AVENUE | AUTUMN 2024

RADHA AGRAWAL A NEW DAY

T RU E L U XU RY I S I N T H E D E TA I L S

Conceived by globally renowned Robert A.M. Stern Architects, these ultra-luxury waterfront condominiums in West Palm Beach offer stately design and gracious scale, enriched by artful details and elegant interiors. See how South Flagler House is redefining true luxury for South Florida living.

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Exclusive sales by Suzanne Frisbie of The Corcoran Group with Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group

relatedross.com WE ARE PLEDGED TO THE LETTER AND SPIRIT OF THE U.S. POLICY FOR ACHIEVEMENT OF EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY THROUGHOUT THE NATION. WE ENCOURAGE AND SUPPORT AN AFFIRMATIVE ADVERTISING AND MARKETING PROGRAM IN WHICH THERE ARE NO BARRIERS TO OBTAINING HOUSING BECAUSE OF RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, SEX, HANDICAP, FAMILIAL STATUS OR NATIONAL ORIGIN. This is not an offer to sell, or solicitation of offers to buy, the condominium units in jurisdictions where such offer or solicitation cannot be made or are otherwise prohibited by law, and your eligibility for purchase will depend upon your state of residency. This offering is made only by the offering documents for the condominium and no statement should be relied upon if not made in the offering documents. The features, amenities, designs, design professionals, finishes and specifications are proposed only, and the Developer reserves the right to modify, substitute, revise or withdraw any or all of same in its sole discretion and without prior notice. This Condominium is being developed by SFH Owner LLC (“Developer”). Any and all statements, disclosures and/or representations shall be deemed made by Developer and not Related Companies or any principal of the Related Companies and any purchaser agrees to look solely to Developer (and not to Related Companies and/or any of its affiliates or principals) with respect to any and all matters relating to the marketing and/or development of the Condominium and with respect to the sales of units in the Condominium. The complete offering terms are available from the Sponsor, SFH Owner LLC, 360 South Rosemary Avenue, Suite 800, West Palm Beach, Florida 33401; File No. CP23-0115; South Flagler House Condominium, 1355 South Flagler Drive, West Palm Beach, Florida 33401. ORAL REPRESENTATIONS CANNOT BE RELIED UPON AS CORRECTLY STATING THE REPRESENTATIONS OF THE DEVELOPER. FOR CORRECT REPRESENTATIONS, MAKE REFERENCE TO THIS BROCHURE AND TO THE DOCUMENTS REQUIRED BY SECTION 718.503, FLORIDA STATUTES, TO BE FURNISHED BY A DEVELOPER TO A BUYER OR LESSEE.

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We’re kind of a big deal in big deals.

Year after year, some of the country’s most noteworthy residential real estate deals happen on the East End of Long Island.

And so far in 2024, in the communities of the Hamptons, the North Fork, and Shelter Island, half of all transactions over $10 million have something in common.

Corcoran.

S C AN T O C O NNE C T WI TH A C O RC O RA N A G ENT

Source: Suffolk Vision | © 2024 Corcoran. All rights reserved. Corcoran and the Corcoran Logo are trademarks of Corcoran Group LLC. The Corcoran System in the United States is comprised of company owned offices which are owned by a subsidiary of Anywhere Advisors LLC and franchised offices which are independently owned and operated. Corcoran Group LLC fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act.

CONTENTS

AUTUMN 2024 VOL.47 NO.5

FEATURES 74

THE FABULOUS FIVE A design gallery owner, an interior stylist, pioneering architects, and product developers—five interdisciplinary visionaries with an eye for what’s next.

By David Graver

82

DAYBREAKER: RISE OF A MOVEMENT

Late one night on a Brooklyn curbside, Radha Agrawal dreamed up Daybreaker— a sober dance event that starts at 6 AM and ends at 9 AM—and reinvented nightlife. By Peter Davis 90

RADHA RISING Daybreaker’s charismatic founder.

WHISKY LOVERS DREAM THE DRAM

GUTTERN. DANIEL CREDITS JOHNSON TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK;

From Speyside, Scotland, to the Hudson Valley and across Japan, distilleries welcome aficionados, collectors, and those simply interested in learning more.

By David Graver

AUTUMN WINTER 2023 2024 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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DRUMROLL Inside the Dewar’s Aberfeldy Distillery in Scotland.

RESTAURANTS

Chefs Fabián von Hauske Valtierra and Jeremiah Stone have unveiled a slew of hot new venues in Manhattan and upstate New York.

BY TED HILDNER

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CULTURE 26

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DIA ART FOUNDATION & CREATIVE TIME CELEBRATE 50 YEARS

THE KEYS TO PARADISE

BY DAVID GRAVER

BY MICKEY MCCRANOR

BY MICKEY BOARDMAN

AVENUE MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2024

100

Two major game-changing art powerhouses toast their golden anniversaries.

A ROYAL LIFE

118

JOURNEYS

Hidden away from the mainland, Little Palm Island and Bungalows Key Largo are the ultimate tropical escapes—just a drive and short boat ride from the chaos of Florida’s overrun tourist resorts.

India Hicks’ new book about her mother, Lady Pamela Mountbatten, is an uncommon glimpse into the rarefied world of England’s Royal Family.

COVER: Illustration by Cecilia Carlstedt

D&D DIRECTORY

TRAVEL NEWS

A guide to New York’s eminent design hub.

BY DAVID GRAVER

GOING BANANAS Brass’s banana split.

12

AROUND TOWN

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FROM LUGANO WITH LOVE

With instant access to the glitz and glam of Lake Como, the Aria Retreat & Spa also offers a stylish escape for rest and relaxation. BY DAVID GRAVER

THE FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL IS THE PLACE FOR MODERN FLÂNEURS

BY PETER DAVIS

122

NOTORIOUS NEW YORKERS

Literary lion Norman Mailer relished a nasty brawl— with other writers, hapless strangers, and the many women he both slept with and married.

BY JANET MERCEL

124

Q&AVE

Since the 1970s, Guy Trebay has been New York’s keenest culture reporter.

This past year, Trebay turned his pen inward, publishing the critically acclaimed, brutally honest memoir Do Something.

BY PETER DAVIS

avenuemagazine.com

COURTESTY OF DEWAR’S ABERFELDY DISTILLERY; CARL TIMPONE

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Avenue’s insider preview of all that’s new and noteworthy, like Lalo Tequila.

GUTTER CREDITS TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK;

ON THE AVENUE

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461 Park Avenue at 57th Street, New York, NY 10022 www.richard-james.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Peter Davis CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Natalie D. Kaczinski EXECUTIVE EDITOR

David Graver EDITOR-AT-LARGE

Ted Hildner FASHION EDITOR

Nolan Meader ART ASSISTANT

Mickey McCranor COPY CHIEF

his year Avenue turns the big 50. It’s our golden anniversary and all year we will be celebrating the magazine’s rich legacy and our hometown, New York City—the greatest metropolis in the world. “I saw a city of fascinating people who needed a local magazine,” Judy Price said when she launched Avenue. “And I had the connections and the energy to give it to them.” Since those early days, Avenue has been delivering the best stories to New York’s best addresses. “Everyone wants to know what New Yorkers do and say,” says Judy, “and they still do.”

We agree with everything Judy has said. In this issue, we continue Judy’s mission of celebrating New York’s most fascinating, creative minds. We toast two gamechanging art institutions: Dia Art Foundation and Creative Time, who both share a 50th birthday this year with Avenue. We also uncover the Daybreaker phenomenon— the early morning (set your alarm for 5 AM!) sober dance party that started in New York and has since gone global. Even Oprah got in on the sensation, inviting Daybreaker to go on a national tour with her. Daybreaker’s enigmatic founder, Radha Agrawal, is on a roll—she just launched Belong Center, a nonprofit to battle loneliness—the number one cause of depression.

Avenue is New York City. We live and breathe our city and the people who make it the most interesting place 365 days of the year. Our executive editor, David Graver, introduces readers to Chefs Fabián von Hauske Valtierra and Jeremiah Stone who have birthed a culinary empire in NoMad with a new restaurant, Brass, and a buzzy bar called Tusk. And on our back-page we catch up with one of the city’s keenest cultural reporters, Guy Trebay, who just released Do Something, his insightful memoir on his early days living in the city. Trebay has written about countless “only-in-New York” characters.

And, like Avenue, he sees the city as an endless well of stories to tell. “You’re never going to run out of New York, that’s for sure,” Trebay tells us. We could not agree more.

Happy birthday Avenue. Here is to the next 50 years!

PETER DAVIS

Editor-in-Chief 14

AVENUE MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2024

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Alex Fener CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Mike Albo Annabel Keenan Mickey McCranor Janet Mercel Ray Rogers Constance C.R. White CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Ben Cope Sophie Elgort Edd Horder Bella Howard Richard Kern Jai Lennard Nick Mele Alexander Thompson © 2024 by Cohen Media Publications LLC

AVENUE MAGAZINE 750 LEXINGTON AVENUE 16TH FLOOR NEW YORK, NY 10022 EDITORIAL@AVENUEMAGAZINE.COM

PUBLISHER

Julie Dannenberg COHEN MEDIA PUBLICATIONS LLC

CHAIRMAN

Charles S. Cohen

COURTESY OF AVENUE

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Editor’s Letter

Danielle Whalen

Welcomes Lisa Simonsen

OVER $2 BILLION IN CAREER SALES RANKED TOP 0.5% REAL ESTATE BROKERS NATIONWIDE GLOBAL ROLODEX

Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker O. 212-396-5862 M. 917-575-6775 lisasimonsen@bhsusa.com @LISARSIMONSEN

GUTTER CREDITS COURTESY LALO TEQUILA TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK;

ON THE AVENUE

TEQUILA EXPRESS An espresso martini made with Lalo Tequila.

Tequila Sunrise Eduardo “Lalo” González and David Carballido, childhood friends from Mexico, have turned Lalo— their premium tequila—into an international spirit sensation. TED HILDNER takes a sip.

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hat started as a passion project five years ago between two friends outside Guadalajara, Mexico, has fermented into one of the most popular tequilas on the planet.

Childhood friends Eduardo “Lalo” González, the grandson of the legendary Don Julio, and David Carballido share three generations of tequilamaking experience, growing up in the heart of Mexico’s tequila-producing region.

So, after a bit of thought and a lot of love for tequila and Mexico, it comes as no surprise that their famed Lalo Tequila was born in the legendary highlands of the Jalisco region, where agave is grown and tequila was invented.

Growing increasingly unhappy with the quality of the rapidly booming tequila industry, González and Carballido started plotting. “We said, wait, why don’t we create something just for us, by us? Let’s do a product we truly like, something we believe in,” remembers González.

But instead of creating a brand for public consumption, they set out to make the perfect tequila with the most exacting standards in quality and flavor. To offset costs and reduce the risk of hoarding their prized recipe, they devised a plan to sell it privately to their friends at cost. “It doesn’t have to be a business; if they like it, they’ll drink it. If they don’t, we’re going to have a bunch of tequila for us. That’s how much trust we have in our product,” says Carballido.

Combining their passion for tequila with deep Mexican pride, González and Carballido achieved their goal using a simple and authentic (secret) recipe using only the finest ingredients. Lalo Tequila (named after the spirit of Lalo’s grandfather) is

their take on the art of blanco—purely crafted for a clean taste, with simple ingredients such as deep well water, champaign yeast, and nothing else. Developed in the heart of Jalisco, with no additives or aging process to mask the flavor, it honors the tradition of Mexican tequila-making at its finest.

A grassroots movement was launched. They started selling cases of Lalo from their garage— not worried about turning a profit. “We had all these cases at my house,” says Carballido. “And we sold it to our friends for their birthdays, for weddings, for any kind of party. It became a tequila club thing.” It didn’t take long before this private tequila club started catching people’s attention outside of their small group. They knew that they had something big when the governor’s inner circle reached out and inquired about serving Lalo for his daughter’s wedding. In that authentic Mexican spirit of generosity, that is so important to their philosophy and brand, they didn’t charge the governor, instead giving him cases of Lalo as a wedding gift.

Today the tequila boys (as friends call them) love that the world outside of the hills of Jalisco embraces their tequila as much as their friends.

Lalo is now one of the top 10 fastest-growing spirit brands in the U.S. and is available in all 50 states. Although they are thrilled by their success, they want to make sure Lalo gets in the hands of the people who will enjoy it most. So, next time you’re in the Hamptons, Aspen, or your favorite New York restaurant, González and Carballido have one wish: to enjoy the finest and purest Mexican tequila outside of Jalisco, the way it was originally intended.

