Amy Hughes

For 82 years, bartenders at 21 have been serving up gin and tonics to the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Aristotle Onassis, LeRoy Neiman and an endless list of other famous names who have passed through the doors of 21 West 52nd Street in New York to drink and dine at the Club. From athletes to politicians, this former speakeasy is as if a place of ghosts and legends.

The classic bar and restaurant began life in 1920, during the Prohibition and was originally located in Greenwich Village. College students Jack Kreindler and Charlie Berns moved their secret watering hole three times before permanently settling in a townhouse on 52nd Street, known as the “wettest block on the street, with 38 speakeasies, including “21.”

The exteriors and interiors of 21 are as famous as its patrons. The iconic jockey statues adorning the façade have a story of their own. Regulars were among the “horsey” set and, wanting to leave their personal signature on the establishment, the most loyal donated the first jockey. Many famous breeders and indeed, those from well-bred stock – like the Vanderbilts and Mellons – left similar gifts, creating a team of jockeys which instantly identify the building and are memorialised on the big screen in films like Wall Street and Manhattan Murder Mystery. 

Folklore says there was always a front door receptionist to keep out the riff-raff, including both sides of the law – federal agents and gangsters, like Legs Diamond who apparently wanted a cut of the business. Nowadays 21 is filled with businessmen, couples, and families. Women clad in silk scarves, and men jacketed in tweed (jackets are part of the dress code).

Downstairs, 21’s Bar Room has a ceiling to make any boy jealous. Memorabilia hangs down, creating a toy sky of gifts from sporting stars, captains of industry and former Presidents, including a model of the PT-109, a gift from President John F. Kennedy. Katarina Witt’s figure skates hang alongside John McEnroe’s tennis racket and Jack Nicklaus’ golf club. It is a veritable hall of fame.

And that’s before we even crack the menus. A la carte dishes are a mix of modern, light dishes as well as signature, shall we say “heartier” fare, like the 21 burger with special sauce and a silver bowl full of French fries.    

Given that I intend to shop in the Big Apple, I opt for the Peekytoe crab salad, a perfect dish of white flaky meat atop hearts of palm, avocado, samphire and grapefruit, lightly dressed in a citrus vinaigrette. Everything about it is heavenly,  from the fresh taste of the crab to the way the flavours marry. It’s almost like a ceviche.

We’re seduced by lobster cocktail served with watermelon gazpacho, and caviar. After all, we’re told more deals are done here than in the boardroom, and it’s only the best for king-makers and masterminds. Duck breast is sourced locally – who knew Long Island bred them? 

We move on to a medley of dishes, from Black grouper to wild mushrooms, while drooling over the men at the next table. Correction: drooling over the apple crumb pie dripping in caramel sauce and slowly melting vanilla ice cream, that two men are devouring at the next table. It makes anything Supersized look tiny. We’re directed to the peanut butter and banana sundae, a parfait glass filled with ice cream, candied peanuts, and chocolate sauce – very, very old school. 

Our waiter regales us with tales of 21’s clientele: Howard Hughes, Dorothy Parker…and I realise this is a perfect place for actors to moonlight. The history alone makes for a great memorisation practise. 

What’s amazing about 21 is that after all these years it’s managed to remain a Manhattan mainstay, not just for tourists and yesteryear nostalgics.  The place still has a rep for luring cool cats and seats a packed dinner crowd.

Come for the chance (more and more rare) to get dressed up, and sit amongst New York’s great and good. Dine on food worth getting fat for and sip cocktails while gazing at the ceiling and walls we only wish could talk.

http://www.21club.com
+1 212 582 7200
21 W. 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019

Summertime in the City and the thought of standing in line to go up to the top of the Empire State Building is a bit of a hard sell.

But I’ll happily take a room with a terrific view, especially since the iconic tower only gets better looking as the sun goes down. If you ask very nicely at check-in, odds are good you’ll get one at The Strand NYC hotel in Manhattan’s Fashion District.  

