular; Radio City Music Hall Matilda: The Musical; Shubert Theatre Pippin; Music Box Theatre Once: The Musical; Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time; Barrymore Theatre The Last Ship; Neil Simon Theatre You Can’t Take It With You; Longacre Theatre Cabaret; Roundabout at Studio 54 Indian Ink; Laura Pels Theatre

JANUARY

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his holiday season, shop Palmer Square for everyone on your list.

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11/17/14 9:57:35 AM

Gramercy A LO LOOK INSIDE NEW YORK’S PRIVATE OASIS AND ITS STAR-STUDDED BUILDINGS

Park

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(LEFT)

Gated entrance to the park, facing Art Deco style skyscraper Chrysler Building. (TOP) Landmarked 1840s Greek Revival red brick townhouses face the park.

T’S BEEN LOCKED SINCE 1844.

Only residents of the Gramercy Park neighborhood are given a key. These residents include Alexander Rower, a grandson of sculptor Alexander Calder, and Samuel G. White, whose great-grandfather was architect Stanford White (of McKim, Mead & White).

Every year, the locks and keys to the two-acre oasis that is the city’s only private park are changed. You even need a key to exit through one of four wrought iron gates. No longer made of gold, as they were in the mid 1800s, the keys are a nickel alloy manufactured by Medeco—and they cannot be duplicated.

There are about 400 keys, and a third are held by doormen and concierges.

Residents who hold the remaining keys must pay $350 a year—and replacement keys costs $1,000. But that’s just a fraction of the cost of entree.

Each of the 39 buildings on the park pays a yearly assessment of $7,500 per lot, funding the park’s maintenance.

If you are fortunate enough to have a key, you’ll see at the park’s center a bronze statue of noted 19th-century actor Edwin Booth in the role of Hamlet.

(Those without a key can see it through the South Gate—binoculars help.) A great American actor and founder of the Booth Theatre, Edwin’s reputation was tarnished when his brother, John Wilkes Booth, assassinated President Lincoln.

The bronze was erected in 1916 by The Players Club, founded by Booth nearly 25 years after his brother’s crime (for which Edwin disowned him). The club’s mission is to bring actors into contact with men of different professions such as industrialists, writers and other creative artists. A National Historic Landmark at 16 Gramercy Park, The Players Club has a membership that includes prominent bankers, lawyers and businessmen, as well as writers, journalists, sculptors, architects and painters. Liza Minelli, Dick Cavett and Walter Cronkite have been members. The Greek Revival building, modeled after London’s Garrick Club, still has the original gaslights at its entryway.

Bronzed Booth, clad in tunic and cape, is surrounded by formal gardens

edged in boxwood. On a recent day, yellow leaves were raining over the beds and a Calder sculpture moved with the wind as residents gathered on a bench for conversation. Outside the park, pedestrians jogged, walked dogs or pushed strollers.

Those who are privileged to have access may read the paper, meditate or come up with a brilliant idea. Cyrus Field conceived the trans-Atlantic cable here. But there are no dogs, no alcohol, no smoking, no bicycling, no hardball, no lawn furniture, no Frisbees and no feeding the birds and squirrels— Gramercy Park Trustees drafted these rules in 2003. Even photo sessions are verboten, ever since revelers at a wedding shoot trampled the begonias.

When E. B White set his 1945 children’s literary classic “Stuart Little” in Gramercy Park, he described it as “a pleasant place near a park in New York City.” In Woody Allen’s 1993 “Manhattan Murder Mystery,” Diane Keaton and Alan Alda, at a wine tasting at the National Arts Club at 15 Gramercy Park, remark on the beauty of the place.

Astors, Morgans, Rockefellers and Roosevelts lived in Gramercy Park, designated a historic district in 1966. Oscar Wilde, James Cagney, John Steinbeck, Thomas Edison, Uma Thurman, Winona Ryder, Jimmy Fallon and Rufus Wainwright have been residents. John Barrymore lived in the Stanford White-designed “Stuyvesant Fish House” at 19 Gramercy Park.

The neighborhood’s boundaries are 14th Street to the south, First Avenue to the east, 23rd Street to the north, and Park Avenue South to the west.