AUTUMN 2024 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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ON THE AVE.

Bar Contra’s Culinary Kingdom Chefs Fabián von Hauske Valtierra and Jeremiah Stone have unveiled a suite of hot new venues in Manhattan and upstate.

DAVID GRAVER books a few tables.

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AVENUE MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2024

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his September, doors opened to Brass—a lush, jazzy French brasserie-inspired restaurant tucked behind the wonders of the recently opened Tusk Bar in NoMad’s Evelyn hotel.

Together, Brass and Tusk are part of NoMad’s buzzing cultural and culinary transformation. Separately, they’re delicious, dynamic representations of the flavors Chefs Fabián von Hauske Valtierra and Jeremiah Stone bring to life.

CARL TIMPONE

BRASS IN POCKET The wood-paneled dining room at Brass in NoMad.

CARL TIMPONE

Stone and von Hauske Valtierra transformed downtown Manhattan’s culinary landscape with the introduction of Contra and its five-course tasting menu for $55, which earned the chefs a Michelin star.

CONTRA CUISINE Crafted cocktails and inventive dishes at Brass.

Options at Brass range from an American Wagyu steak dressed with an Armagnac-prune purée to steelhead trout served with citrus sauce, smoked trout roe, and sorrel. To complement that, Tusk Bar’s exemplary cocktail list pairs perfectly with savory morsels from the chefs—like a king crab “club” sandwich, or tuna and caviar tartare. And these two venues are only some of what the duo have been cooking up in New York lately.

More than a decade ago, Stone and von Hauske Valtierra transformed downtown Manhattan’s culinary landscape with the introduction of Contra and its five-course tasting menu for $55, which earned the chefs a Michelin star. In addition to picking up accolades, the pioneering Lower East Side eatery became a favorite with neighbors and international foodies who trekked to Orchard Street in droves. Its success led to the creation of their more casual Wildair, down the block. It, too, amassed a devout following.

Over the last two years, the chefs have been behind a series of eye-catching headlines. They led cuisine at Jac’s on Bond, the chic cocktail bar in the subterranean space once occupied by the Smile. In upstate New York, they opened Matilda, a rustic seasonally minded destination restaurant within the Henson, a charming boutique hotel where they are partners.

Matilda and the Henson joined a cultural and culinary ecosystem that the chefs helped to establish in the hamlet of Hensonville, New York, which is nestled into the Catskill Mountains not far from the ski slopes of Hunter. First, von Hauske Valtierra and Stone opened up a general store named Paracasa in 2022, which sells pantry staples and luxuriant provisions, as well as award-winning cinnamon rolls. In the summer of 2023, they launched Day June Luncheonette, a quaint breakfast and lunch spot on the same street that serves top-quality diner fare and elevated comfort food.

AUTUMN 2024 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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ON THE AVE.

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AVENUE MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2024

ON POINT The bar at Tusk in the Evelyn hotel.

ERIC MEDSKER

To the dismay of many, in 2023, they unexpectedly announced the closure of Contra—but teased something brand new. “It’s a very emotional thing to think about. So much happened there,” von Hauske Valtierra tells Avenue of Contra. “It was our first business. It was our Michelin star. There was a lot of attention. There were a lot of guests, guest chefs, and friends. Walking through the dining room, people would stop me and tell me how much the place meant to them. I think it’s just as special to see what it meant to other people as reflecting on what it meant to us.

“Contra was very personal. It was about creative fulfillment,” he adds, “but everything has a lifespan.

You’re not the person you were 10 years ago. Now we see a bigger picture.” In July, Stone and von Hauske Valtierra welcomed guests back to the Contra space, which they had reimagined as Bar Contra. Though the interior has changed dramatically, the sense of excitement remains the same; the spirit, as well. New, however, were cocktails by drinks legend Dave Arnold and small bites of boundless creativity—a celeriac crumpet with wakame butter; a fresh, flavorful Montauk scarlet prawn; a mouth-watering chicken wing served boneless and stuffed with Stilton and pork sausage.

These dishes demonstrate their sharp imagination and keen understanding of flavor and underscore the chefs’ commitment to new ideas.

“Jeremiah doesn’t like seeing things repeated,” von Hauske Valtierra explains. “I’ll say, ‘We should bring back that Milanese we did seven years ago,’ and he will say, ‘That chapter is closed.’” Certain staple categories do return, but in unexpected ways. For instance, their Instagram-famous orange creamsicle pie is gone from the Jac’s menu, but a new concord grape and pretzel pie took its place.

ERIC MEDSKER

THE CULT OF CONTRA Below, from top: a scallop crudo dish and oyster minis. Left: Chefs Fabián von Hauske Valtierra and Jeremiah Stone.

“We have time together where we will go over ideas, but there is also time apart where we talk to the sous chefs or explore different ideas independently. Whenever one of us comes up with something, we will all try it as a team. We make sure that it’s part of the overall vision. We’ve spent so much time together that we’re of the same mindset all the time,” von Hauske Valtierra says.

It’s the strength of their close relationships with partners and collaborators that has allowed their efforts to expand in recent years. “We’ve really put ourselves out there. If there’s an interesting person with similar values, we can create with them,” he explains. This has blossomed into their own openings, as well as consulting work with Authentic Hospitality, their partner on Jac’s, for the menus at hot spot bars like Ray’s in Greenpoint and the Broken Shaker atop the Freehand Hotel, not far from Brass.

“We didn’t think of doing anything else beyond Contra for years,” Stone says. “Contra was inspired by places we loved in Europe, and that mentality was not having multiple venues or concepts. You had one place.” A shift occurred over time and with opportunity. “It was really intense for years,” he adds. “We had this high-level, Michelin-star mentality that meant we had to execute at a certain pace. What the kitchen at Bar Contra feels like now is along the lines of the spirit of the last moments, right before we shut Contra, where we were having fun and keeping it lively.”

From concept to cuisine, all their venues differ dramatically. “There are certain restraints and certain freedoms,” Stone says, “but we both have so many ideas about dishes that we want to do. We walk into every kitchen and say, ‘What’s available to be done here right now?’”

Brass became about blending the essence of a French brasserie with an American theme and Australian freshness—there’s also an upscale AUTUMN 2024 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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JACKED-UP Clockwise from top left: A Lemon Pepper Stepper cocktail from Jac’s on Bond, named after a local Bond Street legend in Manhattan; the chic bar where the drinks are crafted; and Jac’s caprese sliders.

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AVENUE MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2024

conviviality. On a recent night, a dinner guest moved over to the piano in the center of the back dining room and began to play for everyone.

Complementary to that, Bar Contra ended up being a conceptual rebirth, in the exact spot where they began, that aligned with all their other developing ventures.

Stone, who is from Maryland, and von Hauske Valtierra, who’s originally from Mexico City, met at the French Culinary Institute in New York.

Stone spent time in some of the best kitchen’s in Paris, from Le Châteaubriand to Rino; von Hauske Valtierra ventured between Australia’s Attica, Sweden’s Fäviken, and Denmark, where he worked at Noma under René Redzepi. They stayed friends throughout and upon their return

knew they would work together.

Stone jokes about the concepting at the very beginning of their partnership together. “Initially, we were looking to do an ice cream shop rather than a tasting menu restaurant and for months we talked about doing that with pop-up dinners in the back,” he says. “That was the original idea that morphed into Contra over the course of a year.”

Contra’s success led to so much, a cookbook, entitled A Very Serious Cookbook: Contra Wildair, included. But it was those personal stories from Contra guests that helped the chefs understand that they needed to keep the space and continue its legacy in a new way.

“We didn’t even decide on the name, Bar Contra, until after we closed,” Stone says. Now, he says, it

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ON THE AVE.

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All dimensions provided are approximate.

To obtain exact dimensions, Corcoran advises you to hire a qualified architect or engineer.

ON THE AVE.

CATSKILLS GETAWAY Top left: the interior of the Henson’s restaurant, Matilda; above: the property’s curated gardens await guests.

THE HENSON

feels both revitalized and yet so familiar. “There’s this sense of confidence that we feel, that we can host people in this space because we’ve been in it for so long.”

Orchard Street has seen substantial development since they first moved in. With Brass and Tusk Bar, they aren’t leading the advancement of a neighborhood but they’re certainly contributing to it. All eyes are on NoMad. The same can be said of their efforts upstate; though the town of Hensonville might not be a household name, the Catskills continue to foster their own immensely creative communities and also welcome New Yorkers looking for an idyllic escape.

“It’s a lifelong dream to have all these places, to have people reach out and want to work with you,” von Hauske Valtierra says. “The last few years we’ve just been working. It’s a lot of work—but we want to do the work. With Contra, at first it was our creative end-all. Now, all these projects are outlets to hold new ideas.” And regardless of which bar or restaurant you try first—or again—you’re likely to discover an extraordinarily delicious idea on the menu.

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AVENUE MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2024

COURTESY OF CREATIVE TIME

50 Years of Thought-Provoking Art from Creative Time and Dia Art Foundation Two art powerhouses celebrate half a century of groundbreaking, game-changing exhibitions. DAVID GRAVER investigates how they got there and what’s in their futures.

ROBIN HOLLAND

“Art on the Beach 3,” multiple artists with Creative Time, 1981.

A Subtlety, Kara Walker, 2014.

T

he great allure of New York City’s art scene is not due to the singular reputations of museums like the Met and MoMA; the Whitney and the Guggenheim; or mega-galleries like Pace, David Zwirner, and Gagosian; but also due to the way all these institutions work together to forge a comprehensive cultural tapestry. This year, two risk-taking, community-oriented organizations integral to the artistic fabric of the city celebrate their 50th anniversaries. Though structurally different, the way Dia Art Foundation and Creative Time have embraced artists and encouraged discourse contributes to their longevity and success.

Fariha Friedrich (then known as Philippa de Menil), Heiner Friedrich, and Helen Winkler Fosdick formed Dia Art Foundation to help artists realize projects of immense scope and scale. In addition to maintaining nine permanent sites in the U.S. and Germany (including Walter De Maria’s The Lightning Field, completed in 1977 near Quemado, New Mexico), Dia commissions single-artist projects for three exhibition locations across New York State: Dia Chelsea in New York City, Dia Beacon in the Hudson Valley, and Dia Bridgehampton on Long Island. Equally important, Dia’s sites and locations are free for the public to visit.

Creative Time was also founded to present ambitious art projects. Founders Karin Bacon, Susan AUTUMN 2024 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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CULTURE

—Creative Time executive director, Justine Ludwig

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AVENUE MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2024

Henshaw Jones, and Anita Contini envisioned bold public works throughout NYC, the U.S., and abroad.

Creative Time fosters, literally, art for the masses.

Universal human rights, freedom of expression, and the necessity of dialogue underpin the organization’s efforts—as evidenced by Tribute in Light, the beacons that rise from the site of the former Twin Towers each anniversary of September 11, and Kara Walker’s A Subtlety in 2014. For the latter, Walker placed a large-scale, sugar-coated, sphinxlike woman amidst the bones of Brooklyn’s legendary Domino Sugar Factory. The installation drew long lines for weeks. Recently, Creative Time has launched programs that offer foundational support for artists, ranging from the opening of their Creative Time headquarters, CTHQ, which provides weekly programs around community, to their Research and Development Fellowships for socially engaged artists. Both center on the artistic process rather than a final product.

Not only do these two organizations court change (and sometimes controversy), they also both consider it necessary. “The continued commitment

to embracing risk is integral, especially in challenging times,” Creative Time’s executive director, Justine Ludwig, tells Avenue. “We think in radically different ways. We address challenging subject matter through our practice.” She references Gran Fury’s powerful 1989 project “Kissing Doesn’t Kill: Greed and Indifference Do,” a photographic campaign on postcards and buses that emulated traditional advertising but with a twist: they featured queer and interracial couples kissing. It birthed much conversation.

“The arts are a rich space for making the imagined real,” Ludwig continues, weaving in their commitment to social impact, “and for creating sites of exchange.

That has been rooted in our thinking from the get-go.

I think about projects like Waiting for Godot in New Orleans, which we did with Paul Chan post-Katrina, or Jeremy Dellers’ ‘It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq,’ where he drove across the country in 2009, having conversations with people about the war. These were seminal projects that shifted

BILL JACOBSON STUDIO; COURTESY OF CREATIVE TIME

“The continued commitment to embracing risk is integral, especially in challenging times. We think in radically different ways.

We address challenging subject matter through our practice”

Left: Dia Bridgehampton, New York. Right: Wigstock, multiple artists, 1991.

