SFO Fall 2014

FALL 2014 SPRING 2014

MY UNCLE AL CAPONE Exclusive Interview with Deirdre Capone

SECRET HISTORY OF BASEBALL as told by MLB historian John Thorn

THE REAL FIRST THANKSGIVING in St. Augustine

COUNTERFEIT RARE WINES Story of a billionaire's sour grapes

a Mother’s love Elena Shumilova’s photography on her farm in Andreapolsky, Russia

Murano at Portofino Miami Beach, Florida

Deering Bay The aragon Coral Florida BocaGables, raton, Florida

Continuum North Tower st. Tropez Miami Beach, Florida sunny isles, Florida

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South Florida OPULENCE

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NEW YORK: 221 East 60th Street New York, NY 10022 • P 212.644.3403 www.interiorsbysteveng.com • www.antiquitiesweb.com Fall 2014

South Florida OPULENCE

5

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T op F E AT U R E S 71 MY UNCLE AL CAPONE

54

In this exclusive interview with Al Capone’s grandniece, Deirdre Marie Capone reveals the facts never or seldom told in newspapers. Deirdre Marie Capone spent years researching her family’s history culminating in her book Uncle Al Capone, which has been adapted into a screenplay.

COUNTERFEIT RARE WINES Billionaire businessman and avid wine collector Bill Koch crusades against counterfeiters of rare wines after uncovering sour grapes in his own multimillion-dollar wine collection. Experts around the country reveal ways to identify fraudulent vino.

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66 SECRET HISTORY OF BASEBALL Meet Major League Baseball historian John Thorn through an insightful interview with South Florida Opulence. Thorn’s latest novel, Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game, dispels common myths surrounding America’s favorite pastime such as who really invented baseball and how the sport became synonymous with the home of the brave.

PORTRAIT OF A MOTHER'S LOVE In a touching interview with South Florida Opulence, Russian photographer, mother and farmer Elena Shumilova shares her tranquil life on her family farm through the eyes of her 3-year-old son Vanya and his 6-year-old brother Yaroslav. Elena’s passionate photographs are now drawing the attention of millions of her Flikr followers worldwide.

142 THE REAL FIRST THANKSGIVING - In St. Augustine!

Most Americans wouldn’t contest that the “first” Thanksgiving dinner was held between Separatist Pilgrims and the Patuxet Native Americans at Plymouth Rock.

However, historical evidence done by historian Dr. Michael Gannon proves where the “first” Thanksgiving actually took place.

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Unique edition 22 timepieces in 5N red gold case

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DOUBLE TOURBILLON 30° TECHNIQUE Bi - color

SOUTH FLORIDA

features (continued)

48 COOKING WITH INTUITION: BEER, THAT IS

26 PHANTOM RETURNS

50 O’ZAPFT IS!

Craft beer and culinary scene in Jacksonville

Oktoberfest celebrates 200 years in Munich

A new interpretation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s opera

32 FRANKENFOOD

58 GREUBEL FORSEY CELEBRATES 10 YEARS OF HAUTE HOROLOGY

Celebrity Chef Josh Capon’s new show

34 Chef Dustin Ward Hits Prime Time at The Blue Monster

Success of luxury Swiss watchmakers

62 HOW I ESCAPED CHARLES MANSON’S KILLING MADNESS

Having trained with the best of the best in the culinary world, hotshot Chef Ward is rocking BLT Prime in Doral

Ava Roosevelt’s near escape

78 PUSHING LIMITS of design Steven G.’s stunning design at St. Regis in Bal Harbour

36 A CONNOIsSeuR’S GUIDE TO EGGS, SHELLS & TRUFFLES

80 Miami Real Estate!

Why Miami real estate leads the nation in international buyers

Caviar, oysters and truffles

40 ‘good stuff’

86 STAR TREK STYLE LIVING

of bootleggers

Marc Bell and his $35 million sci-fi-themed Boca Raton mansion

Al Capone’s favorite rye whiskey: Templeton

42 Celebrity cHEF FABIO VIVIANI Italian-born restaurateur blazes into Miami

45 MAISON KRUG World’s first luxury champagne house

46 THE SCIENCE OF BOOZE Linking alcohol & humanity

92 Windows To The Soul Celebrity photography by Robert Zuckerman

96

RUGGED MANIAC

Men behind the gold standard of urban adventures

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features (continued) 100 FeRretti – Sail On! Legacy of two Italian yacht makers

120 TRASH INTO TREASURE One man’s trash is another man’s $23.8 million treasure

128 FARM TO TABLE BY SEA World’s best floating markets

110 EXTREME RUSH AQUA SPORTS

138 REGAL HISTORY OF

Soaring to new heights

HARP MAKING Lyon & Healy carries on an American tradition

112 ZIPLINING in MAUI A bird’s-eye view adventure

114 BIG CAT RESCUE Carole Murdock turns her feline passion into her life’s work

116 ART BASEL: GLOBAL ECONOMIC ENGINE

144 OLDE MONEY A tangible link to American history

146

REMEMBERING THE JEWISH

GAUCHOS OF ARGENTINA Baron Maurice von Hirsch saved my family

149 americana of antique fishing lures

Art Basel mastermind transforms Singapore’s art scene

119 HOW TO BECOME AN ART CONNOISSEUR Guidance from Miami collectors

departments Gadgets

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Calendar of Events

24-25

Dining Guide

28,30

Men’s Grooming

61

Developer Profile

89

Landscape Design: Fountains

90

Transportation: RedCap

126

Women’s Beauty

130

Women’s Fashion: Moroccan Caftans

132

Must Reads from the Desk of Edwina Sandys

152

Philanthropy: Ride2Revive

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Condo Law

156

Condo Living

103,158

Social Living

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Editor’s Letter

The Gift of Sheer Gratitude There’s an adage that if you’ve forgotten the language of gratitude, you’ll never be on speaking terms with happiness. University of Miami researchers compared people who journal daily about things they're grateful for, and people who write about daily hassles. Those focused on gratitude were 25 percent happier, had fewer illnesses and exercised more. As we near Thanksgiving, what are you grateful for?

Let me tell you a true story of gratitude and ‘old Eddie,’ whom I learned about from motivational author Max Lucado. Every Friday at sunset, Ed walked to a pier with a pail of shrimp. Dozens of seagulls hovered as Ed tossed them shellfish. He would smile up at the birds and say, “Thank you.” When Ed turned to go home, birds hopped alongside him. Onlookers assumed Ed was a strange old codger. That’s a shame. You see, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was a World War II hero whose flight mission crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Amazingly, everyone made it to a life raft. They battled sun, sharks and hunger. But the day rations ran out, a miracle happened: A seagull landed on Ed’s hat. The bird served as the crew’s meal and bait to catch fish until they were rescued 24 days later. Ed never forgot the lifesaving seagull.

That’s why, every week, he’d walk to the pier with a bucket of shrimp and plenty of gratitude.

Oh, and one more thing: Eddie founded Eastern Airlines.

I also have a true story of personal gratitude to share. On August 9, 1999, I gave birth to my third child, Austin. It took two anesthesiologists to make the epidural work. Days later, people asked why I was limping. I couldn’t tell that I was, so I shrugged it off. Eventually I started stumbling, went to doctors and was tested for MS, ALS and a host of other conditions. All negative. A neurologist at New York Presbyterian advised me not to bother looking for a cure; we presumed my limp was caused by irreversible epidural nerve damage. I accepted it and moved on – relying on rails or the arm of a loved one for balance for the last 15 years.

And then something uncanny happened. This past August 9, we went fishing to celebrate Austin’s 15th birthday. I sat on a cooler, leaning against the pier’s rail to read. As the sun shifted, I gradually turned my upper body to read in the shade. I sat in that twisted position for about an hour. When my family wanted to move down the pier, I told them to go ahead. I followed – but not at my usual slow, unsteady gait. Rather, I was walking (fast!), without the rail. I said aloud, “I’m WALKING!” Onlookers surely thought I was nuts. But for about four hours – 15 years to the exact day after that epidural – I was walking in a way that felt normal. I was elated. A physician now suspects my limp was caused from extreme muscle spasms (child labor) that entrapped a nerve. I’ve since stiffened a little again, but am scheduled to start specialized physical therapy soon. That moment of clarity on August 9 showed me that the limp is reversible – and for that divine gift, I am filled with sheer gratitude!

This holiday season, I wish you all happiness and buckets of life-changing gratitude.

– Robin Jay, Editor in Chief FALL 2013

SOUTH FLORIDA

WiLLard Wigan’s

AmAzIng mICro-sCuLpTures mAsTer oF CoLor-spLAsheD ATTIre

robert graham mIAmI's 26-YeAr-oLD

sUPerCar Ceo LUster & tragedy

The hIsTorY oF FAbergé eggs

John Loring Leading Tiffany Design Into The 21st Century Fall 2013

SUMMER 2013 20

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FALL 2013

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EXPERIENCE THE LIVING ILLUSION OF CRAIG TRACY

1

SPRING 2014

HORIZON PUBLISHING Executive PUBLISHER & Owner Geoff Hammond, CEO Jayne Hammond, President Associate PUBLISHERS Mark Blackburn David Hammond EDITOR IN CHIEF Robin Jay editor@southfloridaopulence.com CREATIVE ART DIRECTOR Adriana Naylor artdirector@southfloridaopulence.com 954-331-3912 PR AND MARKETING MANAGER Chantal Forster marketingmanager@southfloridaopulence.com 954-331-3390 Business Development director Erika Buchholz ebuchholz@southfloridaopulence.com 954-609-2447 Editorial Assistant Melissa Bryant CONTRIBUTING WRITERS John D. Adams Michael Bender, Esq. Melissa Bryant Jana Soeldner Danger Hope Gainer Eric Garcia Julia Hebert Michael Jay Steven Joseph Stephen Keeler Dale King

Steve North Ava Roosevelt Edwina Sandys Todd R. Sciore Jim Schottenham Sharon Spence Lieb Alex Starace Clifton N. Thuma Alex Villasuso Mary & Hugh Williamson

Photographers Harry Benson Mel Jay Douglas Lance Lisa Nalven Silvia Pangaro Robert Zuckerman PROOFREADER Suzanne Shaw South Florida Opulence Magazine is published quarterly by Horizon Publishing LLC. Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved. Horizon Publishing LLC, 6700 North Andrews Avenue, Suite 400, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309 – Vol. 4, No. 3 Fall 2014 (ISSN # 2157-5274) Subscription Rates: $40 per year, $10 per issue.

For subscription inquiries or change of address, contact the subscription department, (954) 308-4300 Ext. 4312, Fax: (954) 331-6028. Horizon Publishing, LLC, its affiliates and contributing writers have exercised due care in compiling the information contained herein, but with the possibility of human or mechanical error, cannot assume liability for the accuracy of this data. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in part or in full in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording and any information storage and retrieval system without first obtaining permission from the publisher.

Miami, 10 NE 39th Street, Miami Design District, 305.573.4331 Los Angeles , Pacific Design Center, 8 6 87 Melrose Avenue, Suite G170, 310.35 8.0 9 01 New York, Decoration & Design Building, 979 Third Avenue, Suite 1424, 212.334.1271

g a d gets BeerTender Chromatic Edition The vintage yet contemporary Chromatic Edition offers the lines reminiscent of the Fifties, yet with the latest innovations and pressure system for dispensing beer at home. For pricing information, go to www. maltsethoublons.com

Google Glass Google Glass is essentially a smart phone you wear on your face or attached to your glasses. A small clear cube provides a screen in the front of one lens. The speaker transmits directions and information into your earbud. Still in beta stages, the system has apps that can translate words into another language, offers GPS direction navigation and can make reservations for you on Open Table. $1,500 at www.google.com/glass.

Hammacher Schlemmer 3D Printing Pen Hammacher Schlemmer introduces The World's First 3D Printing Pen. This is the only pen that creates three-dimensional plastic drawings. Instead of releasing ink, this pen extrudes warm thermoplastic that hardens within seconds, allowing you to create three-dimensional freehand drawings. Since the plastic hardens quickly, users can draw in the air to create a bird’s outstretched wing or connect two faces of a cube. The pen is powered by a 6'-long AC cord, it heats up in less than a minute, and has two extrusion speeds that adjust with the touch of a button. www. hammacher.com. $99.95.

Herb-Savor Mini Pod 2.0 Nothing makes your meals taste better than the freshest ingredients. The Prepara herb-savor will prolong the life of your fresh herbs for up to 3 weeks so you can enjoy fresh, flavorful meals every time you cook. Set of three. www.prepara.com. $29.99

The Electric Peel Micro Car This is the reproduction of a Peel Trident, a two-seat, three-wheeled microcar originally built on England’s Isle of Man between 1965-1966.

It is still one of the smallest cars in the world, placing its driver and a passenger just 12” from the ground. www.Hammacher.com. $25,000 22

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Up & Coming Events SEPTEMBER

october

6

12

2014-2015 Box Office Opening Weekend!

First Opportunity to Buy Tickets to 25+ Shows including just-announced events!

SESAME STREET LIVE (10/10-11/2014) KORESH DANCE COMPANY (11/4-6/2014)

THE COLORS OF CHRISTMAS STARRING PEABO BRYSON, JENNIFER HOLLIDAY, TAYLOR DAYNE & RUBEN STUDDARD (12/11/2014) IRVIN MAYFIELD & THE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ ORCHESTRA ( 2/5/2015) TONY BENNETT WITH VERY SPECIAL GUEST ANTONIA BENNETT (2/13/2015) IDAN RAICHEL PROJECT (4/18/2015) GILBERTO GIL (4/26/15) and many more! Box office: (305) 949-6722

october

11-12

Miami Broward Carnival

Miami-Dade County Fairgrounds, Miami

In its 20 year history, this annual one-night event has raised more than $14 million to grant the wishes of over 3,000 children in South Florida who have life-threatening illnesses. Every year, this star-studded gala brings together more than 900 VIPs, socialites, fashion mavens, celebrities and notable philanthropists for the cause. Celebrity emcee will be filmmaker/actress Gabrielle Anwar. For tickets, go to www.sfla.wish.org.

With over 20 masquerade bands and 6 steel bands parading and competing for “Band of the Year” bragging rights, the streets of Miami Gardens will be adorned with beautiful, colorful and intricate costumes along with the infectious musical sounds of soca. Enjoy live concerts throughout the day, Caribbean food and drinks, parades and much more! The International Caribbean Village will showcase goods and services from the Caribbean. www.miamibrowardcarnival.com.

october

New World Symphony, Miami Beach

Be there for the 2014-2015 New World Symphony Season Opening. This concert is part of the Saturday Evening Series One and the Sunday Symphony Series and will feature Michael Tilson Thomas as the conductor and Tamás Varga on cello. www.nws.edu.

november

25

11-1/11

Seminole Hard Rock, Hollywood

Boca Museum of Art, Boca Raton

Enrique Iglesias & Pitbull

South Florida OPULENCE

20th Annual Make-A-Wish Ball – with Diana Ross

november

11-16

Fashion Week West Palm Beach

Palm Beach County Convention Center, West Palm Beach

Fashion Week West Palm Beach is a multiday, multicultural event that invites the world to experience the vast richness of the beautiful city West Palm Beach, FL. The shows will include runway shows, exhibitions, presentations and networking opportunities aimed at both highlighting the work of Florida’s local fashion professionals while including international fashion designers whose merchandise can be found locally and internationally.

november

Season Opening with Michael Tilson Thomas

24

1

InterContinental Miami

Adrienne Arsht Center

MIKE BIRBIGLIA (11/20/2014) MILTON NASCIMENTO (11/26/2014)

november

International superstars Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull will reunite and share the stage as part of their co-headlining Fall tour that will conclude at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Fla. on Saturday, October 25, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. Fast-rising Latin urban star J Balvin is confirmed as the support act. www.seminolehardrockhollywood.com.

Fall 2014

Theresa Bernstein: A Century of Art

The American artist Theresa Ferber Bernstein (1890–2002) made and exhibited her work in every decade of the twentieth century–a truly awesome feat.

Working in realist and expressionist styles, she treated the major subjects of her time, including the fight for women’s suffrage, the plight of immigrants, World War I, jazz, unemployment, racial discrimination and occasionally explicitly Jewish themes such as a synagogue interior or ritual objects such as a menorah. www.bocamuseum.org.

28-30

Marleen and Harold* Forkas Present The Nutcracker

Boca Ballet Theatre

Boca Ballet Theatre continues to capture its audience with its beloved version of The Nutcracker.

Following both matinee performances of The Nutcracker is the Gingerbread Ball, a festive children’s party where kids can meet the dancers and enjoy some sweet treats. Performance dates/times: Friday, November 28 -7pm Saturday, November 29 -2pm & 8pm Sunday, November 30 -2pm Olympic Heights Performing Arts Theater, 20101 Lyons Rd., Boca Raton, 33429 For tickets, call: 561.995.0709 or visit www.bocaballet.org

Up & Coming Events december

4-7

Art Basel

12/14/15 19

MCB proudly welcomes this timeless tale of love and tragedy beautifully brought to life in the grand tradition of classical ballet.

Fleetwood Mac

BB&T Center, Sunrise

Miami Beach

Leading international galleries show work from masters of Modern and contemporary art as well as pieces by newly emerging stars. Paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, photographs, films, and editioned works of the highest quality are displayed in the main exhibition hall, while ambitious artworks and performances become part of the landscape at nearby beaches, Collins Park and SoundScape Park. www.artbasel.com.

Miami City Ballet Romeo and Juliet (Program I)

december

FEBruARY

After a 16-year absence, Christine McVie will be rejoining Fleetwood Mac bandmates Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks for the On With The Show Tour. The reunited band will perform at the BB&T Center December 19th. www.thebbtcenter.com.

Andrea Bocelli

Seminole Hard Rock, Hollywood

Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami (Ziff Ballet Opera House) October 2014 Friday, October 17 at 8 pm Saturday, October 18 at 8 pm Sunday, October 19 at 2 pm

Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale (Au-Rene Theater) October 2014 Friday, October 24 at 8 pm Saturday, October 25 at 2 pm & 8 pm Sunday, October 26 at 2 pm

Returns to Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino – Hollywood for Three Special Valentine's Shows, Thurs., February 12, Sat., February 14 and Sun., February 15. www.seminolehardrockhollywood.com.

Tickets Currently Available Through PBS Pledge Exclusive

Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, West Palm Beach (Dreyfoos Hall) November 2014 Friday, November 21 at 8 pm Saturday, November 22 at 2 pm & 8 pm Sunday, November 23 at 1 pm

december

11-14

Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival

The Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, Palm Beach

October 29, 2014 6:30 - 9:30 pm VIP 5:30 New York Marriott Marquis

Photo courtesy of Shannon Sturgis Photography

The Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival brings together an eclectic collection of the world’s most illustrious, award-winning chefs, culinary personalities, authors, winemakers and mixologists to this picturesque island of South Florida each December. www.pbfoodwinefest.com.

Taste from a selection of more than 300 whiskies from around the world

LIVE FROM NEW YORK ... IT’S KEY TO THE CURE! ©

Join Saturday Night Live and Saks Fifth Avenue in the fight against women’s cancers.

Get the shirt, designed by rag & bone, available exclusively at Saks this October. Then shop October 16 to 19, when Saks will donate 2% of sales to local and national women’s cancer charities.* Special thanks to SNL’s current and former castmembers, the 2014 Ambassadors for EIF’s Women’s Cancer Research Fund and Saks Fifth Avenue’s Key To The Cure.

Order Tickets Today at whiskyfest.com

*SAKS WILL DONATE 2% OF SALES FROM NEW YORK, BEVERLY HILLS, SAKS.COM, AND OFF5TH.COM UP TO A TOTAL OF $500,000 FROM THURSDAY TO SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16-19 ALONG WITH 100% OF KEY TO THE CURE T-SHIRT SALES FROM OCTOBER 1 - DECEMBER 31 TO THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FOUNDATION. PLEASE VISIT YOUR LOCAL SAKS FIFTH AVENUE STORE AND SAKS.COM/KTTC FOR INFORMATION ON YOUR LOCAL STORE’S DONATION. #SAKSxKTTC © SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE AND ITS RELATED CHARACTERS AND TRADEMARKS ARE PROPERTY OF NBCUNIVERSAL MEDIA LLC.

S_FLORIDA_OPUL_9x11.9375_MAG_KTTC.indd 1

7/28/14 4:18 PM

Fall 2014

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More Splendid Than Ever!

By Jana Soeldner Danger

W

hen the brand-new Broward Center for the Performing Arts opened its doors in 1991 with a lavish black-tie gala awash in Beluga caviar and expensive champagne, the production onstage was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera.

With its plunging chandelier and haunting musical score, it captured the hearts of the audience.

In November, a new Phantom will take the stage, polished and updated for 21st century audiences, at a time when the BCPA is showcasing a $58 million renovation of its own.

The new Phantom utilizes technology not available 23 years ago that allows for more exciting sound and lighting production and portrays characters more in sync with current psychological and cultural views. But don’t worry. The legendary chandelier and beloved music remain.

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South Florida OPULENCE

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“We’ve given it a more grounded, realistic approach,” said associate director Seth Sklar-Heyn. “But the production is just as big, if not bigger, than the earlier one. Phantom requires grandeur and spectacle, and we’re not losing any of the sweep of scale that people expect.”

The changes begin with the set. In the earlier production, during many scenes the stage was in almost total darkness. “The set design was a black void, with stylized pieces coming in and out,” Sklar-Heyn said. “We’ve moved away from that abstract, surreal world.”

Characters will also become more realistic. “In the original, the Phantom had unexplained, seemingly supernatural abilities,” Sklar-Heyn said. “In this version, he’s very human, a man living with a deformity and obsessed with a girl because the sound of her voice brings him pleasure, soothes him, and remedies some of his pain.”

an idea about who a character is, and someone will come in and redefine it, or become a character you’ve not seen before.”

Christine, the object of the Phantom’s obsession, plucked from the chorus line and pushed toward stardom, has also changed.

She is more girl than woman. “We’ve brought down her age so she has a different vulnerability and different energy,” Sklar-Heyn said. “She’s less knowing. A young girl doesn’t come with the same expectations and experience as an older person, and she reacts differently to an older man who is trying to encourage her to experience life in a different way. He’s trying to teach her to see beauty in darkness.”

Kelley Shanley, president and CEO of the BCPA, finds it fitting that Phantom returns as the theater celebrates its current upgrade, which encompasses renovations to the existing structure, as well as the new Huizenga pavilion that features a restaurant, a ballroom, and an education center. “Phantom defined our opening when we first opened our doors back in 1991,” he said. “So many patrons share their stories and recollections of that magical run. A reimagined Phantom is the perfect way to introduce the new and reimagined Broward Center.”

After a successful run in the UK, the show was completely recast with American actors for its U.S. tour. Character development is always driven somewhat by casting, Sklar-Heyn said. “You’ll have

Phantom of the Opera Will Run Nov. 19-30 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale. For tickets, go to www.broadwayacrossamerica.com

Fall 2014

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Dining Guide Doral – Miami Beach – Coral Springs Brother Jimmy’s BBQ 11401 NW 12th St. (Dolphin Mall) Doral (305) 517-5124 www.brotherjimmys.com Step outside of present-day Miami and into the Old South at rustic eatery Brother Jimmy’s BBQ. After 20 years in business, Brother Jimmy’s prides itself on specializing in authentic North Carolina slow smoked barbeque. Test your rodeo skills on their mechanical bull or try one of their 22 variations of bourbon – a Southern favorite.

N ick’s New Haven-Style Pizzeria & Bar 2444 N University Drive Coral Springs 954-800-7603 www.nickspizzeriabar.com For a taste of Italy in the suburbs of Coral Springs, look no further than Nick’s New Haven-Style Pizzeria & Bar. There you’ll find thinly-crusted New HavenNick’s specialty pizza style apizza (pronounced ah-BEETZ) and a team dedicated to producing the finest interpretation of this classic Italian dish.

“Brother Jimmy’s expertly seasoned meats and generous portions are a carnivore’s delight,” said Melissa Bryant, Editorial Assistant of South Florida Opulence. “The rib platter featured a tasty country sausage-flavored dry rub paired with a Memphis-style rub. I couldn’t get enough of the humongous bbq nachos with bbq beans, chili, cheese and brisket which seamlessly blended sweet with savory.”

“It’s definitely worth a drive to the ‘burbs’ to try this unique New-Haven style pizza — I’ve never tried anything quite like it. They take their pizza very seriously; only chefs from New Haven are allowed to make the dough because it requires perfectly adapting the flour to our humidity, it uses live yeast and it is allowed to rise three times before it’s baked. The signature white clam pizza is very similar to how the original pizzas were first made centuries ago for fishermen in Naples, Italy.”

Brother Jimmy’s BBQ Doral location is open for lunch and dinner Sunday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 11p.m. and Friday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Nick’s New Haven-Style Pizzeria & Bar is open Monday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to midnight and Sunday from noon to 10:00 p.m.

T he Restaurant at The Setai Miami Beach 2001 Collins Ave. Miami Beach (305) 520-6400 www.thesetaihotel.com

“I like to be an individual with my cooking and in my kitchen; I work to be original with my recipes and flavors – and not like other chefs nearby or beyond,” said Chef Mathias.

“It’s important for me to stay true to my Mediterranean and French roots – and not compromise my passion for this cuisine due to ever-changing trends or what’s the “in” ingredient or method.

Oftentimes, chefs want to follow trends; I prefer to create trends.”

Mathias Gervais, Executive Chef at The Restaurant at The Setai Miami Beach, believes in true farm-totable cuisine. As a child, Mathias and his grandmothThe Restaurant at The Setai Miami Beach is open er combed village markets in Provence, France, for daily from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. for breakfast and noon fresh produce like cantaloupe, zucchini flower and Lobster citrus salad to 3 p.m. for lunch. Dinner is served from 7 p.m. eggplant to use in homemade ratatouille. This to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 7 p.m. to inspired his culinary career. Chef Mathias went on to work as the Chef midnight on Friday and Saturday. Sunday Jazz Brunch is from 11:30 de Partie and Sous Chef for famed Michelin-star-rated establishments a.m. to 3 p.m. every Sunday. in Florence, Italy, and Monte Carlo, Monaco. Now, his traditional style of simplistic cooking is on display at The Restaurant.

“Chef Mathias‘ tasting menu was exquisite — my favorite dishes were the zucchini blossom stuffed with goat cheese, and the spicy strawberry gazpacho,” said Robin Jay, Editor of South Florida Opulence.

“Also divine was the lobster citrus salad.”

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Dining Guide Miami Beach – Hollywood La Gazzetta Miami

Le Tub Saloon

1010 S Miami Ave. Miami 305) 523-2393 www.lagazzettamiami.com

1100 N Ocean Dr. Hollywood (954) 921-9425 www.theletub.com

Modern Italian café, La Gazzetta’s delicately combines Italian Riviera cuisine with international influences for a break from the traditional. Enjoy a glass of environmentally friendly Keg Wine while people watching on their stunning sidewalk café in Mary Brickell Village. With clever concepts, fresh ingredients and a serene ambiance, La Gazzetta has everything necessary for what is sure to be a Miami hot spot.