Before this visit, I’d never stayed Midtown, and was pleasantly surprised to find The Strand’s location at 37^th Street between 5^th and 6^th,  incredibly convenient for access to Grand Central, shopping trips at Macy’s (just 3 blocks), nights at the theatre, and forays into Union Square. Staying Midtown, until now, was unchartered territory, but I’m hooked. 

Service at The Strand is friendly, relaxed and warm, and our 10am arrival wasn’t too early to get a room. Free Wi-Fi, newspapers, and iPod docks are becoming more the norm in the Big Apple, but are still a treat.

And access to the business centre came in handy for printing last minute documents. The real feature at The Strand though is the rooftop bar with a distinctly Moroccan feel and unobstructed views of the Empire State Building. 

Comfy couches and throw pillows invite lingering under the stars over a long list of cocktails. A retractable roof will shield lounge-lovers from the effects of any passing hurricane. 

When you’ve worked up an appetite lifting all those drinks, head downstairs to the American Bistro. 

Headed up by Chef Kelvin Fernandez, who appeared on a Food Network program, the menu is seasonal, with a balance of lighter dishes as well as classic favourites like macaroni and cheese. Two rooms offer a choice of traditional or more exotic settings.  The first is a library theme, with a fireplace filling the centre of the room. I can imagine it being a perfect place to sit out a winter storm. The adjacent room continues the North African theme of the Rooftop bar.

There were only two other tables, yet the kitchen was slow, despite advising them we had theatre tickets. After sweating it out through the appetizers, things eventually picked up. 

I started with the tuna tartare which was a bit oversauced, but the next course delivered a succulent sea bass with grilled lemon and fennel.  My companion found the shrimp risotto cooked to perfection, and I couldn’t resist liberating the butterflied tiger shrimp on top. 

The mac and cheese had enough butter to knock my cholesterol up 5 points, but was creamy and more-ish. Take a pass on the onion rings, unless you like tempura batter, and save room for dessert.

The dulce de leche molten chocolate cake is the perfect combination of dark chocolate sponge, with thin, honey-coloured caramel spilling out the centre.  If you suffer a truly sweet tooth, go for the cheesecake spring roll. Nothing says New York more than blending two cultural classics. The cheesecake melted within the deep-fried wrapper, enhancing the flavour.

If, by the next morning, you’re ready for another round, a real benefit of The Strand is complimentary “European” breakfast. 

A bagel and a schmear from a street vendor are fine for a couple of days, but The Strand lays out a spread which will keep you well fuelled for pounding the pavements.  Meats, cheeses, boiled eggs, and the usual bread, pastries, cereal and yogurt (even Greek), are on hand, and “to-go” coffee cups for mornings on the run.

The Strand NYC is accessible, easy, and convenient, and with all the freebies thrown in, it’d be tough to find a better room with a view.

The Strand NYC

www.thestrandnyc.com

33 West 37th Street
New York, NY 10018, United States
+1 212 448 1024

“You know Woodstock? That’s near here,” says Andy my host, in a tone that suggests he doesn’t altogether approve of or quite understand what drew 500,000 hippie kids to Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in upstate New York in 1969.

Andy has picked me up from the train station on the Hudson River and is driving me to the Thayer Hotel, West Point. It might be a stone’s throw from Woodstock, but West Point houses a United States Military Academy on a federal military installation as established by Thomas Jefferson in 1802, the longest serving installation in the country. On its grounds stands the Thayer, established in 1926 and listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. So here are two worlds up against each other which could not be further apart.

As with many pieces of prime real estate the world over which are owned in perpetuity by militaries, the area in and around West Point is almost incandescently beautiful. It is also enormous, far bigger than Manhattan.

In October the green mountains are beginning to dot with autumnal reds and yellows, and we wind past castle-like private properties nestled into the sides of hills walled off behind white pickets fences. This is where you can come to buy locally made apple cider from the side of the road. The roads themselves are wide and smooth and long, cutting swathes through the mountains and clips of motorcycle riders frequently overtake us, roaring ahead around corners, disappearing. The area is also popular for weekend fairgrounds and hiking and as we come up to rather banked traffic crossing a bridge over the river, “Octoberfest,” Andy explains.