COURTESY DIA ART FOUNDATION, NEW YORK; © MICHAEL HEIZER; PHOTO: BILL JACOBSON STUDIO, NEW YORK; BILL JACOBSON STUDIO, NEW YORK, COURTESY DIA ART FOUNDATION, NEW YORK; ZCZ FILMS/JAMES FOX

Clockwise, from top left: Dan Flavin, installation view, the Dan Flavin Art Institute, Bridgehampton, New York; Negative Megalith #5, Michael Heizer, 1998; Sun Tunnels, Nancy Holt, 1973–76.

discourse.” Ludwig wasn’t at Creative Time in 2009; rather, she was in Cincinnati when Dellers passed through. She witnessed direct conversation born from his project.

“You are more open and willing to engage with challenging or unexpected subject matter in the context of art,” she adds. Ludwig observed this again while working with Charles Gaines on “The American Manifest,” in conjunction with Governors Island Arts and Times Square Arts. For this threepart installation, Gaines placed monumental sculptural and sonic works in New York and Cincinnati that addressed the Dred Scott decision of 1857, wherein the Supreme Court declared that no person of African descent, enslaved or free, was eligible to be a United States citizen. (Eleven years later this was overturned by the 14th Amendment).

“Working on that project changed my life.

There’s something alchemical about watching a project go from a verbalized idea to a physically realized object that so beautifully and powerfully

encompasses all the ideas an artist puts forth,” Ludwig says. “We had been working on the project for almost a decade at that point. It predates almost everybody on the team. There were so many starts and stops, but there was faith that the project was important and needed to exist in the world. There was so much stewardship and so much care and so much vulnerability from Charles.

“We are in this moment of unrelenting crisis,” she stresses. “If we are looking to artists and saying, ‘Help us think otherwise, help us imagine a way forward,’ we have to support them in their research and their engagement with experts in diverse fields to make sure this isn’t siloed thinking. That goes far beyond the art world itself.” To sustain this mission over the next 50 years, Ludwig sees their community programs and a slate of ambitious projects as ways of connecting—and not just with a traditional audience that goes to the museum on the weekend, but those interested in other entry points for work that addresses the moment we are living in.

AUTUMN 2024 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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CULTURE

“We quite deliberately make a choice to work with artists who are lesser known. They are often working in a medium that is inherently difficult to support through a commercial practice.

That is something we think about when we are working with artists: who are the ones that our support would enable, especially if their work would not happen otherwise?”

—Jessica Morgan, director of Dia Art Foundation

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AVENUE MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2024

“We were founded in 1974, and thinking about the cultural landscape at that moment allows us to see that we were founded in crisis. That is an important thing to remember. It is at the core of who we are and how we exist,” Ludwig explains.

“It’s also important to associate this with other organizations that came up in the ’70s. We are a collective of individuals who believe in and make magic happen. We have the ability to be responsive to the contours of an ever-changing world. We are built on the creativity of individuals.”

This sentiment rings true for Dia Art Foundation and their 50 influential years, as well. Jessica Morgan, the director of Dia, attributes their success to an unwavering commitment to their founding mission.

Yes, they are a collecting institution with many sites, but they also seek out long-term partnerships with artists. “This isn’t about a fleeting exhibition but a lifelong commitment to their practice,” she says. “That is something that has always been a part of Dia through the ups and the downs and the

highs and the lows.”

Curatorial vision is a connective tissue between time periods and locations. “We look back to move forward,” Morgan says. “That doesn’t mean that we are looking for people who paint like Agnes Martin or people who make land art like Walter De Maria. It is looking for a certain sensibility.

That tends to be found in artists who have a life mission—who are on a path and won’t deviate. We need to have a raison d’être for showing an artist.

Between all of us at Dia who are involved programmatically, there are many artists who we think are absolutely outstanding, but they wouldn’t make sense here.”

Dia Art Foundation’s collection encompasses thousands of pieces, but only from 70 or so artists.

“When we do make a commitment and bring an artist into the collection, it’s not about acquiring one work. It’s about how we can work with them across multiple displays and exhibitions and publications and talks. That’s a very unique approach,” Morgan

BOTH IMAGES COURTESY OF CREATIVE TIME

From top: “New York Sky Event: East Harlem Sky Events,” Otto Peine, 1976; “Kissing Doesn’t Kill: Greed and Indifference Do,“ Gran Fury, 1989.

© HOLT/SMITHSON FOUNDATION AND DIA ART FOUNDATION/LICENSED BY ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK. PHOTO: ARDELE LISTER, COURTESY HOLT/SMITHSON FOUNDATION; HOLZER: LAUREN CAMARATA

Vigil, Jenny Holzer, 2019.

Above: Nancy Holt in Sun Tunnels, 1976.

says. Because of this sustainable support, artists feel a real sense of wanting to belong with Dia. “I came in with a huge enthusiasm for the collection and seeing its potential and wanting to reinvigorate our commissioning program,” Morgan says of her beginning, now more than a decade ago. “We say that we focus on the ’60s and ’70s because that’s where we began, but when we were founded these weren’t historical artists, they were contemporary. They were figures of that moment.

It’s been equally important that we’ve had a vibrant approach to commissioning now and doing the work that Dia always did—which was giving ample space, time, and resources to single artists to achieve these extraordinary projects today.”

With 12 sites in the Dia ecosystem, few people will ever agree upon a favorite. Both Dia Beacon and Dia Bridgehampton warrant repeat visits for their commissions and their existing collections featuring the work of Dan Flavin, Richard Serra, Sol LeWitt, Gerhard Richter, Louise Bourgeois, and many more. With large-scale exhibitions ranging from Delcy Morelos's multisensory El abrazo to Steve McQueen’s powerful, current eponymous

show, Dia Chelsea operates at the highest level.

That said, “David Hammons once said to me that he felt The New York Earth Room was the heart of New York City,” Morgan says of the permanent Walter De Maria sculpture. “I would agree to some degree. Walter De Maria’s works and most certainly The New York Earth Room are really, quintessentially, so important to Dia. I almost think of Walter De Maria as our fourth founder.”

As with Creative Time, Dia Art Foundation aims to offer a platform to artists, most often emerging ones, striving for discourse. “In general, we quite deliberately make a choice to work with artists who are lesser known or have not shown in a substantial way in New York or even the U.S., who often have no commercial gallery and therefore no support,” Morgan says. “They are frequently working in a medium that is inherently difficult to support through a commercial practice. That is something we think about when we are working with artists: who are the ones that our support would enable, especially AUTUMN 2024 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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Wall of Death, Marco Brambilla, 2001.

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if their work would not happen otherwise?”

Next, Dia plans to unveil a landscaping and outdoor park project that will be accessible to everyone for free, not just Dia Beacon guests. “It will be significant not only for our community but for our visitors,” Morgan says. “It’s something I’ve wanted to work on since I arrived at Dia. Ten years on, it feels very satisfying to be in a position to undertake this. We’ve been working with the most incredible landscape architect and artist, Sara Zewde, who is up there with all the artists we’ve worked with.

She’s just been an absolute inspiration to work with and came up with an incredible proposal. It will be transformational for Dia Beacon.”

Much of the legacy of both organizations rests

in the hands of their visionary talent, whether that’s Dia Art Foundation’s senior adjunct curator of special projects, Donna De Salvo, who was a Dia curator in the ’80s, or Creative Time’s head curator, Diya Vij. “Creative Time was one of the first organizations that transformed what I thought was possible in the art world,” Vij shares. “To me, Creative Time modeled what it looked like to be as courageous and audacious as the artists they worked with.” Vij hopes that the next 50 years of Creative Time see continued risk-taking support for artists. With such thought-provoking programming, it’s almost guaranteed. And the same can surely be said for Dia Art Foundation across its constellation of inspiring sites.

COURTESY OF CREATIVE TIME

CULTURE

VALLETTA, MALTA

Explore more

luxury

CULTURE

A Royal Life India Hicks’ new book about her mother, Lady Pamela Mountbatten, is an uncommon glimpse into the rarefied world of England’s Royal Family.

A

t 95, Lady Pamela Mountbatten has lived a life filled with more adventure, pageantry, glamour, and tragedy than an epic novel or sweeping Hollywood adventure. The daughter of Lord Mountbatten and his heiress wife, Edwina, she has been surrounded by many of the 20th century’s most fascinating people. As a teen she joined her parents in India, where her father was the last Viceroy, and became close to Gandhi and Nehru.

Lady Mountbatten returned to London to be a bridesmaid at the wedding of the future Queen Elizabeth II to her cousin Prince Philip of Greece

COURTESY INDIA HICKS

PORTRAIT OF A LADY Lady Pamela Mountbatten with one of her beloved dogs.

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AVENUE MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2024

“That grandmother was the sort of anchor to my mother’s life. She was extremely bright, very brilliant, and an encyclopedia of knowledge.”

—INDIA HICKS

and Denmark. She went on to be lady-in-waiting to then-Princess Elizabeth and was with her on a royal tour in Kenya when news arrived of the death of King George VI, making his daughter the new queen. Lady Mountbatten married David Hicks, a legendary interior designer ,and they had three children.

Recently, their daughter India released an illustrated biography of her mother entitled Lady Pamela: My Mother’s Extraordinary Years as Daughter to the Viceroy of India, Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen, and Wife of David Hicks. India and her mother are a charming and engaging duo, with the latter clearly amused and delighted as she asks her mother questions about her fascinating life.

Avenue caught up with Hicks when she was in NYC for the launch of the book. As always, she had a packed schedule of activities around the publication; her various fashion and lifestyle endeavors; and her humanitarian work with Global Empowerment Mission, which has brought Hicks around the world, often with one or two of her children in tow.

You have so many incredible women family members in your history. My favorite picture in the book is the one of your mother with her grandmother, Victoria Milford Haven.

I just think it’s the most stunning image because she was born in the 1860s and your mother is alive now in 2024, so there’s really so much history in those two people.

That grandmother was the sort of anchor to my mother’s life. She was extremely bright, very brilliant, and an encyclopedia of knowledge.

I think when my mother went through so many changes of different places of living and different people looking after her and different ways of seeing the world, her grandmother was steadfast in that.

Her grandmother lived through so much— losing her family in the Russian Revolution and going from women in corsets and horse carriages to the coronation in the ’50s. Talk about a time to live.

COURTESY INDIA HICKS

Extraordinary, isn’t it? And my mother remembers, of course, her grandmother always wearing long black skirts, as was the fashion. In the bottom, in the hem, it’s where she kept her cigarettes. She was a chain-smoker.

WEDDING BELLE India Hicks on her wedding day with her mother, Lady Pamela Mountbatten.

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CULTURE ROYAL COLLECTION Photographs and diaries from India Hicks’ book documenting her mother's extraodinary life.

So funny!

You had this wonderful princess who’s always got a cigarette in her hand. And when she tried to cut down on smoking, she would simply snap the cigarette in half and then smoke one half and then smoke the other half. She thought that was cutting down.

I loved the way you looked at the Queen’s funeral. I mean pushing your mother’s wheelchair while wearing those stiletto boots.

The funny part of it was, of course, we hadn’t anticipated that most of London had been shut off by this stage. We’d driven up from the countryside. And we realized we weren’t going to get any closer and I said, “Mum...” We had a driver with us, and I said, “We’re going to abandon the car and we’re going to have to run.”

And I ran in those damn Christian Louboutin boots across London to get us onto that bus to get to the Abbey.

What did you think of the funeral?

I thought they did an amazing job...

No one does pageantry or that kind of thing like the English.

COURTESY INDIA HICKS; PHILLIP JACKSON/ANL/SHUTTERSTOCK

It was literally perfection. It was very moving, I have to say, for me, being with my mother at Windsor. Because Windsor felt much more intimate. And when that coffin came by, my mother went down to this deep curtsy. And I know that those 93-year-old knees were...

It was an effort. And she just stayed down. And I thought to myself, “That’s a chapter closing.”

—mickey boardman

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AVENUE MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2024

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AVENUE MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2024

SANDRA WEINGORT WAINSCOTT

THE FABULOUS

A design gallery owner, an interior stylist, pioneering architects, and product developers— David Graver speaks to five interdisciplinary visionaries with an eye for what’s next

SHUNJI YORHIDA

You know the feeling—the sensation that the space you’ve entered, whether it’s a home or a hotel, a restaurant, or a retail space, just seems right. It’s the texture, the tonality. There’s nuance and harmony. Layering together such a vision requires a level of taste and expertise possessed by few—though such satisfying visions are readily evident in the work of design leaders like Suchi Reddy and Alfredo Paredes, Stephanie Goto and Colin King, as well as Salon Design founder, Amanda Pratt.