Surrounding neighborhoods are the Flatiron District, Union Square, the East Village, Stuyvesant Town, Peter Cooper Village and Kips Bay. At the beginning of the 19th century, Gramercy Park was a swamp. In 1831, attorney Samuel B. Ruggles, an urban visionary and open-space advocate, filled in the swamp and landscaped it. He deeded two acres to be used as a park surrounded and maintained by a residential neighborhood. Laying out the park is cited as one of the first attempts at city planning in the nation.

Modeled after a London square, Gramercy Park was always intended to be exclusive to residents. The 10-foot iron gate went up in 1833.

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PHOTOS BY (CLOCKWISE): JEFFREY ZELDMAN, EDWIN LAND, TY LAW

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PHOTO SOURCE: WWW.GRAMERCYPARKHOTEL.COM (TOP)

Gramercy Park Hotel's 480 square-foot suite with king room and living room. (ABOVE) Maialino, the hotel's Italian trattoria.

CLOISTERED REALM OF DOMESTIC TRANQUILITY Not much changes architecturally in a historic district, but in 2012, 18 Gramercy Park South—at one time the Salvation Army's Parkside Evangeline Residence for Women and most recently a facility of the School of Visual Arts—was sold to developers for conversion into condos by Robert A. M. Stern, including a $42 million penthouse duplex. The 17-story building is the tallest around the park and dates from 1927. Marketing materials for the residence proclaim “In each great city of the world, the most privileged residents claim an area of refuge. A private quarter where the urban bustle does not intrude. In London’s Berkeley Square or the Place Vendôme in Paris, the urban elite reserves to itself a cloistered realm of domestic tranquility… A place of architectural distinction. A place where genteel living is its own reward.”

But sometimes there is trouble in Paradise. When billionaire but absentee homeowners install pools and geothermal wells, creating traffic disruptions and cacophony in the otherwise peaceful retreat, neighbors are not pleased.

You can catch the latest installment with pinpointing detail on the blog of the Gramercy Park Block Association: www.gramercyparkblockassociation.org.

The GPBA formed in 1994 after the son of a resident was brutally beaten outside his home by a gang of twenty. GPBA is dedicated to public safety, crime prevention, historic preservation and quality-of-life issues, and defeated plans for a men’s shelter to be opened at the Armory on Lexington Avenue between 25th and 26th Streets. The shelter would have included sex offenders, ex-convicts and substance abusers, according to GPBA news.

Like any other community association, GPBA brings residents together: witness a Menorah Lighting, Christmas Eve Caroling, Easter Egg Hunt, National Night Out Against Crime and an annual members’ party. There are charitable initiatives enabling residents to give to the less fortunate: clothing and pantry drives help children, low-income, formerly homeless, chronically ill and the elderly.

If you really want to get into the park, your options include wrangling an invitation from a resident friend (key holders are allowed up to five guests). If you’re a member in good standing of the National Arts Club, The Players Club, the Brotherhood Synagogue or Calvary-St. George’s Church, you can get a key. Or, book a room at the century-old Gramercy Park Hotel, where the walls display a rotating selection of artwork by Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Richard Prince, Tom Wesselman and other 20th-century luminaries.

HUMPHREY BOGART SLEPT HERE The 90-year-old hotel received a 21st century facelift from Oscar-nominated director and artist Julian Schnabel in 2006. Based on his dream of a Renaissance Revival style, there are handcrafted Moroccan tiles and Italian fireplaces. Bronze door handles, curtain rods and finials were individually forged by Schnabel. Each of the 185 guest rooms and suites features a one-of-a-kind selection of hand-stitched leather-topped desks, red velvet curtains and mahogany English drinking cabinets. Guests at the Gramercy Park Hotel have included Humphrey Bogart, Babe Ruth, John F. Kennedy, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Madonna and U2.

President and Michelle Obama ate in Maialino, the Gramercy Park Hotel’s Italian trattoria, last year, before viewing the Broadway revival of “A Raisin in the Sun.” Danny Meyer’s celebrated Union Square Hospitality Group, recipient of 20-plus James Beard Foundation Awards, created the food and beverage concepts for the hotel’s restaurants. In season, there is dining on the rooftop garden, accompanied by one of the best views of the New York skyline.