There are two ways to get West Point if you are without car or motorcycle: an extremely pleasant train ride, just over an hour from Grand Central in Manhattan, up the length of the island, and which then hugs the banks of the Hudson up to the Catskills. Or, if you are one to take part in executive training team building exercises such as those undertaken at the hotel, then it can be arranged for you to travel the river by speedboat and to arrive an efficient 35 minutes later.

West Point is a huge military town. It just happens to sit atop a rise giving an uninterrupted view of the Hudson, which sits dappled in morning light as you see first thing from the windows of the Thayer. This is the geographical vantage point – the S curve in the river – which made it a garrison during the Revolutionary War, and it was nearly lost to the British in an act of treason unsuccessfully perpetrated by Benedict Arnold in 1780. But the British never got that far, not even close enough to test the enormous iron chain laid across the river to snare their ships.

The dastardly lot was revealed to General Washington when a British Major called Andre was captured with rather revealing documents. Andre was given the noose by the Americans, the British gave Arnold a pension, a travesty if ever there was one.

Back to the 21st century, arriving on a Sunday, it’s curiously empty, and very quiet. An early afternoon bus tour on route to a local winery takes in the entirety of the academy, which is at this point in the year festooned with “Go Army/Go Navy” signage in every available window, the remainders of football season. Sometimes we see the odd pair of cadets jogging down a roadway, sometimes a car drives past. But mainly the atmosphere of the place could best be described as austere. This is after all, a military base in a military town. Even at the winery once we reach it, sitting on a bucolic field with a farmhouse converted in a gift shop/bar, there is a sign on the door reading, “Hippies Use The Back Door.” Inside a two man band play guitars, but it’s not folk music, it’s country covers of pop songs.

Back at the Thayer itself the true history of the place dawns. The corridors outside the rooms are hung with portraits of Generals Petraeus and Schwarzkopf. Graduates of West Point have also included two Presidents, Ulysses S Grant and Dwight D Eisenhower – whose portraits also adorn the walls – and dozens of captains of industry, four heads of state, 70 Rhodes Scholars and 18 astronauts. Unlike the brave spacefarers' space capsules, however, the Thayer's rooms are fitted with a generously sized bed and a small television complete with HBO.

If you are a military history buff, an ex-military person yourself, or interested in getting your kid into West Point, The thayer's appeal i is obvious. For anyone else it’s a peek into a world that civilians will never truly be allowed to know.

Most importantly if you want to observe the nation's superlative warriors at close quarters in their natural habitat while steeping yourself in US history you should drop what you are doing right now and head to the Thayer.

www.thethayerhotel.com

There are two prevailing popular visions of Los Angeles: the hard-partying nightlife of Hollywood, nights out on the Strip and in clubs on the West side, and the California dreaming of the canyons and beaches of Santa Monica. Both of these visions are evoked by W Hotels very different boutique takes on LA: the W Hollywood, and the W Los Angeles in Westwood.

In the city essentially built deliberately to be inaccessible without aide of a car, the W Hollywood is conveniently situated smack on top of one of LA’s few subway stops that will take you in short order downtown. Even more conveniently, it sits right near Hollywood and Vine, letting you to gaze down from your generous windows upon the Walk of Fame stars, or across the street at the Capitol Records Building where once Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra cut albums including Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color.

But the truly spectacular views are reserved for the roof-top pool and bar, known as Wet in W parlance. Here you will enjoy an uninterrupted 360 degree vista of the entire city from the Hills to downtown and out to Santa Monica. Full-service pool-side cabanas in the form of California king day beds can be rented here into the early evening, when the adjoining indoor restaurant and bar is transformed into the insanely popular Drai’s nightclub. The pool-side bar is an ideal spot for a swim (in October! Viva Los Angeles) and a few quiet drinks before heading out to explore the town.