Through their sought-after practices, these five experts have introduced distinct styles, tantalized the senses, and imparted beauty upon the world.

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“When starting a new project, I focus on building a strong, collaborative relationship with the client, engaging in thoughtful conversations to uncover their vision and lifestyle,” King tells Avenue of his design methodology.

“I find so much joy in gathering inspiration and curating mood boards and color palettes that capture the essence of their aesthetic while considering the space’s distinctive characteristics.”

King’s mission is to reflect the individuality of his clients and enhance their everyday experience.

He does so with finesse.

ANDRE MELLONE; PORTRAIT: BILLAL TARIGHT; INTERIOR: COURTESY OF AUDO COPENHAGEN

INTERIOR STYLIST

Colin King

This year has been a marquee one for interior stylist Colin King. In addition to his studio’s interior design work, King debuted two collaborative wallpaper collections, Nuance and Perception, with acclaimed producer Calico, during Milan Design Week. It was a continuation of a milestone 2023, where King released his first book, Arranging Things, as well as an exquisite collection with Beni Rugs entitled “A ​​ Study on Balance.”

King’s keen eye and elegant touch have underscored magazine editorials and lent a meditative sensibility to partnerships with the likes of West Elm and Danish furniture and decor brand, Audo.

“A woman came into the gallery recently. After spending 30 minutes looking at the pieces on display and asking questions, she told me that she loves going to galleries, however, she rarely sees work that she can picture living with,” Pratt shares. “Salon was the exception.

She wanted to take everything home with her. This is the experience I want clients to have when they enter our gallery space.

I want them to feel immediately drawn to what they see, energized by the originality of the work but able to envision it as a cherished piece of their home or collection.”

Pratt avoids trends when curating shows. She prefers to highlight contemporary designers advancing heritage techniques or introducing dynamic new materials.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF AMANDA PRATT

Amanda Pratt

FOUNDER OF SALON DESIGN

An interior designer and art advisor, Amanda Pratt founded the contemporary design gallery Salon Design in 2018 but moved it to its current Tribeca storefront in 2022. With an international purview, Pratt’s gallery provides a platform for emerging and established designers, artists, and artisans. Women represent 80 percent of the gallery’s roster. Salon Design rotates through thoughtprovoking design exhibitions four times a year—though no visit is complete without stepping into the bathroom, which features an enveloping installation by the Italian artisans of Pictalab.

AUTUMN 2024 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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“When I start working with a new client on a residential project, I take the time to connect and have a true understanding of how they envision their living space,” Paredes says. “This approach allows for the space to feel lived-in and personal, with layers of their experiences and memories. It’s less about creating something perfect and more about crafting a home that feels authentic, where every detail tells a piece of their story.”

Paredes masterfully transforms the narrative into a design vision.

PORTRAIT: COURTESY OF ALFREDO PAREDES; INTERIOR: NICOLE FRANZEN

FOUNDER OF ALFREDO PAREDES STUDIO

Alfredo Paredes 78

Alfredo Paredes founded his eponymous design studio in 2019 after 33 years in-house at Ralph Lauren, where he served as executive vice president and chief creative officer. During his Ralph Lauren tenure, Paredes developed interiors, experiences, and products—and oversaw the design of one of New York City’s most beloved restaurants, the Polo Bar. With his studio, Paredes brings that same commitment to exacting detail and environment— whether it’s a residential project, his furniture line, collaborative product launches, or hospitality design, like Brooklyn’s hottest restaurant, Sailor. Paredes, too, has a book set for release in 2025 from Rizzoli.

NOE DEWITT

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Suchi Reddy founded her architecture, design, and public art studio, Reddymade, in 2002. Since the practice’s inception, Reddy has approached spaces with the mantra “form follows feeling,” which she informs with the practice of neuroaesthetics—a field that looks at how our built environment impacts on our brain. With her philosophical approach and artistic touch, Reddy’s led projects that range in depth and dimension—from the first flagship Google retail space in NYC to an interactive AI light sculpture in Detroit’s Michigan Central Station, as well as a minimalist home in Salt Point, New York, in collaboration with the artist Ai Weiwei.

“Our projects never look the same, and the reason for that is that each one is a close collaboration with our client and a reflection of them,” Reddy explains. “I begin by listening closely to how my clients want to feel in the space. I match that to the potential of the physical space through our skill and knowledge.

The process is as important as the project.” Reddy imbues every space with her understanding of the knowledge that design truly influences how we feel.

PORTRAIT: STEVE BENISTY; INTERIOR: YE RIN MOK

FOUNDER OF REDDYMADE

Suchi Reddy

Reddy has approached spaces with the mantra “form follows feeling,” which she informs with the practice of neuroaesthetics—a field that looks at how our built environment impacts on our brain.

“As the architect, I am the director, composer, curator, and the client is the foundation for a truly unique symphony,” Goto tells Avenue.

“The power of these tools in my palette allow me to craft the details to bring to life one-of-a-kind, extraordinary projects.” Through her attentive, cross-disciplinary approach, Goto’s capabilities encompass art, architecture, and even cultural experiences—like multidimensional partnerships with champagne brands like Dom Pérignon and Veuve Clicquot’s La Grande Dame, for which she imagined immersive activations.

“As the architect, I am the director, composer, curator, and the client is the foundation for a truly unique symphony.”

–Stephanie Goto

PORTRAIT: MELANIE DUNEA; INTERIOR: SHUNJI YORHIDA

FOUNDER OF STEPHANIE GOTO ARCHITECTURE, PLLC

Stephanie Goto

Since founding her eponymous practice in 2004, multidisciplinary designer and architect Stephanie Goto has amassed acclaim for her sensorial approach to design.

Whether imagining exhibition design for Hauser & Wirth and Pace Gallery; designing the home kitchen of Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud; or erecting the Caesarstone Experience Center and the Calder Foundation’s headquarters, Goto constructs inspired spaces that aim to encourage dialogue.

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MIAMI HEAT A saxophone player gets dancers moving in a whirl of soap bubbles in Miami.

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DAYBREAKER: RISE OF A MOVEMENT

COURTESTY OF DAYBREAKER

LATE ONE NIGHT ON A BROOKLYN CURBSIDE, RADHA AGRAWAL DREAMED UP DAYBREAKER—A SOBER DANCE EVENT THAT STARTS AT 6 AM AND ENDS AT 9 AM—AND REINVENTED NIGHTLIFE FOREVER. PETER DAVIS SETS HIS ALARM FOR DAWN AND DISCOVERS THAT DAYBREAKER IS BECOMING MUCH MORE THAN JUST A DANCE PARTY.

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t’s just before 7 AM on a quiet, hazy Tuesday morning in Midtown Manhattan. The streets are almost empty, save for a food-cart vendor and a few delivery guys. But as the city slowly opens its eyes, Rockefeller Center could not be more awake. On a stage two DJs spin house music in front of the iconic 18-foot gold statue of the Greek Titan Prometheus, who is most known for going against the gods and providing fire to humanity. Hundreds of bodies gyrate and sway as if in a collective trance. Outfits range from ruffled layers of rainbow chiffon to glittering gold-sequin shorts to all-white from head to toe. With headphones strapped over their ears, the throng dances, arms reaching up to the sky. On the sidewalk above, passersby gawk in curiosity and confusion.

What looks like a flash mob is in fact Daybreaker—

the sober dance movement founded by Radha Agrawal that has disrupted and reinvented nightlife. Daybreaker’s early-morning parties have a following of 800,000-plus people and have traveled to over 33 cities around the globe.

“Love yourself,” commands MC Elliott LaRue into a microphone as a sped-up version of Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love” plays. With oversized dark sunglasses and a black scarf framing his strong features, LaRue looks like Grace Jones playing Joel Grey in Cabaret—he keeps the party going.

Agrawal met LaRue when he came to the second Daybreaker. Six months later, LaRue, who is a musical artist, took the microphone and started freestyle rapping. The crowd went wild. “If you’re going to have a cultural impact, hip hop has to be a part of it because hip hop is the voice of this generation,” says LaRue. “It’s the new rock and roll.”

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THEY ARE FAMILY Daybreaker’s Eli Clark-Davis, Radha Agrawal, and Timothy Patch.

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DAYBREAKER’S EARLY-MORNING PARTIES HAVE A FOLLOWING OF 800,000-PLUS PEOPLE AND HAVE TRAVELED TO OVER 33 CITIES AROUND THE GLOBE.

SANSHO SCOTT/BFA.COM

As LaRue freestyles, a drummer beats rapidly while a horn section wiggles through the pulsating crowd like a street parade in New Orleans.

Just off stage, two eight-year-old boys jump up and down with glee. Nearby, a bearded man wearing a pink tutu turns like a whirling dervish, creating the illusion of spinning cotton candy. The energy is frenetic. No one is standing still. “I’ve been to over 100 Daybreakers,” a 50-something woman in a purple tie-dye bikini and feather headdress tells me. “It’s changed my life. I leave happier and more connected to people. I am totally addicted to the feeling I get from these events.” “This is a movement,” LaRue says. “This is an opportunity to shift minds. I want to help people see life in a way that helps them live it, rather than being afraid or angry.”

A few days later, the core Daybreaker team— founder and CEO, Radha Agrawal; her husband, Eli Clark-Davis (and their young daughter, aptly named Solei); and COO, Timothy Patch—bring their dance movement to Othership, which just opened in the Flatiron District. An immersive, ultradesigned high-tech sauna that fits 64 people and a long, cavernous room of ice baths, Othership was started in Toronto in 2022 by Robbie Bent. Calling itself a “house of transformation,” Othership is far from an ordinary wellness spa. “We invested in Othership, which is something we never really do,” Agrawal, sporting a red bathing suit with lace insets, tells me. We are standing by a table with rows of green juice shots and all-natural energy drinks and piles of tangerines and bananas; Daybreaker is 100 percent alcohol-free. “It was the right fit for Daybreaker. It’s magical to be opening Othership’s first New York location—they are at the forefront of community wellness and an extension of what we do.”

The sauna soon fills up. Lights beam, blink, and bounce to the rhythm of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know.” Jacob, a strapping Othership “guide,” wears a conical felt hat and leads yogastyle breathing and stretching exercises. With ceremonial vigor, he hurls a cedar-infused snowball onto the hot coals, flooding the room with a woodsy scent. Next up: ice bath plunges into 32-degree water for two minutes. Brrr!

Invigorated and fully awake, everyone files into the lounge where a DJ has started spinning in front of a white fabric wall piece that looks like a moving cloud. LaRue asks the crowd to throw their arms up and yell with joy. The room vibrates with dozens of voices and a frenzy of dancing.

Normally Daybreaker commences with an hour of yoga before the dance party, but the Othership sauna/ice bath is a special exception.

“WHAT IF WE REINVENTED THE SOCIAL HOUR? WHAT IF WE THROW DANCE PARTIES BEFORE GOING TO WORK? WHAT IF WE REPLACE MEAN BOUNCERS WITH A HUGGING COMMITTEE? WHAT IF WE REPLACE ALCOHOL WITH GREEN JUICE?” —RADHA AGRAWAL

COURTESTY OF DAYBREAKER

A CALL FOR ARMS Dancers raise their hands to the sky in Seattle.

“After yoga, the dance floor is warmed up,” explains Agrawal, who choreographs the Daybreaker run-of-show like science. “It’s the perfect way to wake up the body before we dance.” Two hours of nonstop dancing later, the moshed mass, all in bathing suits, drips with sweat. Daybreaker’s anthem, “Open Your Eyes,” fills the room. Almost every single person knows the lyrics, singing in unison: “Open your eyes as you dance with a smile on your face / As we rise, rise and shine in the morning.” The event closes with a poem by Rumi (“The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

Don’t go back to sleep”) before people are asked to find a new friend and hold their hands, looking into their eyes to make a silent, but strong, human connection. “Bring this energy. This joy. Bring it out to the world today,” Agrawal tells the crowd.

Later in the week, I meet Agrawal at the Daybreaker headquarters in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Tapestry rugs cover hardwood floors. The air smells citrusy, like one of the fragrant ice balls tossed onto the coals at Othership. Agrawal was born in Montreal and is half Indian and half Japanese.

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her chocolate-brown eyes are kind and inviting.

Wearing a large-brimmed cherry-red bolerostyle hat and platform boots, she plops down on a big cushion. Nearby, her husband taps away on a laptop. “Daybreaker came to me from the concept of breaking the day with love, intention, and energy,” Agrawal begins.

One night over a decade ago, she was out late in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with friend Matthew Brimer. They had just left a loud, rowdy nightclub.

