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| A Spring sunset across the Hudson. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch. |
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| Thursday, May 23, 2013. Warm and sunny with temperatures in the mid-70s, yesterday in New York. Accompanied by the weatherman’s lurking predictions of thunderstorms and potentially high winds, now predicted for today. I went down to the Wednesday Michael’s to lunch with Jamee Gregory who contributes to the NYSD from time to time, and has published two big coffee table books on New York Apartments and New York Parties.
Telling me about her latest trip – where she stayed at her favorite hotel on the beach, Shutters – and got up at six to have her morning walk along the beach walk – sparked a nostalgic conversation about living out there, life out there, the climate out there, and how much I loved living out there. But you’ve already heard that rap out of me before. I haven’t lived out there in two decades, and from what I hear it is not the same as it used to be. (What is?) The First Complaint is: traffic. I “have no idea,” so I am told. People now don’t drive everywhere anymore because it takes forever. Bumper to bumper gridlock. A friend of mine who now lives here but lived out there when I did, just returned from visit a couple of weeks ago. She waxed on – briefly – about why we like it, but then ... the traffic. Staying on the West Side, one night she had a dinner date in West Hollywood. What used to be a twelve minute drive was more than a half hour when she realized she was only halfway there. She turned around and went back to where she was staying. The cause: too many cars. It’s the same cry you hear in New York. The only thing that could change everything is lack of energy resource, i.e, oil. Although ... that’s another story. |
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| Los Angeles is the only great metropolis on the planet that came into being in the 20th century distinctly because of the automobile. There was a big moment back in the 1930s when the oil companies and the automobile and tire manufacturers conspired and bought up the mass transit companies and put them out of business – so they could own the market. That was back when there were lots of still open fields running between the different towns of L.A. country – West Hollywood, Westwood, Hancock Park, Larchmont, etc., and very little of the San Fernando Valley that was settled. Back in those days people took the bus or the Red Car, a trolley that ran all the way from downtown Los Angeles to the beach. Then the Big Boys got in the picture and literally put a stop to it. What they ended up with was a massive urban sprawl that even under the circumstances is still a magnet for a lot of people (not only Americans) who respond to it like Jamee and me. |
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| It sounds like they’re getting to crisis proportion, if not already there. Something will simply put a stop to it. Mother Nature probably has something in mind. She always does and she never tires, if you'll pardon my punditry. Southern California is still a gorgeous place to live and dream (and work, of course), however. A couple of weeks ago when I spoke with RJ Wagner at the Jazz at Lincoln Center annual gala, we were sharing a similar conversation about the place. Wagner and his wife Jill St. John now live mainly in Aspen, keeping only a condo in LA. “We saw the best of it,” he remarked. |
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Michael’s was its busy busy self. Dan Rather put in an appearance, lunching at a corner table with Eliot Sptitzer. Right next door to them, Da Mayah of Michael’s, Joe Armstrong was present for the first time in many weeks, back from two months in Jerusalem working on one of Paul Newman’s special school projects, lunching with Dave Zinczenko and his partner who have just re-launched Men’s Fitness. Right next door, Donny Deutsch with two ladies. At Table one, the Hollywoodlife.com gang -- Bonnie Fuller, Gerry Byrne, Carlos Lamadrid were hosting a tableful of media and public relations honchos.
Around the room:Andrew Stein; Nick Verbitsky of United Stations, Jonathan Wald, producer of Piers Morgan; Christine Taylor; investment banker Steven Greenberg, son of the late, fabled Hank; James Cohen, CEO of Hudson News; arts and antiques journalist Wendy Moonan; Jim Casella of Case Interactive; Hedge Fund owner/manager Jim Chanos; Van Schley; Kevin O’Malley, V-P,, Publisher of ELLE; Richard LeFrak and sons Harrison and Jamie; Hamptons editor Cristina Greeven Cuomo, with Ralph Destino Jr.; producer Jean Doumanian; Warner Brothers VP Dave Dyer; Mark Healy; investor Ralph Isham; Mega Agent/Manager Wayne Kabak; Manolo’s brilliant partner George Malkemus; Ken Mehlman; Elaine Papas, book editor Rob Weisbach; Michael Cominotto; and scores more just like ‘em. Last month in Paris, The American Friends of the Paris Opera & Ballet organized a Patrons’ Trip to Paris to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the creation by Louis XIV of the French School of Dance (the oldest dance school in the Western World). It was a very successful and elegant trip, great fun for its twenty subscribers. The daytime program included visits to private homes; a private lunch at the Maison Kraemer, antiquaires on Parc Monceau; an outing to Domaine Pommery in Champagne, and a fantastic gala at the Palais Garnier, home of the Paris Opera, where they were given a backstage tour including the rare privilege of seeing a dress rehearsal. |
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| The evening program included performances of ballets and opera at both opera houses – Garnier and Bastille. The opening night (Friday the 12th) included a reception at the Residence of the American Ambassador Charles Rivkin, to which a few French patrons, and Paris Opera' officials had also been invited. It was an occasion to not only celebrate the "Tricentenaire" but also the French-American friendship, and to extend a special thank you to Regina and Gregory Annenberg for an exceptional gift. The closing night was the black-tie gala (performance and supper) at the Palais Garnier chaired by Lily Safra. These photographs give you an idea of just how fantastic a trip it was. |
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Meanwhile, three days ago way down south along the Riviera at Cannes, Denise Rich (the former American citizen/heiress) hosted a dinner and after party on her yacht M/Y Lady Joy in the old port of Cannes for her friends, producers James Toback and Michael Mailer, executive producers Alan Helene, Larry Herbert and Neal Schneider and their wives Marie Helene, Michele Herbert and Stacy Schneider after the premiere at the 66th Annual Festival de Cannes, of their film “Seduced and Abandoned” starring Alec Baldwin.
It was an intimate dinner for 50 on deck. There were speeches and eloquent and otherwise “thank-you’s,” all encouraged by the fact that it was over, that they’d got this far – from concept to completion to Cannes. They’d come a long way baby, and it’s not a slap a tickle getting there. Shortly after dinner an after-party commenced and continued well into the wee hours of the night on the Mediterranean. Guests were in high spirits, thanks in part – according to a PR messenger I know – to a steady supply of U’Luvka Vodka and 100 cases of Perrier-Jouet. Over, and out. Yes they had a very good time. I don’t know about the morning after ... The film features fascinating portraits of Martin Scorsese, Bernardo Bertolucci, Ryan Gosling, Jessica Chastain, Francis Ford Coppola, Roman Polanski, Berenice Bejo, Diane Kruger, James Caan, as well as interviews with Brett Ratner, Graydon Carter, Taki, Pigozzi, Ron Meyer and Diablo Cody. The North American television rights have been recently acquired by HBO. |
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