Speaking of bars, the W Hollywood has five, and as hotel management are wont to remind, in theory you could not leave the hotel and have a fine time sampling only its in-house comforts if you wanted to bunker down for a few days of indulgence. This is a pretty damn spectacular way to do LA, whether you’re stopping off after fifteen hours of flying, or about to board that flight back home. Hotel management also helpfully turn a blind eye to anyone who wants to take the party back to their room, which in the case of the 1,660 square-foot Extreme Wow Suite, makes perfect sense: it’s dining area alone seats seven. A two-person shower, enormous tub, its screened-off big kids “kiddy corner” and full-service bar – all leave little doubt as to what this party suite is made for.

Being Los Angeles though, you’re never far from a well-appointed gym and rooms are all fully catered for the doing of business with wireless internet everywhere, and a sleekly hidden charging station for any variety of gadgets. It’s seamless integration of business and pleasure means the hotel’s enormous conference rooms are wall-to-wall booked during awards season.

While the design of the W Hollywood is all sleek, clean lines, towering atriums and white surfaces with a surfeit of natural light pouring in, its sister a short ride across town off Rodeo Drive, is completely different. The W Westwood is all earthy California tones, dark hardwoods and low-lighting which instantly evokes the relaxed, laid-back flip-side of the city. So laid-back that at the poolside restaurant and bar ringed with trees and lawn, the staff have hand trained a friendly squirrel, feeding it nuts which it happily gnaws on placidly a few feet away. Food and beer here is on the extremely affordable side, with the ubiquitous sliders and burger bar food kicked up a notch, and complimented with a huge array of boutique brewed matched beers. Scarf this down by the heated pool and if you don’t feel like venturing out to the Strip, rock bands in-residence play shows every week.

Acknowledging the LA patron oft-accessorised with a tiny dog, the W Westwood is a pet-friendly hotel, extending their furry accommodations beyond the squirrels. Westwood is also appointed with a generous pool and cabanas, a sun-drenched retreat which is somehow transformed in winter into an ice-rink complete with man-made snow.

Rooms in Westwood range from the Wonderful Studio at $350 per night including taxes, up to the Extreme Wow Suite, which in Westwood also includes your own screening room. Where Hollywood is for hedonists, Westwood is for recuperating. It’s renowned day spa, Bliss, attracts many of Hollywood’s leading men and women keen to buff their visage in completely private seclusion. Book a facial before heading off on a day-long haul in a recycled oxygen tube and your skin will thank you when you touch down on the other side. 

Money travels far on eating and drinking in LA, which makes it easy to pretend for the duration of your stay that you actually are a rock star. An unwelcome surprise on returning back home to Earth. 

W Hollywood
6250 Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood

W LA Westwood
930 Hilgard Ave
Los Angeles

Elmo Keep

An omniscient view...Picture: Jess Cohen

There is no more scenic way to experience the sensation of having your heart in your mouth than by touring Manhattan Island by helicopter.

As we leave the heliport on the East River, there is a moment on looking down through nothing but the clear glass of the helicopter’s door when I wonder if I’ll actually be able to stomach this journey, and I don’t say that lightly as I am a huge fan of heights. Show me a rollercoaster I cannot ride! I love to press my face against the glass at take-off on planes. But this was something else. We hover a moment over the bitumen, then out over the river and very soon things steady themselves and we climb quickly and comfortably into the air and right away we are smoothly cruising just about right over the head of the Statue of Liberty and so stomaching those first few hair-raising moments has already paid off.

October in New York always furnishes a glut of clear blue days, and our tour day was no exception. The flight elevation on those days gives eye-popping views of most of New Jersey in one direction and up into the Bronx and beyond in the other. Sweeping over lady liberty and Ellis and Governor’s islands, the flight path then takes you up the Hudson, stopping to hover at Manhattan landmarks along the way. The view down on to the emerging 9/11 memorial from the air is maybe the closest you’ll be able to get to it with tickets being a highly sought-after commodity.