What was once a Sunoco gas is now Hollywood’s best kept restaurant secret. After this former station closed in the early 1970s, Russell Kohuth purchased it, then spent a year hand-building what is now Le Tub out of flotsam, jetsam and gems he collected from Hollywood Beach. With no forms of advertising, this open-air saloon located on A1A is so secret that some people who have resided in Hollywood for years don’t know of its existence. Of course, this was all before Le Tub was named ‘The Best Burger in America’ by GQ Magazine and appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

“I’m a news junkie, so I was fascinated by the use of “La Gazette” newspapers as menus,” said Robin Jay, Editor of South Florida Opulence.

“The sushi pizzetta with the wasabi mayo and candied ginger and the pulled pork with sour cream and pickled shallots were delicious. Chef Stephen said they got the crispiness from running the dough through the pasta press. The blend of crunchy, sweet, spicy, salty and creamy was absolutely fabulous. And butterscotch salmon? I don’t normally like salmon...but this dish was sensational.”

La Gazzetta is open from 11:30 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Fridays, 12:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Saturdays and 12:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Sundays.

“Le Tub’s 13 oz., 100 percent sirloin burgers are seasoned, then charbroiled to perfection,”said Michael Perry.“The laid-back atmosphere offers a serene vibe on Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway with quirky objects d’art like decorative toilets, worn wooden picnic tables and old painted bathtubs. It’s no coincidence why Le Tub continues to garner accolades from television shows, magazines, and average ‘Joes’; they simply make the best hamburger!”

Le Tub is open from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. weekdays and noon to 2 a.m. on weekends 365 days a year.

Prohibition Restaurant and Speakeasy 3404 N Miami Ave. Miami (305) 438-9199 www.prohibitionmiami.com Although it’s 2014, and the period of Prohibition from the 1920s and early 1930s has ended, Americans fascination with the swanky saloons and undercover clubs of this bygone era has endured.

Prohibition Restaurant and Speakeasy elicits all of the allure and excitement of these undercover taverns by serving classic cocktails reminiscent of the Roaring ’20s in the energetic environment of Midtown, Miami.

Whether you prefer your drink the “old fashioned” way, with Crown XO, superfine sugar and dashes of bitters poured over an orange slice or more “cosmopolitan,” with Ketel One citrus vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice and lime juice, Prohibition has its fair share of quality spirits to 30

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quench any thirst. Elegant small plates like truffle lobster mac & cheese and grilled octopus feature top-notch ingredients. While savory large plates like shrimp chorizo and wagju skirt steak feature the best from land and sea.

Prohibition Restaurant and Speakeasy is open from 5:00 p.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday and 5:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Turn to page 6 to read Deirdre Capone’s intimate portrayal of her great-uncle “Al” — Chicago’s most notorious mobster, who became infamous during the Prohibition era.

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Frankenfood!

Miami Celeb Chef Josh Capon co-hosts

Spike TV’s most outrageous cooking contest

By Robin Jay

C

razy is as crazy does. When we first introduced you to superstar chef Josh Capon in South Florida Opulence, we told you about his ebullient personality and his insanely delicious seafoodF menu at the newly launched Lure Fishbar at the Lowes Hotel in Miami Beach.

“You should be on TV,” I told Chef Capon after the interview.

“Funny you should say that,” Capon laughed. “I’m the co-host and judge of Frankenfood, a new cooking competition coming to Spike TV in June.”

it down,” Capon recalled. Once, after tasting a particularly gnarly dish, Capon quipped that even a dog wouldn’t eat the ‘garbage quesadilla.’ A cast member happened to have his dog on the set – and sure enough, the canine refused the dish.

Sometimes the weird results are delicious. One of the best, Capon said, is from an episode filmed in Chicago. It was a deep-dish pizza made with the signature ingredients of a Chicago-style hotdog: fluorescent green pickle relish, Vienna hotdogs, raw onions, sport peppers and mustard. “I could eat one right now,” said Capon.

Move over green eggs and ham, that’s sissy food compared to the concoctions made on the show in which amateur chefs vie to create the newest food craze and win a $10,000 prize. On Frankenfood, competing cooks mix outlandish and unexpected ingredients to create something that’s, hopefully, surprisingly delicious.

“The ‘Dubin’ – a triple-decker pastrami donut sandwich – made me smile from ear to ear,” Chef Capon said about a dish he judged on the show.

Capon landed the co-host spot on Frankenfood (along Tony Luke Jr. and Josh Capon with Cheesesteak King Tony Luke Jr.) after he sent in an outrageous audition tape. “I pretended to host imaginary contestants, one of which mixed together yogurt, Cheerios – and tuna. I put on a helmet, grabbed a shovel, and smashed the bowl into oblivion. The unsuspecting videographer had to dive into the corner to dodge the flying mush. It got me the job!”

Why is watching Frankenfood so enticing to viewers? “I think anyone who likes to cook has experimented in his own kitchen, mixing together crazy x!*@&0,” Capon said. “When I was a kid, around 10 years old, I thought it would be cool to hard cook an egg in the microwave. It exploded and blew the microwave door open.

Scared the crap out of me, but it may have been what sparked my interest in cooking.

“We have such a great time on the show; we don’t take the food too seriously. If the audience has half as much fun watching the show as we have making it, they’re going to love it.”

Freaky dishes on the show are a blend of the good, the bad and the completely inedible – mostly the later.

“The worst dish so far was the ‘Bratanasplit’ – a combination of a bratwurst and a banana split. It was God awful,” Capon said with a grimace. “The bratwurst froze; it was like eating cold, congealed fat and spicy ice cream.”

Another remarkable Franken-fail was the baby octopus Jell-O shot. “Thank goodness for the spitter buckets. I couldn’t keep

Though a bit freaky on first glance, this dish topped with chicken feet was actually delicious according to Frankenfood judges.

To find out when Frankenfood airs in your area, check the schedule at www.spike.com.

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Chef Dustin Ward Hits Prime Time at The Blue Monster

By Robin Jay

a 19-year-old culinary student at Johnson & Wales. “Chef Dustin [as he calls Ward] was just handed an undercooked dish of au gratin potatoes by the guy on Veg [the vegetable station]. Chef smashed it against the wall and screamed, ‘nothing gets served on my watch unless it’s perfection!’”

Sounding like an episode of Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen (which, incidentally, was once won by Chef Ward’s BLT Prime esteemed colleague Paul Niedermann), I asked Ryan if he was ready to find a job closer to home. “No way, I LOVE this place!”

How Ward Earned His Stripes – and Culinary Palate “Growing up, I lived in San Diego, Virginia Beach, San Antonio, Manchester, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Moving a lot means tasting tons of different cuisines, which gave me a really broad palate. I fell in love with food really early on, and assumed the role of Executive Chef in my house at age 6,” Chef Ward said with a smile.

“My mother would probably tell you how I would make really weird food concoctions and convince my siblings to eat it. I figured out that pretty much anything with bacon works.”

i

t’s certain. Thirty-three-year-old Chef Dustin Ward has made it to the Big Time. How do I know? Simple: His track record of impressing celebrity chefs, famous hothead executives, and my very picky foodie family. Case in point: When Ward cooked at Cielo in Boca Raton, his culinary brilliance kept him immune from kitchen rants from Superstar Chef Gordon Ramsey, notorious for bellowing things like, “My Gran can do better – and she’s dead!”

Then, Chef Ward earned the honor of being selected to open The Bazaar in South Beach. He was hired by none other than renowned Chef Proprietor Jose Andres, molecular gastronomy guru from Spain’s El Bulli – which was awarded, repeatedly, as the No. 1 restaurant in the world.

But Ward’s coup d’etat occurred when, earlier this year, Mr. “You’re Fired” himself, Donald Trump, along with ESquared Hospitality, wooed the hotshot chef into opening BLT Prime at the Trump National Doral Resort – on, no less, the very first day of the PGA Cadillac Championship. No practice runs for this talented Chef de Cuisine and his crew.

“It was a very intense experience – not having some of the equipment and not having a public opening before serving professional golfers like Tiger Woods – but the pressure is what makes it fun. We chefs are a different breed; we thrive under the pressure,” Chef Ward said, as he flexed his tattooed arm.

The son of a Navy man, Chef Ward is the ultimate commander in chief when it comes to running his kitchen like a well-oiled machine – and I have the ultimate inside source to prove it. My son Ryan was (and is) by Ward’s side in the kitchen on BLT Prime’s opening day. He called me on his break. “Mom, you won’t believe it!” exclaimed Ryan, 34

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Intrigued, I managed to pry more of his mom’s secrets about her son. “I’m a sensitive guy, despite my tough exterior, and I really became a chef because I loved experimenting, but was not cut out to be a scientist.”

But make no mistake, Chef Ward is no mama’s boy. He’s a wife’s boy.

“My lovely wife is a pastry chef at another restaurant. I’ll be honest – she usually does all the cooking in the house. For holiday and birthday parties, I’ll help her prep the savory dishes, but in our house, the kitchen is definitely her territory.”

Chef and Entertainer BLT is owned by ESquared Hospitality, which stands for Exceeding Expectations, something Chef Ward always aims to achieve. “Our guests come here for more than just a good piece of meat [select steaks are dry-aged for 28 days], they come for the complete dining experience we deliver.

“My philosophy toward cooking is, first and foremost, to respect the food. Everything we eat, from plants to animals, was once living and therefore has an untold story. Countless people worked hard to harvest plants, raise animals, and even delve into dangerous waters to catch seafood, and as chefs, we need to be cognizant of that. For me, it’s always been important that my love, passion, and respect for food shine through on the plate,” said Chef Ward, whose favorite dish on his haute cuisine menu is the Cowboy Steak with Hen of the Woods Mushrooms. Staying on par forces you to get creative and make new things happen – always reinventing the menu. That’s the magic of the restaurant industry – especially here at BLT.” Take a bow, Chef. Well done (or should I say medium rare?)

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A Connoisseur’s Guide to

By Robin Jay

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Man has almost always delighted in culinary delicacies — foods held in the highest regard for rarity and price, especially caviar, oysters and truffles.

If you are not a seasoned connoisseur of this gourmet triple threat, but would like to be, consider this your Guide to Delicacies 101.

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Caviar

Oysters

The term caviar refers to the salted eggs of sturgeon – a fish that, ironically, co-existed with and outlived dinosaurs, but is today endangered because of caviar’s massive overharvesting. Eggs from fish other than sturgeon are technically called roe, not caviar. Persians were the first to cultivate caviar from the Caspian and Black seas; however, Russians have historically shown the most zeal for it – so much so that Czar Nicholas II in the late 1800s ordered fishermen to pay taxes in the form of caviar.

Known as an aphrodisiac, Romans so loved oysters, they’d import them from England and plump them up in saltwater baths by feeding them bread and wine.

Colonial settlers ate them not by the dozen, but by the gross – 144 at a sitting. Even Abe Lincoln was a fan. History books say he’d throw parties at his home, with oysters as the only food.

Caviar purveyors age the fish eggs for up to four weeks in brine. Otherwise it would pretty much have no taste. Consider these varieties: • Beluga: The most treasured grade of caviar, this buttery, pea-sized sturgeon caviar is shiny, soft and comes in shades of silver, gray and black. In the center of each Beluga sphere is a black spot called the "eye." This is the actual egg; the rest is the sac.

• Osetra: This form of caviar, also sturgeon, consists of mediumsized gray or brown eggs. It has a nutty flavor and is the next best choice in caviar if Beluga isn’t an option.

• Sevruga: These smaller gray eggs, also a type of sturgeon, have the strongest salty flavor.

• Sterlet: The small golden eggs of this sturgeon caviar were once the revered choice of royalty. But even if you have the bucket-load of cash to buy it, you’re not likely to find it. It’s all but extinct.

• American: The roe of a Mississippi paddlefish, these eggs are a distant cousin of sturgeon. However, it has an earthy, muddy flavor.

• Lumpfish: This tiny roe, often dyed red or black, is a popular and less costly variety.

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• Atlantic Oysters: This variety includes Bluepoints (from Long Island’s Great South Bay), Wellfleets (from the Cape Cod area), Malpeques and Beaufoleils. They comprise most of the oysters gathered in the United States. (1) • European Flats: Not surprisingly, these oysters have a flat, smooth shell, with a mineral, seaweed taste and a meaty texture. Belons are a type of European Flats raised in the Brittany region of France. (2) • Kumamoto Oysters: With a deep, bowl-shaped shell, these small oysters have a nutty, sweet flavor. They are most often cultivated in Japan and the West Coast of the United States. (3) • Pacific Oysters: These small, sweet oysters are the most widely cultivated oyster.

Their shell shape is fluted with a sharp point.

Common types are Fanny Bay, Totten Inlet, Hog Island or Sweetwater. (4)

4

• Tarama: Often sold smoked, this orange-red roe comes from carp.

• Olympia Oysters: Only about an inch in width, Olympia oysters are the only oyster native to the United States’ West Coast. Their popularity during the Gold Rush nearly extinguished them.

Today, they are highly protected and mostly raised in Puget Sound and British Columbia. (5)

• Whitefish: This small, golden roe, found in the Great Lakes, has less complex flavors, giving it more versatility as an ingredient.

European Flats photo: christianp

• Rainbow Trout caviar: Smaller than salmon roe, these small orange eggs are mild and less salty. It’s the least expensive, but has a pleasant flavor.

• Salmon: Orange or red in color, salmon roe is most often substituted for more costly sturgeon forms.

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Truff les Ounce for ounce, truffles – a tuber-like underground mushroom – are more costly than diamonds. European white truffles can bring $3,600 a pound. In 2013, a two-pound truffle sold for a sum higher than $300,000.

Why so much? Because they can’t be authentically cultivated. They grow randomly, usually near the roots of shady oak trees, and they must be sniffed out seasonally by trained dogs or swine. Flooding or other harsh weather can deplete a season’s crop. It’s no wonder there is said to be a black market truffle mafia, or that chefs who invest in them store them in a locked safe to protect them from being stolen.

• Winter Black Truffle: The most coveted and costly of truffles, the winter black variety, with its soft “chocolate and earth” smell is gathered primarily in Italy, France and Spain. They grow beneath shady oak, elm, poplar, hazelnut and chestnut trees, ready for harvesting between November and March. Generally, winter black truffles weigh 2-3 ounces and have a dark gray to brown exterior with white veins on the inside. (1) • Winter White Truffle: Praised for its garlic-like flavor, the musky-smelling winter white truffle is actually yellow. Most often, they’re grown in Northern and Central Italy, but they can also be found in other parts of Europe, such as Croatia. The key disadvantage to white truffles compared to their black counterparts is that their aroma fades more quickly.

When truffles are shaved or sliced open, they give off a gas, which provides the special aroma. When cooked, the aroma disappears quickly, so white truffles are generally shaved fresh over dishes. (2) • Summer Black Truffle: Also called the St. Jean Truffle, the summer black truffle season runs from May to August. It resembles the winter black truffle, with its knobby round exterior, but the inside flesh is a grayish yellow. This variety of truffle isn’t as sought after as the white truffle, but it’s still delicious, and cooking it enhances the chocolaty, earthy flavor. (3) • Summer White Truffle: Not quite as aromatic as its winter counterpart, the summer white truffle is usually preferred over the summer black truffle. It’s harvested in the same regions of Italy – Tuscany, Piedmont and Marche – is more plentiful and, as a result, less pricey, with a sweet garlicky flavor. (4) If sampling caviar, oysters and truffles is a new endeavor for you, consider first tasting them at a fine restaurant where an educated staff can further guide you to varieties best suited to your personal palate. For restaurant recommendations, visit www.SouthFloridaOpulence.com.

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South Florida OPULENCE

39

‘The Good Stuff’ of Bootleggers

By Clifton M. Thuma

W

hen you think of the Roaring ’20s and Prohibition, you think of ‘bathtub gin,’ gangsters and bootleggers paddling ashore with crates of

booze. Some of that hootch was not very good. But when Templeton Rye began being distilled in a small Iowa town of the same name, it was so smooth and rich that it found its way to Chicago and into the hands of one very influential mobster.

“Uncle Al’s [Capone] favorite whiskey was ‘The Good Stuff’ from Iowa – Templeton Rye. He snuck me my first taste of it when I was 15 at one of our weekly Sunday family dinners at Aunt Theresa’s house,” said Deirdre Marie Capone, grandniece of Al Capone and author of My Uncle Al (see the exclusive interview with Deirdre on page 71).

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“During Prohibition, work was hard to come

Bush. “As a kid growing up, I would hear

by in Templeton, so my dad Alfonse Kerkhoff

stories about backwoods stills making rye

and other farmers started cooking rye whis-

whiskey here in Templeton,” he said. “Back

key," said Meryl Kerkhoff in a narrative he

then, the stuff developed quite a reputation.

recorded about the history of the company

So, when I got older, I asked around about it.”

(he has since passed away, leaving the recipe to his son Keith). “Pretty soon, everyone was clamoring for a jug of 'The Good Stuff.' As a sign for folks that a batch was ready, we'd tie our white horse Babe in the front of our home. To hide it from the Feds, people would

It took a little prompting to get his grandfather’s friends to discuss it (after all, it was once illegal stuff ). That led Bush to the Kerkhoff family, who still had the recipe. They wanted to revive the making of

stash the whiskey in places around town,

Templeton Rye Whiskey.

like in hollowed out monuments in the cem-

Bush and Keith Kerkhoff distilled a new

etery (see photo below). When Al Capone

batch of Templeton Rye. “By law, you have

got a taste of Templeton Rye, he bootlegged

to age the distillate for four years in charred

hundreds of barrels a month to New York,

new oak barrels.” The first samples were

Chicago and San Francisco. Legend has it that

encouraging. “Everybody says Templeton is

he even had a case smuggled into Alcatraz.

very smooth, especially for a rye whiskey.

After Prohibition, my Dad made Templeton Rye for friends, and when he died, he passed

We're very selective about the rye we use.”

“Bartenders love Templeton Rye because it can stand up to all the things they like to add — syrups, bitters, fruit and such,” Bush said. “For me, I just like to pour a shot in a glass, put an ice cube in for 10 seconds and then drink it neat.” Bush said there are even some fans of ‘The Good Stuff’ who take the round heavy glass bottle and cut off the bottom three inches. It makes a pretty good glass.

RYE’S NOT JUST FOR DRINKING The distillery now takes its spent mash (what’s left over after you make the liquid to be distilled) and feeds it to a herd of pedigree Duroc pigs. Templeton coordinates with restaurants around the country to serve their specially fed pigs at featured ‘Templeton Dinners.’ Not even Mr. Capone got to try that.

That may explain the very high scores by

To find Templeton Rye, go to

tasters and winning a 2008 spirits competi-

templetonrye.com or infiniumspirits.com.

Templeton Rye today

tion in Los Angeles. “We are now produc-

Rye whiskey enthusiasts can also sign up

South Florida Opulence spoke with the

ing the batch for use in 2019, and we’re

for the Bootleggers Society at

Kerkhoff family’s business partner Scott

selling ‘The Good Stuff’ we made in 2009.

the recipe on to me."

bootleggerssociety.com.

Clockwise l-r: A hollowed tombstone in which Templeton residents once hid their whiskey during Prohibition; Distillery mash vats in Templeton, Iowa; Alfonse Kerkhoff, founder of Templeton Rye; Oak barrels of Templeton aged for at least four years.

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Chef Fabio Viviani Blazes Into The Culinary Scene

By Melissa Bryant

Setting your grandmother on fire is not a typical way for chefs to begin “cooking.” However, for Italian-born restaurateur, Food Network breakout star and cookbook author Fabio Viviani, a fiery encounter with his wheelchairbound grandmother provided the necessary spark for a promising culinary career — but I’ll let him explain.

The Spark “When I was 5 and growing up in Florence, Italy, some friends of mine had a television.

We would watch American imports dubbed in Italian. My favorite show was 'The Dukes of Hazzard',” said Viviani. “For me, that was the life — jumping into a car through the window, blowing things up and shooting things.” One day, the rambunctious youngster decided to mix gunpowder, olive oil and rubbing alcohol (normally used for his diabetic grandmother’s insulin shots) to make a homemade explosive. He smeared the concoction on his family’s modest two-bedroom apartment floor and lit it on fire — “just for the fun of it.”

“So there I was, standing on my couch with this barricade of flames around me, yelling “Victory!” said Viviani. “My great-grandma wheeled herself in, only to get the flaming paste stuck on her wheels. She looked like a moving fire — screaming, lit up, rolling, screaming some more.”

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Grandmother Claudia and mother Renza Talanti

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The fire got extinguished, but Viviani’s family was pushed to their breaking point. So they put him to work in their kitchen. Standing on top of his grandmother’s wheelchair for height, Viviani graduated from mixing fresh pasta dough to butchering poultry for chicken cacciatore. A few years later, his mother had to quit her job after developing a debilitating hand condition. The 11-year-old took a night shift job at a local bakery unloading 50 pound bags of flour and baking pies — until the fateful morning he met Simone Mugnaini, esteemed owner of Florentine trattoria, Il Pallaio.

Less is More “This was the beginning of my real culinary education. Il Pallaio was the most important place to me,” said Viviani. “It was small. It’s kitchen was old and beat up and the bathroom smelled like mildew, but that place created some of the most amazing food I ever had in my life.” It was in this weathered kitchen where the budding culinarian was taught “less is more.”

Viviani trained at Il Pallaio for years while attending culinary school, eventually becoming the restaurant’s sous chef at 16 years old. In September of 2005, he moved to California in search of new challenges. Critics quickly began to take notice of the handsome chef’s delightfully simple manner of preparing classic Italian comfort food after his appearance on Bravo’s hit reality television series “Top Chef.”

Now, he is the owner and executive chef of four Italian restaurants — Café Firenze in California, Siena Tavern and Mercato by Fabio Viviani in Chicago and, most recently, Siena Tavern Miami.

Chicago-based hospitality group DineAmic Group co-owns Siena Tavern Chicago and Siena Tavern Miami. “I’ve failed many times, but I’ve also learned that in life, it doesn’t matter how many times people try to push you down,” said Viviani.

“You’ve just got to be willing to get up again.”

Siena Tavern Miami is located at 404 Washington Ave., Miami Beach, Florida 33139.

Chef Fabio Viviani’s newest cookbook Fabio's American Home Kitchen: More Than 125 Recipes With an Italian Accent features classic American recipes made with an Italian twist. To pre-order a copy, visit www.fabioviviani.com.

Chef Viviani will be signing copies of American Home Kitchen at the Miami Book Fair, November 22nd & 23rd. Buon appetito!

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Maison Krug

The Very First Luxury Champagne House

By Clifton M. Thuma

t

hey say that you can tell where you stand in British society by the brand of champagne served by the Queen. If you are served Maison Krug, you have made it to the top.

Champagne Krug was served at Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s wedding. Krug is the best – and always has been.

More than 160 years ago, one Joseph Krug quit his job at a large champagne establishment. He had a passion: to make only the very best champagne.

And so he started his own champagne house – Maison Krug – based in the historic city of Reims in France’s Champagne region. The visionary’s philosophy was to take traditional champagne blending far beyond the bounds of what was common in the 19th century. Krug draws from its long-cellared champagne wines to create its great Grande Cuvee. Stocks going back to 1991 are available to the winemaker’s ‘palette’ for blending. The family, now in its sixth generation of overseeing the process, has been committed to the highest quality since the founding in 1843.

There are three primary reasons for Krug’s quality: the best vineyards, careful and talented wine blending, and extraordinary ‘library’ of wines held in cellar. Its current president, Mdm. Maggie Henriquez, shared with South Florida Opulence her thoughts about the prestigious house. She came as it was in a transition from an old-guard to a new one.

“I arrived in 2009 with a long history in the wine industry,” Henriquez said.

“We took years in the communication from one

generation to another…which is important to sustain the quality… to know the wine. Everything has changed but nothing has changed.”

Krug owns 25 hectares in 40 parcels of prime vineyards. Each vineyard is vinified on its own.

They also have long-term contracts with some of the best-rated, privately held vineyards. A feature that sets Krug apart from its peers is that after grapes are picked – entirely by hand – the initial fermentation of every base wine is stored in small porous oak barrels that allow a slow micro-oxygenation. Each vineyard’s portion is isolated until blending, giving winemakers more than 100 batches to blend for the Grande Cuvee, their signature wine. In exceptionally good years, there is a ‘Vintage’ labeling. Maison Krug’s two finest vineyards are sold under their own label: Clos de Mesnil — a white of only chardonnay — and Clos d’Ambonnay — white of only pinot noir. In a good year, they might also make a rosé champagne from just pinot noir to which 10 percent still red wine is added. All are cellared for six years or more.

“And yes one thing more! Tell your readers NOT to use the flute glass. This is terrible for drinking champagne,” said Henriquez. “There is no bouquet, no smell. A regular white wine glass is ideal. Drinking a champagne out of a flute is like wearing earplugs at the opera!”

This writer once attended a tasting hosted by M. Henri Krug, father of the present family steward, Olivier. M. Henri was asked about the vintage versus the Grande Cuvee. He smiled and told a story of his father who was once asked: “Of which wine are you more proud, the Vintage or the Grande Cuvee?”

Immediately, he replied, “The Grande Cuvee.”

“But the Vintage sells for a higher price Monsieur?”

“Ah yes… but then you must share the credit with God.”

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The Science and humanity of Booze

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By Alex Villasuso

am a young guy. To sit here and philosophize about the meaning of life would be silly. But one thing I can say for sure is that my most memorable adult moments in life so far have involved sipping (or chugging) some form of alcohol: from that pint of liquid goodness atop the Guinness Brewery in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day, to the day I poured my first five homebrews for friends and family to enjoy. Well – er – they enjoyed four of my home-crafted beers; one was a real drain pour. Today, I am striving to make a career out of brewing beer – and that, of course, mandates understanding the origins and science behind it. After reading Proof: The Science of Booze, by Adam Rogers, editor of the technology magazine Wired, I grasped just how huge an impact firewater has had on humanity, not just in my lifetime, but on civilization as we know it.

How Alcohol Changed the World After researching the origins of booze, Rogers concluded the discovery of alcohol ultimately influenced man to ditch the nomad lifestyle. Instead of a life spent roaming and foraging for food, man decided to settle down in one place in order to sow and harvest grain… to make the good stuff. So, in essence, one might say we can thank alcohol for the launch of modern civilization.

The production of alcohol all comes down to two basic things: fermentation and distillation. Fermentation, the process by which a fungus – yeast – turns simple sugars into carbon dioxide and ethanol, existed long before we humans showed up on this planet. For the past 10,000 years, mankind has sought to understand how alcohol leads to a buzz, but it wasn’t until recent times when scientists discovered just how important yeast is in the understanding of basic life.

“Yeast was the first eukaryote — that is, the first creature with cells and nuclei—to have its genome sequenced in a science lab. That was in 1996; biologists were in a rush to see what its DNA looked like because, in a way, yeasts are the fundamental unit of cell biology. Yeasts grow quickly and easily in a lab, but because they have nuclei just like we do, they are an excellent model system

for life like us,” said Rogers. “All that, and they ferment. Assuming that combustion—fire—is civilization’s most important chemical reaction, then yeast are responsible for the chemistry in the number-two slot.”