Room rates begin at $629. But before you tuck in, don’t forget the park, which closes at dusk. U

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Alvar Aalto 900 tea trolley, $3,350 www.aalto.com

Vintage Alhambra Watch, price upon request; www.vancleefarpels.com

Alhambra Necklace, price upon request; www.vancleefarpels.com

Product selection by Lynn Adams Smith

Thomas O’Brien Hicks 2 Light Pendant, $735; www.visual comfortlighitinglisghts.com

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URBAN AGENDA New York City

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Modern ART RIVA Manico in Icy White, combined with JUNIOR Manico Sand Oak.

FLAGSHIP SHOWROOM A&D Building 150 East 58th St., 7th FL New York, NY 10155 212-308-3880

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Regency carved console, Modern History Home, $2,252; www. laylagrayce.com E.F. Chapman Devon 4 light Chandelier, $587; www.visualcomfort lightinglights.com Sevan Bicakci diamond ying sparrow earrings, price upon request; www.barneys.com Burberry Llght steel blue pumps, $475; www.burberry.com

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Product selection by Lynn Adams Smith

A WELL-DESIGNED LIFE Alice triple strand pearls, $995; www.barneys.com Ari D. Norman feather letter opener, $235; www.barneys.com Chichester Sofa, price upon request; www. laylagrayce.com Lanvin Happy medium blue shoulder bag, $2,490; www.barneys. com

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A WELL-DESIGNED LIFE Heracleum suspension light, $2,649; hivemodern.com Bernhardt Meredith chair, price upon request; www.luxehomecompany.com Burberry buckle detail leather boot, $1,395; www.burberry.com David Yurman Renaissance Cable aluminum bracelet, price upon request; Hartgers Jewelers www.hartgersjewelers.com Global Views Manvel side table, $699; www.horchow.com Miya Rug, ivory and charcoal, prices vary with size; www.restorationhardware.com

Product selection by Lynn Adams Smith

Marni convertible backpack/hobo bag, $1,370; www.barneys.com

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TWIG

Renovations

Award Winning Remodeling & Craftsmanship Architectural Rebuilding Kitchens • Bathrooms • Additions Michael A. Davis CGR/CAPS/CGP/GMR/GMB Home Renovation & Historic Restoration Specialist Mobile: 973-420-8150 email: mdavis.twig@icloud.com

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Ippolita Rock Candy Gelato, 5 stone bangle cognac citrine, price upon request; The Mall at Short HIlls, Saks Fifth Avenue 973.376.7000

Ippolita Rock Candy Gelato, 18K gold Newport Earrings, $2,995; The Mall at Short HIlls, Saks Fifth Avenue 973.376.7000

Impresario Wall Sconce, Currey & Co., price upon request; Lillian August Furnishings & Design 212.206.1883

San Miguel Rug, prices vary with size; artsandcraftsrugs.net

Yippee Kay Yay Celeste Remaster Western Boot, Old Gringo, $249; www.countryoutďŹ tter.com

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Campomaggi studded small shopper tote, $560; www.barneys.com Montpellier glass sideboard, prices vary with size; restorationhardware.com

Product selection by Lynn Adams Smith

A WELL-DESIGNED LIFE

URBAN AGENDA New York City

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destinations: Cruising the White Boulevards of Colorado

by Taylor smith Vail Mountain Resort, Vail, Colorado

Why not Go?

Heaven for advanced skiers, Vail is steep and snow covered. The main two centers are Vail Village and Lionshead. Golden Peak is near Vail Village and offers access to the mountain, a beginner ski school, and lift area.

Why not Transportation within Go? the town of Vail is also convenient. Town of Vail buses are free and run regularly from the eastern end of Vail Village to the western end of Lionshead.

ECO Transit operates a bus service between Vail, Beaver Creek, and throughout Eagle County.

Vail is located 100 miles west of Denver International Airport. The two-hour drive from the airport is quite easy and very scenic. Apres ski begins around 3pm and extends well into the night.