Flying above Lady Liberty...Picture: Jess Cohen

With aviation headphones clamped over our ears, we can hear each other, and also, everyone else onboard can too, so keeping awestruck expletives to yourself is recommended. The captain is our tour guide who gives a running commentary of the island, pointing out the delineations of  downtown neighbourhoods and throwing out facts about the buildings and bridges, one of which, the George Washington is the most heavily trafficked in the world. The ride, up the island as far as Central Park and stopping off at noteworthy buildings, the Empire State, Chrysler and Rockerfeller Plaza, travels only up the Hudson side and then doubles back down over lower Manhattan before returning us safely fifteen minutes later to the East River port where we land alongside a idling helicopter which has been used to shoot every instance of New York ever committed to film or television.

While you’re free to take as many photos of you own as you like, you can also, if you like, purchase a shot of yourself posed hamily in front the chopper before take-off, though at $25, it better have been a spectacular Kodak moment. We opted for  the shorter New Yorker flight, unsure of how much we were going to enjoy it, though HeliNY offers rides twice as long as twice as far from $279 per person. Flights run 9pm-6pm Monday to Friday, with shorter hours on weekends.

And for those who don’t want to waste a moment getting around the Big Apple, there are private charter options to get you quickly to the Hamptons, Atlantic City and JFK in style, for a price.

The Empire Hotel, New York

New York City will reach a record 90,000 hotel rooms by year’s end, representing a 24 percent increase since 2006, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said.

More than 7,000 rooms are in the pipeline that will add to the City’s hotel inventory, with an average 40 percent of new openings taking place in boroughs other than Manhattan, including in Long Island City and Queens, a hotbed of hotel development.

Last year, New York City welcomed a record 48.8 million visitors and the city is on track to reach a record number of visitors this year. Room rates are steadily increasing, and occupancy remained at close to 85 percent, the highest in the nation.

 “That’s good news not just for tourists, but also for the city’s economy. Our tourism sector employs 323,000 people, and those jobs are now increasingly located outside Manhattan, as tourists want to visit all of the city’s great neighborhoods,” Mayor Bloomberg said.

There are now 17 hotels in Long Island City that are comprised of 1,500 rooms. Major hotel brands in the neighborhood include the Four Points by Sheraton, Fairfield Inn, Country Inn & Suites, Holiday Inn and opening next month, the Wyndham Garden Long Island City.

Independent properties such as the Z NYC join other LIC hotels such as the Ravel, the Queensboro Hotel and the Verve Hotel, among others.

The Z NYC Hotel, where the announcement was made, is an example of the new accommodation in the city. A redesigned warehouse property, the Z NYC was transformed to offer 100 rooms as well as  Z Roof and Z Lounge bars serving signature Z cocktails. 

“Long Island City is a great neighborhood with great energy, which I wanted to showcase in the Z Hotel,” Z NYC owner, Henry Zilberman said.

“Long Island City’s popularity is rising because it’s an incredibly cool place and it gets cooler every day. It’s close to shopping in Manhattan, its’ affordable, quiet, safe,” he said.

“Long Island City is fast becoming a popular neighborhood for leisure and business travelers alike—with its wide range of affordable hotel options, great cultural attractions, thriving restaurant scene, and seamless public transportation to midtown, visitors are finding it to be an ideal NYC destination. It’s just one example of how the City continually evolves and reinvents itself,” NYC & Company’s CEO George Fertitta said. 

Popular attractions in Long Island City include MoMA PS1; the Sculpture Center; Noguchi Museum, Fisher Landau Center for Art and the nearby recently renovated Museum of the Moving Image. Long Island City and nearby Astoria are also hubs for New York City’s television and film production—two of the largest studios outside Hollywood, Silvercup Studios and Kaufman Astoria Studios, are close by.

Jonathan Porter

Dear Naomi

I’m sorry I said you were old and ugly.

Here’s how it happened (just in case you missed it). In a column in a provincial daily called The Australian I said that you only began wearing an Islamic veil after you became ‘’old and ugly’’.

Now you have shown your true colors as a fiery (and still hot) defender of underfed youngsters standing up for capitalism.

Let me explain.

I think you, and the youngsters you were defending, are on the right side here.