The Miracle of Fermentation Fermentation was a natural process, created by nature over time.

It was about as close to a miracle as it gets. Eight thousand years after the first domestication of fermentable yeast for the purpose of making alcohol, the process of distillation was invented.

“Distillation, though, is technology. Human beings invented it,” said Rogers. “It requires the ability to boil a liquid and reliably collect the resulting vapors, which sounds simple. But to do it, you have to learn a lot of other skills first. You have to be able to control fire, work metal, heat things and cool them, make airtight, pressurized vessels. You need a big brain with a wrinkled cortex, maybe some opposable thumbs. But most of all, you need a desire to change your environment instead of just live with what you have.

Distillation takes intelligence and will. To distill, literally or metaphorically, requires the hubris to believe you can change the world.”

Just as I’m grasping how impactful booze is, the craft of making it continues to change.

“But none of those changes will break the human connection to alcohol across deep time. Our history with the stuff is our history on earth, a history of humans becoming modern, tool-using, technology-making creatures.”

If you’d like to read more of Adam Roger’s PROOF: THE SCIENCE OF BOOZE, visit amazon.com or your favorite book retailer.

Alex Villasuso is a law professional in Chicago by day and a beer aficionado by night. South Florida Opulence welcomes Alex as our newest contributing columnist. Be sure to check out the next issue for the latest in craft beer trends.

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Cooking With Intuition – Beer, That Is An intimate look at the craft beer and culinary scene in Northern Florida

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By Robin Jay

uick! Name the largest city in the United States – and the style of cuisine for which it’s best known. Bet you’d never guess the answer is Jacksonville, Florida. If you’re scratching your head wondering what kind of fare they serve in the historic First Coast City – don’t worry, you’re not alone. But that perception is changing, thanks in large part to the fabulously clever motley crew at Intuition Ale Works – the craft brewery founded in Jacksonville in 2010 by native Ben Davis.

“The only thing that runs deeper than my family roots in Jacksonville is my love of beer, particularly drinking it,” said Ben, who bought a coffee shop in 1999 and turned it into a wine and tapas bar. Although the business was a success, selling other vendors’ wares didn’t contribute to Ben’s bucket list, so he ventured to Sonoma and then New Zealand to do a little wine crushing of his own. In 2007, Ben felt his hometown calling and returned to Jacksonville, where he studied the business of brewing beer, earned his brewer’s certification and spent two years in his garage dabbling to make the perfect recipe. “I guess you could say I was guided by a sixth sense – an ‘Intuition.’ The years I spent in winemaking refined my palate and helped me establish incredibly high standards for making small batch craft beer.”

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Today, Intuition Ale Works is located at 720 King Street in Jacksonville. It was the first brewery in Florida to can its own ale, and Ben is proud to offer guests a variety of 20 beers on tap.

He’s also proud to rally local chefs and residents through another cornerstone of his business: community involvement. It’s a passion he shares with his general manager, Cari Sanchez-Potter.

“Jacksonville is still in the process of defining its culture. When it comes to food, we don’t have an immediately identifiable unique cuisine or signature dish, so it’s difficult to package up our culinary culture and market it outside of Northeast Florida.

The good news is we have talented chefs and brewers who are shaping a culinary identity for our city,” explained SanchezPotter, who studied at Boston College, taught English in Japan, backpacked in South America, moved to Australia to study gastronomy, and then following her husband who landed a job in Jacksonville. She applied to Ben’s job offer on Craig’s List and has been on the ground floor of Intuition Ale Work’s success ever since. “In just four short years, we have gone from having one craft brewery in the city to now having 10, and to being a destination for craft beer lovers across the state.

Our food truck scene has exploded. We have many chefs and artisans who prioritize using local ingredients – including our beer – in their recipes and products. We are on our way to being recognized across the Southeast as a culinary destination in our own right.

“The brewery frequently hosts food trucks for special events and potlucks with our regular patrons. We also partner with local chefs on a number of beer dinners, food festivals and other events that highlight our culinary scene. Our cookbook – Cooking with Intuition – is a compilation of recipes from these chefs, food truck owners and home cooks, and it celebrates the intersection of Northeast Florida’s food and craft beer cultures.”

The award-winning cookbook benefits Second Harvest North Florida, which provides 350,000 meals to needy members of the community.

“We like to align ourselves with meaningful causes that define our vision for the future of our city,” Sanchez-Potter said. “The cookbook is a good example of our approach to community engagement and our hope that folks begin to stand up and take notice that Jacksonville is on the verge of becoming a culinary and cultural force in the Southeast.”

The I-10 Pretzel From the Cooking with Intuition Cookbook Recipe by Adam Burnett of Bold Bean Coffee Roasters in Jacksonville, Florida Yield: 8 Pretzels For Dough: 3 ½ cups bread flour 1 tsp instant yeast 1 tsp sea salt ¼ cup honey ½ cup I-10 IPA Beer from Intuition Ale Works ½ cup water

For Beer Bath: 2 cups I-10 IPA Beer 4 cups water 3 tbsp baking soda For Beer Cheese Dip: 8 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese 8 oz. softened goat cheese ½ cup I-10 IPA Beer

Make Pretzels: In the bowl of a standard mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the bread flour, yeast, sea salt, honey, ½ cup I-10 IPA and ½ cup water. Knead mixture on the lowest speed for 5 to 7 minutes. Dough should be slightly firm and smooth. If dough is tacky, add flour, one teaspoon at a time.

Move the dough to the counter and knead for about 20 seconds. Form dough into a ball and place into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 90 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Press air out of dough, re-cover, and allow to rise an additional 40 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Move dough to a non-floured counter. Punch down dough to release air and cut dough into 3 oz. pieces. Allow the pieces to rest for 10 minutes and then start shaping the pretzels.

Flatten each piece of dough then roll each piece with your palms into cylinders about 7 inches long. Then roll out each piece again until each piece reaches 24 inches in length. Form each rope into a pretzel shape and place on a well-oiled, parchment-lined sheet pan.

Boil and Bake Pretzels: In a 12-inch pot with high sides, add beer, water and baking soda.

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Keep an eye on the beer bath, as it has a tendency to boil over. Add pretzels to boiling mixture three at a time. Boil for 30 seconds, then flip each pretzel with a pair of tongs and boil an additional 30 seconds. Move pretzel back to well-oiled sheet pan and sprinkle liberally with sea salt. Once all pretzels have been boiled, immediately place in oven and bake at 400 degrees F for 16 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the bake. Remove from the oven, immediately take off parchment and place on cooling rack.

Make Beer Cheese Dip: Combine the sharp cheddar, softened goat cheese and I-10 IPA and mix evenly. Dip pretzels into beer cheese dip and enjoy.

For a taste of Jacksonville in your own kitchen, please try your hand at making the I-10 Pretzel recipe that follows by Adam Burnett of Bold Bean Coffee Roasters. To order a copy of Cooking with Intuition, go to www.intuitioncookbook.com.

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O’zapft is!

Oktoberfest Celebrates 200 Years of Culture, Beer and Bavaria

By Alex Starace

O

ktoberfest, Munich’s famously large celebration of beer and German culture, actually began as a wedding reception. Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen were betrothed on October 12, 1810 – and all of Bavaria was invited to celebrate on the fields in front of Munich’s city gates. The event, oddly enough, concluded with a horse race and

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was such a success that the fields were soon named Theresienwiese (or “Therese’s fields”) in honor of the princess.

The next year, another horse race was held in the same location, this time augmented with an agricultural fair.

Aerial view of Munich, Germany, the city that originated Oktoberfest in 1810 at the wedding of Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese (pictured at the bottom of page 50).

The event was called Oktoberfest – and one of the world’s great celebrations was born. Before long, carnival booths were added, as were a carousel and other amusements. Naturally, beer carts appeared, the proprietors helping visitors slake their thirst.

Oktoberfest Becomes Official The event grew in popularity, prompting Ludwig I of Bavaria (the now-king who’d been married at the first Oktoberfest) to commission an immense Bavarian Hall of Fame overlooking the Theresienwiese, along with a bronze statue of a woman and lion.

The statue, which was completed in 1850 and named “Bavaria,” was the first such large-scale all-bronze statue (shown at left) to be built since antiquity. Measuring 60 feet high and weighing over 87 tons, lucky tourists can enter, climb its staircase and get a view of Oktoberfest from Bavaria’s crown.

Surprisingly, though, it wasn’t until 1892 that beer was served in the now-traditional enormous glass steins, and not until 1896 that the first beer tents opened. Since the beginning, however, quality standards have been rigorous: All beer must have a minimum of 13.5 percent Stammwürze (a brewer’s term describing the exact amount of extract in the beer’s wort) and must be brewed within Munich’s city limits. In fact, only seven breweries are officially licensed to produce Oktoberfest beer, including the well-known Spatenbräu and Paulaner brands.

Contrary to what many still believe, Oktoberfest has long since been pushed back to September – organizers quickly realized that the warmer weather and longer days made for a better celebration.

The festival, which typically runs 16 days, ends on the first Sunday in October, meaning that the majority of the celebration takes place in the month prior.

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Each year, Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, opens with a parade of horse-drawn floats.

day – and it’s still quite common to see waitresses (and female visitors) dressed in the traditional dirndl, while men wear their Bavarian lederhosen.

Oktoberfest Today At the contemporary Oktoberfest, there are fourteen festival tents, each holding thousands of visitors and making for an event of seemingly unimaginable scale. Last year there were a total of 6.4 million visitors and 6.7 million liters of beer consumed, according to the German newspaper Der Spiegel. Another eye-popping stat comes from the festival’s lost-and-found, which reported 400 sets of keys, 520 wallets and 1,065 identity cards (including passports) lost.

In 1950, a new opening ceremony was initiated. Following a 12gun salute, the Mayor of Munich tapped the first keg of the season, cried out that the job had been done (“O’zapft is!”) and passed the first beer to the Minister of Bavaria. The tradition has lasted to this

All of which goes to show that whether you’re going to Oktoberfest for the beer, the tradition or the celebration, you’ll not be alone – and that you’ll likely have a great time, provided you hold on to your keys.

Oktoberfest 2014 Recommendations for Beer 360

By Alex Villasuso

If you’re celebrating Oktoberfest from Miami instead of Munich, Beer 360 has you covered. Head to 18090 Collins Ave., Sunny Isles, and have Gustavo and his team pour you a stein of one of these authentic Munich brews. I’ll get all official here and only recommend the beers Beer 360 has that meet the qualifications of the Reinheitsgebot (German purity laws), which qualify them to be served at Oktoberfest. These beers are all brewed to be 5.5-6% ABV or higher, and within Munich city limits… And can be enjoyed at Beer 360!

Be sure to keep eye contact as you raise your stein to your friends, cheerily declare, “Prost!” tap the stein on the bar, and finally, take a nice long drink.

Auf wiedersehen!

Oktoberfest Beer, Doppelbock, 7.5% 52

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Paulaner Oktoberfest, Marzen, 5.8%

Spaten Oktoberfest, Doppelbock, 7.1%

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Our highly-trained fine art and antique handlers can be trusted with anything from a favorite painting to your entire collection. Whether you want to store a piece of jewelry or move a priceless piece of art, you’ll have peace of mind.

PACKING • CRATING • SHIPPING • MOVING • STORAGE • SECURITY For more information or to request a complimentary on-site estimate, call 954-766-9997 or visit RoboVault.com

Billionaire’s Sour Grapes Bill Koch’s crusade against counterfeiters of rare wines

by Ava Roosevelt

The Billionaire’s Vinegar, now a New York Times best seller, tells the true story of a 1787 Château Lafite Bordeaux — supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson — that sold for $156,000 at auction and of the eccentrics whose lives intersected with it.

Few over age 21 have not heard or read about the Koch Brothers. Four billionaire heirs to Koch Industries are noted funders of conservative causes in the U.S. Notorious for his immense litigious appetite, Bill Koch settled the much-publicized family feuds in 2001 after two decades of lawsuits. To those who have known him, it was only a matter of time until his justice-cravinggene would need to be gratified again. This time, related to his multimillion-dollar wine collection.

“No one likes to be conned and cheated,” Koch said.

I couldn’t agree more, especially when it comes to Koch’s purchasing and paying large sums for what he loves: priceless wines with assured pedigree suiting a royal.

The Vino Scandal It is alleged by experts that every wine collector will ultimately fall prey to a master counterfeiter, such as Rudy Kurniawan, dubbed the Bernie Madoff of the wine world and German master fraudster Hardy Rodenstock. However, to their misfortune, the collector turned out to be Bill Koch, and a 1961 Chateaux Lafite Rothschild he purchased from Kurniawan turned out to be a fake, along with an estimated 319 counterfeited bottles for which Bill Koch paid Mr. Kurniawan $3.1 million.

Kurniawan, an Indonesian citizen who has sold $35 million worth of counterfeit rare wines, was arrested by the FBI in a regular fake-factory in his home with bottles, labels, capsules, glue and recorking device, all aimed to bilk gullible purchasers. At a trial in Manhattan in 2013, a star witness for the prosecution, Bill Koch, identified Kurniawan-sourced fakes that he bought. Convicted of fraud, Kurniawan faces up to 40 years in prison.

Enter The Sherlock Holmes of Wine Maureen Downey, known in the industry as the “Sherlock Holmes of Wine,” attended every day of the civil suit against Eric Greenberg, another individual in Bill Koch’s pathto-wine-justice, and she testified for the prosecution.

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Billionaire’s Vinegar The sale of the first so-called Thomas Jefferson Lafite 1787, at Christie’s in London in 1985, made the CBS Evening

PHOto COURTESY OF Jefferson Siegel

“Unfortunately – what we have learned recently is that according to U.S. law, there is no downside to counterfeiting wines,” Downey told South Florida Opulence. “The civil suit that Bill Koch won against wine fraudster Greenberg, a former Silicon Valley billionaire executive, and the fact that Acker Merrall & Condit is still not only in business, but thriving, are both case in point. During trial, Greenberg spent days on the stand acting poetic about what a huge success he was, how wealthy he is and how he sold over $40 million in wines.

The jury came back with a verdict against him of maximum damages of $355,000 plus maximum $24,000 treble damages and a whopping $12 million in punitive damages. This amount was in part reached because when Greenberg had previously threatened suit against Royal Wine Merchants for selling him fake wines, he wanted $10 million in punitive damages from them. He contended that he KNEW the wines were fake, and had even had an expert come in and catalogue all the fakes to support his claim against Royal Wine Merchants. Greenberg received a settlement on those wines, but did not have to send all the wines back. So, he, as was reported in court, “did to someone else what they did to him” and sold them forward via auction at Acker Merrall & Condit. Astounding behavior indeed. I can understand why the jury thought he was even more egregious than Royal had been to him, and I agree that $12 million dollar punitive damage amount would have hurt him, but it certainly would not have put him in the poor house – according to his own boasting on the stand. It would have sent a strong message to others not to engage in this fraudulent behavior. Instead, the judge reduced the total damages to just over $750,000. So, Greenberg’s fraudulent actions cost him 1.9 percent of his total sales. Any business that can run on an expense rate of 1.9 percent will be a lucrative business.”

A pleased Bill Koch and his attorney stand on the courthouse steps in Manhattan on the day he won his lawsuit against the person who sold him fake “rare” wines.

News. With a price tag of $157,000, it had become, at the time, the most famous bottle of wine in the world and a subject of Benjamin Wallace’s book titled The Billionaire’s Vinegar-The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine.

Assured about its authenticity, in 1987, Bill Koch acquired, although not from Christie’s but from Hardy Rodenstock, his own four “Th-J” bottles for which he paid under $400,000.

A few years ago, in my then non-wine drinking days, at Thanksgiving at Bill’s house, Bill dared me to drink some wine, assuring a headache-free morning after.

When you own a 40,000-bottle collection of rare wines, like Bill Koch does, you’ve earned the right to brag about your most priceless bottles. Bill spared no time to tell his friends about his remarkable acquisition. I was allowed a rare glimpse at the Thomas Jefferson wine, which turned out to be another case of billionaire’s bilking.

“I used to bring people down here and brag and say, you wanna see Thomas Jefferson’s wine?” Bill said. “Well, when I found it was a fake, now what I say is ‘come on down to see my fake Thomas Jefferson’s bottles!’ ” Seriously incensed, Bill hired investigators and former FBI agents who determined

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esting part of this technique is for old red wines, i.e., prior 1952: If they contain some 137Cs, you can tell immediately that they are fake. If you do not see any 137Cs activity, you can tell that the wine is older than 1952. In this case, you need to use other techniques to authenticate the bottle, like analysis of the chemical composition of the glass (which also does not need the opening of the bottle!)”

The sale of the first so-called Thomas Jefferson Lafite 1787, at Christie’s in London in 1985, made the 'CBS Evening News.' With a price tag of $157,000, it had become, at the time, the most famous bottle of wine in the world and a subject of Benjamin Wallace’s book titled 'The Billionaire’s Vinegar -The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine.'

that Th-J initials were made with an electric engraving tool nonexistent in the 18th century.

“I am going after him,” Bill referred to Rodenstock. “If it takes me to the end of the world, I am going after the fraudster."

He has spent $25 million so far on the eight wine-related lawsuits he’s filed against Rodenstock, Kurniawan, Greenberg and New York auctioneers Zachys.

“I want to shine a bright light on the fraud in the wine business to show how bad it is,” Bill said. Initially, the lawsuits against the auction houses where Bill bought fakes seemed to make little progress in legitimizing the wine market and preventing other collectors from being ripped off. “There’s a code of silence in the entire industry,” Bill said.

But lately he appears to be succeeding.

The prices paid at auctions for rare wines dropped 19 percent — by nearly $100 million, and experts credit the outcome of Kurniawan’s trial to be the predominant cause of making wine collectors super cautious.

A French Physicist’s Ingenious Testing Methods Try to counterfeit a U.S. passport and you’ll prompt the wrath of the Federal Government with an arsenal of punishments. But, it appears to be a bit different in the case 56

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Not every fraud is created equal, and it appears wine counterfeiting is a highly profitable business indeed. Forgery has been keeping a prominent place in art, coin and jewelry collecting through the centuries.

of bilked wine collectors. There are very few Bill Kochs willing and able to afford the legal bills associated with lengthy trials requiring costly expert testimonies, such as from respected physicist Phillipe Hubert at the University of Bordeaux in France. Monsieur Hubert came up with the idea of authenticating rare wines using radiation (gamma rays specifically), which he used when testing wine for Bill Koch. He explained how the process works.

“There are two main origins of the radioactive nucleus 137Cs: the nuclear fallout after the atmospheric nuclear test, and since 1986, the Chernobyl accident.

This nucleus is present in the upper layers of the atmosphere and falls down with rain. It contaminates the soils, the tree leaves and wine grapes, and finally the wine itself. The level of contamination is very weak, (no problem to drink the wine!), but measurable with our very low background detector. The radioactive 137Cs nucleus is a gamma ray emitter with a half-life of 30 years and is present in the atmosphere since the time of the first atmospheric nuclear tests. The sensitivity of our gamma detector allows us to detect the 137Cs lines in all wines after 1952. Since the level is different every year, the amount of 137Cs is related to the millesime of the wine. But the most inter-

According to Monsieur Hubert, “Even in the Roman times, there has been fake wines! To fight against these frauds, the French government created special scientific units as early as the beginning of the 20th century.”

Faking fine wine is no longer dedicated solely to fine French wines. California’s Opus One has become a target. Opus One CEO David Pearson is fighting counterfeiters with a tamper-proof capsule that changes color and a flap chip behind the label you can scan with your phone.

“The chip, once it is scanned, sends a message back to our computer, which geo-locates the bottle anywhere in the world, just like GPS tracking. Counterfeiters are very clever. They will adapt to that, and we’ll need to change our strategy again,” Pearson added.

Maureen Downey appears to concur. She tells us about one of her most daunting experiences as a “wine detective” during the Bill Koch vs Eric Greenberg trial in March of 2013. “It was established in trial that the likelihood of Chateau Petrus having made a magnum sized bottle, which is equivalent to two regular 750ml bottles, is slim-to-none. The fact is that the wines Chateau Petrus were not highly regarded as anything but lovely village wines until the 1955 vintage was ‘discovered’ in London in 1957. Back in 1921, they would have

had no reason to make magnums. So, imagine my surprise when just a few weeks later, I walked into a cellar and found a 6L bottle of 1921 Petrus. I laughed so hard I almost cried.”

Faced with such a grim prognosis, and with quantities of wines he already owns impossible to drink in one lifetime, Bill Koch stopped buying.

“I‘m tired of the aggravation of being violated by those con artists and crooks,” he said in a recent interview.

I wonder, has it been worth it going after these people?

“Probably, yes,” Bill said. “Maybe I’m a Don Quixote, you know, attacking windmills of sorts. But it brings me great satisfaction.”

When you own a 40,000-bottle collection of rare wines, which happens to be Bill Koch’s case, you’ve earned the right to brag about your most priceless bottles.

Ultra-Secure Off-site Wine Vault Protects Avid Collectors

By Robin Jay

When wine connoisseur Gregory Miseyko first arrived in South Florida from California, it was August 22, 1992 – just two days before Hurricane Andrew devastated the region. “My baggage on my overnight flight consisted of 10 prized cases of my personal wine cellar,” he said. “Flying with my wines under the same jet ensured my wine wouldn’t bake in a hot truck, a sure way to ruin wine. Wine’s mortal enemies include heat, vibration, light, and daily temperature changes.”

As a Californian, Miseyko understood earthquakes far better than hurricanes. “Seasoned Floridians warned me that power outages could last for weeks after a major storm. With the air conditioning in jeopardy, I loaded my wines into my rental car and drove north to Jacksonville, far enough from Andrew’s path to protect the wines.”

Misekyo returned a few days after power returned to his hotel in South Florida. He realized special wines call for special storage here. “Over the next 15 years, I repeated this wine evacuation drill, anticipating at least 10 of the next four storms (six of them missed us, but I still moved the wines). Then I heard about wine storage at RoboVault in Fort Lauderdale, with backup generators, Category 5 hurricane protection and tremendous security. My decision to rent wine storage space there was one I should have chosen back in 1992 – on my way home from Jacksonville. Thank goodness I eventually did. It’s nice that RoboVault saves me from worrying about things that should bring you pleasure.”

“The lengths our wine clients go to protect their private collections is quite impressive, and that’s exactly why they choose RoboVault,” said Susan McGregor, President and General Manager of RoboVault. “We offer a complete range of high-end services, from collecting and shipping wine, to the most secure storage possible. Multilayer security includes biometric scanning, motion sensors, networked closed circuit televisions, recorded cameras and central station alarm monitoring. Sensors constantly monitor the climate-controlled environment to maintain temperature and humidity at appropriate levels. And, our permanent generator enables all critical systems to run at 100 percent capacity for up to two weeks. This enables the facility to run ‘business as usual,’ ensuring safety and peace of mind during a catastrophic event, such as a hurricane. It is no wonder we house some of the world’s finest wines at RoboVault!”

RoboVault is located at 3340 SE 6th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316. For more information, see the RovoVault ad on page 52 or go to www.robovault.com or call (954) 766-9997.

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By Dale King and Julia Hebert

t

o luxury watchmakers Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey, time is the essence of their business. Since they and their team of approximately 100 motivated craftspeople began creating exquisite and truly accurate mechanical timepieces in 2004, the world has swiftly ticked away a decade.

An Anniversary Worth Reveling The Greubel Forsey Double Tourbillon 30° timepiece, first shown at Baselworld 10 years ago, put their Switzerland based company on the haute horological map. To mark the anniversary, Stephen Forsey offered his observations to South Florida Opulence in an exclusive interview.

Greubel, a French native, and British born Forsey, have gained fame for giving new life to the tourbillon movement. In essence, the tourbillon movement is a rotational like mechanism designed to negate the detrimental effects of gravity, thereby increasing the overall accuracy and effectiveness of mechanical timepieces.

This traditional Tourbillon 24 Secondes Contemporain has been reframed with 272 diamonds.

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“When we started out we only offered one watch model, but we had ideas for the next 10 to 15 years. Now, 10 years later, we still have ideas for the next 10 to 15 years. There are things we want to work on, develop and explore,” said Forsey, co-founder to the exclusive horology company, which produces only 100 carefully crafted, hand-finished mechanical timepieces each year. “This milestone year is something very significant.”

The portfolio of 17 ultra-luxury watch creations by Greubel Forsey since 2004.

Earning Awards Worldwide And their inventive formula works. In 2011, a Greubel Forsey timepiece racked up a score of 915 out of a possible 1,000 points at the notable Concours de Chronometrie endurance test, a distinguished chronometry competition held in Le Locle, Switzerland.

Not only did it win the tourbillon category, but was also judged the most accurate timepiece watch of all entrants in the 45-day competition. “We believe this to be a fantastic achievement for one of our timepieces that was exposed to extreme conditions of heat, cold, shock and magnetic fields,’’ said Forsey. Also, incredibly satisfying is the fact that no other timepiece has ever hit the 915 mark.

Greubel and Forsey are honoring the 10th anniversary of their high-quality timepieces in an elegant manner. Cakes, pastries and chocolates – favorites in the Swiss region – may be in order, but the icing on the cake is a special edition timepiece. A traditional Tourbillon 24 Secondes Contemporain has been reframed with 272 diamonds totaling 9.71 carats to create a glittering piece of horological art.

Moreover, Swiss artist Alain Bardet condensed the first decade of Greubel Forsey timepiece history into a fresco showing the two masters in the foreground, surrounded by a display of timepiece parts, employees and awards.

The company’s current portfolio of 17 timepiece models that have been thus far created since 2004 also includes the Double Tourbillon 30° “Secret” from 2007, the Quadruple

“Our

motivation is driven by our passion for watchmaking.”

Tourbillon unveiled in 2008, and the Art Piece 1 from 2013 that features a microscopic golden galleon nestled inside the timepiece created by micro sculptor Willard Wigan MBE, among others. “It’s quite a healthy lineup,” Forsey said with a wry smile.

A Pedigree Timepiece Greubel Forsey timepieces have price tags approaching – and exceeding – the milliondollar mark. Sought out by high-end collectors of rare and investment timepieces, Forsey comments,“One of our biggest compliments is to meet a collector wearing and enjoying one of our timepieces.”

The year 2009 was particularly important for the master creators. The company consolidated its operations from several remote sites into a single eco-friendly, renovated 17th century farmhouse in La Chaux-de-

Fonds, Switzerland, architecturally revamped with distinctive floor-to-ceiling windows.

That same year, Emmanuel Vuille became the chief executive officer to the company.

Coupled with a degree in economics and 20 years’ experience in the horology sector, Vuille soon extended his contacts in the watchmaking world. Since he joined Greubel Forsey, the two founders have been permitted more time to focus on the creative and technical aspects of their business.

Preserving the Legacy In 2011, the team launched the project entitled, Garde Temps – Naissance d’une Montre.

The project aim is designed to perpetuate the skills of artisan watch craftsmen for the benefit of future generations to learn. Michel Boulanger, a young teacher at the Paris Watchmaking School, has been appointed “to help us preserve, sustain and transmit these traditional techniques.”