“I was slightly hungover, eating falafels,” she remembers, rolling her eyes. “I’m like, what the hell are we doing? I was 33 at the time and done with spilled drinks and mean bouncers. We thought: what if we reinvented the social hour? What if we throw dance parties before going to work? What if we replace mean bouncers with a hugging committee? What if we replace alcohol with green juice?”

A natural entrepreneur (Agrawal founded the female-centric brand Thinx with her twin sister, Miki, and Antonia Dunbar), she and Brimer decided to try out the idea as a social experiment. The first Daybreaker took place at Coffee Shop, the since-shuttered restaurant on Union Square. It was the first big snowfall of December. “No one is going to show up here at 6 AM,” Agrawal thought that morning. But 180 of her friends turned up. At the second Daybreaker, it was 300 people, then 500 at the third one. “It was such a vibe,” she remembers with a wide smile. “Everyone started spreading the

COURTESTY OF DAYBREAKER

ENERGY UP Top: a 6 AM yoga class at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco kicks off two hours of dancing; left: Daybreaker founder, Radha Agrawal.

ELLIOTT LARUE COURTESTY OF DAYBREAKER

word. We didn’t advertise or do any marketing. I call it whisper-sharing.”

Daybreakers on the Santa Monica Pier; at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC; in the dinosaur room of New York’s American Museum of Natural History; and on the Hiyu ferry in Seattle followed. From there, Daybreaker went global—London, Paris, São Paulo.

Agrawal has taken her dance party movement to the pyramids in Giza, the Serengeti during the Great Migration, and Antarctica on the ice floats with penguins. “We raised millions of dollars for climate change with those three trips,” she reports.

Daybreaker’s global popularity is thanks to Agrawal’s vision of breaking people’s codependence between having fun and being intoxicated or on drugs. “The idea was: how can we come home to our own natural neurochemicals? You dose yourself on your own natural high, your dopamine, your serotonin, your endorphins—a whole new frontier of socialization around sober socializing. Dressing up and the fun, mystique, and mischief of nightlife, but in the daytime. The energy is clean, fresh, and substance-free.” Agrawal deep-dove into the myriad health benefits of dance and IRL human connection. “Psychologically, dance is the most healing technology and it’s antiaging,” she explains. “Collective dance supports your mitochondria. It helps you get younger. You feel that joy of youth and music. We did a seven-

AGRAWAL HAS TAKEN HER DANCE PARTY MOVEMENT TO THE PYRAMIDS IN GIZA, THE SERENGETI DURING THE GREAT MIGRATION, AND ANTARCTICA ON THE ICE FLOATS WITH PENGUINS.

day Daybreaker one year. At the end of the week, I had danced 20 miles. I had never felt better and I’m in the best shape of my life.”

Agrawal is equally fascinated by the psychological benefits of community building—and the human connection that comes with communal dancing. She envisions the Daybreaker movement as alternative medicine to the psycho-pharmaceu-

tical drugs doctors dole out like Tic Tacs to people suffering with depression and anxiety. “We’re doing a study right now with UC Berkeley and the Greater Good Science Center,” she says. “It’s a first of its kind—we’re studying collective effervescence. What happens to your happiness before and after you dance in a collective experience? Our goal for this study is for doctors to prescribe col-

RAYS OF LIGHT Left: MC Elliott LaRue; above: the Daybreaker team on tour with Oprah Winfrey.

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CAN YOU FEEL IT? Daybreakers blanket a lawn at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. 88

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As big-time as the Oprah gig was, Agrawal is on a larger mission with what started as Daybreaker.

In 2018 she wrote a best-selling book, Belong, about “finding your people” and creating genuine community. MTV called her “one of eight women who will change the world.” A few months ago, Agrawal launched the most ambitious project she’s ever taken on: Belong Center, Daybreaker’s nonprofit, with a mission to “end loneliness and empower belonging for all.”

“Belong Center came from seeing that our biggest pandemic right now in this country is loneliness. I want to recreate the YMCA or community center and make it cool, fun, joyful, and sematic.

We are announcing a thousand block party challenge.

We are going to reinvigorate the block party in America,” she says. Agrawal has stacked the Belong Center board with impressive names like Dr. Mark Hyman, author and global activist Lynne Twist, and philanthropist Kimbal Musk, Elon’s brother. “We just hired Becca Bernstein, an incredible woman who came from Sheryl Sandberg’s LeanIn.Org to be my chief community and operations officer.”

In addition to community-building block parties,

COURTESTY OF DAYBREAKER INSPĪR

lective dance as an antidote to depression, anxiety, loneliness, and isolation. Ninety percent of depression cases are from loneliness. Daybreaker is about getting people back together.”

On social media, naysayers have trolled Daybreaker’s account. “We have been called a cult,” Agrawal admits, shrugging her shoulders. “I’d love to be a part of this joyful, sober cult. Here’s the big secret: every single person wants to be invited into an experience where they get to come out of their shell. It’s amazing how quickly we can thaw out of this too-cool-for-school or anxious or shy energy through the invitation. That’s why we have it be a sober experience. The closing ceremony is to ground that energy that feels so human and so deep.”

Daybreaker’s following caught the attention of media guru almighty Oprah Winfrey, who booked them for the “Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus” tour. “They took 35 of us on a ninestadium tour with Oprah,” Agrawal says with pride. “She wanted a community event experience to open up and create community before she came on. Daybreaker opened every stop of her tour. That was the biggest thing we’ve ever done.”

COURTESTY OF DAYBREAKER

Belong Center enticed the renowned architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group, who designed the Zurich airport, to create special bright-yellow Belong Benches, pro bono, that will pop up in public spaces across the nation. The benches are circular, so one doesn’t stare straight ahead, but rather at each other.

“It’s an invitation to sit together and connect, meet a neighbor, meet a stranger, meet a lover,” Agrawal says. The ends of each bench will have a QR code to scan and get 10 questions to make a new friend or to fall in love, as well as an audio podcast and musical playlists. They already have more than 40, which have been sponsored.

The past year, in response to wars in Ukraine and Israel, Daybreaker dubbed their events the “Peace Tour.” Next up is the “Purple Tour”— symbolizing both political parties, red and blue, coming together. “We got our biggest contract in Daybreaker history to do a Get Out the Vote project,” Agrawal announces. “We’re going to every swing state during the elections to get young people out to vote and make civic engagement exciting and celebratory rather than an experience like going to the DMV. We’re going to bus people to the polls and throw dance parties around the elections. Red and blue coming together: one team, one dream.”

Agrawal is the ultimate dreamer, and she dreams big. As she excitedly discusses the myriads of projects up her sleeve, charisma radiates off her like sunbeams. It’s impossible not to get caught up in the enthusiasm and joy she has for making other people smile more often. The “Purple Tour” will keep her busy all year, with plans to stage over 100 events. She will be jetting all over the globe, throwing Daybreaker dance parties.

But Agrawal says her heart will always remain in New York, the city where she dreamed up Daybreaker on a Brooklyn curb late one night. “I’m a 20-year New Yorker,” Agrawal declares with her trademark beaming smile. “I’m a proud soldier for the city. When everyone left during Covid, I stayed and built an online social club. I feel very committed to the culture of the city. This city has given us everything.”

NAMASTE NOW Practicing yoga in San Diego.

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WHISKY LOVERS DREAM THE DRAM

FROM SPEYSIDE, SCOTLAND, TO THE HUDSON VALLEY AND ACROSS JAPAN, DISTILLERIES WELCOME AFICIONADOS, COLLECTORS, AND THOSE SIMPLY INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE. DAVID GRAVER TAKES A SWILL.

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IMAGE COURTESY OF DEWAR’S

SPIRIT OF SCOTLAND The stone façade of Dewar’s Aberfeldy Distillery in Speyside, Scotland.

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hroughout the manicured grounds of Rothes Glen, a castle erected in 1893 that now caters to Scotch whisky connoisseurs in the Scottish Highlands, a series of small barrels lay hidden for guests to discover, pop open, and sample a dram of what’s within. This treasure hunt of sorts acts as a microcosm for Scotland’s Speyside region, where more than 62 distilleries produce some of the world’s best single-malt Scotch whisky. From any one of 14 king-sized suites, a baroque library with a fireplace, or a turret with an elevated observatory, collectors can map out the constellation of iconic neighbors—like the Balvenie, Glenfiddich, the Glenlivet, and the Macallan, Mortlach, Aberlour, Benromach, and Aberfeldy. Many of these illustrious producers have debuted milestone covetable releases this year, from Glenfiddich’s 31-year-old Grand Chateau and the Macallan’s Time: Space (featuring an 84-year-old whisky) to Benromach’s Aged 50 Years and the Glenlivet 55 Year Old. It’s this concentration of brands and their

mighty releases that draw so many aficionados to Speyside, named for the swift River Spey that passes through. “Speyside is a whisky lover’s dream, and after working here for over 20 years, I can say there’s nowhere quite like it for whisky tourists,” explains Mitch Bechard, founder of bespoke whisky tour operator CopperCairn. “With more distilleries than anywhere else in Scotland, you’re never far from a world-class dram. The stunning landscape—with beaches, woodlands, and rivers—makes the whole experience even more special. And for me, the local hospitality is the real charm; the people here treat you like one of their own, which is why I made the move fulltime in 2022. It’s not just about the whisky, it’s about connecting with the place and the people who live and breathe it.”

Speyside is far from the only region in Scotland to draw connoisseurs. Further up in the Highlands, the Dalmore (which unveiled a succulent trio of age-statement liquids—the 27-, 30-, and 43-years aged—available now as one in the exemplorary Cask Curation Series II: Port Edition box set) will soon reopen their distillery to visitors. On the west coast of Scotland, the famed island of Islay houses the Laphroaig distillery, which welcomes all guests, including those from

IMAGE COURTESY OF THE GLENLIVET

FIELD OF DRAMS The landscape surrounding the Glenlivet Distillery, one of Speyside’s best-known whisky distillers.

THIS TREASURE HUNT OF SORTS ACTS AS A MICROCOSM FOR SCOTLAND’S SPEYSIDE REGION, WHERE MORE THAN 62 DISTILLERIES PRODUCE SOME OF THE WORLD’S BEST SINGLE-MALT SCOTCH WHISKY.

IMAGE COURTESY OF THE GLENLIVET

LIVET IT UP The Glenlivet Distillery warehouse in Scotland.

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their membership program, Friends of Laphroaig, to sample their exclusive spirits, like their recently released high-proof Elements 2.0.

In the last 15 years, attention has turned toward another island—Japan—for its award-winning whiskies. “Here, you have the opportunity to visit incredible distilleries like Yamazaki and Hakushu to see how this unique culture creates whiskies that are defined by the nature and spirit of Japan,” says James Bowker, House of Suntory’s global advocacy manager.

The allure doesn’t lie only in Japanese distilleries. As Bowker notes, it’s also in “the diversity of incredible bars that specialize in whisky and will have an outstanding collection where guests can taste excellent drams that may normally be incredibly hard to find.

These bars stock many special Japanese whiskies.

COURTESY OF SUNTORY/SUNTORY GLOBAL SPIRITS

HERE COMES THE SUNTORY Shinji Fukuyo, House of Suntory’s chief blender.

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COURTESY OF SUNTORY GLOBAL SPIRITS

STILLED LIFE Top: Suntory’s Yamazaki Distillery in Osaka; left: the still house with copper spirit stills in Yamazaki.

IN THE LAST 15 YEARS, ATTENTION HAS TURNED TOWARD ANOTHER ISLAND—JAPAN—FOR ITS AWARD-WINNING WHISKIES.

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SUNTORY HAKUSHU DISTILLERY

VISITORS WELCOME The entrance to the minimalist visitor center at Suntory Hakushi Distillery.

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SUNTORY HAKUSHU DISTILLERY

TASTEFUL TABLEAU Suntory Hakushu Distillery’s tasting lounge.

“ULTIMATELY, THE RARITY AND QUALITY OF JAPANESE WHISKY HAS MADE IT A GREAT AND EXCITING PROPOSITION FOR ANYBODY COLLECTING,” BOWKER ADDS, “NOT LEAST BECAUSE THE POSSIBILITIES TO CREATE UNIQUE COLLECTIONS ARE ENDLESS.”

Suntory became a household name for whisky collectors thanks to the acclaim their Yamazaki expression has amassed, but it’s far from their only distinguished liquid. October 3 saw the release of Hibiki 40 Year Old, limited to 400 bottles and priced at $35,000. Other Japanese whisky leaders—like Nikka and Shibui—are also contributing to the draw.