The socialists who daily tip champagne on the heads of the self same scrawny youngsters have been bailed out by the US taxpayer to the tune of at least 27 trillion clamolas.

My message to the Occupy movement: The next time you are standing under a Wall Street balcony and someone tips champagne on your head, say: ‘’Hey! We paid for that, you commie bastards.’’

But back to the apology.

A presumably tired and emotional Naomi had just left a Huffington Post function held for a collection of lever-pulling insiders including New York governor Andrew Cuomo, a celebration of the kleptocratic America.

Smoking authoress ... Wolf is bravely tackled by New York's finest Picture: Stanley Rogouski

The protesters have a strong disaffinity with lever pullers just now because of the aforementioned subsidized champagne-on-head tipping.

After a brisk discussion with the local constabulary a phrenologically challenged officer ushered Naomi into a paddy wagon (actually, as a person of British Isles descent, I prefer Irish-American wagon)

Oddly enough back in 2008 I made my original claim to your ugliness in the context of a military coup in the US.

I had just seen you on my electric television machine talking about the rise of fascism in America and the warning signs (I wonder how many you have now ticked off in the present unpleasantness – and please, don’t say all of them).

Back then I wrote: “Naomi Wolf, in her book The End of America, cites 10 steps to fascism, which include invoking external and internal threats and establishing secret prisons.

“By the way, did you see the Beauty Myth author recently said she had tried on the Muslim veil and relished the ‘freedom and serenity’ it gave her? It's interesting to note that she only got around to extolling the veil's virtues after she got old and ugly.’’

Meanwhile, the Occupy protesters have come under fire in the lever puller media for such crimes as only allowing non-white non-males to speak at meetings after one of the proscribed variety rises to make a point.

For instance, if a white male stands up at a meeting only a woman, or person of color or even better a transgender Martian of restricted growth who recently immigrated to Pluto can speak next.

Imagine if such a thing had been tried at Philadelphia in 1776.

Oddly enough I actually have the minutes of a meeting in a parallel universe where the non-white non-male (NWNM) rules of debate were tried.

Chairperson: The meeting will come to order. The chair recognizes the gentleman from Virg …

John Hancock: I see the new paperclips have arrived.

Jefferson: Comrades, I spent the night working on the Dec …

Chairperson: Sorry Tom, under the NWNM rules you’re out of order, unless perchance you’re a sodomite.

General laughter … “Pull the other one, it plays Jingle Bells’’ etc.

Several hours pass, crickets chirrup. Jefferson throws some velum he’s been working on into the Fire and wanders off to the Slave Markets to “check on some new arrivals’’.

Adams: I’m d—-d if I’m going to let that whoremonger humbug me again, I mean, I’m going to the apothecary.

Washington, Sam Adams and U.S. Grant have long since wandered off to the nearest Tavern.

Redcoats arrive, slaughter the rebels, lock the doors and burn the joint down, killing everyone who was laying doggo.

See what I mean?

The rule, if true (I suspect most of the anti-Occupy comments have been penned by Cass Sunstein and his missus), is just the kind of generic Trotskyite silliness douchebags come up with and the rest of us have to put up with to keep the bloody peace – except we shouldn't.

Speaking of phrenology, a science that was dumped way too hastily in my opinion, I think these protests could get a bit ugly.

You have a group of coppers armed to the teeth with guns, nightsticks, retractable batons, mace and Tazers on one side – and a group of scrawny oval-headed kids on the other side armed with nothing but their constitutional rights that millions of Americans died face down in the mud to defend.

The coppers, all of whom have low criminal foreheads, have not clearly read Sun Tzu – the smartest way to win a war is to do it without fighting , Carl von Clausewitz – war is the province of danger, therefore courage is the most important virtue of the soldier – how much courage does it take six coppers to put a smoking hot academic in the back of an Irish-American wagon, (and you can forget Gandhi) and sadly the only thing the police understand is force.

The kids aren’t going anywhere (why not? Oh, that’s right: no jobs remember – thank you, lever pullers).