“Robert and I set out to create a watch company that celebrates the originality of each creation,” Forsey said. And it does. He adds: “Our motivation is driven by our passion for watchmaking. New equipment, new measuring tools, new technology and our own creativity enable us to produce innovative timepieces that challenge the imagination.”

For more information about Greubel Forsey haute horology, visit www.greubelforsey.com/ en. For an appointment to view a Greubel Forsey timepiece in Florida, visit Les Bijoux in Mizner Park, 306 Plaza Real, Boca Raton or call 561-361-2311; or in Naples, go to Yamron Jewelers, 5555 Tamiami Trail North #11 or call (239) 592-7707.

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HOW I

ESCAPED CHARLES MANSON’S KILLING MADNESS

BY Ava Roosevelt

Ava Roosevelt

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Did you hear Charles Manson was being released on parole?” A text from Robin Jay, South Florida Opulence Editor in Chief, reached me on vacation in Spain. How is this possible? The world is coming to an end, I thought horrified. Fortunately the Manson story turned out to be a hoax, but the memory of the events of August 8-9, 1969, deeply imbedded in my heart, became as real as if the day was yesterday.

Sharon Tate

“Come for dinner with us tonight,” Sharon Tate suggested when she called me on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 8. “Jay, Gibby and Vojtek are going to join me at El Cayote at 7:30.”

“Sorry, Sharon. I can’t. Have to meet a German producer for dinner, AND tomorrow is my big screen test for the Alberto VO5 commercial,” I sighed.

“Come after dinner, we should be back by 10:30, or so.”

“I’ll try.”

“Do that darling, I love you.”

Sharon’s phone call reached me at the home of my then-agent Valerie Cragin, founder of Flair Modeling Agency with whom I lived at the time, teaching her daughter, Deborah Joy, French and pursuing my career, which began at Christian Dior in Paris.

My life in LA as an aspiring actress and model was thriving, thanks to Valerie who, to this day, at 88 years of age, is a great believer in ‘giving a chance’ to those who are willing to take the brutal rejections synonymous with the beauty industry. I was rejected a lot, but worked just as much. As soon as I saved enough money, I rewarded myself with my first and most extravagant acquisition in years, the purchase of a secondhand 1955 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn!

I was forewarned, but wouldn’t listen: How could such a beautiful automobile not function properly? I was soon to find out. It was either the brakes, or the windshield wipers; windows would or would not close depending on the weather; often the ignition wouldn’t start at all. The love-hate with my impulsive folly started early on, but I loved the ‘smell and the feel’ of the real leather and the luxury the car represented… I rushed through the dinner with the producer and headed in the direction of Sharon’s house to meet my friends. I wondered, would John Phillips be there, as well?

I had a mad crush on the founder of The Mamas and The Papas in those days, and on a spur of a moment, I decided to stop by his house – which seemed quiet when I arrived. And just as I was to turn uphill towards 10050 Cielo Drive, my gas gauge flickered and stopped at empty. This couldn’t be happening, something’s wrong again! I glanced at my watch. It was almost midnight. What if the gauge is right for once and I run out of fuel miles away from a gas station? I have to work tomorrow. There will be another party I decided and turned around. Every August 9, for the last 45 years, I stop to thank God, my strict Catholic upbringing, my punctuality-obsessed father, and Rolls-Royce, as I wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for them. Just in those moments, a few miles away, four of my dearest friends weren't as fortunate.

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MANSON’S REVENGE 10050 Cielo Drive was a former residence of Terry Melcher’s, a man whom Charles Manson despised for not keeping his promise to record Manson’s songs. The house evoked hatred and represented rejection that Manson would not stand for. As fate would have it, the compound became a residence of Sharon and Roman Polanski.

Charles Manson On Aug. 8, Manson dispatched Susan Atkins, Charles ‘Tex’ Watson, Linda Kasabian and Patricia Krenwinkel to “that house where Melcher used to live” with directives “to totally destroy everyone in it, as gruesomely as you can.”

I made it to the gas station. My Silver Dawn took $2.50 in fuel. I went home and kicked myself for not going to Sharon’s party. Next morning, August 9, 1969, I departed at 5:45 a.m. for my makeup call at Universal Studios. I nailed the screen test, got the job and was leaving when I spotted Valerie in her car, waving me down.

“They are all dead,” she shouted.

“What did you say? Who’s dead?”

“Sharon, Gibby, Vojtek and Jay.” “Dear God! What happened?”

“No one knows.”

Did they overdose? Drug deal gone wrong crossed my mind as I sat in the car which saved my life, holding Valerie’s hand, both weeping. Recreational drugs were common those days, but Roman hated drugs and Sharon was pregnant. I couldn’t imagine it.

But how about the others? Who else was there? The next few hours were a blur. The headlines screamed bloody murder. Sharon Tate, wife of Roman Polanski, Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring Wojciech, ‘Vojtek’ Frykowski and Steven Parent were all confirmed dead, brutally stabbed at Polanski’s residence. To millions, those were the names of the victims; I had lost four close friends.

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10050 Cielo Drive, 1969. Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski’s home.

PANIC AND PANDEMONIUM Los Angeles became gripped by fear compounded by the gruesome homicide of Rosemary and Leno La Bianca the next night. “Pigs,” “War,” and “Helter Skelter” was written in victims' blood on walls in both locations, but police took a while to connect the dots. The heinous killings provoked LAPD and the FBI to investigate and interrogate all close to the victims, including me. Paranoia abounded like wildfire.

Everybody was under suspicion. I sought refuge in Malibu at the beach house of my close friends, Michael Sarne, a British actor and director, and his wife Tanya. Roman arrived the next day and stayed with us. He was barely functioning. I have never seen a human being as besotted by grief as Roman was that day.

At the time of the murders, no one had heard of Charles Manson before, but these bloody crimes eventually brought him the

Roman Polanski (far left), sits next to Ava Roosevelt and friends on Malibu Colony Beach.

infamy he sought. A self-proclaimed musician and career criminal with schizophrenia and paranoid disorder added to his DNA mix, Manson, father of five, spent half of his life in correctional facilities that became his home. As the head of the Manson family, which at times included as many as 18 females, according to his mother Kathleen Maddox, “he was pampered by all the women who surrounded him.” Manson operated a quasi-hippie commune in the California desert where he dispatched his madness and by-proxy killings by use of sex, drugs and music. Using the Beatles’ hit song "Helter Skelter" to brainwash his family, Manson ultimately became an emblem of his insanity, violence and macabre ways.

Jay Sebring, the ‘hairdresser to the stars,’ never stopped loving Sharon Tate, whom he dated prior to her marriage to Roman. He settled for friendship and was a permanent fixture in Sharon and Roman’s

circle of friends, but I remember his profound sadness even when accompanied by the most beautiful women. Jay died trying to save Sharon’s life. He was shot and then stabbed seven times. Ironically, the crime scene’s picture Jay Sebring depict them being bound together by a rope in the living room.

Roman, in London at the time of the crime, said, “My absence on the night of the murders is the greatest regret of my life.

Sharon’s death is the only watershed in my life that really matters. It changed my personality from a boundless, untroubled sea of expectations and optimism to one of ingrained pessimism…eternal dissatisfaction with life.” I believe Roman’s brief time with Sharon to be the best years of his life.

They couldn’t wait for the birth of their first child, whom Roman posthumously called Paul. Paul Richard Polanski is buried with Sharon in California.

Sharon Tate, the eldest daughter to U.S. Army Colonel Paul James Tate and his wife Doris, was an actress and sex symbol during the 1960s. She was blessed with beauty, poise and kindness. She became my great pal, an older-sister-I-never-had, my English teacher, and makeup/fashion advisor. She lent me dresses and never wanted them back. She was eight and a half months pregnant but still continued to teach me how to apply false lashes, comb my hair and always told me to believe in myself.

She was stabbed 16 times pleading, in vain, to spare the life of her unborn child.

Abigail Folger, Gibby as we used to call her, was the greatgranddaughter of J.A. Folger, the founder of Folgers Coffee.

She was sweet, frugal and a reserved 25-year-old on her Abigail Folger own rebellious path to cure social injustice. Her quest became personified by Vojtek Frykowski, a penniless

Charles Manson said his mother sold him for a pitcher of beer to a waitress who wanted to have children. A few days later, his uncle found the woman to get his nephew back.

Pole and Roman’s pal from Poland whom she met in New York in 1967 with Jerzy ‘Jurek’ Kosinski. The late author of The Painted Bird, Steps and Being There was well known for introducing his-fellow-countryman-in-need to the wealthy patrons he frequented in the Big Apple. During my marriage to David Manson Weir, II, Jurek who had been previously married to David’s mother Mary Hayward Weir, became my stepfather-in-law.

Gibby and Vojtek fell in love and moved to LA in pursuit of Vojtek’s screenplay-writing ambitions. Legend has it that Vojtek’s family in Poland initially helped to finance the “Knife in the Water,” Polanski’s first feature-length film, which put him on the path to fame. I had known Vojtek in Warsaw. After spending a considerable time in their house, I knew Gibby was way over her head with Vojtek, whose reputation for controlling women was legendary. Gibby was stabbed 28 times, her beautiful face disfigured. Vojtek was struck in the head 13 times and stabbed 51 times. The coroner’s discovery of recreational MDA in both Gibby’s and Vojtek’s blood didn’t surprise me. But it managed to derail the investigation,

misleading the LAPD in believing that drugs were the cause of the crimes. It couldn’t be farther from the truth.

On August 12, 1969, LAPD raided Spahn Ranch and arrested Manson and 25 Manson family members as ‘suspects in a major auto theft ring.’ The warrant was misdated and the group was released a few days later. It wasn’t until mid-October of 1969 the LAPD caught a-long-awaited break. Susan Atkins, booked for the murder of Gary Hinman, was transferred to Sybil Brand Institute and begun bragging to bunkmates about her involvement with the Manson family massacres. The detailed account of the gruesome events was reported to the LAPD and their case was finally made. The lengthy trial began on June 15, 1970, and concluded on January 25, 1971. Guilty verdicts were returned against the four defendants on each of the 27 separate counts they were charged with. The death penalty was recommended. Their sentences were commuted to life when California abolished the death penalty in 1972. Additionally, Manson was found guilty of murdering Gary Hinman and Donald Shea and was given a life sentence, which he is presently serving at Corcoran State Prison in California.

Susan Atkins is dead.

And I am alive In the past 45 years, I married four times, outlived two husbands and was able to care for my late parents. 10 years ago, I found love again. A few hiccups aside, I’ve lived, for the most part, a charmed life. I recycled my modeling career into Real Estate sales, became an international private investigator and an interior designer. I finally abandoned all hopes of commercial success when I became a writer six years ago.

My first novel, The Racing Heart is yet to become a major motion picture; but I love what I do; and I couldn’t be more grateful that once upon a time, my beloved Silver Dawn didn’t let me down.

Visit southfloridaopulence.com and view Patricia Krenwinkel (participant in the Tate murders) who provides an emotional account of her life in prison.

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Baseball T h e S e c r e t H i st o r y o f

By Stephen Keeler

An exclusive interview with MLB Historian John Thorn

S

laying giants is a dangerous occupation; when that giant is a myth of gigantic proportions, the slayer had best be endowed with plenty of chutzpah to accomplish this task and live to tell the tale.

No wonder, then, that John Thorn has been successful in his chosen field as baseball historian, with Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game the latest fruit of his labors. Raised in New York by parents who escaped the Holocaust, John fears no myth regarding our national pastime, with perhaps the greatest concerning the origins of the game.

John Thorn Thorn’s research provides incontrovertible evidence regarding the true beginnings of our national pastime. His aim isn’t to kill the myths about the game, as that would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Rather, he paints a picture to understand how the myths were formed and why, so that by debunking them, they still provide the color and fun of the game, and its embrace by Americans. South Florida Opulence spent some time with John to gain insight into his motivations for the book, and for his life dedicated to baseball.

“Americans love a good story – not a falsehood, but a good story that speaks to a truth and, for the sake of keeping the listeners’ attention, doesn’t lack for embellishment,” John says with the twinkle of a gifted storyteller, one who knows well of which he speaks. “We want both Abraham Lincoln and PT Barnum at the same time.”

More than an enthusiast, John is foremost a historian – the official Historian for Major League Baseball, in fact. He says the first mention of baseball – then a pastoral game – dates back to 1749. In his book, John writes, [these are my words, not Jane Austen's!], “In no field of American endeavor is invention more rampant than in baseball, whose whole history is a lie from beginning to end, from its creation myth to its rosy models of commerce, community and fair play…its artful blurring of sport and business – all of it is bunk, tossed up with a wink and a nudge. Yet we love both the game and the flimflam because they are both so American.

“Baseball for an American,” John says with fervor, “runs under your feet.” This primal connective tissue linking America and baseball is part of the reason for his love of the game. Class and social distinctions, racial injustices, outright lies and forgeries, great feats of selflessness, intrigue and investigation, success and failure, all dominate baseball on its parallel trajectory with American society – at large.

“Baseball for an American,

“Nothing brought America together through the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries as much as baseball,” he said. “It was embraced by rich, middle class and poor, and spread wherever Americans lived.” Growing up as an immigrant Jewish kid, it was only natural for John to be a Dodgers fan, even after they left Brooklyn for Los Angeles. “Not only did the Dodgers break the color barrier by bringing Jackie Robinson into the major leagues, but every Jew, and indeed every person committed to

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runs under your feet.”

– John Thorn

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a faith, respected the fact that both Sandy Koufax opted NOT to pitch the first game of 1965 World Series because it fell on a Jewish holy day, and that the Dodgers had no problem accepting that.”

And there is always a chance for humor in baseball. John relates: “Don Drysdale ended up pitching that day instead of Koufax, and got spanked by the Minnesota Twins. Upon getting relieved finally by Dodger manager Walt Alston, Drysdale quipped, “bet you wish I was Jewish today, too.”

“No other sport has so consistently captured America’s attention,” John mused. We drilled down a bit on that topic. “Baseball is still pretty much the same game as in the 19th century.

However, there were two different versions from New York and Massachusetts competing for favor before the Civil War. The Massachusetts game is far older, and in my opinion, superior.”

John has umpired both – and although he says the New York version is more gentlemanly and similar to today’s game, he sees the Massachusetts version as “more manly” because it displayed a higher degree of bravery. There were no foul zones; runners could lead a chase into the outfield if they wished not to stay within the bases; and the pitcher could purposefully peg a runner in the ribs to get him called out, he didn’t have to be tagged or forced out at the base. The early game also had no gloves or protective gear.

One of the many myths about the history of baseball is that Abner Doubleday was the inventor of the game in Cooperstown, NY. Doubleday was a Union General in the Civil War and never knew of the claim before he died.

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What about issues and scandals over time, such as the creation of the designated hitter as an abomination, or the use/ abuse of steroids? Don’t they skew the claim?

Not at all for John. “Baseball lives in the present day, so it suffers and benefits from whatever might be in society; at the same time, it has an uncanny ability to renew

itself, even as America does as a whole.”

What about your arguments in the book that baseball wasn’t founded in America by Abner Doubleday in 1839 in Cooperstown, NY, but grew organically from before the American Revolution in different ways across the colonies? Won’t that hurt the game and the hall of fame? “Nonsense,” John heartily replies. “People will still go to Cooperstown, and will accept the myth – as they do that of Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny – because they are ‘in’ on the story.”

If you’re not “in” on the story, here it is: Shortly after the turn of the century, Henry Chadwick, an English-born sportswriter, penned that baseball’s roots started with the British game of rounders. The statement angered American pitcher Albert Spalding, who believed that a game so profoundly American in character had to be founded in the United States. Spalding, in an effort to get down to the truth of the matter, assigned a Commission to investigate. During the three years of the Commission’s “ research,” a mining engineer from Colorado wrote a letter to Spalding’s office, claiming he had watched a school game in Cooperstown, New York, at which Abner Doubleday took a stick and drew a diagram in the dirt for a new game that was similar to baseball. It was this story that led the Commission to name Doubleday the inventor of the game.

Ironically, John said, Doubleday was a Civil War Union General who never knew he had invented the American pastime.

He died 15 years prior to the Commission’s announcement.

“Baseball is all about meritocracy. It’s still the oldest, continuously operating activity at all levels that allows anybody to rise to the top. The core issue remains – can you play?

If you can, then you’ll have that opportunity in baseball. That is the goal for America too.”

John Thorn’s book, Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game, is available through most book retailers and at www.Amazon.com.

C l e a r ly, y o u r s k i n i s i n e x p e r t h a n d s .

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8/15/14 12:32 P

My Uncle Al Capone

By Robin Jay

An exclusive interview with Al Capone’s grandniece, Deirdre Marie Capone, who spent years researching her family’s history – the parts never or seldom told in newspapers. Her book has recently been adapted into a screenplay.

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“Nobody wanted Prohibition. This town [Chicago] voted six to one against it. Somebody had to throw some liquor on that thirst. Why not me?” said Al Capone… … as recorded in Uncle Al Capone, The Untold Story from Inside His Family, by Deirdre Marie Capone, Al’s niece.

“Hell, it’s a business…All I do is supply a public demand. When I sell liquor, they call it bootlegging. When my patrons serve it on silver trays on Lake Shore Drive, they call it hospitality. There’s a lot of people in Chicago that have got me pegged for one of those bloodthirsty mobsters who you read about in storybooks. The kind that tortures his victims, cuts off their ears, puts out their eyes with a red hot poker and grins while he’s doing it. Now get me right, I’m not posing as a model for youth. I’ve done a lot of things I don’t like to do. But I’m not as black as I’m painted. I’m human. I’ve got a heart in me. Nobody was ever killed except outlaws, and the community is better off without them. A crook is a crook, and there’s something healthy about his frankness in the matter. But the guy who pretends he’s enforcing the law and steals on his authority is a swell snake. You’d be surprised if you knew some of the fellows I’ve got to take care of.

You might say that every policeman in Chicago gets some of his bread and butter from the taxes I pay. It seems like I’m responsible for every crime that takes place in this country. The country wanted booze, and I organized it. Why should I be called a ‘public enemy’? I’m out of the booze racket now and I wish the papers would let me alone.”

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Enoch “Nucky” Johnson, Al Capone and Meyer Lansky on the Atlantic City Boardwalk in 1929 HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” the 1959 movie “The Untouchables,” the 1983 movie “Scarface,” and countless others have told the intriguingly notorious story of Al Capone and his bootlegging “Outfit” from Chicago. Capone and his crew covertly supplied residents of the Windy City and the nation with booze during Prohibition in the 1920s when alcohol was outlawed. Sensational, crime-riddled headlines about the no-good Capone family sold millions of newspapers and made for fantastic Hollywood fodder.

But, in an era thick with yellow journalism (an era, sadly, that is not bygone), the media in the Roaring Twenties left many of the important details uninvestigated, ignored or untold. Was it not newsworthy, for example, that in Chicago alone there were more than 10,000 speakeasies (so-called “hidden” lounges in which bartenders told patrons to ‘speak easy’ when ordering alcohol) or that politicians, policemen and judges were frequently spotted bellying up to the bar? Why didn’t reporters question why the only conviction authorities could pin on Capone was tax evasion – during a time when income taxes were new, when only one in 5,000 people was required to file a tax return, and when prosecution for non-filing was virtually non-existent? Didn’t a single news outlet care to find out why the only seven bootleggers convicted of tax evasion were from Chicago – none from Atlantic City, New York or Philadelphia? Or want to uncover the real reason why Capone was sent

“Yes, my Uncle Al was a mobster, but he wasn’t a monster.”

— Deirdre Marie Capone

to Alcatraz on tax-related charges when the island penitentiary was reserved for those convicted of crimes by the world’s most dangerous offenders?

In recent decades, some savvy biographers have investigated these and other important factors related to the Capone family, but their books didn’t make the best-seller list (at least not for long) or have producers vying for movie rights. Until now. Meet Deirdre Marie Capone – granddaughter of Ralph Capone, Al’s brother and business partner. Deirdre is Al Capone’s grandniece and author of Uncle Al Capone, The Untold Story from Inside His Family.

“Yes, my Uncle Al was a mobster, but he wasn’t a monster,” Deirdre told South Florida Opulence. “This is the only book written about Al by someone from inside his family, someone who as a little girl sat on his lap, hugged and kissed him, and traded ‘knock-knock’ jokes with him and slept at his house.”

The Family Man Side Deirdre grew up knowing the personal side of Al Capone – the uncle who taught her to swim, to ride a bike, to play cards and the mandolin. The uncle who sang opera at the top of his lungs while aproned and cooking gravy with his mother for Sunday dinner.

Theresa, Al’s mother, all but raised Deirdre after her own mother ran off with a suitor and her father committed suicide [although some evidence now suggests it may have been homicide that led to the death of Deirdre’s father… to silence him from releasing a manuscript, Sins of the Father, he was writing about his family].

Shy and spurned by classmates for being the daughter of a mobster, Deirdre grew up ashamed of her family’s scandal. She lost jobs when employers recognized her last name.

On the brink of despair, a 30-something Deirdre fled to Minnesota. She kept her maiden name a secret from everyone except her husband Bob – even her four children didn’t know they were of the Capone bloodline.

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thing I want to tell you about my family.

Al Capone was my uncle. My grandfather was his brother.”

Silence filled the room. Deirdre felt her heart beat in her throat. Then the reaction came full throttle.

“Cool! What was he like? Was he nice to you?

Did you like him? Do you have pictures?” the kids asked.

Fast-Forward

Al Capone as Santa with his grandniece Deirdre Marie Capone

Relieved by her children’s response to the news, Deirdre was still hesitant to go public. Her epiphany came in 1983 when she received a phone call from her son Jeff, then a college student at Northwestern University in Chicago. The TV series, “The Untouchables”, was the talk of the town – and it reminded the world of the big, bad gangster family. “Mom, why do people think we’re bad people just because we’re Capones? They say we have gangster blood in our veins.”

telling me his class was learning about the gangster Al Capone,” Deirdre recalled. “Bob and I realized it was time to tell the kids the truth so they wouldn’t hear it from someone else. I was petrified. Maybe they would be ashamed of me. Or worse – maybe they’d be ashamed of themselves.”

The phone call inspired her to launch into intensive research to document stories her grandfather had told her as a child – stories that showed another side of the Capone family. “It was the most painful thing I’ve ever done, but I wanted to do it for the integrity of my children,” she said.

The family gathered in the kitchen. A nervous Deirdre told her children, “There’s some-

Part of her research began with a sheer coincidence. The uncle of Deirdre’s husband was mar-

Al Capone's 1928 Cadillac was modified for him with one-inch-thick bulletproof glass and a flip down steel plate used as body armor in the door panels. It sold for $341,000 at auction.

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Mae and Sonny Capone

ried to Margaret May, sister of John May – one of the men killed in the infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago, which was pinned on Al Capone even though he was at his Miami home at the time. The Massacre took place on February 14, 1929, when Prohibition was nearing its end. Five mobsters associated with the North Side Gang run by Bugs Moran (Al Capone’s nemesis), and two gang collaborators including mechanic John May, were lined up in a Lincoln Park garage and shot execution style. A neighbor heard May’s dog barking and went to see what was causing the commotion.

The former residence of Al Capone on Palm Island in Miami She reported that two of the shooters were dressed as policemen and the others were wearing dark suits and hats. Frank Gusenberg, one of the injured men who was still alive, was taken to the hospital. Newspapers reported he refused to talk to police. Deirdre says she has proof that at least one newspaper told another story – that Gusenberg told authorities it was crooked police who did the killing – and that pinning it on Capone was a cover-up.

“Margaret said Johnny came home from work a few days before the shooting, telling his family certain policemen were stealing booze off Moran’s trucks. He said they knew Prohibition – and their payoff money from Moran – would soon be ending, so they were stealing alcohol to sell while the going rates were still high. Johnny said Moran planned to tell the police chief about the officers who were on the gang’s dole and stealing booze,” said Deirdre, who along with Margaret and some historians, believe it was crooked cops who planned the Massacre and why some purposefully dressed as gangsters to pin the wrap on Al Capone’s gang. “If Al did it, there would have been arrests made.”

Winding Down The Business “What most people didn’t know was that my Uncle Al was in the process of ending his bootlegging business,” Deirdre continued. “In

May of 1929, Enoch Lewis “Nucky” Johnson, a New Jersey political boss (the main character portrayed in the current HBO series “Boardwalk Empire”), called together the bootlegging mob bosses from around the country – including Al Capone – to Atlantic City. He told them Prohibition was ending and that if they would agree to wind down their bootlegging businesses, they would be awarded lucrative alcohol distributorships when it was legalized. After all, it was they who already knew the most efficient logistics. But that didn’t end the greed. Other outfits yearned to take over Al's Chicago market. A rival racketeer made a phone call to his friend Herbert Hoover and asked for his help in having Capone arrested.”

Al was on his way home from Atlantic City when his car broke down in Philadelphia.

He called a friend to come and get him.

Instead, Al was arrested and sent to Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.

Deirdre recounted a heart-to-heart talk she had with her Aunt Maffie (Al’s sister) who consoled her after she was fired from a job for having a mobster’s last name. “My big brother, Al, was the man who kept our family together when my father died. I was only 8 years old. We had no means, and Al became the breadwinner. He moved the whole family from Brooklyn to Chicago. If it hadn’t been

for him, we would all have starved. No one in our family was ever involved in any coldblooded killing. If somebody is trying to hurt you, aren’t you permitted to protect yourself? Then she told me she never knew a ‘gangster’ who helped people as much as Uncle Al. After the 1929 stock market crash, he set up soup kitchens all over Chicago and fed thousands. His speakeasies created jobs for people out of work and supported the careers of minority jazz musicians who performed at his clubs. My brother’s word was his bond. He would have given his life to save your life or mine. So don’t be so hard on him.”

In 1931, Al Capone stood trial for tax evasion.

“My uncle had more than 250 employees and a business that made countless millions of dollars, but all they could charge him with was tax evasion?” Deirdre said. That same year, “The Untouchables” – the television series with Capone-like characters, was launched by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. “My grandfather was devastated because Desi Arnaz was his best friend – he helped bring him to Miami from Cuba – and he threw our family under the bus.”

Capone’s Charges Nearly Dropped Interestingly, Deirdre says her Uncle Al nearly got out of the tax evasion charges.

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“All he needed to do was file a writ of habeus corpus and the charges would have been dropped, because a witness at his trial lied on the witness stand.”

So the prosecution needed to find a way to keep Al from filing the writ. “Truth is, J. Edgar Hoover called the warden of the prison where Uncle Al was held and asked that he be transferred to Alcatraz – where he physically would be unable to complete the filing.

That’s the real reason Al was sent there,” Deirdre said. “But Uncle Al was a model prisoner. He was often taunted by guards. There was a strict code of silence at Alcatraz – and it did a number on an inmate’s psyche – but Al restrained himself from lashing out because he just wanted to do his time and get home to his family, and as he said in letters to his wife, be a man.”