“Ultimately, the rarity and quality of Japanese whisky has made it a great and exciting proposition for anybody collecting,” Bowker adds, “not least because the possibilities to create unique collections are endless.”

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COURTESY OF TENMILE DISTILLERY/WILLIAM GRANT & SONS

NEW YORK SPIRIT Top: The Little Rest release from Tenmile Distillery; a bottle of Hudson Whiskey’s Short Stack New York straight rye whiskey.

Closer to home, New York state has established itself as a premiere destination for whiskey (the American spelling) tourism and collectible releases.

“When it comes to producing whiskey, I think New York is often overlooked,” says Celina Perez, head distiller at Great Jones Distilling Co., which is headquartered within a state-of-the-art distillery in downtown Manhattan. “The truth is, we have some of the best agriculture in the country right here in our backyard. Our commitment to celebrating New York terroir—from our grain to our water source—is at the heart of everything we do. From the Black Dirt region of the Hudson Valley to the fields of Long Island, Great Jones works with local farmers throughout the state to source the highest-quality, one-percent New York corn, rye, barley, and wheat for our whiskey.”

“The entire concept of distilling again in New York state began only 20 years ago, with Hudson Whiskey and a handful of other whiskey distilleries muddling their way through to make incredibly small batches of liquid which very often varied in flavor profile from one run to the next,” explains Nicholas Rose, assistant visitor experiential manager at Tuthilltown Distillery. “Every distillery in the state, from Long Island to the Finger Lakes and beyond, has an origin story that is wholly unique and often fairly outrageous, and every whiskey fanatic prefers a bottle that tells a tale.”

New York state even has its own designation, Empire Rye, which “came about in 2015 when a group of six New York distilleries‚ including Hudson Whiskey’s Tuthilltown Distillery, created a consor-

tium, the Empire Rye Whiskey Association, dedicated to establishing a whiskey style for the Empire State.” As Hudson Whiskey has grown in prestige thanks to delectable releases, more craft distilleries in the Hudson Valley have continued to speckle the region, including Wassaic’s picturesque Tenmile Distillery and Ancram’s Hillrock Estate Distillery.

Whisky tourism isn’t new—but substantive visitors centers and distillery-only whisky releases are fueling a feverish momentum behind it right now. And perhaps the only way to increase enjoyment of sipping something spectacular is to do so at the place where it was conceived, next to the people that made it possible.

“EVERY DISTILLERY IN THE STATE, FROM LONG ISLAND TO THE FINGER LAKES AND BEYOND, HAS AN ORIGIN STORY THAT IS WHOLLY UNIQUE AND OFTEN FAIRLY OUTRAGEOUS, AND EVERY WHISKEY FANATIC PREFERS A BOTTLE THAT TELLS A TALE.”

COURTESY OF WILLIAM GRANT & SONS

—NICHOLAS ROSE, TUTHILLTOWN DISTILLERY

THE RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT Tuthhilltown Distillery sits on 36 acres at the foot of the Shawangunk Mountains in Gardiner, New York.

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LITTLE PALM ISLAND RESORT & SPA

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THE KEYS TO PARADISE

Hidden away from the mainland, Little Palm Island and Bungalows Key Largo are the ultimate tropical escapes—just a drive and short boat ride from the chaos of Florida’s overrun tourist resorts.

MICKEY MCCRANOR checks in and savors the seclusion.

REMOTE CONTROL Guests unplug at Little Palm Island, which is tucked away in the Florida Keys.

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JOURNEYS

LUSH LIFE Suites have private decks and copper tubs overlooking the ocean.

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he route to Little Palm Island is 71 miles on Route 1, a slender expanse of pavement and bright blue sky made famous

by Ralston Crawford’s 1939 painting Overseas Highway.

Crawford’s stark monotone choice of color for the sky is surprisingly accurate—there is not a cloud to be seen.

Rebuilt after 2017’s Hurricane Irma, the almost five-acre property is entirely removed from the mainland—cars cannot access the Bungalows at Little Palm Island, so, after checking in and being handed a Gumby Slumber cocktail (one part pineapple, cranberry, orange, and rum, garnished with coconut), we are walked to a private dock with a boat waiting.

The boat is captained by a man with a handsomely cropped beard and sun-soaked skin. The seaman is so accustomed to this journey that he completes our trip with an array of effortless motions while gabbing away. The Truman (named after President Harry S. Truman) is a 15-foot wooden boat accented with brass ties and plates, freshly painted and polished to a shine. It is a hint of what’s to come: timeless elegance and complete privacy. Arriving by car to Little Palm Island seems somehow improper.

Formerly known as Little Munson Island, the rechristened Little Palm Island has two claims to fame. The first: it was the favored vacation destination of the aforementioned President Truman.

The second is its abundance of torchwood trees— named for their naturally high resin that burns so well it was originally used for torches. Torchwoods tower over the property, creating a lush and thick brush on the island. Sadly, Hurricane Irma ravaged significant damage to the grounds, but they rebuilt what they could and nourished everything that survived. A lone outhouse still serves as the island’s telephone booth and the grand lobby’s piano remains intact. “Not even a hurricane could move that,” our guide quips.

Despite the rebuilding, the resort still feels both lived-in and well-maintained, from the teak floors to the thatched roofs. As we enter the main building, the crickety-creak of the hardwood floor under our feet is the only soundtrack. Cell phones are not allowed in common areas. There is no loud music or boisterous conversations. Images of President Truman and his wife, Bess, adorn the

LITTLE PALM ISLAND RESORT & SPA

SUITE ESCAPE The living room at one of Little Palm Island’s suites.

LITTLE PALM ISLAND RESORT & SPA

SUR LA PLAGE, PLEASE Suites also include private beaches for the ultimate escape.

FORMERLY KNOWN AS LIT TLE MUNSON ISL AND, THE RECHRISTENED LIT TLE PALM ISL AND HAS TWO CL AIMS TO FAME. THE FIRST: IT WAS THE FAVORED VACATION DESTINATION OF PRESIDENT TRUMAN.

walls in the main hall, which has the island’s only television. Forget bingeing Netflix while on Little Palm Island—there are no TVs in the rooms. This electronic-free vibe is in synch with Little Palm’s motto: “Get Lost.” Even in the most populated area of the resort—the central pool and tiki bar— the air is filled only with the gentle break of the waves nearby and the distant, wistful sounds of mourning doves.

The distance between one end of the island and the other is a thousand feet. At most, the path from the dining hall—a sprawling two-story Cuban lignum vitae wood chalet that houses the resort’s bar, the aptly decorated Monkey Hut with its apparently unmovable piano—to the east end dock, which can accommodate private sea planes and yachts, could take anywhere from just five minutes or up to two hours if you were interested.

We opt for the latter to investigate and discover the island’s coconut palms, large flows of wild dilly, reddish egrets, Key West piping plovers, and the very insistent eastern narrow-mouthed toads.

Getting lost on an island that covers less than five acres was surprisingly easy. After our explorations, we arrive in our cabin to a bottle of champagne. The cabin itself is instantly cozy, embracing its natural wood motif with acacia light boxes that display island tchotchkes above

polished heart pine furniture and a four-post bed complete with a gossamer linen canopy.

Outside, a staircase leads to our private beach, a fire pit, and a massive copper tub, perfectly sized for two. We continued our escape to the resort’s other secluded beaches which have access to kayaks, waterboards, water bikes, and a dock that can be used to charter a trip the island’s historically significant fishing spots. The great catch is what first brought President Truman here—for local blackfin tuna and mahi-mahi. If you are skilled or lucky enough to reel in any impressive catches, the resort’s kitchen will clean, cut, and cook it for your dinner that same night.

The easiest place to feel blissfully lost are those quiet, meditative pathways that weave through the island’s palm tree canopy. Even the task of keeping the pathways clear of the previous night’s wayward leaves is quiet and calm: no wind blowers or lawn mowers here. Everything is done by hand and with meticulous care.

There is just one restaurant on the island, Chef Richard Fuentes’s Dining Room, but the menu changes daily. The five-course dinner included island staples like Key West pink shrimp and freshly shucked oysters, but also boasted fabulous steak and caviar dishes. The tuna tartare and salmon sashimi were delicate delights and par nicely with AUTUMN 2024 | AVENUE MAGAZINE

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NATALIE KACZINSKI; LITTLE PALM ISLAND RESORT & SPA

AU NATURALE Clockwise from left: a native deer runs on the sand; Truman, the island’s boat used to get to and from the resort; a long deck over the crystal-blue water.

THE EASIEST PL ACE TO FEEL BLISSFULLY LOST ARE THOSE QUIET, MEDITATIVE PATHWAY S THAT WEAVE THROUGH THE ISL AND’S PALM TREE CANOPY.

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LITTLE PALM ISLAND RESORT & SPA

WATERWORLD The pool and dining room at Little Palm Island.

a Joseph Phelps pinot noir or signature cocktails made with Papa’s Pilar dark rum. While we waited for our next course, a standout was the sorbet palette cleanser in tart cherry and refreshing watermelon complete with the unexpected addition of crackling Pop Rocks candy.

Little Palm’s success lies in an unwavering dedication to the “Get Lost” mantra and commitment to remaining a secluded paradise. It’s no surprise that the resort is a favorite getaway for U.S. presidents and celebrities. It was incredibly easy to follow Little Palm’s advice and just get lost on an island getaway without the hassle of getting to an island.

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Bungalows Key Largo Key Largo’s more rural approach from Florida’s Miami-Dade County is a thin strip of asphalt surrounded on both sides by native buttonwood trees, the reaching, grasping branches and low canopy so thick in some places that it can be hard to see the glittering water waiting beyond them.

This quiet patch of highway guides you in by way of the Mosquito Creek Bridge to a pin-straight slab of concrete buttressed on both ends by murky swamplands known as Crocodile Lake. The occasional bougainvillea or frangipani tree stand out amongst an otherwise impenetrable wall of green. Key Largo makes itself clear up front: nestled in the heart of untamed nature is an equally unspoiled oasis.

Wild cotton trees creep over the murky wildlife reserve, hovering above a pitch-black sheet, whose placid surface gives no indication of its depth or activity below the surface. Battered palm trees and hurricane-proof utility poles serve as a gentle reminder that nature is not far from reclaiming this island. In fact, many of its earliest European inhabitants were survivors from ships wrecked off its shores. It came to fame in the 1948 film Key Largo starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, but it proved inhospitable for filming so was recreated on a Hollywood soundstage.

It is still most well-known for its diving industry, where those with adequate courage and preparation

attempt to go face-to-face with its unforgiving and unexplored underwater chaparral.

Wildlife seems to creep into every crevice of unconquered land. Wild chickens claim their parking lot territories with loud cackling. Foot-tall Florida thatch and sea oats occupy small spaces between scuba instructing facilities and boat rentals. Sun-bleached Key lime pie stands don paint that doesn’t seem to last against salt-soaked air and brutal marine-layer winds.

Even still, there are reminders that the real world exists. Fast food restaurants have been installed. Firework stands boast wares capable of large and loud controlled explosions. Big trucks driven by impatient contractors serve as noisy reminders that the real world is not that far away.

The drive in from Miami was just over an hour, made longer by stops to take in the sights or to argue over whether crocodiles or alligators roam the waters (it’s both).

In an act of defiance in this milieu is Bungalows Key Largo.

Bungalows embraces the idea of existing within the native flora and fauna. Pulling into the teal painted gate is a cabana-style valet stand. Attendants sport sholapith hats and impeccably white uniforms that stand out against the green and brown aura of the reception lobby’s central attraction: a reclaimed Jamaican dogwood tree. The lobby is decorated with vintage cameras and photographs

BLUE PLATE SPECIAL A caprese salad at Bungalows Key Largo.

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The seafood restaurant, Fish Tales; the Hemingway Bar (themed after the famed Keys resident); and the 25-foot floating flamingo are all within a stone’s throw of our bungalow. What seemed to stick was that this tour was born of necessity as well as accommodation. Once situated and ready to take in the property, there is an immediate sense of seclusion. There is no high-rise central office or multistory central complex here. This place gives the impression that you are here and here is very far away from there (wherever there might be).

Even the bungalow itself is a haven. The porch faces no other rooms, with no elevator to spoil the experience. There are no ice machines or abstract paintings on the hallway walls. In fact, there are no hallways. The source of light during the day comes from our outdoor patio and cabana, complete with a large porcelain tub and waterfall shower that is hidden and covered by the palm foliage and bleeding-heart vines.

MADE IN THE SHADE The cabanas at Bungalows Key Largo.