What to Do: The Mountain Information Center is the number one source for reservations, dining recommendations, and the best kept secrets in town. The office is located in the Arrabelle Plaza at Lionshead.

There is always live music at The Red Lion, a traditional ski bar, along with Shakedown Bar, and Vail Ale House. The Vail Underground is the best dancing joint in town. Garfinkel’s has a huge deck for après ski people watching at the base of the mountain. Sarah’s Lounge is a Vail après tradition and is located in the Christiana Lodge.

T

here is more to Aspen/Snowmass, Vail, and Beaver Creek than just world class skiing. These Colorado resorts deliver it all—fine dining, distinctive nightlife, shopping, and cosmopolitan base villages. Sunny days are frequent and the snow is deep. Add to that the dramatic mountain vistas and western attitude, and it’s no wonder that these resorts are considered to be some of the best in North America.

Where to Eat:

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.com

Guests can find upscale dining along with Western-style barbecue and bar fare. Game Creek Restaurant is nestled just below Eagle’s Nest, at the top of the Game Creek chair lift.

The five-star American cuisine is accompanied by beautiful views of the Game Creek Bowl. The 10th is a popular modern, Alpine restaurant that overlooks the dramatic Gore Range. For dining al fresco there is Talon’s Deck Outdoor Grill and Sarge’s BBQ. Both are great options on a sunny day.

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Images courtesy of Beaver Creek

BEAVER CREEK, BEAVER CREEK, CO Beaver Creek Ski and Snowboard School WHY NOT is considered the Ivy GO? League of ski schools, perfect for beginners and inexperienced skiers. The resort has also been the recipient of the National Ski Area Association’s Best Overall Safety Award. More than many other ski resorts, Beaver Creek promotes the utmost safety through on-mountain patrolling, employee emergency training, and skier education.

More than a mountain, Beaver Creek is a luxury resort that includes three villages.

Guests can walk the cobble stone streets, shop at upscale retailers, and dine on freshly prepared cuisine. Be sure to accompany your meal with a fine bottle of wine to suit those alpine views.

What to Do: Treat yourself and three guests to the ultimate vacation with Beaver Creek’s White Glove Package for the 2014/2015 season. The package includes all transportation, firstclass airfare, and a private on-mountain cabin. After arriving at Vail/Beaver Creek’s Eagle Airport (EGE) a private helicopter will bring you and your friends to the Beaver Creek ski resort. Upon arrival, a Ski School Ambassador will deliver a champagne toast and lead you to Trappers Cabin. The cabin-stay includes a private chef who will prepare gourmet meals at any time of day.

The package also includes four Epic Passes, apparel from Helly Hansen, and more. Book your White Glove Package by calling (877) 774-6223.

Images courtesy of Aspen/Snowmass

What to Eat: 3PM at Beaver Creek means it is cookie time at the base of the mountain. This tradition has evolved into a daily event where weary skiers are greeted with trays of pipinghot chocolate chip cookies. Guests can bring some of the mountain home with them by purchasing a gift set of chocolate chip cookies from the Beaver Creek Cookie Company.

Dine in one of the three villages or on the mountain-top itself. Many of the local chefs are inspired by the flora and fauna of Colorado, utilizing the freshest of ingredients. Steakhouses and saloons accompany wine and tapas bars. Guests will be able to choose from thin-crust pizzas, elk steaks, and seafood.

ASPEN/SNOWMASS, ASPEN, CO At any other place, Aspen/Snowmass would amount to four separate vacations. Snowmass, Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, and Buttermilk make up more than 5,300 acres of terrain. Not for those with a fear of heights, Snowmass boasts the longest lift-served vertical rise in the United States.

WHY NOT GO?

For something quick and casual, try 520 Grill, which serves up vegetarian fare, healthy burgers, and creative sandwiches. Cache Cache delivers some of the most authentic Frenchinspired cuisine outside of Europe. Also, the atmosphere is lively and fun. Expect to see Hollywood stars dining alongside fellow skiers.