When Capone was released in 1939, he spent most of his time at his home on Palm Island in Miami. Much of his memory had been erased. “Reporters wrote that it was

dementia caused by syphilis, but a letter my family received from the sympathizing prison clergyman said that Al was often drugged and tortured. We believe that was the reason for his memory loss. In fact, Uncle Al had to spend some time in an asylum after his release to regain his health. Ironically, before he went to prison, Al had buried millions of dollars around the country so that his family would have money when he was released; but when he got out of prison, his memory was so bad, he couldn’t remember where he had hidden the money. Another Capone myth I’d like to dispel is that Al didn’t die in prison from syphilis; he died at home in Miami from a massive heart attack. We also know that Al funded the Alcatraz escape of inmates Ralph Roe and Ted Cole in December of 1937 – and we have evidence they likely survived, but you’ll have to read my book to find out the details!”

Uncle Al Capone, The Untold Story from Inside His Family, is available at Amazon.com. Since its release in 2012, Deirdre says not a single person

has refuted the details of her book – because there is documentation to prove her statements. Deirdre told South Florida Opulence that part II of her book will be published soon, and she has completed a screenplay for a movie about the Capone family.

To read about Al Capone’s favorite Rye Whiskey, Templeton, see page 40.

Uncle Al Capone, The Untold Story from Inside His Family, is available at Amazon.com.

Grandma Theresa Capone’s Ragu This recipe is enough for one pound of pasta.

2-28 oz cans of Italian tomatoes pureed 4 tbsp olive oil 6 garlic cloves chopped fine 1 medium onion cut into quarters 1 whole nutmeg 6 basil leaves or 1 tbsp dried basil 1 bulb fresh fennel (cored and cut into small pieces) 1 tsp dried oregano pinch of salt ¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper ¼ tsp red pepper flakes

Theresa Capone “Here is a little known fact,” said Deirdre Marie Capone. “My Aunt Maffie (Theresa) opened a deli on the south side of Chicago after Al Capone’s death. A man who was a regular customer and loved her lasagna came into the deli one day and asked for the recipe for the sauce. Maffie gave it to him, and he used it to create the very first spaghetti sauce of the Ragu Company.”

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Take a piece of cheesecloth and wrap it around the fennel, onion, nutmeg and basil, forming a ball that will be lowered into the tomatoes.

Heat olive oil in stockpot and add garlic. Stir until the garlic has released its flavor into the oil. Add tomatoes and fennel ball. Bring to a boil stirring slowly. Lower heat and simmer slowly uncovered. Add salt and pepper. Cook slowly for three hours. Before serving remove fennel ball and discard. “This is the only time before serving that we would taste the gravy,” said Deirdre. “We would do it by dipping a piece of bread into the sauce and eating the bread.”

Experience Makes Us Experts.

At Brown & Brown, we know that we must be as agile as the cheetah in order to thrive in the competitive insurance environment. Our unique culture has enabled us to quickly chase down new opportunities, adapt our products and services to best meet market demands, and satisfy our customers.

Serving South Florida clients’ needs since 1939

IN SURAN CE

Fort Lauderdale Division 1201 W. Cypress Creek Road, #130 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309 Phone: 954.776.2222 Toll Free: 800.648.9303 Fax: 954.771.9192 www.bbftlaud.com

AUTO • AircrAfT • bOnds • cOndOminiUm • cOllecTibles • flOOd • heAlTh benefiTs • hOmeOwners • liAbiliTy • mArine * persOnAl • prOperTy • UmbrellA • wOrkers’ cOmp

Pushing Limits with Gloss, Glamour and a Hint of Murano

By Robin Jay

“

A great design somehow manages to breathe a life of its own,” said Interior Designer Steven G. about this stunning condominium design at St. Regis in Bal Harbour. “It evolves sometimes from a single item. In this case, the client came to us after a trip to Italy. Visiting Murano, they fell in love with the chandelier and purchased it. It was a wonderful challenge because their direction for the interior was definitively contemporary. So we took some risks and had fun with it.

We knew instantly the unit was calling for some gloss and glamour.”

Having the eye of a master artist and a powerful gut instinct, Steven G. is the maestro of blending finishes, textures, hues – and seamlessly intermixing styles and periods – to enhance a property’s existing high points.

“The spectacular view had to be in hyper-focus, so we installed a high-gloss ceiling. Without any furnishings in the unit, the ceiling and polished marble floor almost made you feel weightless.

There was no beginning or end. It was truly an amazing experience,” Steven said. “If you keep your eyes open and absorb beautiful things around you, inspiration soon follows.”

Steven told South Florida Opulence the unit had its challenges – it was a custom unit through and through. “It wasn’t the most premiere layout within St. Regis’ portfolio of floor plans. It lacked

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balance and flow, so we created it through handcrafted millwork and gorgeous backgrounds. We started from the borders and worked our way inward, all while knowing we were pushing the limits. But how else do you progress if you don’t take risks? In my world, there aren’t too many other options but to excel.”

The founder of Florida’s largest design firm, Steven says this unit came with a mysterious history. “It was designer-ready, the same as all the other typical units; however, this unit had custom baths and kitchen already installed. We aren’t sure if it was previously owned or if the developer dabbled in design, but whatever the story, we were fortunate enough to have a beautiful kitchen to work with.

And just like the chandelier, it was unique and not the norm. The cabinets are a deep putty colored high gloss lacquer, the counters and backsplash are brushed stainless steel. We took it to a new level by installing sleek chrome pendant fixtures, deeply tufted counter stools and some sophisticated artwork.”

It’s certainly fair to say the timeless designs of Steven G. make him a trendsetter rather than a trend follower. “It’s definitely invigorating,” he said. “You have to understand that interior design is an art form.

When you spill so much of yourself into a project and then release it for someone else to enjoy, it’s somehow liberating. It inspires me to be only myself.”

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Opulence International Realty Associates David Pulley, Liz Alberty, Melissa Hormann and President James Hoffman.

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Miami, America’s Hot Spot A look at why real estate in Florida – especially Miami – is leading the nation in international buyers

By Stephen Keeler

M

ontserrat singer Arrow first recorded the 1982 hit song “Hot, Hot, Hot.” But one might says it’s Miami’s tune now. In the world of real estate today, ‘hot’ doesn’t mean temperature, it means Miami, as in rip-roaring, the time is now, this-is-the-place to be hot.

Fueling the real estate fire in Miami specifically, and Florida in general, are buyers from outside the United States. Florida leads the nation in international buyers, with a whopping 10 percent of the market share. With the entire residential market bursting at $68 billion a year in transactions and $24 billion in commercial development per year, this market is significant, and savvy international buyers and their advisors are in charge – if they have the right talent and the tools to support them.

Leveraging TECHNOLOGY That platform leverages the latest in technology and performance to deliver on the trust OIR’s professionals have with their clients. It’s not just knowing the market for James and the OIR brokers, “It’s delivering a turnkey solution for clients who need someone they can trust,” according to OIR broker Liz Alberty. “Yes, overseas clients are attracted to the great weather and the Miami lifestyle. Who isn’t?” she asks with suave energy. “More importantly, they may feel out of their element and need a complete service for legal considerations, title review and financing.”

MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR FOR PURCHASE

Miami-Dade: Profitability of Investment Broward: Desirable Location

Niche Brokerage for a Niche Market That’s why CSI International’s Opulence International Realty was formed within the past 12 months, according to James Hoffman, president of the real estate arm. “We recognized a gap between the ever-increasing level of interest from international buyers in high-end properties and the market’s ability to serve them appropriately. Now, buyers from Brazil, Europe, Canada and Asia have at their disposal some of the best real estate brokers in the business, serving them on a high-end platform that delivers insight, speed, accuracy and service, which we expect from every professional working here.”

Hoffman added, “Much business in South Florida is done in cash, but given the portfolios of most international buyers, asset reallocation is called for within the context of wealth management. Each client is different, so we tailor the type of service experience to match the uniqueness of each client.”

Miami-Dade

Broward 43%

38%

36%

31%

29%

16%

3% A secure invesrment (safety reasons)

A profitable investment (yields income)

A desirable location (for vacation, visits, etc.)

4%

Other

Source: 2013 Survey of International Home Purchases Miami-Dade-Broward, Florida Conducted by NAR Research for MIAMI Association of REALTORS®

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Alberty loves the fact that she has subject matter experts on hand for all her buyers, many of whom may be looking at homes in Guadalupe, San Martin, Monaco, Italy, and many places other than Miami. “Once they see all that we have to offer, and how much more they get for their money, Miami is quickly at the top of the list,” she said.

The Brazilian Factor For OIR broker Melissa Hormann, it’s Brazilians who are flocking to Miami. “Brazil has horrendous traffic in the larger cities; as a result, Brazil has more helicopters in the air every day than any other country in the world, shuttling my clients to avoid the traffic,” she notes. “So I have to make sure I meet their needs with the latest in solution solving. It’s critical to be able to do business remotely.” That means leveraging OIR’s technology. Melissa elaborates, “Many clients will buy without ever coming to the United States. I show my clients the properties on my iPad via my Facetime app, and we do the contracts via email. Advanced technology makes it so easy.”

But that doesn’t eliminate the personal touch. “You have to have a relationship with Brazilians for them to work with you, to trust you,” Hormann said. “With OIR, I travel to Brazil to meet them, either through my own network, or by setting

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up a seminar event.” In this way, she both meets her clients in person and gives them the knowledge to execute the transaction in their most preferred manner.

“Plus, with the technology, I get to spend more time with my clients and less filling out paperwork.”

The Art of Building Strong Relationships Getting to know his clients is OIR broker David Pulley’s key priority, as well. “It’s not a transaction business, in spite of the high demand. It’s about relationships. I put myself in the right environments to serve my clients best.” For him, there is no one specific type of buyer; everyone is coming to Miami. “The inventory is practically gone,” David said. “Now, buyers are putting down 40-50 percent for piles of dirt in downtown, South Beach, South of Fifth; East Edgewater, Brickell, everywhere.”

Why now? Pulley knows. “New York’s had its day; now Miami is booming, catching

up to the other major cities. It has the best weather, great culture, international market, beautiful beaches and art. ‘In season’ used to be three months, January to March. Now it’s a six-month season minimum, and year-round residency is growing. The days of Miami as just a vacation destination are over.”

Pulley says OIR’s people, leadership, resources and tools for agents help business by helping clients. “With my clients, I get to help shape the future of Miami,” Pulley said. “And we’re making Miami hotter than anyplace in the world.”

For more information about OIR or to reach Hoffman, Alberty, Hormann, Pulley, or another broker specializing in international real estate, go to www.opulenceinternationalrealty.com.

REALTORS® REPORTED EXCHANGE RATES AS IMPORTANT IN AFFECTING THE DEMAND FOR U.S. PROPERTY Effect of Exchange Rates on International Clients 50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%

Not much of an effect

Moderate effect

13%

40%

47%

2012

21%

43%

36%

2013

20%

43%

37%

2011

Very significant effect

Source: 2013 Survey of International Home Purchases Miami-Dade-Broward, Florida Conducted by NAR Research for MIAMI Association of REALTORS®

New York’s had its day; now Miami is booming, catching up to the other major cities. It has the best weather, great culture, international market, beautiful beaches and art.

— David Pulley

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PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDY FRAME

A menacing member of the Borg Collective stands by one of the bars at Marc Bell's Star Trek-themed home in Boca Raton.

Other Trek trinkets can be found on and around the bar.

An exclusive interview with billionaire Marc Bell and his $35 million sci-fi-themed Boca Raton mansion

by DALE KING and julia hebert

Captain’s Log, Star Date 09-01-2014, Commander Marc Bell recording. A mystery still plagues everyone on board. With the exception of the bridge, the entire ship has been transformed into a large, two-story house with eight bedrooms and 16 bathrooms, three bars, a gym and a wine cellar. This transformation seems to emanate from an earth outpost called Boca Raton. More mysterious is the presence of an apparently inactive member of the Borg Collective in a display case on board 86 86

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along with an ancient 20th century robot named Robbie. I must report this to Starfleet Command.

With a “whoosh” of the turbolift doors, Marc Bell steps out of his sci-fi characterization as commander of a 24th century starship, the USS Bell (sister ship of the USS Enterprise 1701D, no doubt), and back into his 21st century role of entrepreneur, husband, father and owner of a house that’s the envy of the neighborhood. In reality, he is manager of Marc Bell Capital Partners, a firm that invests in

entertainment ventures, publishing, the Internet and real estate.

He loves science fiction – particularly Star Trek in all incarnations – and a visit to his 27,000 square-foot manse in the quiet, gated community of Woodfield Country Club in Boca Raton is proof.

Entering the Galactic Core Visitors enter through an arched doorway leading to a vast foyer.

Stairways bordered by ornate wrought iron railings wind upward to the second floor. On the entry-level walls are Andy Warhol Campbell’s Soup can paintings. Bell has a preference for Warhol’s works as well as those of M.C. Escher, the 20th century illustrator who developed a style, which, like science fiction, juggles orientation and space in surrealistic ways. Rooms are elegantly appointed, a process Bell left to an interior designer. His direction was simple: “Put in whatever looks good.”

There’s also a “Call to Duty” room, based on the video game and set up like the mobile Army hospital seen on M*A*S*H. The kitchen is large enough to accommodate guests comfortably. “All roads lead to the kitchen. It’s where people congregate. We made it big enough for people to stand across from one another.” His wife, Jennifer, is a gourmet cook.

The master of the house draws attention to his 2,000 squarefoot arcade room. “I’ve been a big arcade fan since I was a kid,” says Bell, looking out over 60 arcade and pinball machines – many with a Star Trek or Star Wars theme. “This is my playroom, not the kids’. They have their own.” Bell says he collects video playthings from 1978 through 1982 and restores them to working condition.

How Bell Earned his Billions A New York City boy, he took an early interest in math.

“When I was 16, I wanted to create the largest data center in the world. My dad took me to one of his clients who had a data center that was the size of a small closet. I was enamored of it. Fifteen years later, I had the world’s largest data center” when he was chairman and CEO of Globix, a company he founded in 1989 as Bell Technology Group.

By the mid-1990s, thanks to investments that paid off, Bell expanded. And when the company went public in 2000, “it was worth $2.5 billion,” he says.

— Marc Bell

Bell was not always in the “billions with a b” arena. Early on, he lived in a 650 square-foot apartment that “didn’t have room for a kitchen table.” At the office, where he worked “120 hours a week for 10 years,” he and colleagues “used to sit and play video games on the computer all night long. We said, ‘There must be lots of other people with no lives to play video games with.’ So we started an online service called GameNet.” It was the first to use the Internet to connect video gamesters – and it was a major success, he says. GameNet begat Globix, which grew into a provider of corporate Internet solutions with a worldwide workforce of more than 1,000.

“I loved what I was doing,” assesses Bell. But history would soon mess that up. The terrorist attacks of September 2001 happened.

“We had an Internet data center near the World Trade Centers.

After the attacks, no one wanted to be in that area. The market changed. And the 9/11 attacks caused me to move to Florida to explore endeavors there.” He founded Marc Bell Capital Partners in 2003 and also acquired some vast, online properties that kept him busy through 2012, when he stepped back to his own firm.

Data, Video Games – Then Broadway On advice of a buddy, Bell invested in several Broadway shows, including Jersey Boys, The Wedding Singer, August: Osage County, Rock of Ages and A Catered Affair. Unexpectedly, Jersey Boys and Osage paid off big. Both won Tony awards, and the Jersey Boys soundtrack nabbed a Grammy. A film version launched in June.

Back to Home Base But this is all just reality. Star Trek was Bell’s inspiration for the house. “The room designed like the bridge of the USS Enterprise on Star Trek: The Next Generation (the one featuring Captain Picard, not Captain Kirk) was the first

Visitors don't have to beam up to Marc Bell's Star Trek-themed home in Boca Raton. They can enter by this arched front door.

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The home theater room at the Star Trek-themed home of Marc Bell is a duplicate of the bridge on the USS Enterprise from the TV show, Star Trek: The Next Generation.

part to be built,” he says. “It is actually a home theater with more than 3,000 digitized movies,” including every Star Trek episode. “Everything else in the house came later.” The home, which took four years to build, stands on the site of two former houses that Bell bought and demolished.

Remarkably, that house is for sale – for $35 million, the highestpriced home ever to hit the Boca Raton market. The Bell family

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is moving to Miami where Marc is building another dwelling – even bigger than the Boca mansion – one that will emphasize his interest in art.

With a heart and mind for business, friendship, fun and a bit of risk-taking, Bell says, philosophically, “You only live life once.

You have to enjoy every day.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDY FRAME

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDY FRAME

Sixty arcade games are arrayed in the ballroom at Marc Bell's Star Trek-themed home in Boca Raton. He collects and repairs some of the games from the late '70s and early '80s.

The Sky Is No Longer the Limit in Fort Lauderdale

By Dale King and Julia Hebert

structure with 360 degrees of luxury amenities that provide the ultimate in livability and high-tech design.

Paramount Developers (l-r): Daniel Kodsi, Art Falcone, and Nitin Motwani.

S

omething new is on the horizon for Fort Lauderdale urbanites craving a luxurious, oceanside lifestyle. The Paramount Fort Lauderdale Beach condominium, the first high-end, high-rise seaside residential tower to be built in the Gold Coast city in a decade, will own the 700 North Atlantic Boulevard site where a Howard Johnson’s hotel was razed in February. Developers are packing the planned 18-story

Encore Housing Opportunity Fund is providing a creative, savvy team led

by Miami Worldcenter developers Art Falcone, the company co-founder and 30-year veteran of the building trade, and Nitin Motwani, the firm’s managing director. They are joined by fellow developer Daniel Kodsi, CEO of Royal Palm Companies, to perfect what Motwani calls “a true luxury boutique building.” The Paramount tower of 95 units – each costing $1 million or more – should be ready for occupancy by winter 2016. Thirty-six percent of them had been sold by mid-summer.

Buyers will become sophisticated city dwellers, residing within walking distance of fashionable restaurants, stylish shops, the exquisite Galleria Mall and many entertainment venues.

Overlooking the lush greenery of the historic Bonnet House Museum & Gardens, and set against the expansive Atlantic shoreline, Paramount Fort Lauderdale Beach will be designed by Revuelta Architecture International, with interiors by ID & Design International. Residences will range from 1,934 to 3,493 square feet.

A Motwani-managed company paid $20 million for the two-acre HoJo parcel that had already been approved for a 170-unit condo-hotel. “It was the last project designed for the 2005-2006 cycle,” Motwani said. When the market refocused on multiuse, urban living, Paramount style became the way to go.

Developers will attract purchasers – empty nesters and upscale millennials in particular, said Falcone – with the convenience of a full-service “vertical home” with such amenities as multiple private pools, beachfront cabanas, club privileges, a full gym and ground-floor restaurant. A high-tech robotic system delivers your car from the parking area with a push of a cell phone button.

The promise of the coming condo community is enticing, and all three developers are on-board, giving freely of time, energy and research to make sure it’s done right. “Few buildings can truly say they will have transformed an area,” said Kodsi. “Our development team is confident that Paramount Fort Lauderdale Beach will serve as a catalyst for future Paramount residential towers in Florida and around the nation.”

For more information, go to www.paramountresidences.com.

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Splashing, Bubbling Art in the Landscape SEries PART VII

by Mary and Hugh Williamson whose Bluffton, South Carolina, landscape includes cooling, welcoming water features

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f

ew things have universal appeal. Among them are babies, puppies and fountains.

Making a splash, or offering a soft, burbling background to your colorful garden, fountains create a focal point that cannot be ignored. Hotels, parks and even the North Lawn of the White House offer the immediate fascination of the action and sparkling music of water.

Fountains are magnets. Grand or minimal, fun or monumental, these punctuation marks in your landscape can offer whimsy or majesty.

A Fascinating History

Mary and Hugh Williamson

The Trevi Fountain The latest update of the stone rendering of the Tritons guiding the shell chariot of water god Oceanus will be cleaned, furnished with new pumps, and will offer dramatic lighting and pigeon barriers. These improvements will be installed over the next two years at great cost.

Fountains have a rich history, originally built as receptacles of the elixir of drinking water. Using elevated sources of water, the flow by gravity allowed for water distribution to homes of the wealthy where termination points of aqueducts provided opportunities for artistic basins and opulent baths.

This also allowed for showy displays of waterspouts from carved animal head sculptures. The Greeks were the first, but the Ancients Romans used their raised aqueducts and the resulting gravity to provide water to city streets, and to the jets and ostentatious water features of the upper class. With nine aqueducts, the ancient Romans were able to feed many monumental fountains along with hundreds of public access points and numerous baths. The notion of flowing, functional and decorative water sources spread to the Middle East and Spain, as did many other “things Roman”. In a mid-ninth century AD tome labeled “Book of Ingenious Devices”, Arab inventors describe wind-powered fountains.

The reality, however, was never proven to have existed.

While many of the ancient Roman versions fell into wrack and ruin during the dark ages, the Renaissance saw a reemergence of these grand and glorious structures. These are the fountains of pleasure gardens. The Medici family celebrated fountains as a symbol of power and wealth. The Trevi Fountain, which is the Renaissance (C. 1750 AD) renovation of the 19 BC termination of the Aqua Virgo aqueduct, draws untold numbers of tourists every year, and brings in thousands of dollars each evening. Tourists recall movies such as “Three Coins in the Fountain”, “La Dolca Vita”, and “Roman Holiday”, and cheerfully toss in their Euros, wishing for a return trip to the Eternal City. Most visitors never realize that the water they see jettisoned from this fabulous sculpture is derived from the Salone Springs, about 12 miles from Rome. That spring is the supply for all the fountains in the historic center of the city. Your source of water is likely much closer!

Great and celebrated architects, such as the Vatican’s Bernini right up to contemporary artists have seen fountains as vehicles for their concepts that appeal to many senses.

And How We Can Continue the Magic Modern plumbing and electricity afforded alternatives to gravity-fed fountains by the end of the 19th century. Your landscape can come alive with the magic of flowing, musical water, in grand baroque or sleek restrained contemporary styles and scales. Bronze, marble or ceramic, monolithic or diminutive, fountains can add glamor, cooling sounds and dramatic visuals. Popular themes are the mythical Neptune, mermaids and dolphins, as well as animal heads, flowers, cherubs or stark geometric shapes. Your favorite sculptor can provide a beautiful piece to embellish a reflecting pool, combined with dramatic water jets, creating a stunning visual and melodious experience for your guests. Your landscape architect, along with the electrical and plumbing professionals he relies upon, can ensure a wondrous and compelling installation that will transform your landscape, and add universal appeal to your domain, big or small.

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Windows to the Soul

By John D. Adams

“For me, photography has become an integration of life and craft. Through it I am able to give value to people’s lives and derive value in my own life, beyond making a living.”

— Robert Zuckerman

George Clooney, 1990 – My first stills job ever, on a TV show called “Sunset Beat” about undercover cops who posed as bikers. I had never met nor heard of him before, but I was impressed with his professionalism, openness and care.

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Sweethearts in the 1920s, Robert Zuckerman’s grandparents Evelyn and Charles are seen in the living room of their Greenwich Village apartment. His grandmother was reluctant to sit for this picture.

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here is an innate kindness behind photographer Robert Zuckerman’s eyes that shines through his camera lens, bathing his subjects in a cocoon of willingness and trust. It’s an invaluable quality for a man who spends the majority of his time making pictures with people. And it certainly explains why he has been able to capture a humanity with his subjects no matter if they are Hollywood’s biggest stars or “regular” folks on the street. “Whenever I’m photographing somebody, whether they are from the hood or are a big star, I hold on to the idea that if you put love into something, then through some kind of alchemy, that shows in the final product.”

Star photography You may not realize it, but you have seen Robert Zuckerman’s work. For decades, he worked in Hollywood as a movie studio photographer, producing advertising and publicity images for films like: the first three “Transformers;” both “National Treasures;” “Flight;” “Unstoppable;” “The Pursuit of Happyness;” “Terminator 3;” “Training Day;” “Any Given Sunday;” “The Crow;” and many others.

Kelly Preston, 2003 – By the set of the indie film “Eulogy” with an amazing ensemble cast of which she was one. She was gentle, kind, mindful and hit her marks like a ninja every time.

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Morgan Freeman, 2005 – In his office in Santa Monica, he was totally cool. We played in spots and pools of light around the rooms and eventually we did some under the skylight, resulting in this picture. I heard he was very happy with this image which was on the cover of Venice magazine.

Will Smith calls him “Picasso.” Jerry Bruckheimer, Denzel Washington, and Michael Bay have often vied to have him on their film sets. Arnold Schwarzenegger even introduced him to former President Bill Clinton by saying: “This is Robert Zuckerman, the best photographer I have ever worked with.” Heady praise from Hollywood hotshots are a rarity and further exemplify the impact that Zuckerman has on most every person he works with.

Yet even while he was working on a movie, Zuckerman would often turn his camera away from those famous faces to onlookers or extras. “I was so drawn to them,” he says. “I once read an artist statement that said: ‘The more personal my expression, the more universal its meaning.’ And that really struck a chord with me. Yes, that’s what art is about.”

Project KINDSIGHT® Shortly after 9/11, the world seemed shrouded in terror. “I realized that the antidote to terror is in the richness of life that is around us every day. And that’s when I came up with the initial idea behind KINDSIGHT®– random encounters can become a story. From taxi and bus drivers to waitresses, plumbers, or kids at a playground, KINDSIGHT® shows the extraordinary within the ordinary.”

It is no easy task to give people a sense of ease while photographing them. In an interview with The Miami Herald, Zuckerman said: “Traditionally, photography has involved aggressive, acquisitive language…Shoot. Capture. Take. I never use those words. I ask people: “Can we make a photograph? That way it’s framed as a collaboration.”

He began accompanying his photos with stories that reveal as much about his own feeling of human connectivity as do the pictures themselves. “I sent them around to friends. Across the board people could relate to the human94

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Dr. Maya Angelou, 2003 – I had the honor of spending an afternoon in her Harlem brownstone. Her every utterance was bathed in wisdom and thoughtfulness. Anything I or any of the others present said was amplified and clarified in her response.

ness of it. Then, I would send some big movie poster that I had done, and the response was often: ‘Nice poster, but we really like the personal stories better.’ I realized that I was on to something.” Zuckerman developed his collection into a best-selling national book and multiple exhibitions and installations. James Crump, renowned fine art publisher and curator, wrote: “Zuckerman’s portraits are infused with an uncanny sense of hope and spirit in the post 9/11 era.”

Hollywood ending “Bob, why are you limping?” In 2003, Zuckerman arrived at a business meeting, when he was asked this question. “I hadn’t really noticed it that much,” he begins. “My primary care doctor thought it might have been a herniated disk.” It wasn’t. But it took another seven years of multiple MRIs, spinal taps, and neurological testing before he was finally diagnosed with an extremely rare, degenerative disease: Adult Polyglucosan Body Disease. Primarily affecting those of Eastern European Jewish descent, the disease attacks the central nervous system, slowly but systematically shutting down motor skills. There is no treatment and precious little research.

And yet, Zuckerman has maintained an astonishingly positive attitude.

“Hollywood stopped calling,” he says. “Even though I’m in a wheelchair, I’d still be working if they would hire me. But I am advancing to a higher calling.”