Anyway, Naomi, once again I’m sorry about what I said, and if you tell me which hoosegow they’ve thrown you into I’ll bring you cigarettes (or a veil, or Oil of Ulan, whichever is more appropriate).

For updates on the charges against Wolf and some great video of the arrest go to http://naomiwolf.org/

Nora Ephron, best known for big screen credits Heartburn, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle and other rom-coms, penned Love, Loss, and What I Wore, (currently playing off Broadway), with sister Delia.  Similar in style to the Vagina Monologues, a rotating cast, heavy-hitters among them, sit on stools in little black dresses, some more little than others, against a black stage.

Looking for a simple, timeless classic?  How about the topic of clothing? Everybody wears it,  tight, baggy, sexy, or frumpy.  And women, in particular, may not be able to remember when it’s time to get the air checked in our tires, but we certainly remember what we wore during major milestones.

On any given night, Rhea Perlman, Yeardley Smith (the voice of Lisa Simpson), Tyne Daly, Janeane Garofolo and a list of other smart, sassy women take turns playing characters in their own voices, recalling memories which resonate with us all.  There’s the time one went bra-shopping in the shop everyone goes to, and doesn’t leave without being poked and prodded, and there’s the mother-daughter bond made while shopping, and broken when her rebellious teen heads out the door in next to nothing.

This is girly stuff, for sure, but it’s not a play without poignant moments, like the time one character recalled watching her recently widowed-father’s new wife come down for breakfast wearing her dead mother’s bathrobe.  There were men in the crowd, but this would be a great one for letting the testosterone half of a group grab a Knicks game while the chicks gather round and nod as Love, Loss and What I Wore brings back a wardrobe’s worth of memories.

www.lovelossonstage.com

It’s your last chance to catch an amazing exhibit of 47 works which include some dazzling Matisse and Picasso works, among other biggies, and an even more beguiling story of the two sisters who collected them, at the Jewish Museum in Manhattan.

For anyone trying to avoid religious experiences, a trip to the Jewish Museum isn’t one.  In fact, an eye for good art has rubbed off on the museum, perhaps thanks to its neighbours on Museum Mile, of which there’s the Guggenheim, the Neue Galerie, the Met, and others.  Or maybe, they just have a terrific curator.

Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters is a show, not just about art, but about two pioneering sisters.  Claribel and Etta Cone were among the earliest collectors of European modern art in the United States, and amassed 3000 works, creating one of the world’s most important art collections. Items range from Impressionist avant-garde sculpture, to decorative arts and traditional and exotic textiles.

'allo 'allo ... Picasso's tribute to the Cone sisters

The sisters grew up in Baltimore, in the late 19th^th century, daughters of German-Jewish immigrants who made their money with a wholesale grocery business.   But, it was their brothers who really earned the family’s riches, investing in a cotton mill that supplied uniforms to the military in World War I, and later, denim to Levi Strauss.   The brothers supported their sisters’ addiction to art, allowing them to conduct expeditions across Africa, Asian and Europe, with annual buying trips to France, where they kept an apartment in Paris.

Well-educated, and cultured, the sisters were ahead of their time in many respects.  Claribel was strong-willed and was one of the first female GP’s of the late 19^th-century in America.  Meanwhile, Etta was content to manage the household and acquire the art.  The sisters began with trips to Paris, where they met Gertrude Stein.  Some speculate Etta and Gertrude were lovers.  Whatever the case, it was the Steins who introduced Etta and Claribel to Picasso and Matisse.  The sisters formed a close bond with Matisse; there are lovely letters and small drawings from both Picasso and Matisse, to Etta and Claribel.  The sisters discovered the now iconic artists when they were essentially no-names.  Matisse had been criticised for his brashness.  But the sisters fell in love with his vivid colours instantly and became his biggest patron, buying 500 of Matisse’s works in total, and becoming very close to the entire family.  In a short BBC film shown at the museum, Matisse’s grandson Claude Duthuit, recounts meeting the sisters on several occasions, and the friendship they formed with his grandmother.  The Cones were thrilled to host the Matisse family for dinner at their Baltimore home, preparing traditional American cuisine.    Duthuit said poignantly, “My family owes a lot to The Cones …. They were very close to Matisse … very close to my grandmother.”