What to Do: Aspen Mountain and its blackdiamond terrain has been a favorite of serious skiers since 1947. With 3,332 acres of terrain, 94 trails, and 21 chairlifts, Snowmass also includes the most vertical feet (4,406) of any ski resort in the country. Both mountains are perfect destinations for snowboarders, as well with access to terrain parks and halfpipes. The villages at the base of each mountain offer Kids’ Adventure Centers, a wide range of dining, and festive bars.

For Travel Details: www.vail.com | www.beavercreek.com | www.aspensnowmass.com

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What to Eat:

URBAN AGENDA New York City

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OFF THE WALL

A body of new work by Malcolm Bray which introduces an assemblage of furniture painted in oil that employs the flair of their neighboring abstract canvases

THRU DEC. 30/2014 202 NORTH UNION ST UA_adtemplate.indd 1

2ND FLOOR LAMBERTVILLE NJ 08530 609 397 1858 www.malcolmbray.com 11/14/14 11:40:05 AM

Middletown

Mendham

Rumson

One of the last great estates in the area. The natural beauty of Highland Farm will delight and amaze. From the custom built home to the equestrian facility to the working farm. 51 plus acre retreat, with approved subdivision in place.

Christina Poulson, Middletown Office: 732-747-5600. $10,750,000

French country main residence renovated in 2008 and antique cottage, pony barn and horse stables, well house and pond on 10 acres. Bryan Seavey, Mendham Office: 973-543-1000. $3,199,000

Capture the essence of what made Rumson synonymous with gracious living. Turn-of-the-century seashore Colonial replete with exquisite details, has been restored to perfection by current owner. Gloria Nilson, Shrewsbury Office: 732-842-6181. $2,525,000

Princeton

Princeton

Princeton

Serenely blending into its lush landscape, thoroughly upgraded to incorporate a pool, patio, walking paths and deck - this home sparkles! The natural light is maximized throughout the day in rooms that exude a designer feel. Alison Covello, Princeton Office: 609-921-2600. $1,888,000

A gracious portico welcomes you into this 5,700 square foot brick, Georgian Colonial. Nestled on a cul-de-sac, this spacious home affords privacy and wooded views, yet is within a comfortable walking distance to town. Anne Nosnitsky, Princeton Office: 609-921-2600. $1,825,000

A gracious double-height entry foyer welcomes you to this charming custom-built French country manor in Princeton’s Pond View neighborhood.

The open plan offers wonderfully detailed informal living spaces and inviting formal rooms. Judith Stier, Princeton Office: 609-921-2600. $1,785,000

Holmdel

Wall

South Brunswick Twp

Impressive estate offers privacy and extraordinary quality. Designed with an open and flexible floor plan ideal for formal entertaining and casual family living. The master suite boasts breathtaking New York skyline views. Mario Venancio, Rumson Office: 732-530-2800. $1,599,000

Idyllic! Set on a bluff overlooking the Manasquan River with multi-level decks leading to the water & dock. This custom home offers 5/6 bedrooms, family room with fireplace, screened in porch and finished basement. James McKeon, Point Pleasant Beach Office: 732-899-8299. $1,149,000

This one-of-a-kind custom Contemporary has something for everyone; indoor pool, garden room, library, and big open rooms for entertaining highlights this beautiful treed setting with pond views. Linda Schwarz, South Brunswick Office: 732-398-2601. $874,900

glorianilson.com

Bay Head, 732-295-8099

Bernardsville, 908-221-1244

Brick, 732-920-6060

Holmdel, 732-946-3200

Hopewell Crossing, 609-737-9100

Keyport, 732-264-3456

Manalapan, 732-536-2000

Mendham, 973-543-1000

Middletown, 732-747-5600

Monroe Twp, 609-395-6600

Ocean Twip, 732-493-4900

Pt Pleasant Beach, 732-899-8299

Princeton, 609-921-2600

Princeton Junction, 609-452-2188

Robbinsville, 609-259-2711

Rumson, 732-530-2800

Shrewsbury, 732-842-6009

South Brunswick, 732-398-2601

Spring Lake, 732-449-3200

Wall Township, 732-449-5555

Washington Crossing, 215-862-2074

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