For the last decade, Zuckerman has been a popular speaker, inspiring young students through his KINDSIGHT® work and other projects. “Most of us have challenges in life. Part of my job is to inspire and empower others. An early mentor once said to me: ‘You can do it.’

Those are very powerful words. I hope I can bring some of that encouragement to young people.”

He’s going to have an even bigger chance to inspire students. Zuckerman has just been named a Dean’s Distinguished Fellow at the Florida International University School of Architecture and Arts for the coming academic year. It’s an affirmation of his ability and a testament to the man’s talent, integrity, compassion, and desire to bring words and pictures to others.

Visit Robert Zuckerman’s website at: www.robertzuckerman.com Learn more about Adult Polyglucosan Body Disease at: www.apbdrf.org

Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, 2005 – This was to be a cover image for a new fitness magazine that Sly was starting, but the magazine never got rolling. I’d scouted the Governor’s office and the walls were a dull, drab beige, so I bought this huge American flag and made it into a backdrop. Sly and Arnold were standing there chatting, and I suggested lighting up cigars. The whole thing took about ten minutes.

Jaden & Will Smith from The Pursuit of Happyness, November 2005 Fall 2014

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Rugged Maniacs Swimming With The Sharks

By John D. Adams

With a successful appearance on ABC’s reality show, “Shark Tank,” the guys behind the Rugged Maniac extreme obstacle course events are running in first place.

When we last spoke with Rob Dickens, COO of Rugged Events LLC, the extreme sports events company had just unveiled their latest endeavor in the Winter 2014 issue of South Florida Opulence: The Great Bull Run. But running with the bulls was nothing compared to what Dickens and CEO Brad Scudder encountered while swimming with the sharks. Investment sharks, that is. In April, the successful entrepreneurs appeared on ABC’s hit series “Shark Tank.” And they landed a big one.

Epic Obstacle Course In 2010, Boston-based Rob Dickens and Brad Scudder embarked on a wild adventure that continues to lead them successfully into new and exciting arenas.

The two created Rugged Events LLC, a company that specializes in extreme sporting events across the country. Among a number of other similarly-themed events, the guys’ Rugged Maniac extreme obstacle race has become the gold standard of urban adventures. Brave contestants spend a day attempting to conquer 25 epic obstacles; they scale towers of shipping containers, climb steep mud walls, leap across fire pits, swim through mud trenches, belly crawl across underground tubes, wade within a mountainous sea of foam, dodge giant red punching bags and other crazy stuff. With an average ticket costing $50, the Rugged Maniac races are available in 20 cities nationwide, with about 100,000 people taking part every year. And while other extreme events companies have fallen by the wayside, Rugged Maniac continues its slow and steady approach to winning the race.

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the show to try and get on. Here, they were calling us. And even though we didn’t intend on entertaining any offers, we thought: ‘Why not? It’s free publicity,’ ” said Dickens.

In the shark tank

Brad Scudder and Rob Dickens appeared on TV’s Shark Tank and partnered with billionaire Mark Cuban for Rugged Events LLC. The producers of ABC’s reality show “Shark Tank” took notice of the growing upstart.

And last September Dickens received a surprising telephone call. “The producers of ‘Shark Tank’ had heard about Rugged Maniac and were interested in having us go on the show to pitch the company,” he said. But Dickens and Scudder weren’t looking for investors. Rugged Events brought in $4.2 million in revenue in 2013, which translated to $1 million in profit, according to Dickens. And the company’s newer “Bull Runs” are expected to gross around $2.5 million after their first full year of operation. But the phone call got the entrepreneurs thinking. “Usually companies have to contact

For the uninitiated, “Shark Tank” follows a simple formula. Eager inventors or small business owners present their products and services in front of a panel of “sharks” – billionaire investors. If any of the investors are interested, they try to negotiate a deal with the presenters to provide cash for a percentage of the company. “The show’s producers didn’t even know about The Great Bull Run at the time they contacted us,” says Dickens. “By the time we went to film the episode, we had held our first Great Bull Run event, so we included both companies during the pitch.” And while the two had no interest in bringing in a nameless investor, they managed to capture the interest of a “shark” who could bring more to the table than just money. Mark Cuban, well-known businessman, investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, offered $1.75 million for a 25 percent ownership in the company.

“The beauty with us is that we didn’t need the money. We were already profitable with the Rugged Maniac brand,” remarked Dickens. “But Mark Cuban brings so much more to the table than money. His

Competitors in “The Rugged Maniac” race trudge through mud pits.

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Mark Cuban

business expertise and his connections, his name, and his media presence raises the visibility of our brand. He’s a handson type of guy. He likes to be involved and we like him involved.”

“I’m super excited to be part of the Rugged Events team,” Cuban said. “I’m anticipating the explosion of experiential entertainment and very few people execute this as well as Rob Dickens and Brad Scudder. I have every intention of helping them grow into a force in the industry.”

The company may add two or three additional events this year. And with Cuban’s input, they will be hiring several key positions. “We put on great events. Everyone who comes has a great time,” says Dickens. “Our events are consistently ranked the highest in customer satisfaction; and that’s where we want to stay.”

Slow and steady wins the race.

To learn more about Rugged Maniac, visit their website at: www. ruggedmaniac.com

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For the Love of

Sailing

By Melissa Bryant

Ferretti FY960

Sprinkled along Croatia’s southern coast lay the glimmering islands of the Dalmatian coast, where terracottaroofed buildings nestled atop limestone-cliff mountains overlook the Adriatic Sea. Cruising along these crystal waters in the 1960s, two young brothers became captivated with sailing. Together, the boys — Alessandro and Norberto Ferretti — turned a childhood pastime into a business. The Ferretti name today stands for one of the most respected brands in the yachting industry. Their innovations in technology and artistry excellence sets them apart in a class alltheir own.

Ferretti Navetta 33 Crescendo (106 feet) has been designed just like a ‘villa on the sea’

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efore these seafaring brothers became pillars in the yachting world, they worked in another luxury industry — cars. Alessandro and Norberto Ferretti’s father owned a specialty car dealership where both brothers worked as car salesmen. Norberto, especially impressed by his youth at sea, persuaded his father to purchase a 5.7 meter boat for him, which became a catalyst for the incorporation of Ferretti Yachts in 1968. The brothers added a nautical division to their family dealership, with Norberto overseeing design and Alessandro handling business activities. In 1971, the Ferretti brothers unveiled at the prestigious Genoa Boat Show the first full-scale boat they constructed: a wooden motor-sailor equipped with boat sails and an engine. There, they met iconic Italian yacht-builder Luciano Mochi. “It was Luciano Mochi, my second idol after Carlo Riva, who pushed me to move from sail to motor. He was tall and had a powerful way of walking. I was 23 when at the Genoa show,” Norberto told Gale Publishing. “Mochi told me, ‘My compliments, you make beautiful

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Alessandro and Norberto Ferretti

Ferretti FY960

things, but you have the advantage that with sail it is easier.’” Mochi was referring to the yachting industry’s recent adoption of motor engines. Following this advice, the Ferretti’s ushered in their first motor yacht designs for sports fishing during the early 1970s. Over time, fervent research and development with a particular attention to detail elevated Ferretti Yachts above its competitors.

Best of the Best

Ferretti FY960

The Ferretti’s passion for yachting is apparent not only in their roots, but also in their dedication to providing the best yachting experience possible.

To view Ferretti Yachts 2014 collection and learn more about their design and technology, visit www.FerrettiGroupAmerica.com.

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The power of beautiful thinking.

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Ferretti Yachts Flybridge planing yachts from 53’ to 96’

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C on d o L i v i ng

FBI Miami Citizens Academy’s Newest Member: Mark Blackburn of CSI On May 29th, 2014, CSI Management Services Chief Operating Officer and Associate Publisher of South Florida Opulence Mark Blackburn graduated from the prestigious FBI Citizens Academy program. The Federal Bureau of Investigation Miami Division provides this eight-week educational course for outstanding community leaders to learn about the mission, objectives Mark Blackburn and services of the FBI Agency. This interactive class works to establish unity between law enforcement and private citizens by educating civilians about the inner working, roles and responsibilities of the FBI Agency.

“It was a great privilege to be accepted into the 2014 class of the FBI Citizens Academy program,” said Blackburn. “As an industry leader and Miami resident, I joined the program in an effort to better my community — but I soon realized that the knowledge I would acquire could translate into my business, as well. My lessons in weapons, counterterrorism and corporate espionage prepared me to become an ambassador to the community. I am confident that the valuable perspectives I’ve attained will serve as a tool to help

protect my community.” Over the course in Miami (which just earned the President's Award for Excellence,) Blackburn attended hands-on training sessions taught by the Special Agentin Charge (SAC), Assistant Special Agents in Charge (ASAC), Supervisory Special Agents (SSA), and Field Special Agents (SA). Upon completion, Blackburn joined the FBI Citizens Academy Alumni Association.

This non-profit organization is a community-based foundation committed to supporting community need initiatives, sponsoring programs to promote civic education and public safety, and providing resources and opportunities that enrich youth development.

“I appreciate the commitment Mark has shown to the understanding of the FBI and its mission,” said James B. Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “We are thankful for his support and we look forward to working with James B. Comey him in the coming years to protect our communities and our country.”

What is it about your community’s risk management program that keeps you up at night?

Does the D&O policy we purchased fully protect the board?

Will our Disaster Preparedness/ Recovery Plan be effective when we need it?

Is our Insurance Program in compliance with our bylaws?

With all these recent natural disasters, how do we effectively budget for next year?

If we have a claim will it be adjusted and paid correctly?

We have the answers.

S er ving S outh Fl ori da for 9 0 ye a r s • 8 0 0 - 6 3 8 - 8 6 6 4 • w w w. s l ato nr is ks e r vi ce s. co m Fall 2014

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E L E N A

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Capturing a Mother’s Love in Andreapolsky

An exclusive interview with Russian photographer, mother and farmer Elena Shumilova

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By Robin Jay

It’s nearly dawn on the quaint rural forested farm in Andreapolsky, Russia. As the sun peeks over the barn, 3-year-old Vanya lovingly nuzzles nose-to-nose with a gray-haired baby rabbit, while his 6-year-old brother Yaroslav runs alongside a gaggle of toddling yellow ducklings.

Their mother, Elena Shumilova, watches from afar, with her 135 mm camera in hand. She quietly lifts the camera to her eye, careful not to draw the attention of her sons or persuade their actions. When sunbeams kiss the cheeks of her boys just right, Elena snaps the shutter, capturing another dreamlike photograph of tranquil life on the farm as her family knows it. Come evening, the young mother of two will post the photograph online, sharing it with millions of her Flikr followers worldwide.

An Unexpected Talent Less than two years ago, the former architect and designer borrowed her parents’ camera and “started playing around with it.” Elena says she never dreamed her photos would become so popular.

In fact, they went viral – like wildfire. The global

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response to Elena’s imagery became so tremendous that a year ago she turned her newly found hobby into a business.

“I largely trust my intuition and inspiration when I compose photos. I get inspired mainly by desire to express something I feel, though I usually cannot tell exactly what that is,” Elena told South Florida Opulence. “When shooting, I prefer to use natural light – both inside and outside. Every day, I try to learn to see

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light in a new way. I love all sorts of light conditions – streetlights, candlelight, fog, smoke, rain and snow – everything that gives visual and emotional depth to the image.

“My parents are good photographers, too. Unfortunately, they don’t have enough time to develop their passion. My mom taught me to draw from the earliest age, and certainly thanks to her, my abilities to create images developed.”

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Elena says her passion for photography manifested in early 2012 when she got her first DSLR camera. Soon after, in the summer, she upgraded to a Cannon 5dmark2 with a 50mm lens.

“I’ve been shooting every day and processing the images at night. By autumn, I felt I found my own way of approaching photography.

"At the end of winter 2013, I got a new lens – 135mm – which immediately became my favorite one.”

Life on the Farm

It’s easy to see that for young Vanya and Yaroslav, who help feed the animals on the farm, interacting with the cute critters comes second nature.

“But every photo shoot is a little tiresome,” Elena admits. “Children and animals always behave unpredictably, yet I always try to keep tranquility.

If you start being nervous, it’s transferred to all.

I try to use only natural poses and scenarios of behavior of my children and animals in the concepts. They are ordinary children; they like to run, play, ride a bike, to help on the farm, to study life around them.

– Continued on next page

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– Continued from previous page “I really think that I’m a very usual mother,” she said.

“But it’s not so simple to put your feelings into the image. I think a good picture is about mood. It’s like music. And I hope I’ve learned to do it.”

Indeed she has.

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“ I think a good picture is about mood. It’s like music.”

–Elena Shumilova

Prints of Elena’s photography are available at http://elenashumilova.smugmug.com.

To watch a video Elena created about her photography, go to www.southfloridaopulence.com.

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E E M M E E R TR E EXXT Adrenaline-rush junkies are soaring to new heights in sci-fi-like water propulsion contraptions that would make Jacques Cousteau blush. Check them out: Renowned French jet-ski designer and Zapata Race Team founder, Franky Zapata is the inventor of Flyboard – a wakeboard on steroids. Connected to two flexible 18-meter pipes and linked to a jet-ski turbine, this novel aquatic thrill contraption soars up to 10 meters above the water’s surface.

Nozzles beneath the user’s feet ensure 90 percent of the propulsion. Pipes affixed to the user’s forearms sport two water jets that provide virtually perfect equilibrium as ski poles.

Zapata says the height a Flyboarder can achieve depends on the power of the jet-ski propelling it. For example, with 150 horsepower, a user can reach up to 6 meters in height and with 250 horsepower, heights of up to 12 meters can be attained.

By Robin Jay

“The Flyboard intuitive use provides exceptional sensations from the first use,” said Zapata, whose racing team has earned the ultimate title: The RUN F1 World Championship Winner.

“After only a few minutes, the user can move underwater like a dolphin and challenge the gravity like a superman."

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Bringing “underwater flight” to waterways around the globe, the Seabreacher by Innespace Productions is a submersible watercraft that pushes to limits of what water sports enthusiasts can achieve: Diving, jumping, rolling, porpoising, aquabatic stunts – all “within the security and comfort of a dry, sealed cockpit.”

HOVERBOARD If you’d like to explore a new way of surfing, Zapata has another innovation that launched just last June: The Hoverboard. An exhilarating experience combining both the thrill of flying and surfing, Zapata’s latest invention is a surfboard attached to a personal watercraft that gives it a blast into the air. “The propulsion is routed through the primary nozzle attached to the board user,” Zapata explained.

“The thrust from the personal watercraft (PWC) is routed though an 18 meter hose up the Hoverboard, where the rider can enjoy an amazing sensation. Then the PWC follows behind the rider, giving freedom to surf amongst the waves.”

The Hoverboard can reach highs up to 5 meters and speeds of to 40KM/h. More information about both the Hoverboard and its new sister product Flyboard is available at www.zapata-racing.com or by calling the factory in France at +33 (0) 491696932.

Unlike conventional watercraft that operate on a two-dimensional plane, inventors Rob Innes and Dan Piazza say the Seabreacher operates more like an aircraft with a full three-axis of control. “This allows the vessel to carve left and right, jump over, dive under, and cut though the waves,” Innes said. “The acrylic canopy and underwater view ports give both the pilot and passenger a near 360-degree view as they fly through the water at breathtaking speed.”

Each Seabreacher is hand-constructed to the customer’s desired specifications. Available in Dolphin style J model, Shark style X model, or the Killer Whale Y model, each Seabreacher is a unique creation. “The organic lines of the vessel’s sculpted body present an unforgettable sight, like the twisted union of a marine mammal and a high performance fighter jet,” said Piazza.

Innes agreed, “Anywhere you go, be prepared to draw a crowd.”

For more information about Seabreacher submersible watercraft, go to www.Seabreacher.com Visit www.southfloridaopulence.com and view “WOW, Men know why!”

PHOTO COURTESY OF seabreacher.com

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ZIPLINING THROUGH MAUI HEAVEN

by Sharon Spence Lieb

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or hundreds of years, remote villagers living in the Himalayas and the Alps have strung up zip lines to traverse dangerous terrain and moved their supplies from one high peak to another. Mountain climbers use zip lines called Tyrolean traverses to shimmy across steep slopes, using gravity. And wildlife biologists studying animals and plants use zip lines to get up and down inside forest canopies.

The expert guides at Flyin Hawaiian in Maui made sure we received thorough training, answered all our questions, and escorted us every step of the way with humor and encouragement. What an incredible way to see Maui’s beauty. Don’t miss this unforgettable adventure. Here’s a firsthand sneak peek from someone who has been there, done that – yours truly.

So, as eco-friendly soft adventure has taken off around the world, zip lines are the perfect sport for anyone with courage to fly through beautiful parts of Planet Earth. Stepping off a platform and soaring through forests, over valleys, mountains, rivers, and lakes is truly exhilarating. A bird’s-eye view, where you are the bird!

Gundy, our zip line guide, looked like a musician from my fav bad boy band, ZZ Top. Long curly beard, wild wavy blonde hair, a charming Julia Roberts smile.

Do you have what it takes?

And courage is really all you need. The harnesses are comfortable, the views are amazing, and zip line staffs are professional and caring.

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My first time on a zip line

“Welcome to Maui, Sharon,” he grinned. “Ready for the best zip ride of your life?”

Who could resist that smile? We strapped on our harnesses, clipped on our army style helmets and climbed into Gundy’s all-terrain Jeep. We swerved and skidded straight up a heartstopping narrow muddy mountain trail.

“I swung off the platform.

Swoosh, I was airborne!

Planet Earth was a Kodachrome blur.

Delight erased terror.”

At the top, we admired lush valleys decorated with red ginger and purple orchids. Serene cows nap on peaceful sugarcane farms. The sapphire Pacific teemed with humpback whales, flipping their v-shaped tails.

On the wooden platforms, Gundy and his team gave us our final training: “Sit upright in your harness, legs straight out,” “step slowly off the platform,” and “Don’t worry, we’re gonna catch you at the other end.”

Gundy clipped me securely to the zip line and gave me his optimistic “Everything’s going to be all right Sharon” smile. I swung off the platform. Swoosh, I was airborne! Planet Earth was a Kodachrome blur. Delight erased terror. Clouds moved in and out, shaping into angels and parrotfish. Getting to heaven is easy. Just say yes to ziplining on Maui.

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Big

Cat Rescue

By Jana Soeldner Danger

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hen 17-year-old Carole Murdock took her Himalayan show cat to the vet one day, the doctor was treating a wild bobcat with a broken leg. He had splinted the bone, but couldn’t keep the animal during the three-month recovery period. Would Carole take the cat home till the leg healed and she could be released?

Unlike the way almost anyone else on the planet would have responded, Carole said yes.

That was the beginning of her love affair with big cats. But it was not until years later that they became her passion and her life’s work.

In 1992, she and her then-husband, Don Lewis, founded Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, which currently houses 100 exotic felines from 14 different species. It happened like this: The couple was attending an auction when a man came in with an obviously terrified bobcat draped around his neck. Carole was immediately smitten with the animal’s luminous, golden eyes. “He told me it was his wife’s pet, and she didn’t want it anymore,” Carole recalls.

When a man standing near her started bidding on the cat, Carole warned him that when it grew up, it would become dangerous. What he said next shocked her. “He told me he was a taxidermist. He planned to club the cat to death in the parking lot, stuff it, and sell it as a den decoration.”

When Carole started sobbing, Don started bidding.

After winning the cat, they named her Windsong, reminiscent of a haunting melody used to promote a popular perfume. “She was the real founder of the sanctuary,” Carole says. “She taught us so much.”

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When the couple decided to adopt more exotic cats, they drove to Minnesota, where they unexpectedly found themselves in a horrific situation: on a fur farm with a shed full of dead cats, butchered for small patches of belly fur. There were also 56 kittens destined for the same fate.

The Lewises were horrified. “We bought all of them,” Carole recalls.

“Then we went home and started building cages.”

They returned to the farm twice more, and for two years in a row, bought every cat there. In return, perhaps miraculously, the farmer agreed to never again breed cats for fur.

Meanwhile, word of the place that rescued exotic cats began to spread. “People started calling and asking, ‘will you take my lion?’ or ‘will you take my tiger?’ ” Carole says.

Gradually, the sanctuary grew. Don passed away in 1997, and in 2004, Carole married her current husband, Howard Baskin, who helps her manage Big Cat Rescue.

Where do the cats come from?

From private individuals who think it will be fun to adopt an exotic animal and, when the kittens grow up, discover it’s not fun anymore.

From circuses that dump them when they grow too old to perform.

And from unscrupulous breeders. “People will pay to have their pictures taken with cute little kittens,” Baskin says. “But USDA policy says the cubs can’t be handled when they’re under eight weeks or over

12 weeks. People are breeding thousands of cats for that one-month window.”

Today, the Baskins fight for legislation that prohibits the breeding of exotic cats except by accredited zoos. And they continue to try, with the help of 100 volunteers and interns, to provide quality of life for the cats in their care.

It’s not easy. The cats are wild animals and must be confined to cages, and for safety’s sake, there is a strict no touching rule. “The hardest thing is keeping the cats amused,” Carole says. “But we try to make their lives as interesting as we can and provide some enrichment for them every day.”

Some of the ways include blood ice pop treats, grooming with backscratchers, and bags of catnip. And each cat is periodically treated to a “vacation” on a 2½-acre tract of land with grass and trees.

Carole is also still involved in rescuing injured bobcats.

And in some ways, that’s the most satisfying part of her work, because unlike the other cats, they can be released after rehabilitation. “These animals belong in the wild,” she says. “And opening the door and letting the cat go free is the best feeling.”

All White Tigers Are Inbred and Are Not Purebred

The ONLY way to produce a tiger or lion with a white coat is through inbreeding brother to sister or father to daughter; generation after generation after generation.

The kind of severe inbreeding that is required to produce the mutation of a white coat also causes a number of other defects in these big cats. "Sadly, those who purposefully inbreed wild cats to produce white tigers do so because they attract zoo visitors," said Carole Baskin, Founder and CEO of Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida.

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Art Basel: Global Economic Engine

Art Stage Singapore 2014–Tunnel by Mark Justinani, The Drawing Room

By Hope Gainer

From Switzerland to Miami Beach, Art Basel Co-Founding Mastermind Lorenzo Rudolf Moves to Transform the Culture Scene In Singapore The Renaissance of Global Art Fairs Art Basel is a phenomenon that has transformed culture in South Florida. In less than a decade, Miami has blossomed from a cultural wasteland to an epicenter of the art world, thanks largely to the presence of the leading international contemporary art fair founded in Basel, Switzerland, in 1970.

Global art collectors have descended upon Miami, and now, the phenomenon is working to transform the art scene in Asia, with Art Stage Singapore.

Main Image: Jane Lee sold two of her Faces artwork, seen here at Art Stage, for over $120,000 (Photo: Shah Salimat)

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Art fairs have become an economic engine for host cities internationally. Art Basel in Miami Beach attracts visitors from around the world, pumping an estimated $500 million into the local economy.

It has influenced 2,270 new art-related businesses and more than 8,300 jobs. For example, The Wynwood Arts District, founded the first year of Art Basel Miami Beach, is home to approximately 30 galleries. The Design District has become a luxury lifestyle art and design hub. And, the Perez Art Museum Miami designed by Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron opened last December, bringing the Magic City a world-class art institution.

How did the conservative Swiss town of Basel choose Miami Beach as its sister for its renowned art fair? It was the brainchild of a Swiss man, Lorenzo Rudolf, the former Director of Art Basel in his home country. Rudolf took the helm of Art Basel in 1991, transforming the modest event into a template for today’s art fairs. He incorporated a strict selection process for galleries and added corporate sponsors to help underwrite expenses and allow the fair to grow.

Art was always a passion for Lorenzo, who took a turn from his legal background to become the second director of Art Basel in Switzerland. In the mid 1990s, he realized the U.S. art market was going to overcome the European market. He made a strategic decision then to launch a top Art Basel branch in America.

His city selection for the fair was Miami Beach. The international art world declared him crazy to put an art fair on a ‘white spot’ of the global art map. But to Lorenzo, it was the perfect place. He felt the New York galleries would prevent European competitors from entering their territory. While Miami, on the other hand, was the ideal climate in the winter, a destination attracting wealthy New Yorkers, with unique art deco architecture and a big pedestrian zone perfect for a more socially oriented fair. It was the right place for upcoming trends like the crossover of art with design, architecture, video, music and fashion, and was the ideal location for building a bridge to integrate Latin America.

Art Basel Develops in Asia Fast-forward to 2011. Entrepreneurial Rudolf headed to the Far East and launched his new baby, Art Stage Singapore. Like Art Basel Miami Beach, Art Stage Singapore has been pivotal in putting Singapore on the global art map. When Art Basel Miami Beach

Art Stage Singapore 2014–Installation & performance, Intermission on Stage, by Soe Naing Yone Arts

closes the art calendar year annually in December, Art Stage Singapore launches it with their event late January. The 2015 edition will be January 22–25.

The Singapore government is investing in making the city a leading hub of contemporary art, funding its museums and art institutions, including the much anticipated National Gallery, South East Asia’s biggest flagship museum. In addition to establishing a major art infrastructure in Singapore, an additional $245 million has been set aside for programming and the integration of arts into mainstream education.

This year, Art Stage Singapore attracted 46,000 visitors. including top collectors from around the world, and 160 galleries. The top sale in 2014 was a painting that went for $1.2 million.

The international art world declared Art Basel founder Lorenzo Rudolf crazy to put an art fair on a ‘white spot’ of the global art map. But to Lorenzo, it was the perfect place for a sister city fair.

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this power art couple maintains residences in Lugano, Switzerland, Miami and Singapore. Maria Elena Rudolf is a partner in Art Stage Singapore with her husband and oversees the VIP programs. Their son Pablo also works with them, holding down the fort in Singapore while Lorenzo and Maria Elena jet around the world to various art fairs and visits to artists and collectors to keep abreast of their global art community.

“I love the art world. Even if it is a global world, everything is based on personal bilateral relations. You never face an impersonal corporate entity. It is always a human being, and mostly an interesting one, whether it be a collector, a curator, a gallery owner, a private dealer, an artist, a museum director, an auctioneer, a journalist or an art adviser,” Rudolf said.

Lorenzo & Maria Elena Rudolf “You have an environment that can make Singapore something like Switzerland. There’s a reason why Switzerland is one of the big centers of the art market. Not only because we Swiss like art but, also because it’s a financial place with this open, multicultural society,” said Rudolf.

When asked about the next international hotspot for art, Rudolf hinted, “I’m no prophet, but I think one of the next hotspots will be Central Asia: the region of the ex-Soviet Republics like Azerbajdzjan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia.

Also, let’s not forget an entire untapped continent, artistically very rich, but without any infrastructure: Africa. Contemporary art is a global language, understood everywhere, independent of all the different languages. That’s why it’s growing into a global phenomenon.”

For more information about the Singapore based art fair, visit: www.artstagesingapore.com

Singapore itself is an amazing destination and has one of the highest qualities of life in Asia. It is politically and socially stable and, reportedly, has virtually no corruption.