If you can’t get to the Jewish Museum before September 25^th, aim for Vancouver next year, where the exhibit will travel to.  Or better yet, build in a layover in Baltimore to see the entire collection.  The sisters bequeathed all of it to the museum on the condition that art within the city be elevated to enrich inhabitants’ lives.   If you love a great back-story, as much as great art, this is not to be missed.

Jewish Museum

www.thejm.org

1109 Fifth Avenue
at 92nd Street, New York, NY
+1 212 423 3200

Baltimore Museum of Art

www.artbma.org

10 Art Museum Drive
Baltimore, MD
+1 443 573 1700

Art house ... Claribel Cone’s Baltimore apartment

Forget about the bathrobe, if you’re going to steal one thing from New York’s Chatwal Hotel, take the mattress – it’s worth $19,000.

The Chatwal is the crown jewel of Starwood’s Big Apple hotels.  The only Manhattan hotel in its tier, this is luxury with a discreet, but definitely capital L   Set on 44^th Street near 6^th Avenue, it’s also in the heart of the Theatre District, an area crowded with 3-star hotels, making the Chatwal a stand out choice.

A 24-hour butler stands watch over the lobby, which feels like a step back in time.   The building is listed on the historic registry, and in keeping with the vintage theme, Stanford White decorated it in a 1930s Empire Art Deco style.   It wouldn’t be surprising to find the ghost of F. Scott Fitzgerald at the gleaming chrome-lamped bar, or in one of the rooms, sitting at the Louis Vuitton-inspired writing desk.

Rooms are decorated with soft leather wall coverings, floor to ceiling, and steamer trunks hold a host of toiletry goodies.   Concealed TV screen panels are built in opposite large rainforest showers and the toilet seats are heated – a benefit in winter and summer, in case the AC turns the bathroom into a meat locker.

Top-shelf bevvies fill the mini-bar, with bottles of Patron and Johnnie Walker Black.  There’s even a mini-library, with copies of American classics in the closet.

The rooms become dark and cavernous at night, creating perfect conditions for a great nights’ sleep on the hand-made mattress, and the 400-thread count Frette sheets.   While you recharge, so can your iPod.  Docks have become more standard these days, but the Chatwal does one better.   Fancy trying an iPad?  No problem.  They’ve got loaners.

In London, a hotel like the Chatwal could get away with charging a king’s ransom for Wi-Fi, but they instead give it away for free, along with newspapers, and even a complimentary car service.  It’s on a first-come, first-serve basis and will take guests anywhere within ten blocks.

You might have guessed a hotel like this prides itself on its spa services.  There are hot and cold plunge pools and one of the most prized features for a Manhattan hotel: a salt water current pool big enough for 1 or 2 people to swim.  The only rub is that three different people advised three different opening times.  Eventually, the pool opened at 8.30am.  Those staying at The Chatwal will be up and at ‘em already, either taking in the sights, working hard to pay the hotel bills, or having fun spending it.  Swimmers are early birds.   But the gym’s open early and offers the usual cardio and weight gear to kick things into action.

Despite its reputation, New York’s a friendly town.  People will walk five blocks out of their way to give foreigner directions.  But The Chatwal takes it to a whole new level.  Operators answer the phone after just one ring, are friendly, personable, and actually want to help.   We lucked out when we had to switch rooms.  Brad was manning the front desk and not only handled the problem quickly, but stayed for an interesting and engaging nightcap, without the tipple.  We learned all sorts of things about the hotel and what could have been an aggravating experience, turned into a great late night chat.  Apparently this is exactly what the hotel is trying to achieve – a warm, familial vibe in the big, bad city.   And with Brad at the front desk, they hit the mark.  But you may not get past him with a mattress.

The Chatwal

www.thechatwalny.com

130 West 44th Street
New York, NY 10036-4011
+1 212 764 6200