BUNGALOWS KEY LARGO

of rippling seasides and well-worn skiffs. This is perhaps a premonition (or possibly a suggestion) of your upcoming temporary occupation as an auteur of sunset photographs. The opportunities to take these are as easy as they are to enjoy.

Once checked in, you are handed a map and assigned a tour guide. The property’s waterfront occupies, at most, 1,500 feet from the eastern hammocks. Taking a walking tour from one end of the beach to the other could occupy 20 minutes, but a New Yorker could accomplish a full survey of the beachfront demesne in 10.

So why the map and guide? Our ingress to the property began with the theatrical breach of a large teal-color gate. As it creaked open, commanded by an unseen device on our electricpowered buggy, our tour guide began down a long pathway of palm trees, wooden signposts, and bicycles. His monologue, no doubt honed over dozens, if not hundreds, of similar trips, gave us the lay of the land.

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COURTESY OF BUNGALOWS KEY LARGO

THE ZEN ZONE The walkway to the spa, which features a sauna and salt room.

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OUR TOUR GUIDE BEGAN DOWN A LONG PATHWAY OF PALM TREES, WOODEN SIGNPOSTS, AND BICYCLES.

COURTESY OF BUNGALOWS KEY LARGO

BLUE MARINE An aerial view of Bungalows Key Largo.

This seclusion and isolation ends during trips to the property’s restaurants and pools. The beachside pool and its tiered seating areas sit 40 feet from the water’s edge where live local musicians cover songs from island staples like Jimmy Buffet and Bob Marley. Its multiple bars and cabanas offer Bungalows-specific cocktails (like the Largo Lemonade) and small plate poolside snacks—the Baja fish tacos with a burst of citrus brightness were a treat. The pool overlooks the bay, where you can watch the Bungalows’ catamaran and guests enjoying rentable water activities.

Our first dinner was at the resort’s main restaurant, Fish Tales. The three-course meal offered a variety of options, from French peasant staples to expected island mainstays. The dinner menu is complete with a buffet-style dessert station, which, of course, contains Key lime treats. Dinner should be coordinated with sunset times as the dining

room enjoys an unobstructed view of the sunset from appetizer to dessert. As the sun slips away behind Swash Keys, the array of colors seem to match our strawberry piña coladas and grapefruit margaritas.

The Bungalows other restaurant, Sea Señor, offers Mexican options from all over the country’s states.

There are skirt steak entrées from the Norteño region and Oaxacan dishes like enchiladas, perhaps inspired by Key Largo’s early Spanish occupants.

The silver palm trees tower two dozen feet on both sides of any walkway. The wrought-iron bars that line the heated pool and Jacuzzi are impassible by sight or sound. It’s quiet—all of it. The sense of seclusion is immediate and tremendous. The tour, the map, the thousand lights attached to a thousand trees are there to provide a pathway in a property to make you feel like Robinson Crusoe on a hidden island, untouched and pure.

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COURTESY OF ARIA RETREAT & SPA

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FROM LUGANO WITH LOVE With instant access to the glitz and glamour of Lake Como, David Graver finds that Aria Retreat & Spa also offers a stylish escape for rest and relaxation

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N WATERWORLD An infinity pool at the luxury retreat.

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estled into a rocky incline rising from the banks of Lake Lugano, a glacial formation that straddles the dramatic landscapes of northern Italy and Switzerland, the five-star boutique hotel Aria Retreat & Spa complements its surrounding nature with serene design. Recently opened, the ultimate private escape is composed of just 15 suites, all of which offer a postcard-pretty panorama of the water below and the ridge of the Lepontine Alps. Under two hours by car from Milan, it’s easily accessible. You can shop at Gucci in the morning and arrive at Aria in time for lunch. And it’s only a 15-minute drive from the historic town of Menaggio, providing access to all he movie star-populated glamour of neighboring Lake Como.

Travelers often have an extensive, and sometimes deeply personal, list of expectations for spas. The destination must soothe, the design must nurture. Food should be flavorful, yet considerate and healthy. Amenities should put guests at ease but also excite the senses. The staff must be present but not overwhelming. All of this is true of Aria, which is set within a verdant 60-acre compound that’s part of a greater 200,000-square-meter plot that spans from a waterfront beach to a stunning mid-mountain vista.

At the heart of Aria is a two-floor, state-ofthe-art wellness center where each aspect is as exciting as the next. There are two pools—one heated indoor pool set before floor-to-ceiling windows and underneath colorful, geometric lamps; the second, a heated saltwater pool, is accessed from inside but includes a passage outdoors to an infinity design that cascades toward

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MILANESE MODERN The bathrooms and living areas are modern and spacious in all of the 15 suites at Aria Retreat & Spa.

COURTESY OF ARIA RETREAT & SPA

UNDER TWO HOURS BY CAR FROM MIL AN, IT ’S EASILY ACCESSIBLE. YOU CAN SHOP AT GUCCI IN THE MORNING AND ARRIVE AT ARIA IN TIME FOR LUNCH.

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“THERE IS ALWAY S SUN. YOU LIVE OUTSIDE. YOU DINE OUTSIDE. YOU WORK OUTSIDE WITH A VIEW OF L AKE LUGANO.”

LUGANO N’ CHILL Glittering views of Lake Lugano surround guests at Aria.

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COURTESY OF ARIA RETREAT & SPA

—EVA SCHWENN

COURTESY OF ARIA RETREAT & SPA

RILASSARE ROOM The spa room at Aria Retreat & Spa.

the lake. Aria’s spa, named CEò (which translates to “fog”), has dual panoramic saunas, one Finnish and one with a fragrant bio-hay component, as well as a Turkish bath, a cold cabin that produces snowflakes, and an outdoor jacuzzi.

Other rooms offer reflexology, treatments, or simple recliners for chilling out.

This transportive comfort factors into the rooms, as well. All 15 suites look toward the lake.

The architectural footprint emphasizes privacy— and functional attributes are so abundant that they rival those of primary residences. Further, each guest room boasts an expansive south-facing terrace. “There is always sun,” co-owner Eva Schwenn tells Avenue. “You live outside. You dine outside.

You work outside with a view of Lake Lugano.”

Schwenn, who once owned a hotel in Tuscany with her husband, Hartmut, began to develop the land after acquiring it 50 years ago. “We’ve added smaller parcels here and there ever since,” she says.

Prior to the construction of Aria, atop its moun-

tainous perch, the Schwenns built a “four-star superior resort” named Parco San Marco on the land just below it. This beloved family-friendly destination opened its doors 25 years ago and has amassed a devout following of return guests. Aria grew from it—and as a contrast to it.

“We started developing Aria four years ago,” Schwenn continues. “We knew it would be a place without children. We knew there would be an emphasis on architecture and design. Everything had to be Italian-made.” Schwenn contributed to the interior design, down to personal touches of art and antiques throughout the suites and public spaces. This was done to counter the minimalism of the facade.

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MOUTH WATERING Aria offers an array of food and drink on premises.

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COURTESY OF ARIA RETREAT & SPA

THE BEAUT Y OF L AKE LUGANO IS UNDENIABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT AT TRIBUTE AT ARIA.

COURTESY OF ARIA RETREAT & SPA

features, like a banana tree. “I love hotels with rivers and lakes and koi ponds and turtles,” she muses. “We didn’t have a river on this property, so I made one using water from the lake. I wanted a waterfall, so we made one too.”

Breakfast is served on your own balcony every morning. Guests can also dine at the chic Dolce Vita Lounge & Terrace Bar, which doubles as a lunch spot with its own outdoor terrace, as well as a cocktail bar from aperitivo to last call. La Musa, the property’s fine-dining restaurant, is housed down below in Parco San Marco. It only seats a handful of people inside per night, but includes an outside terrace with tables, too.

The beauty of Lake Lugano is undeniably the most important attribute at Aria. “There are famous spots nearby, but they can be crowded and, because they cater to a lot of people, the quality of food can diminish,” Schwenn reports.

“If you want to go there from Aria, you can. If you want to visit one of my favorite hotels, Villa d’Este—it’s magnificent—you can. But you can return here and park your car comfortably and walk from your room to the lake in your bathing suit.”

In a region where room to roam is a highly sought-after commodity, Aria provides it as a differentiating factor. “I wanted to offer space,” Schwenn adds. “It needed to be different from the rest of the market. I wanted to offer individuality. I worked with the architects, the construction team, and the artisans to create something unique.”

Though Aria’s pioneering first guests began as overflow from Lake Como on overbooked summer weekends, they now return regularly to take in all the majesty Lake Lugano has to offer.

THE VISTA ADVANTAGE Aria Retreat & Spa sits on the majestic Lake Lugano.

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DOUBLE ARCHES Maximalist interior designer Martin Brudnizki created the Fifth Avenue Hotel’s dramatic suites.

BY PETER DAVIS

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U

ntil her death in 1902, Charlotte Goodridge lived an opulent existence on lower Fifth Avenue. A Gilded Age socialite straight out of the hit HBO series depicting the period, Goodridge was famed for hosting lavish receptions and musical performances filled with a well-heeled café society crowd. The consummate party thrower told a reporter in 1894 that “[a] woman’s peculiar duty is to create the atmosphere of the home.”

After Goodridge’s death, high society moved uptown and her home was sold to Second National Bank which employed the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White to erect a five-story Italian Renaissance palazzo that opened in 1907. Flash-

WILLIAM ABRANOWICZ

The Fifth Avenue Hotel is the Place for Modern Flâneurs

IF YOU WANT TO LIVE OUT AN AGE OF INNOCENCE, EDITH WHARTON FANTASY—THIS IS YOUR SPOT.

WILLIAM ABRANOWICZ

GRAND ENTRANCE The Fifth Avenue Hotel was once the Gilded Age mansion of New York socialite Charlotte Goodridge.

forward to 1978 when the Ohebshalom family buys the property to use as commercial space.

The once-boondock location at 250 Fifth Avenue now anchors the red-hot NoMad district alongside fancy hotels, private clubs, restaurants, and designer boutiques. Hotelier Alex Ohebshalom smartly decided to transform the building into a luxury hotel—adding a 24-story glass tower where Goodridge’s carriage house once stood and meticulously restoring the mansion’s brick-andlimestone façade and original terra cotta cornice.

After a decade of work, Ohebshalom has opened the Fifth Avenue Hotel—Manhattan’s newest, swankiest retreat with 153 rooms (pro tip: the suites to nab are in the “mansion”). “The Fifth is the realization of many years of dreaming and discovery,” Ohebshalom says. “We are creating a one-of-a-kind experience; it is a whimsical, transformational escape in the heart of Manhattan.”

Maximalist-to-the-max interior designer Martin Brudnizki has created a Gilded Age fantasy from the dramatic double-height lobby with marble floors, walls paneled with antique mirrors, and cabinets of curiosities filled with many forms of crystals. Behind the front desk is a large tapestry by artist Pae White titled Bugs & Drugs—look carefully for both creepy crawlers and illicit substances. The ultimate effect is “Bohemia Luxuria.”

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THE POET CHARLES BAUDELAIRE WAS OFTEN CALLED A FLÂNEUR AND THE FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL—LUXURIOUSLY HIDDEN AWAY FROM THE BUSTLE OF NEW YORK—IS THE ULTIMATE DESTINATION FOR MODERN FLÂNEURING.

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CAFÉ SOCIETY The main room Café Carmellini, the hotel’s buzzy restaurant.

Ohebshalom is a world traveler who has visited North Africa and southeast Asia extensively, and Brudnizki has envisioned exotic spaces that feel like you’re in the grand home of an eccentric and very rich global nomad—from pagoda-style table lamps to Murano chandeliers and photographs

by William Klein, Gordon Parks, and Melvin Sokolsky. The elevators are ruched in rose-colored silk by craftsmen from Paris. Flattering night-sky ceiling lights twinkle and soft electronic music creates an escape from the loud street outside.

The suites in the mansion come with an on-call butler (also very Gilded Age) and are separated into a sitting area and bedroom by an arched sea-foam-green screen. The rich color palette—an impressionistic garden of greens, peony pinks, and buttercup yellows—surrounds whimsical touches like custom wardrobes inspired by traditional Chinese cabinets and antique inlaid side tables.

If you want to live out an Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton fantasy—this is your spot.

WILLIAM ABRANOWICZ

JOURNEYS

WILLIAM ABRANOWICZ

CLINK CLINK Glasses are stocked in a chinoiserie cabinet.