“According to the proverb, behind every strong man is a strong woman.

It’s true…and I’m proud of it,” said Rudolf. “My wife, Maria Elena, and I are a wonderful team.” Coincidentally, Lorenzo met Maria Elena, an exotic Latina from Ecuador, in Switzerland at an art event. Today,

Art Stage Singapore 2014–The Raining Bed by FX Harsono, Arndt Singapore

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Art Stage Singapore 2014–Entrance Arc by Joko Dwi Avianto

By Dale King and Julia Hebert

K

athryn and Dan Mikesell of Miami, Florida, were admittedly novices when they first ventured into the world of art collecting 16 years ago. “We walked into a gallery,” recalls Kathryn. “No one greeted us.

Someone behind the counter looked us up and down and didn’t say much.” When the inquisitive couple said they were interested in buying a piece of art, the counter person “began throwing out references about artists. I didn’t know any of those names. The art world has an uncanny way of making you feel stupid, even if you’re not,” she laments.

But they did buy some art. And despite the inauspicious start, the Mikesells have become avid collectors and supporters of the South Florida arts scene.

Through their work with galleries, institutions, nonprofits, museums and artists, they are widely known for providing living space for visiting artists and encouraging local painters, sculptors and photographers to use studio space in their revamped, two-story warehouse .

educating aspiring art collectors Perhaps the most all-encompassing service the Mikesells Kathryn Mikesell provide is an instructive one.

Would-be art aficionados can call on Kathryn to arrange educational visits with artists, curators, collectors and the like inside their own studios, institutions and galleries. She offers novices to the art world a warm and friendly introduction to the art creators and purveyors she and her husband have befriended over the years. In welcoming surroundings, makers of art describe “what it means to conceive of something and ultimately to provide a body of work, a sculpture or photograph, starting with that idea,” says Kathryn.

fountainhead studios To date, says Kathryn, the Residency program has housed more than 300 artists from 21 different counties. Fountainhead Studios, which began as a series of virtual venues divided up by tape on the floor, now has walls and cubicles along with a steady flow of 41 Miami artists during recent years.

From the couple’s extensive meshing with the local, national and international art scene and institutions such as the Bass Museum, Perez Art Museum Miami, Frost Museum and the Locust Projects, developed an encyclopedic array of “sculptors, videographers, painters and photographers, most of whom are prominent within their genres.

These artists introduced us to other artists” and the cycle continues.

“We work to educate people about the art world,” notes Kathryn. “Currently, when artists have finished their residencies, we hold open houses and bring people in to talk to them, with no commercial component.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF Silvia Pangaro

How to Become an Art Connoisseur

“The annual Art Basel Miami Beach event has helped put the city on the creativity map. But Miami is still very young as art cities go.” So, the Mikesells put their personal efforts into high gear, creating the Fountainhead Residency in a three-bedroom house they own, across from their family home in Morningside, and the Fountainhead Studios in a warehouse in nearby Little Haiti. Both serve as incubators for local and visiting artists seeking to experience Miami as a site that harbors and inspires creative exploration.

Their personal collection has grown so much, she says, that “we have art in 20 homes in Miami – 250 pieces that we have lent to friends.” That’s fertile ground where hopefuls can begin their artistic schooling.

Kathryn says she arranges visits “based solely on what the individual desires.”

People hungry to learn about art can visit museums and gather at restaurants to talk about their experiences over lunch or dinner.

Already scheduling visitations for 2015, Kathryn will be taking people to “studios in different U.S. cities and a few international ones as well.

The goal of this voyage through practical knowledge of art is to give people the comfort and confidence to listen to their own voice. It is a creative journey, an overall experience.”

For more information, go to www.yourfountainhead.com or call (305) 776-8189.

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‘Yes, What?’

Turning Trash into Treasure

By Robin Jay

‘Yes, What?’ was the name of the 1920 painting (below) that art connoisseurs fervently vied for in a June bidding war that reached $23.8 million at Christie’s auction house in London. ‘Yes, What?’ was also my personal reaction when I read in The Wall Street Journal that this painting not only far outpriced works by great masters like Matisse and Miro, but also – remarkably – was made of debris and cardboard found on the streets of Berlin by German artist Kurt Schwitters.

This life-size buffalo (named ‘Dakotah’) stampedes in front of the Dakotah Steakhouse in Rapid City, South Dakota. Welding sculptor John Lopez created it out of metal discards he found on area ranches.

'Yes, What? Picture'

by Kurt Schwitters, 1902.

Intrigued to find out why a collage of trash would fetch such a tidy sum, I immediately dug into online research. I aimed to learn just who was this man Schwitters and why was his work so valuable.

pressionism. In 1917, the artist was drafted into the military as a technical draftsman. “In the war [at the machine factory at Wülfen] I discovered my love for the wheel and recognized that machines are abstractions of the human spirit,” Schwitters wrote.

Finding Schwitters

A year later, at the end of the war, the artist’s work changed significantly as a result of the military, political and economic collapse.

Schwitters was born in 1887 in Hanover, Germany.

He studied art at Dresden Academy and launched his career as a post-impressionist painter, first exhibiting his work in 1911. As World War I advanced, Schwitter’s work grew darker, taking on the feel of ex120

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"In the war, things were in terrible turmoil. What I had learned at the academy was of no use to me. Everything had broken down and new things had to be made out of the fragments; and this is Merz [the term coined for collages made out of found objects]. It was like a revolution within me,” he said.

The Search for Modern-Day Merz Fascinated by Schwitters' story, I decided to see what modern-day artists I could find around the world who have the talent of making fine art out of discards and found objects. The works I found and the artists I met are utterly amazing. Here are a few of my favorites…

Welding Sculptor John Lopez “I grew up on a ranch in the northwestern part of South Dakota,” John Lopez said.

“The landscape and the people here inspire me to do what I do. I love the animals and the spirit they seem to embody. You can see it in their eyes – that spirit that does not want to be tamed. I try to capture that in the eye of my sculptures.

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Artist in Found Materials Jane Perkins “Some people would describe me as a ‘re-maker,’ others as a collage artist.

A word that comes up frequently is ‘quirky.’ I make pictures without paint, using small objects placed close together to provide the colour and form an image. I make portraits of famous people in this way, and also re-create famous paintings, giving them a contemporary twist.

“I took a degree in textiles as a student and became interested in using recycled materials. For my final degree show, I made hand-stitched brooches from old jewelry, plastic toys, coins, shells and other found objects. While making these, I collected lots of materials, which were too big for brooches and, for a long while, wondered what to do with them. The idea of making them into a portrait just came into my head one day. The first large portrait was of Queen Elizabeth. Half way through the portrait in 2008, I had a sort of 'Eureka Moment' when I knew it was going to work and that this could become my direction!

'Einstein' by Bernard Pras' “I try to sculpt animals that are from this area or relevant to us here on the plains. I collect pieces from surrounding ranches. I don't know what I will use the pieces for until I get into creating the sculpture. I first sculpt a maquette of the piece in clay to get the concept, pose and proportions figured out. Then I use that to take measurements from and transfer the measurements over to the scrap iron sculpture. I love the discoveries of new textures and new shapes that are revealed to me as I start to grab pieces and weld them on. I let my mind’s eye tell me what looks good and then just go with the flow.

I like the feeling of, ‘Wow. I didn’t expect that to happen, but I like it.’

“I get the inspiration first, then start grabbing things out of my collection of stuff and try to make what I have work. I try not to let one piece dictate what I should do because I usually cover it up or it gets lost in the mix of all the other things. The big picture and energy of the animal is more important than one piece.”

“I choose works which are very well known, so that the viewer gets ‘the joke’ of seeing something very familiar having been made in a different and unexpected way. Favourites with the public are Sunflowers, after van Gogh; Girl with a Pearl Earring, after Vermeer; Mona Lisa after da Vinci and Marilyn, after Warhol. I use any materials of the right size, shape and colour.

No colour is added – everything is used exactly ‘as found’. My work is great fun to make and I still enjoy producing each and every piece. I love sifting through bags of unwanted goods or broken jewelry, looking for interesting items of exactly the right colour. Every shade of every colour is there in unwanted plastic!

"I like art with humour or an element of the unexpected. I want my work to be fun and accessible – there is no deep or hidden meaning. My aim is to make people smile. I love exhibiting and watching people’s reactions to my work."

To see more collage portraits by Jane Perkins, visit www.devonartistnetwork.co.uk.

Land Artist Dietmar Voorwold “The Scottish coastline and landscape is an amazing canvas for my work,” said nature artist Dietmar Voorwold. “The pebbles, the shape and colors of the rocks, the leaking ripples and the powerful waves – places of immense creative potential. I can spend a whole lifetime

To see more pieces by John Lopez, go to www.johnlopezstudio.com.

Anamorphis Artist Bernard Pras A virtuoso in juxtaposing eclectic objects to create a reconstituted image, French artist Bernard Pras is a painter who traded in his brushes to create masterpieces by arranging found items. It’s a talent he says sprouted from a childhood of helping his grandmother organize products at her grocery story.

“I use objects like touches of paint,” Pras told South Florida Opulence. “My first piece was a square on the floor in which I put objects of a specific color on backgrounds of the same color – and that led to my style today. I created ‘Einstein’ as a cultural manifestation. It’s made of objects I received from neighbors and collected from sidewalk trash bins.”

Bernard Pras artwork is available at www.artsper.com.

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'AmWeg 80,' by Dietmar Voorwold of Scotland, is made of rocks and leaves he found on the coastline.

'Girl with a Pearl Earring' was created out of found materials by England's Jane Perkins in honor of the painting by Vermeer.

Original painting below Johannes Vermeer - 1665

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‘Mickey Monkey’ by Richard and Judith Lang is made from plastic items they've gathered on Kehoe Beach.

working here. Each day is different. Nature is very moody, incalculable and surprising.

“My art is a matter of finding the balance. The perfect place, the perfect material, the perfect shape. The right moment. It might happen that sculptures break down, the incoming tide comes too early, the light changes too fast, a dog steps over my mosaics.

The right timing in combination with patience and flexibility is a valuable assumption for my work.

“We have found so many unusual things,” Richard added. “Toy soldiers (264 as of today), a ballot box lid from a local and contested election, a toy oil truck we dated from 1949.” – R. Lang

“Photography is another important part of my art. I freeze a little moment. The actual installation will be gone within a few days or minutes, depending on the rhythms of nature.

date on Kehoe Beach, where we discovered that each of us had been collecting plastic for use as an art material for three years before that fateful date! We were married in 2004,” Judith said.

“My installations blend seamlessly into the landscape and often it looks as if they had been there forever. They are designs in the context of large designs, the pristine nature, which surprises us in its beauty, variety and unpredictability."

“We turned our artist eyes to the plastic pollution we had been finding on the beach. We had long been advocates for environmental issues, so we chose to make work that would be both beautiful and meaningful. With lively banter and good humor, we love to tell our love story about what we discovered on our first date (each other) and the romantic adventure that ensued.

To see more of Dietmar’s amazing landart, go to www.creationsin-nature.com.

Environmental Plastic Artists Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang “Richard and I have been working artists for close to 40 years, each with a dedicated studio practice. In 1999, we had our first

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“Although the news about plastic pollution is dire, we want to bring the excitement of scouting for treasures and the pleasure of the creative life to an otherwise difficult topic. We chose ‘One Beach’ and just 1000 yards of that beach to make a graspable measure. We have rambled that stretch of beach hundreds of times and have

Parisian artist Gilles Eichenbaum makes lamps out of old kitchen objects, like this soup pot.

collected thousands of pounds of plastic. We keep count of certain items like (to date) the 268 little red paddles from cheese and cracker snack kits, like 134 (to date) green stirrers sticks from Starbucks coffee, like (to date) the 643 'disposable' lighters."

Judith and Richard’s sculptures have been exhibited in galleries all over the world.

“We jokingly say to the kids while pointing to the tons of treasured trash, ‘Someday kids, this will all be yours.’ ” “We have found so many unusual things,” Richard added. “Toy soldiers (264 as of today), a ballot box lid from a local and contested election, a toy oil truck we dated from 1949, hair curlers, super balls, and plastic flowers. We love finding what we don't recognize and doing the research to discover its origin. While arranging our compositions, the plastic is seen only for color and form, not the things they once were.

The pieces become akin to strokes of paint coming off a palette. Often at the beach, we will find ourselves ‘shopping’ for a certain color or size to fill out an abstract idea.

“Our mission is make whatever we do beautiful – to give pleasure,” Richard continued. “We'd like people to become aware of plastic in their lives and how each colorful piece says something about the thermoplastic junk of our throwaway culture.”

Judith and Richard’s collages are available as limited-edition prints, the sales of which support their clean-up campaign. www.beachplastic.com.

Reclaimed Lamp Artist Gilles Eichenbaum, aka GARBAGE “I was born in 1959 in Marseille, France, but I have traveled and lived in more than 40 countries around the world,” said reclaimed lamp artist Gilles Eichenbaum. “My father was a geologist, so we followed him everywhere!

“Growing up, traveling in the middle of nowhere and living most of the time in mining camps, we often lived in ‘real’ houses for only a few months at a time, so we used to reuse old things and invent new objects. I have done this all my life, and in years later, in Paris, my friends liked my work so much, especially my lamps, that I eventually held my first exhibition at the end of 2001. It was so successful that, from that point on, it became my only job.

“Most of the time I just walk into the flea markets, early on Sunday mornings, and wait for something to catch my eye. I also like to look into the garbage on the street. This makes my kids ashamed when we go out to a restaurant and I arrive with half a dozen dirty pieces of metal, an old boiler and two cookie boxes!

“I love to redesign old kitchen objects. And I’m not restricted by ‘spaces’: a teapot can be used in a bedroom, an old heater in the dining room, a motorbike tank in the office. If I had a philosophy, it would be ‘keep it simple and clean.’ ” To read more about Gilles and to see more of his clever work, go to www.garbage-vpot.com.

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E

duardo Bernales loves people, and he loves to drive. He’s also a professional driver for RedCap, a unique transportation service that offers clients certified drivers like Eduardo to drive them – in the convenience of the customers’ own cars.

“I’m a chauffeur on demand,” Eduardo says, “with the added comfort for my clients of driving them in their own vehicle. So, unless you really want to ride in a strange car, RedCap is better than a limousine service.”

Meet RedCap Personal Chauffeur Eduardo Bernales

A Trusted Driver for Safety and Peace of Mind For Eduardo, the upside is the relationships he builds with his clientele. “My clients range from busy executives, to tourists visiting Florida, to people enjoying celebrations and life moments. Sometimes they need peace and quiet, and sometimes they want insight and guidance. Either way, I want to give them the greatest sense of comfort, safety and timeliness they have ever experienced.”

The personal connection and high level of trust that develops between driver and client is not lost on Eduardo. “I’m like a personal butler for them, their loved ones, and their car. They hand me the responsibility of their loved ones, so it’s up to me to make the trip safe, seamless, with no waiting or interruption for what they want to do and where they want to go. That’s how I like to be treated,” he says, “so that’s how I treat my clients. The golden rule works.”

Eduardo has been with RedCap almost four years, and he appreciates the values shared among his company, his clients and himself. “To deliver the level of service and meet the standards we set as an organization, everyone has to be committed to the highest levels of professionalism, support and communication,” he notes. “We have only one job at one time, and we do not deviate. We complete the assigned job each and every time. That’s part of building the trust.”

By Stephen Keeler

PHOTO COURTESY OF DOUGLAS LANCE

White Glove Service

Eduardo Bernales

Eduardo shares some secrets to his success. “You have to know traffic patterns for a given time of day throughout the area, and where to park for the quickest pick up so that your clients aren’t kept waiting. So I have developed additional networks of relationships – and it helps. One time, by a sports location, I was able to park right by the gate because of my friends.

My client’s son got sick during the game, and I was able to be right there as he was bringing his son out to get medical attention. It meant a lot to me that I could help that child,” he shares.

Fortunately, most of his clients’ needs center around fun and celebrations. “I love serving as the driver for a bride for her wedding,” he says with care. “It’s the bride’s day, and I get to help make the magic.” And, Eduardo loves it all. “Sometimes you get chaos, and I have to calm things down and do things spontaneously to help. Other times, I am part of a team, and I follow the playbook given to me by the wedding planner. I follow in great detail exactly what the bride wants me to do. Folders, pages, sequences, scenarios, timing – I follow it like clockwork.”

Letters of recommendation and praise from brides and their planners are personally rewarding for Eduardo. “If I can make a bride’s day extra-special, I do.”

Any downsides to the job? “Just one,” he admits. “That’s when I have to tell a client another RedCap driver needs to drive them because I am already booked. All my clients are important to me, and I don’t like telling them I myself can’t be there. “But, he says with a wry smile, “if that’s my only issue, I have a pretty good job, eh?”

If you encounter a need for a RedCap driver, like Eduardo, who can drive you or pick you up in your own car, go to www.myredcap.com.

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Farm to Table by Sea –

The World’s Best Floating Markets By the experts at FarmBoat.org

The rhythm of a restless sea coaxes a new bounty each season from a misty coast. Vessels laden with local harvests host eager patrons who learn of nature's delectable offerings. Water connects all life. For centuries, boats hewn of wood carry to market the sustenance of mankind and the stories of the serene and tempestuous sea.

Boats have been used for thousands of years throughout the world to efficiently deliver goods from farm to market. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans commonly traded farm goods on the Mediterranean. The cities of Europe flourished where agricultural products could easily be moved from farm to market along canals and rivers by boat.

Before the advent of trucks, refrigerated warehouses and grocery stores, people frequently greeted their food providers at the dock to negotiate on their daily sustenance. Dockside market activity was once a common sight at almost any port in the world. Every waterfront community had a public wharf where everything happened. In the early days, there were no roads, bridges or phones so this wooden platform was the center of activity for most small towns.

Floating markets still flourish around the world. These are some of the most famous (compiled by South Florida Opulence):

FarmBoat on Puget Sound in Washington – When the glaciers of the last Ice Age receded some 20,000 years ago, they left an indelible pattern of islands and waterways now called Puget Sound. Centuries before European settlers arrived, native inhabitants cultivated and foraged roots, berries, greens and game from shore and seaweed, fish, mollusks and mammals from the sea. Trading goods by canoe was common practice between the regional tribes. Today, FarmBoat Floating Market (www.FarmBoat.org) is a thematic maritime event that captures the essence of a traditional old-world, open-air market similar to what might have been seen in small seaports around the world a century ago.

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market in Ratchaburi, Thailand – Featuring many small boats laden with colorful fruits, vegetables and Thai cuisine, this floating market in central Thailand is a major tourist attraction demonstrating the old traditional way of vending fresh produce – such as Malacca grape, Chinese grapefruit, mangoes, bananas, star fruit and coconut.

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Venice Floating Fruit and Veggie Barge Market in Italy – Campo San Barnaba is a square in northern Italy where you’ll find a famous barge called Barca anchored near Ponte dei Pugni. The neighborhood's church, the San Barnaba – which dates back to 421 – has been in movies, including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Rialto Market has over 1,000 years of history. It overlooks the Grand Canal and is situated under the monumental arches of palaces that were designed by the most influential architects of history.

Bloemenmarkt, the Floating Flower Market Amsterdam – Vendors first started selling blooms on this historic floating flower market known as Bloemenmarkt in 1862. Today, it is the most well-known flower market of Holland. Whether your favorite flowers are traditional Dutch tulips, geraniums or indoor cypresses and plants, you’ll find it here on the Singel Canal. Visit the floating flower market on weekdays from 9 a.m. - 5.30 p.m. and on Sundays between 11 a.m. and 5.30 p.m.

Floating Market in Willemstad, Curacao – Arrive early enough and you’ll see the vendors waking up in their boats, which is where they live. The vendors are from Venezuela, which is 40 miles away but has an entirely different climate than Curacao, which is arid to the point of resembling a desert. This is a tradition that has been active in Curacao for decades – working at Floating Market is a family business, with fathers passing it on to their sons.

L'Isle sur la Sorgue Floating Market in France – Charming flat-bottomed boats known as "Nego-Chin boats” were once used for fishing, but today they are used in a floating market along the L’Isle sur la Sorgue (known as the Venice of Provence) to carry local products from Provence, including fresh fruits and vegetables, olives and wine.

To find more information about the history of floating markets, especially the current maritime market in Puget Sound, go to FarmBoat.org.

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women’s beauty

Charlotte Olympia Fantastic Dolly Suede Fan Tassel Pump

Adore Charlotte Olympia? Be her biggest fan with this tassel-trimmed suede pump—a towering presence atop the signature island platform.

Neiman Marcus Bal Harbour. $1,025.

VioLife Slim Sonic Toothbrush

With 22,000 brushstrokes per minute and a choice of bright colors & patterns, you’ll look and feel fabulous every time you use your Slim Sonic portable toothbrush. You can grab it from your handbag, backpack, or pocket to brush up anytime, anywhere.

Slim Sonic comes with a free replacement head and AAA battery so you’re ready to go as soon as you get it home! www.violight.com. $15.

Crabtree & Evelyn NUD-EST Collection Alexander McQueen

Padlock Small Zip Around Calf leather soft-sided top-handle bag with embossed Alexander McQueen logo; features additional long shoulder strap, detachable chunky skull padlock and leather encased keys. The bag is cotton lined and has an interior zip pocket and double zip closure.

Alexander McQueen Bal Harbour. $1,365.

This universally flattering range of barely there to buff shades apply beautifully, dry quickly and are formulated without camphor, dibutyl phthalates, formaldehyde or toluene, leaving you with a rich, eye-catching colour that lasts. www.crabtree-evelyn.com. $6 each.

CLIVE CHRISTIAN’S NEW FRAGRANCE “L” As his loyal fans know, it’s not every day that Clive Christian launches a new perfume. The Private Collection consists of “C” for Clive, "V” for Victoria and now “L” for Love, available for both women and men. “L” for Women – a fruity floral perfume with Damask Rose and Jasmine. The perfume is spiced up with pink, black and white pepper notes, as well as green foliage and dried fruit notes of Davana.

Vanilla and cedar add smooth sweetness, while patchouli, vetiver and musk add an edgy, woody depth.

50ml Perfume Spray $395.

Available Fall 2014 at Saks Fifth Avenue stores.

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™

Love where you live.

drEAM rESIdEnCE 6855 NW 122 Avenue - Parkland, FL $4,750,000 6 bed • 8.5 bath • 16,654 total sq ft • 35,379 lot sq ft • lake & golf course views.

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Model: Asmaa Benkirane Community Service: Casablanca native Asmaa Benkirane now lives on South Beach and is realizing her dream to bring Moroccan couture to U.S. shores through Le Beau Maroc, a boutique in which a portion of the proceeds will benefit community charities.

Gown: Asmaa is wearing an embroidery tulle caftan with two coats of lace, handembellished with crystals. beads, pearls and gold thread.

C o mes t o S o u t h F l o rid a

By Melissa Bryant

The Northern African kingdom of Morocco is rich in culture, traditions and style.

Imagine the type of woman born out of this desert oasis. A true vision — elegant, classic, yet strong — as though she was transported from a scene in a movie.

Casablanca native Asmaa Benkirane personifies this woman. She is the founder of Miami’s newest boutique Le Beau Maroc, a new upscale Miami-based boutique devoted to bringing authentic Moroccan beauty products and one-ofa-kind, handmade silk couture caftans to Florida’s elite.

Photo shoot venue courtesy of The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach.

Look for the unveiling of the newly remodeled iconic hotel in the winter issue of South Florida Opulence.

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The U.S. Premiere

Model: Michelle Payer

Traditional of regal gowns worn by Moroccan tastemakers, the graceful caftans of Le Beau Maroc were unveiled for the first time ever in the United States at The Betsy Hotel – in a runway fashion show emceed by TV’s Project Runway star Emilio Sosa. The grand finale of a weekend honoring the empowerment of women, the fashion show featured real women of South Florida who have an unwavering commitment to serving the community.

Community Service: As a published writer and public relations agency owner, Michelle has lived in Mexico, Hawaii, Spain, Sweden and San Francisco. She once volunteered at a Mexican orphanage and currently volunteers with Friends of the Orphans and the Humane Society in Miami.

Gown: Michelle is wearing a $10,000 duchesse satin emerald gown handembroidered with pearls

To introduce you to a selection of these stunning gowns, as well as to some of the very special women who modeled them, South Florida Opulence arranged for an exclusive photo shoot at the historic Colony Hotel in Palm Beach (which, appropriately enough, is undergoing a major redesign to be unveiled in our next issue)!

and Swarovski crystals.

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Model: Cara Jay Community Service: A recent graduate in biomedical engineering, Cara is a childcare volunteer at First Baptist Church of Temple Terrace. She volunteers for Americans for Prosperity and Young Americans for Liberty.

Gown: Cara models a dress with gold bodice tiles and thousands of hand-sewn gold beads. The coat is a silk chiffon fabric by Jakob Schlaepfer and has crystals and embroidery on the shoulders.

The Vision of a Young Girl Comes True A childhood fascination with the elegance of her native country’s fashion influenced Asmaa to launch Le Beau Maroc, which in French means The Beautiful Morocco.

“As a child, I would watch my mother get ready to go out with my dad. She took hours upon hours to dress for events, weddings, parties and gala dinners. The result was exquisite,” Asmaa reminisced.

“Even now, I can vividly remember admiring my mother as she took care of all the details — makeup, hair, shoes, clothing.

I was always trying to figure out what was

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Model: Melissa Bryant Community Service: Writer and Editorial Assistant for South Florida Opulence, Melissa is also a volunteer of young adult and nursery programs at Mount Olive Baptist Church.

Gown: Here Melissa wears a silk satin caftan embroidered with multicolored lace in soft lilac, blue, yellow and orange. The silk Moroccan cape has gold buttons for added sophistication.

happening, where she was going.” At 10 years old, Asmaa’s mother granted her wish and started taking her to runway shows and events. Now, as an adult, Asmaa’s dream of opening the fashion boutique has come true.

Le Beau Maroc carries the exclusive designs of Souad Chraïbi and Siham Tazi, who find inspiration from Western modernity while keeping the Moroccan cache. Their hand-designed caftans are artisan-made with haute couture silks from the houses of Dior, Valentino, Hermes, Pucci, La Croix, Yves St. Laurent, Jakob Schlaepfer and Ungaro.

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(Left) Model: Lana DeSimone Community Service: A Miami philanthropist, Lana is a devoted mother and advocate for women, children, the underprivileged, soldiers and our military veterans.

Gown: Lana models a silver caftan embellished with crystals and lace. The bottom is made with a teija fabric typically used in Moroccan wedding dresses. The coat is made with Jakob Schlaepfer fabrics in gold and silver lamĂŠ lace underneath.

(Right) Model: Meghan Walsh Community Service: Meghan is a clothing designer, artist, singer, entrepreneur and daughter of Child Advocate John Walsh, producer of America’s Most Wanted and The Hunt with John Walsh. Gown: Meghan is wearing a blue gray silk caftan featuring satin silk, silk mousseline and gold-thread embroidery with pearls and sea blue crystals.

