Awful weather in New York yesterday. Dead thick heat; oppressive air where you can feel slightly nauseous or headache-y after walking a block. And more promised for today. A doctor told a friend that the air was “dangerous” and that people should stay in as much as possible.
I was not one of those. I went to lunch at Michael’s which was bustling (there were also a notable number of limousines outside, leading me to believe that fewer were walking).
I was lunching with Pamela Gross, the editorial director of Avenue magazine, which is the direct competition of Quest (where I am editor-in-chief). Pamela and I have been friends for years (before any of the current circumstances) and lunch regularly every few weeks, exchanging opinions more than information And observations. She and her husband, media investor Jimmy Finkelstein have a weekend house in Southampton on what used to be a quiet tree shaded lane that leads to the Meadow Club (the private tennis club) and the beach. Like everywhere else, that quiet little street is now referred to by Pamela as a “highway” and she and her husband live right on a “main intersection.” When people talk about the watering holes of the rich these days, the first thing they mention is the traffic.
Jimmy Finkelstein and Pamela Gross
Connections. Among the guests at the tables in Michael’s were Barry Diller with Paramount’s Brad Grey; Bob Schieffer with a very attractive younger woman, Teddy Forstmann; menswear and home furnishings designer Alexander Julian with U2’s Larry Mullen Jr. (on crutches). Around the room: Richard Holbrooke hosting (or guesting with) two attractive ladies, one of whom was taking notes. On the other side of us was Mr. Manolo’s president George Malkemus with Candy Pratts Price; moving on in, Quest’s owner/publisher Chris Meigher with Sharp Communications' (PR) Jim Brodsky; Judy Price with Somers Farkas. Mrs. Price founded Avenue magazine about 30 years ago and ran it with the style and the drive of a controversial thoroughbred. This writer served there as E-I-C in the late 90s before she sold it (and I left with JH to start NYSD and join Quest). Her husband, Peter Price, President of the National Television Academy (the Emmys), was at another table with Bill Small and David Winn. Around the room: Andrew Heyward, BizBash’s David Adler, Jacqui Lividini; Pamela Keogh with Joe Montabello; Peggy Siegal, Jack Myers, Henry Schlieff and Richard Liebner; Sylvester and Gillian Miniter with Steven Stolman and Liz Finkle.
The Miniters, Stolman and Finkle are involved in the upcoming 3rd annual Fete de Swifty, an event founded by Liz Smith with a group of friends (including this writer, the aforementioned Peter Rogers, Chris Meigher and Robert Caravaggi) to raise money for the Mayor’s Fund which runs programs helping individuals in the community. Introducing a new charity into the social mix is not much different from introducing a new business or a new product. It takes a lot of engaging the people with the right ingredients to get these things off the ground. It helps bigtime if Liz Smith is leading the crew, or if the Mayor is willing to appear, but it still takes stick-to-it-iveness to grow it. This year, with Nicole Kidman serving as honorary chair (and a major donor to the cause), it looks like we’ve got a hit on our hands. Fete de Swifty – an evening of fun, drinks, eats (lotsa eats) dancing, auctions, partying, on all in a block party on East 73rd between Lexington and Third. September 25th from 6 to 9. Tickets: $350, $500 and $1,000. Associates Tickets: $150 (under 42). Call 212-573-6933 to reserve.
After lunch, riding home through the Park. There were no horse drawn carriages as one usually sees by the score during the day. And only two joggers (walking) on a path where there are hundreds, maybe thousands daily. One jogger, a woman of undetermined age looked like she was about to keel over. The cycle cabs were proliferating, however, carrying their brave (or unconscious) cargo.
Sirio and Casey
Last night. Dinner at Le Cirque, guest of Mrs. Casey Ribicoff, truly is one of the Best Dressed Women in the world. Widow of the late great senator from Connecticut, Abe Ribicoff, Casey is from the old school of fashionable New York women. Your eyes follow her when she enters a room because you’re looking at pure, unadulterated style. A pleasure on the eye. I mention this in detail because Mrs. Ribicoff’s look and style define the words: sophisticated, chic, cosmopolitan; the picture of New York. Mrs. Ribicoff’s other guests were Adolfo, the Cuban-born American fashion designer.
Adolfo closed his business and retired several years ago. He loves London which he travels to every few weeks. He loves to read and always has the latest books from Heywood-Hill, the bookshop on Curzon Street. And with us also was Peter Rogers, our acerbic, generous friend who is in the habit of calling it the way he sees it (so duck if he doesn’t like what he’s seeing); whose cleverness with words made him a small fortune (“What Becomes A Legend Most,” “If You Don’t Look Good, We Don’t Look Good”) so that he can spend his days painting in his hilltop studio up in Litchfield County. Peter said it was so hot in Litchfield that when he got into his pool to cool off, it was hotter than his bath. So he got out and went into the house for a cold shower.
Le Cirque was packed (and comfortably cool). I saw few familiar faces partly because my back was to the room, but I did Claudia Cohen arriving, and Vogue’s Andre Leon Talley. Bill and Nancy O’Shaughnessy were entertaining at a large round table.
Le Cirque’s doors have been open for several weeks now. Sirio Maccioni brand of hospitality has been popular with the New York smart set since his youth when he worked at The Colony. He is one of the most successful restaurateurs of the past 40 years in New York. With his three sons, Mauro, Mario and Marco, he’s built a small empire with Le Cirque. There is another in Las Vegas (where tycoons from all over the West fly in on their private jets for an evening’s meal) and in Mexico City. They also own Osteria del Circo on West 55th Street. This is the third inarnation of Le Cirque, now located in the brand new Beacon Court glass tower across the street from Bloomingdales, and now world headquarters for Bloomberg Media as well as a private residential tower for some of the wealthiest citizens (or visiting citizens) in New York.
There was a lot of back-and-forths amongst the Sirio/LeCirque clientele about this new location. It was interesting to observe the trepidation the clientele had about the change, the new. That trepidation continued right up to the open night and the first couple of weeks. Holding their breaths to see how it would play. They’re breathing freely again (if they can get a table), and the place is singing Sirio’s Grand Opera.
Swifty's
Meanwhile, same time, last night, up the Avenue into the hinterlands of the Upper East Side of living and living legend, Swifty’s was keeping them cool table by table. Among those fleeing the temp for cooler times were Mary McFadden, Shirley Lord Rosenthal, Mr. and Mrs. Steve Sherrill; NBC’s Perri Peltz with Sandy Golinkin, Mark Gilbertson with Jeff Sharp, Hannah Pakula, John Goodrich;Jim Liebenthal with Betty Evans et al, Jim Zirin and Marlene Hess, Judith Chiara, Dorothy Robinson.
Mary. Casey Ribicoff was telling us over dinner that driving down the street today, she saw a woman walking along with a tennis bag. Amazed that anyone was going out to play tennis in this air, she was even more amazed as she got closer to see that it was Mary McFadden. Mrs. R’s driver stopped so that she could ask Mary what she was doing out in this heat. “I’m on my way home from a game, “ Mary said, “I love the heat.”
There are some of us like that. Mary McFadden, also, like her friend Mrs. Ribicoff, one of the Best Dressed Women in the world and one of the most interesting and dynamic women you could meet anywhere, loves heat so much she takes Hotbox Yoga sessions twice a week with the temperature at 106 degrees. It’s cleansing in many ways, according to Mary. Whatever you’ve got in you that shouldn’t be there, you exercise and/or sweat out. Which is what New York is doing right now; sweating it out.