The Fifth Avenue Hotel has quickly become a stylish destination. James Beard Award-winning chef Andrew Carmellini helms its restaurant, Café Carmellini, replete with a second-floor balcony of private tête-à-tête tables overlooking the main dining area. The Italy-meets-France menu is as decadent as theneoclassical room which features an open kitchen, blue banquettes, and two grand sculptural trees. Carmellini’s plates—presented in a way that would make Brooke Astor smile—include a sweet crab and pepper mille-feuille, rabbit cacciatore, and veal medallions all’Ortolana.

After dinner, there is the speakeasy-style Portrait Bar, a dark wood-paneled lounge with a salon-style gallery of portraits and a drink menu that nods to Ohebshalom’s world treks: Oaxacan gins, Korean sojus, and Japanese whiskys, all used perfectly by master mixologist Darryl Chan.

Ohebshalom’s hotel group is aptly named Flâneur Hospitality. A flâneur is someone who likes to idle and lounge. The poet Charles Baudelaire was often called a flâneur and the Fifth Avenue Hotel—luxuriously hidden away from the bustle of New York—is the ultimate destination for modern flâneuring.

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NOTORIOUS NEW YORKERS

READY TO RUMBLE Author Norman Mailer fisting a cocktail.

The Angriest Man in New York Norman Mailer was a literary lion who liked nothing more than a nasty fight—with other writers, hapless strangers on the street, and the many women he both slept with and married. Janet Mercel tallies up Mailer’s most infamous and shocking scandals.

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ROBERT BELOTT / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

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oor Norman. By friends and foes alike, Norman Mailer is referred to variously as “violent, full of hate” (his sister, Barbara), “a psychotic clown” (Henry Miller), and as having “no talent.

None, none, none!” (Truman Capote, whom Mailer retaliated against by sitting on little “Tru Heart” at a party). Tom Wolfe called him one of “two old bags-of-bones” (the other “old bag” being John Updike).

This was a time in publishing when hurling insults at another author was almost as important to a literary profile as written works. To be left out of the fray was to be considered unworthy by a desirable cohort of media elite, and Mailer always made the most of his screen time. From his unhinged ramblings in The Village Voice, which he cofounded, to his role in the 1979 documentary Town Bloody Hall, there are so many scandals that played out on the world stage involving the author and fill-in-the-blank (feminism, racism, politics, sexual assault, murder, homophobia, other writers, birth control, Kate Millett), we’ll limit ourselves to three of his favorite subjects: fights, women, and fights with women.

While baiting people in print thrilled Mailer, so did the more colorful method of expressing himself with fists, or any other appendage. His pugilist era lasted a long time: he threw his last punch at the age of 74 (at Esquire’s publisher) after decades of histrionic public violence. In 1969, on the set of The Maidstone, Mailer’s bananas experimental film, actor Rip Torn hit him in the head with a hammer and Mailer bit off part of Torn’s ear (puns abound). No one knew if they were acting or not. The two men wrestled while Mailer’s wife, actress Beverly Bentley, broke up the fight and their real-life children looked on, screaming in horror. In 1971, after years of nasty squabbling, he headbutted the supremely urbane Gore Vidal backstage at The Dick Cavett Show. Less wellknown: he threw his dog, Zsa Zsa, down the stairs after she defecated on the carpet. (“She did it on purpose, the little bitch,” he snapped.) In 1962, there was another throwing-down-the-stairs incident, although this time the victim was Max

ROLEPLAYING AS BOTH BULL AND MATADOR, MAILER CHARGED MORALES, STABBED HER TWICE WITH A KNIFE, PIERCING HER CARDIAC SAC AND NEARLY KILLING HER. HE WAS ARRESTED WHILE VISITING HER IN THE ICU, AFTER STOPPING FOR A TV APPEARANCE WITH MIKE WALLACE ALONG THE WAY.

ROBERT BELOTT / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

LADIES MAN Mailer with his sixth, and last, wife, Norris Church Mailer.

Hayward, the translator of Doctor Zhivago, at a literary conference in Edinburgh.

For a man who chased rage like a dog chases cars, nothing rankled Mailer more than homoeroticism. A relationship with Jack Kerouac was part of his long-standing feud with number-one frenemy Vidal, who Mailer blamed for “killing” Jack by sleeping with him and driving him to madness. This did not extend to group sex; he often pimped out his (sometimes willing, sometimes not) second wife, Adele Morales, to his friends and any of hers he found attractive. The looming embrace of Mailer’s own homosexuality was a topic he openly, if theoretically, explored.

Polyamory, infidelity, and hundreds of sexual exploits and fistfights never seemed to fuel his darkness, probably because the whole time he just wanted to bone poor James Baldwin.

Mailer found marital bliss (albeit not faithfully) in later years with his final wife, actress Norris Church, although it took him a while to get there. Two decades earlier, the writer was married to Morales and riding high off the success of “Superman Comes to the Supermarket.” The Esquire essay extolled the era of JFK and Jackie, who Mailer believed would mark a new “pagan” United States, and it changed the face of American journalism.

(The Kennedys loved it.)

A Harvard graduate and literary aristocrat who saw no conflict with hating “prep-school types” and the establishment, Mailer saw himself as a fit

candidate for the presidential cabinet and, failing that, mayor of New York City (for the “Existentialist Party”). At a campaign party at his apartment on November 19, 1960, Mailer was prepared to win over everyone, from the hoi polloi to the disenfranchised who didn’t normally take the time to vote—junkies, prostitutes, and the hard-bitten proletariat to whom he so badly wanted to be linked.

Allen Ginsberg and Shel Silverstein were there, and Mailer’s buddy, Paris Review cofounder George Plimpton, along with dozens of street vagrants and men recently released from the local jail who were happy to be offered food and drink.

We know he was drunk that night; we know he was stoned. But since he also experimented with mescaline benders that left him deranged, loved Miltowns and Demerol, but not necessarily all at the same time, who knows what would have shown up in his personal pharmacopeia? Channeling the masculine power of his idol Hemingway, Mailer dressed in a matador’s shirt and attempted to physically separate the crowd into his political supporters and naysayers. Shockingly, this did not go well, and Mailer’s bad mood turned positively black. After disappearing to the streets, engaging in numerous fights, this red-faced, bellowing drunk in his bullfighting blouse returned to the apartment around 4:30 AM, wounded and bleeding. Roleplaying as both bull and matador, Mailer charged Morales, stabbed her twice with a knife, piercing her cardiac sac and nearly killing her. He was

arrested while visiting her in the ICU, after stopping for a TV appearance with Mike Wallace along the way.

Bullied by publishing buddies who advised her not to make more trouble for Mailer, Morales never pressed charges. One friend said it happened because she was “a lousy wife.” Another declared, “Norman finally did to Adele what should’ve been done years earlier.” Her mother-in-law, Fanny Mailer, told reporters, “My boy’s a genius. Whatever happened with the stabbing, she goaded him into it.” Morales, worried about how the publicity would affect her two baby daughters, and the concept of raising them alone with their father in prison, declined to separate from her husband because of the stabbing. Instead, she filed for divorce only after the night he met and slept with his third wife, Lady Jeanne Campbell, at a party, while Adele was still on bedrest from her wounds.

The newlyweds fought so badly, Lady Jeanne said, “we could empty a room quicker than any couple in New York. We could arrive at a party and even the hosts would put on their hats and coats and leave.” One account has Mailer dangling Campbell by the ankles from a second-story balcony. If true, it pissed her off enough to divorce him after a year. If not, something else did the trick, adding to the list of overlapping ex-wives Mailer made a parallel career of mortally offending, if not wounding, along the way.

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GUY TREBAY Since the 1970s, Guy Trebay has been New York’s keenest culture reporter— unearthing characters and trends, both high and low, for publications like the New Yorker and the New York Times, where he writes regularly for the Style section. This past year, Trebay turned his pen inward, publishing the critically acclaimed, brutally honest memoir Do Something. PETER DAVIS discovers that Trebay’s youth and pre-New York Times life were as fascinating and colorful as the eccentric people and places he has famously profiled.

Your memoir ends in 1975 with your mother’s death.

That was the structure the book took. Whereas it’s not linear, there is a chronological integrity.

I migrate in both directions from 1975, but that’s the anchoring year. I wanted to end it at that peak. The period that is mostly described, the period of emergence, was complete.

That era of New York is such a big character in the book.

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that New York. I think that a lot of this has to do with being a depiction of the pre-digital world.

There was no internet for most of the time that I’m writing about. The kind of tribalism that characterized New York exists probably in another kind of way, but principally online now.

It’s a book that’s very much about the physical textures of the city in the sense of the smells and the feel. Recently some colleagues of mine did a piece about where young people [today] could go to meet. It struck me at the time as such an odd thing that you’d have to have an investigative piece about where to meet humans. That was not a problem that any of us had in those days.

There’s so much detail about the people and especially the places.

I am a writer who has been kind of obsessed with detail. And I have a very strong memory.

I was talking to writer Marie Brenner, who wrote a brilliant memoir, and she said, “Have you done any research?” I was taken aback.

I was like, well, it’s my life, not really. I wrote it without having researched it, as a memory project. Then, after the first draft, I did research, quite extensively, mostly as a matter of fact checking. But the textures are deeply ingrained for me.

Do you think that New York still has wild, underground characters? I’m thinking of Herman Costa and Adam Purple, to name two.

There was a lot more room for eccentrics.

People lived on virtually nothing because rents were so cheap. New York was on the skids.

Artists go where there’s real estate. They were tremendously eccentric characters, that’s for sure. All the people that I write about in the book were in a golden moment. It didn’t feel particularly golden at that moment, but they were in this moment of being able to be completely experimental in ways of life, ways of being. But they were people ultimately with career ambitions. Many of those people went on to conventional careers.

Do you miss that “old” New York?

You’re never going to run out of New York, that’s for sure. It’s up to you to find what it has to offer. I’m a great walker. I always have been. I will get the M4 bus and just get off wherever I want on its way up to the ends of the Cloisters and walk home. I am not going to find a new community, but I am going to feel New York at its New Yorkiest.

You said you were Warhol Factory-adjacent, but you were really a pop culture Zelig— working at the underground disco the Tenth Floor and Max’s Kansas City.

You were in the center of everything cool.

New York was a lot more porous. I write about these different tribes, the Halston tribe and the Calvin Klein tribe and the Tenth Floor tribe and the Paradise Garage tribe and whomever, but they all, to some degree, overlapped. They bled into each other.

Your sister Dana’s death was painful.

Were there things you wanted to leave out?

It’s not a memoir that really fits the term very well, because there’s not me in it. I don’t deflect. It is very much anchored in my voice and my experience, but my concern was to render things compassionately for everybody, myself included. I think that for a lot of people who write memoirs or misery memoirs, there’s too much score settling. I’m not that person now. I once have been, but it just wasn’t the kind of writing I wanted to produce.

It’s not a tell-all and you don’t really get into your personal or romantic life.

Somebody said, “You were like a reporter reporting on your own life.” I very much have the habits of a reporter. I tend to keep parts of my life separate from my work life and a book is work. Every book isn’t going to tell everything, nor does it have to.

If your parents were alive, how do you think they would feel about Do Something?

It’s hard for me to say. I made my peace with my father before he died in 2020, I suppose that he’s probably from the school of, “As long as you spell my name correctly.” My mom is hard. It’s very hard for me to sum up what she may have felt about it. The book is very much anchored in my relationship to her.

I have this sister who committed a federal crime and went underground for five years. I didn’t see her for more than 20 years. After she’d gone to jail, she had a very conventional life. She lives in the Midwest. We exchange Christmas cards but were not able to restore the relationship.

You spent time with Dorian Corey, the drag star from Paris Is Burning, and the designer Charles James.

The book is in a lot of ways about finding teachers. They didn’t have to look like teachers. Nobody was going to see Dorian Corey and say, “Aha, there’s your guru.” But it has been my good fortune as an unfettered kind of person to meet the right people for me. I never got any degrees or anything, but I think that I learned a lot from those people.

You were so young when you met many of these people.

The way that I was raised, I was basically like 40 at four. By the time I was 21, I felt I had it knocked, whatever it was, I could manage it, and it was only later that I could build back in the steps that I’ve missed, largely through the encounters with such people as Anita Loos, Charles James, Dorian Corey, or Willi Ninja.

I guess the lessons can come from anywhere.

Joan Didion is mentioned, but not by name.

I didn’t set out, in any sense, to write a name-droppy book. I didn’t want to exploit the relationship with Joan. Joan was still living when I was working on the book, and she’s become a profit center for a lot of people.

I met Joan through Lynn [Nesbit, Trebay’s agent], and we went on to become very, very close friends. We had dinner once a week.

ELENA SEIBERT

Q & AVE

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