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Model: Susset Cabrera Community Service: Susset is a business owner, writer, and editor of Miami Beats & Sazon blog and member of Friends of St. Jude.

Gown: Susset's dress is inspired by Spanish flamenco traditions. The lace overlay is embroidered with Swarovski crystals, gold lamé and black satin silk with hand-applied gold and bronze beads.

These silk, jersey, satin duchesse and silk chiffon masterpieces are embellished with precious stones, pearls, exotic beads and rare shells and take anywhere from 20 days to 4 months to complete.

All fashion PHOTOs COURTESY OF Silvia Pangaro

“I’m truly bringing the crème de la crème to Miami!” said Aasma.“Everything at the boutique, from the furniture, to the colors, to the smell, will come from my country. When people step into Le Beau Maroc, they will travel to Morocco without a passport.”

Le Beau Maroc is located in Surfside at 9507 Harding Avenue just one block south of Bal Harbour Shops. www.lebeaumaroc.com.

305-763-8847. Mention The Betsy Community Fund during your visit and a portion of your purchase will be donated to this local charity which supports philanthropy, arts, culture and education.

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Regal History of Harp Making

Carrying on the Tradition

By Alex Starace The honeyed notes of the harp call to mind medieval music played in the presence of royalty. And, in fact, this isn’t a fanciful image: Harps first appeared in Western civilization in Ireland in the eighth century. By the late Middle Ages, a pedestal was added and the instrument appeared in kingly courts across Europe.

The harp’s popularity with aristocracy continued unabated for several centuries. Marie Antoinette, for example, received an ornate harp on the year of her accession in 1774. It was her favorite instrument, which she studied under the tutelage of a master harpist.

But did you know that the harp also has a much broader history? Harps were common in Egypt, possibly as early as 3000 BCE. These early harps were bow-shaped, most likely inspired by the bow-and-arrow. Because they didn’t have a supporting pedestal to counteract the string tension, they had far fewer strings. Similar instruments were found in the ancient Cycladic art of the Greek Isles, as well as in ancient Mesopotamia.

Craftsmen working in present day factory at Lyon & Healy in Chicago.

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Elaborate pedal harps gilded with gold or encrusted with diamonds and jewels can cost upwards of $60,000!

Craftsman working on the neck of the harp.

Zooming forward to the present day, one of the world’s premiere harpmakers is, surprisingly enough, smack-dab in the middle of America’s heartland. The Lyon & Healy harpmaking company, which has clients as august as the New York Philharmonic, the Russian National Orchestra and La Scala Theater, houses its production facility in an unassuming brick building just west of Chicago’s Loop.

South Florida Opulence had an opportunity to visit the facility, learn more about the harpmaking process and see just what makes for a world-class harp.

George W. Lyon

Patrick J. Healy

Steve Fritzmann, the national sales manager for Lyon & Healy (and a former master harpmaker), explained on a tour that while a harp may appear to be a static instrument, it actually has a very complicated pedal system. At Lyon & Healy, all 2,000 pieces within the harp’s string-and-pedal mechanism are painstakingly assembled by hand, an attention to detail sets the company apart – as it has from the beginning.

Lyon & Healy was founded in 1864 as a sheet music shop in a wobbly, wooden building at the intersection of Clark and Washington Streets in Chicago. The shop, like so many others, burned to the ground in the Great Fire of 1871, though the company’s founders, George W. Lyon and Patrick J. Healy,

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The Lyon & Healy Company, established in 1864 by George Washburn Lyon and Patrick Healy, began building harps in 1889.

rebuilt. Soon, Lyon & Healy expanded its activities to instrument repair and Healy noticed that he was doing brisk business repairing harps, many of which seemed poorly made. He vowed to do better – and to build the best harp known to mankind.

His first harp debuted in 1889, after years of prototypes and research.

By the 1890s, Lyon & Healy was established as a top-quality harpmaking company and the company’s signature Style 23 harp was introduced.

Known for its beauty, craftsmanship and sound quality, Lyon & Healy’s Style 23 is now considered by many to be the most recognizable harp in the world.

Today, the company continues to focus on quality. Fritzmann explained that a Lyon & Healy soundbox is made from hard rock maple sourced from the Midwest and cured in a dehumidified, temperaturecontrolled chamber. The soundboard itself is Sitka spruce, sourced from the northwestern United States and Canada. Combined, they form the sound chamber, which needs to be flawlessly constructed, both so the harp’s sound remains pure, and so that the instrument doesn’t break under the string tension. “It’s a very complex machine,” explained Fritzmann.

It’s also an instrument of great artistry. Lyon & Healy’s ornate pedestals are hand carved by master artisans who specialize in floral detailing. The company even has a dedicated gilding room, where gold is applied. True to tradition, Lyon & Healy uses the same water gilding technique the company has used for over a century. And the gold is of superior quality: “It’s twenty-three-plus carat, the purest gold it can be,” said Fritzmann. Such attention to detail results in a gorgeous instrument with a sound that has, as Fritzmann described, “an even, full, bell-like quality that really resonates and speaks well.”

Jean-Baptiste André Gautier-Dagoty (1740–1786). Marie Antoinette playing the harp at the French Court.

It’s an instrument that can last for decades – and that carries on the tradition of the royal, courtly harp of yesteryear.

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Site Of The Real First Thanksgiving

By Steven Joseph and Robin Jay

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Illustration: The First Thanksgiving, St. Augustine, 1565

by Michael Rosato. Courtesy Florida Museum of Natural History

St. Augustine:

Some 60 years before the first settlers at Plymouth Rock, English settlers established Jamestown, Virginia in 1601. And yet, even those settlers were late to the proverbial table. You see, on September 8, 1565, Spanish “pilgrims” (notice the lower-case “p;” while these were not your black-hat-with-a-buckle-wearing Pilgrims, they were certainly settlers on a pilgrimage to a new land) landed in St. Augustine. Dr. Michael Gannon is the historian who documented the real first Thanksgiving in his 1965 book, The Cross In The Sand, which was about the history of the Catholic Church in St. Augustine.

South Florida Opulence sat down with Dr. Gannon – a fascinating scholar who is a former military historian, war correspondent, priest, and retired University of Florida professor with a doctorate in history. Known for his study of Spanish colonial history, he is a Knight Commander of the Order of Isabel the Catholic, granted by King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

“When The Cross In The Sand was first published almost 50 years ago – it was a huge success (it’s still in print today) – but at the time, no one paid attention to the documentation it contained about the real first Thanksgiving in St. Augustine,” Dr. Gannon said. “It wasn’t until 1985, when I received a phone call from an AP reporter in Jacksonville who was looking for a new angle to take on Thanksgiving. He asked if I had any suggestions, so I told him about the story of St. Augustine. The AP sent out the story on their national wire and it appeared in what seemed like every newspaper in the country.”

The Historical Perspective The practical approach to defining ‘Thanksgiving’ holds that bread should be broken between foreign settlers and the native inhabitants. For the Separatist Pilgrims in Plymouth, this means the maize and wild turkeys eaten with Squanto and the Patuxet Indians in Massachusetts. But the Spanish settlers in St. Augustine shared a meal with Native Americans in 1565.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFF CAMP

eorge Washington proclaimed the first nationally celebrated Thanksgiving holiday in December of 1777 to commemorate victory over the British. And many historians, as well as Americans, subscribe to the notion that the “first” Thanksgiving was a dinner held between Separatist Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock and the local Patuxet Native Americans. However, historical evidence shows the “first” Thanksgiving actually took place more than half a decade prior, and almost 2,000 miles away.

Historian Dr. Michael Gannon “When the first Spanish settlers landed in what is now St. Augustine on September 8, 1565, to build a settlement, their first act was to hold a religious service to thank God for the safe arrival of the Spanish fleet,” said Dr. Gannon. “After the mass, Father Francisco Lopez, the Chaplin of the Spanish ships and the first pastor of St. Augustine, stipulated that the natives from the Timucua tribe be fed along with the Spanish settlers, including Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles, the leader of the expedition. It was the very first Thanksgiving and the first Thanksgiving meal in the United States.”

an unusual menu Dr. Gannon continued, “The difference compared to the New England Thanksgiving years later was that the natives up there brought the food for the Puritans to eat. However, at the St. Augustine Thanksgiving in 1565, the meal was entirely Spanish food from the ships (only 5 of the 19 ships made it here…some of the others that sank or had to turn back because of hurricanes may have had better provisions on board). It was a strange meal of salted pork, garbanzo beans, ship’s bread and red wine. We know this from the analysis of the ship’s accounts that are on record.”

So this coming holiday season, whether you serve oven-roasted turkey in November, or cocido in September (it’s a bean soup/stew, and the recommended variety for authenticity is garbanzo, in case you were wondering), be sure that the common thread is that you’re giving thanks. After all, regardless of its origins, that is the true meaning of the holiday. For now, just be grateful for your continued education.

(Left page) The first Thanksgiving meal in 1565 in St. Augustine that was shared between Spanish settlers and the native Timucua Indians: salted pork, garbanzo beans, ship’s bread and red wine.

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Olde Money A Tangible Link To American History

d

By Todd R. Sciore

ucats, Dough and Dead Presidents. The money in your wallet has been called many things but should “endangered species” now be one of them? The dollar, a name derived from the European Thaler, has survived for centuries; however, with the increasing usage of debit cards, electronic payment platforms and now virtual currencies, we stand on the precipice of becoming a cashless society. Should physical money go the way of the ivory-billed woodpecker, we run the risk of severing a vital link to our past.

Money is more than a means of transacting business - it is a historical timeline. From Caesar to Churchill, if you want to find out who any country’s most beloved (or feared) leaders were, look no further than their currency. Money is a showcase for a nation’s artisans (an intricate engraving of John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence graces the reverse of the lowly twodollar bill), and through the use of symbolism and allegories, it is the embodiment of how it views itself and how it wishes to be seen by friend and foe alike. Referred to as “the hobby of kings” during the Renaissance, today there remains an active, well-heeled and scholarly group of numismatists always hunting for specimen coins and currency of historical significance, exceptional eye appeal and notable rarity.

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Throughout America’s history, there have been numerous types of currency issued and, like fossils, each variety captures specific points in time for future generations to remember and study. The American Revolution, The Gold Rush and The “Bank Holiday” of 1933 are all eras represented by physical money. In our infancy, the various colonies issued their own currency and despite the generally primitive appearance, their charm lies hidden in fading signatures as occasionally the signers were patriots of great prominence. One such individual was Francis Hopkinson who signed a Pennsylvania colonial issue from 1771. In addition to his myriad of artistic accomplishments, he was also a signer of the Declaration of Independence giving currency with his signature a historical Americana “cool factor” you just won’t find in a Bitcoin.

One of the darkest periods in American history, The War Between The States, led to a hoarding of small change coins impeding the ability to conduct routine transactions like buying groceries.

In turn, this resulted in a prolific issuance of tokens and scrip by enterprising merchants which remain amongst the most widely sought after and studied artifacts of the Civil War era. Despite their sometimes simplistic design and worn condition, with a little research, they can provide the curious and diligent with little tidbits about the signers such as Robert B. Leeds who was the first postmaster of Atlantic City, NJ. 1863 saw the birth of National Banks who issued their own currency until 1935 and, on a local level, are a special link to history. These notes remain popular as a portfolio of notes can be assembled in an unlimited number of ways - by unusual town names (First National Bank of Lone Wolf, Oklahoma) or places of historical interest (The Gettysburg National Bank) which are just two examples. In the case of Southern Florida, examples of notes from the five currency issuing National Banks in Palm Beach County are desirable, hard to come by rarities. As an added bonus, the reverse of the Series 1902 National Bank notes are amongst the most beautifully engraved images to ever adorn our nation’s currency.

Tangible money is also a dossier on a nation’s conflicts as military might is often featured in detailed vignettes such as the one found on the Series 1918 $2.00 Federal Reserve Bank Note affectionately known as a “battleship note.” As can be expected, great triumphs tend to be celebrated with artistic flair, rich in symbolism, while low points are of an understandably more muted design. One such low-key example is the World War II “emergency” Hawaii currency that was issued after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Despite the notes being of a relatively standard appearance with a generic overprint, they still conjure up emotional and catastrophic images of that fateful day.

As we continue to make technological advances, cash as we know it will most certainly be rendered obsolete, but the impersonal, speed of an electronic transaction can never emotionally replace the feeling of excitement, artistic merits or historical association of holding physical money in your hand. I am all for efficiency but is it the best practice for the future to board up the tunnels that connect us to our past?

All note images are courtesy of the author’s personal collection.

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R e m e m b e r i n g

T h e

Jewish Gauchos of Argentina

I

By Steve North

It is the sweetest of childhood memories. “My grandfather used to visit us each year, and since he raised bees, he brought a big can of honey,” says Pola Gordon.

“My mother used to mix the honey with chocolate, and we would have a big bowl of it on the table, with spoons lying there.

Everyone who passed by took some. And let me tell you,” she laughs, “it tasted wonderful!”

Pola, age 2, 1932

Pola, 84, now lives in Tamarac, Florida, but the scene she describes occurred annually in the city of her birth, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Her grandfather Gregorio, however, lived nearly 200 miles north in the province of Entre Rios, where he was a member of one of history’s most exclusive clubs: “Los Gauchos Judios,” or, “the Jewish gauchos.”

Baron Maurice von Hirsch

The story begins in 1887, when the only son of a prominent German-Jewish banker and industrialist named Baron Maurice von Hirsch died. Hirsch responded to a sympathy message with the sentence “My son I have lost, but not my heir; humanity is my heir.” Already well-known for his charitable contributions, he devoted the rest of his life and much of his considerable fortune to philanthropic activity.

Chief among his concerns was the increasingly desperate situation of his fellow Jews in Eastern Europe, especially in Czarist Russia. Persecution in the form of violence, official discrimination and expulsions was ramping up, and Hirsch devised a unique scheme. He founded the “Jewish Colonization Association”, which would send European Jews to newly created agricultural communities in the U.S., Canada, pre-Israel Palestine, and especially, to the Argentine Pampas.

“Argentina at that time was looking for European settlers,” says Edna Aizenberg, Professor Emeritus of Hispanic Studies at Marymount Manhattan College, “and the Jews needed to get out.

There were huge, barren, largely unpopulated tracts of land in Argentina where only ‘gauchos’, or cowboys, lived.” It was an unusual but convenient match.

Aizenberg, who formerly lived in Argentina and is an internationally recognized expert on the history of the Jewish community there,

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his his wife Elena (whose parents had immigrated to Buenos Aires from Romania). “They went to the big cities to seek a better education, and to become professionals”, explains Professor Aizenberg.

Mathias and Elena’s daughter Pola was, therefore, born in Buenos Aires in 1930. Until the age of 13, she only knew about life on the Pampas from her parents’ stories, and the visits of her grandparents. But then she spent a week herself in Entre Rios on her grandparents farm.

Pecheny-Berger family – original immigrants from Eastern Europe to the new country of Entre Rios, Argentina. Image is a copy of a photograph and the only known photo of the original members of the family who settled the land says Baron von Hirsch’s unique idea was, for a time, successful.

“The Jews established all kinds of institutions, such as schools, libraries and synagogues. They were instrumental in the agricultural cooperative movement in Argentina.”

And so, in 1906, Gershon (Gregorio) Pecheny abandoned his furniture factory in his small Ukrainian town, where he and his family feared for their lives, and arrived in the village of Pedermar in Entre Rios with his wife and five children.

He changed his name to Gregorio, became a farmer, and fathered six more children.

Pecheny joined thousands of other Jews who had been merchants, musicians or peddlers in Europe, who spoke Yiddish, and who were far more familiar with knishes than empanadas.

Despite initial conflicts with the native gauchos, the Jews were eventually accepted by them, and the two groups began to share each other’s cultures. Jews learned Spanish, some gauchos picked up Yiddish, and the spirited gaucho lifestyle gained a kind of popularity among the Jewish colonies in Argentina.

Pecheny’s son Mathias was just six months old when the family arrived in South America. When Mathias became a young adult, he, like many of the second and third generation, decided to move to Buenos Aires where he met

“It was strange, coming from a big city,” she recalls in her still-strong Argentinian accent. “I had never been in fields before, fields of corn and other vegetables. And they had cows and horses, walking around free outside the house at night!”

Despite the romantic rural images, “life was very hard for them,” says Pola. “One of their eleven children, a little threeyear-old girl, drowned in a pond. Of the other ten, only two stayed in Entre Rios; the others all wanted to go to universities, so they left for Buenos Aires, one by one. Some later went to Israel.”

Synagogue Brener, a historic site in Moises Ville, Santa Fe, Argentina built circa 1890 A century after their heyday, the settlements of the Jewish gauchos are largely gone. A few synagogues and schools remain, but many of the Jews sold their farms back in the 1950s and abandoned the fields for a more cosmopolitan life in Buenos Aires or Cordoba. The very first Jewish agricultural colony, Moises Ville, in Santa Fe province, still exists. It once boasted 5,000 residents. Now, there are 2,000, only 200 of whom are Jewish.

Pola Pecheny Gordon left Argentina in 1957, emigrating with her husband, two children (later she had a third child born on U.S. soil), and her parents to New York City. She moved to Florida in 1984, and was widowed five years ago.

Photo from the photographic archive of the Museum of the Jewish Colonies of Entre Rios (Dominguez) and Aaron Goldman Museum in Moises Ville, Santa Fe, first settlement

Looking back at her family’s fascinating history, Pola has immense respect for the sacrifices made by her grandparents. “They were very ‘valiente’, brave,” she says. “They had a choice, to live, or to die. They left their home in Europe and came to Argentina. They chose to live.”

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the

OF YESTERYEAR

By jim schottenham

In the world of fishing tackle collecting, the American made wood lure (especially the wood minnow) stands supreme, boasting the largest number of active collectors specializing in fishing tackle of any kind.

The origins of the wooden plug in America has long been debated and was the subject of a trial between the William Shakespeare Company against the Enterprise Manufacturing Company in 1908. Joseph Pflueger testified that in 1898 he spent time fishing on Twin Lakes in Kent, Ohio, and was eager to get an example of the lure carved by, “…a certain fisherman who worked in the file works of Kent.” He claimed he obtained a lure from his friend, Mr. Fred W. Trory, who worked in the same machine shop as Samuel H. Friend, the aforementioned “certain fisherman.” Mr. Friend and his brother-in-law, F. A. Pardee, purportedly hand carved and painted two styles of wood bodied lures, one of which is now known as the Pardee Minnow.

Also around 1898, an employee of the U.S. government railway postal service was producing his own hand carved and painted wooden lures. Charles C. Shaffer, an Alliance, Ohio, native is credited for creating the “Expert” minnow. The first wooden plugs offered commercially by the famous Heddon family appeared in print advertising in 1902,

but the late James Heddon carved for his own use wooden minnows, and according to James’ son, his grandfather had been doing so since the 1850s.

To further muddy the waters, an article written in 1918 by E. A. Pflueger of the Enterprise Manufacturing Company, states that in 1883 they “… put out the Comstock Wood Minnow, the body being made of wood with glass eyes and spinners mounted upon the side instead of at the head and tail. In the year 1898, we were the first to place on the market a wood minnow of the present day structure…”, likely referring to the Trory minnow. It is this writer’s contention that the Comstock minnow used a wooden or cork body to facilitate buoyancy, and utilized the metal spinners as the main fish attractors and therefore should be categorized differently.

Examples of these early lures are understandably extremely rare. An example of the first wooden minnow was sold through

This early American wood minnow sold at Lang's Auction for $24,150

Lang’s November 2006 auction displaying characteristics of the earliest Pardee and Trory minnows shown above. The Pflueger Trory Wooden Minnow is valued at $25,000.

Found in the tackle box of Hiram C. Rice, an angler who lived and fished in the Twin Lakes region of Ohio, the first American minnow (below) sold to a collector for $42,560.

The first American wood lure above sold at auction for $42,560 Another early and important minnow was offered during the November 2008 Lang’s Auction, also with characteristics of both the earliest Pardee minnows and Trory minnows, also discovered in the Twin Lakes area of Ohio, sold for $24,150 at auction. Regardless of the maker, the early American wooden minnow shall remain at the top of the lure collecting mountain for the foreseeable future.

Lang’s next auction will be held on November 1 & 2, 2014. For more detailed information, please visit www.LangsAuction.com, or call 315-841-4623.

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Tackling An American Fishing Tradition

BY MICHAEL JAY

ou can always tell when a gift is from the heart.

On my 50th birthday, I received a package from my brother-in-law, Kyle Kayson, in Chicago. I slid open the red cedar boxes to find two treasures – hand-carved replicas of antique wooden fishing lures. In an instant, priceless childhood memories came flooding back of afternoons spent fishing with my father and picking out similar lures from his tackle box. I was so touched with the nostalgic gift, clearly carved with passion, that I Googled the artisan’s name – John Wilkinson. I found John in Washington, Illinois, and called him. The story of his love for preserving a bit of Americana from yesteryear had me captivated like a son listening to a father’s stories of an earlier time. We talked for hours and will likely remain lifelong friends, all thanks to a thoughtful gift. This is his story…

On a tranquil Seattle morning in 1954, 11-year old Johnny Wilkinson sat on the edge of a riverbank baiting his fishing line with salmon eggs to try his luck at catching trout. “When I caught my first fish, there were no parents around… because I was playing hooky,” John said with a grin.

At 15, John left home to work all sorts of jobs. “I wanted to be a cook; I wanted to be a jockey - I was the right size for it.” As fate would have it, however, John moved to the Midwest and spent 22 years as a machinist union representative. It was his passion for fishing that kept him going.

“I just didn’t want to catch fish, I needed to catch fish,” he explained. Wilkinson would travel to Lake Michigan in the wintertime just to catch something and then turn around and go back home. “As a union rep, I saw people in this worker-be-damned

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economy who were losing their jobs because plants were closing. I remember thinking, ‘they need to have something on the side – maybe a hobby they could make money at.’ But that was for ‘those people.’

I thought I’d be at the union forever.”

And then one morning, John woke up to find the results of the latest union election.

He was four votes shy of retaining his job.

“I realized then I didn’t have anything on the side myself,” he said. However, within 30 days, John was earning a living using his own two hands. Woodworking. He crafted traditional archery equipment. The entrepreneur also served as an insurance company’s public relations representative. “I always had that side hobby, just in case.”The Wilkinsons soon made cedar strip canoes, as well. With a laugh, John said, “It turned out that Peoria, Illinois, wasn’t like Maine or Minnesota, so I ended up with a yard full of canoes.”

And then, the unthinkable happened. John was diagnosed with aggressive cancer. “The doctor said if I hadn’t walked into his office that day, I wouldn’t have lived another year.”

But persevere he did. In 2001, John finished radiation treatments. “I decided it was time to quit dreaming about stuff and just go do it.”

He ran in the Chicago Marathon and checked all sorts of activities off his bucket list. At last, he knew, it was time to follow his life’s true calling: fishing. He gave up the archery business and started carving wooden fishing lures – replicas of the

antique fishing lures he so fondly learned to fish with as a child.

“I’m like a little kid when I’m making lures in my shop,” John said. “I don’t look at it as a job; it’s what I do in life. From the time I left home at age 15 until today, I have never, ever, taken an Unemployment check.

That’s not an accident. I’m a worker.”

The April 13 is a replica of a 1920 Heddon Lucky 13.

The first fishing lure John carved was a replica of a 1920 Heddon Lucky 13. He named it the April 13. “I’ve caught so many bass on that thing! You could make one out of a broomstick if you wanted to.” Starting out, John used equipment he had from making the longbows. “At first, I painted every lure – it’s a nine coat, seven-day process. Then my wife Gina started painting and, quite frankly, she’s better at it. Our business is doing well.”

To show his gratitude, John created a lure he named after his wife – the Gina Lou – a replica of a 1938 Jitterbug. To date, John

and his wife have made nearly 10,000 wooden fishing lures – all by hand. John sells them with a lifetime guarantee; and he’s never gotten one back. In fact, if John finds a blemish on one of his lures, it goes into the trash, or to a child who couldn’t otherwise afford one.

The Bailey Bait is a replica of a 1940 Bomber Bait.

John’s son Bailey plays a role in the family’s handcrafted fishing lure company, too.

“When my boys were in high school, I wanted them to learn the importance of earning a living – to always know how to make something on their own. Today, Bailey is in college studying mechanical engineering, but he still makes the wooden boxes in which the fishing lures are packed. He uses the money he earns to pay for school.”

“When I caught my first fish, there were no parents around… because I was playing hooky.”

And then there’s the Samson. It’s the replica of a 1950 Cisco Kid lure, which snagged the world’s largest Tiger Muskie. Another lure in John’s repertoire is the Lil’ Luke – a replica of the 1924 Creek Chub Injured Minnow.

It’s named after a local little boy whose mother bought him the lure as a gift for his 7th birthday. It earned the lad a photo in the Peoria Journal Star when he caught an impressive 19-inch, 4lb-9oz bass with it (incidentally, the lure is also the smaller version of the one John himself used to catch his very first bass).

— John Wilkinson The Samson lure is a replica of a 1950 Cisco Kid. Recently, John happened onto a nostalgic way to make his lures resemble the original antiques even more. “A fellow in Europe bought a factory just for the property, and inside of it were 50 gallon barrels of these old antique glass eyes, at least 100 years old. So now, I have a great source for real antique glass eyes.”

John’s favorite lure – and most popular – is the Eagle River, a replica of the famous 1916 South Bend Bass O’Reno. “All of us old timers have several of these in our tackle boxes for one reason: They work!” he said. “I name most of my lures after people I care about.

Eagle River is a replica of a famous 1916 South Bend Bass O'Reno.

John Wilkinson with his hand-carved lures. Photo by Ron Johnson – Peoria Journal Star The Bailey Bait, a replica of a 1940 Bomber, is named after my son Bailey. It runs backward like a crawdad. If you hit a limb underwater, the backside gets hit rather than the hook side. But most important, it was the model 300 that holds the smallmouth bass world record since 1955. “I caught a few bass with it this morning,” he said. The fervent woodcarver also designed a lure for his other son, John Junior. The Johnny J. is a replica of a 1925 Creek Chub Injured Minnow.

Muskie baits for years, but the little one has held the record for decades.”

John carves his diving lures from Eastern Red Cedar. He uses buoyant basswood for top-water lures. All of them have Mustad blood red hooks and stainless steel hardware. The average size of John’s lures is only 3.5 – 4 1/8 inches. Five of the lures have set world records; three still hold their world records today. John’s Trevor Creek lure, a replica of the 1920 Creek Chub Pikie Minnow, set the Muskie World Record in 1949. “It amuses me that there are all these guys making BIG

John personally fished with his old antique lures right up until a few years ago. “I have them hanging next to my lathe,” he said. “I make my replica lures within about a millimeter of the original. I want to keep things tried and true – because they work and they bring back memories. When people see them, they often get teary and smile because they’re reminded of good times fishing with their dad or granddad. People tell me they’re afraid to fish with the lures because they don’t want to lose them. I say to them, ‘Don’t worry, just keep casting them out; the fish will bring them back to you!’”

If you’d like to see more of John Wilkinson's handcrafted antique fishing lure replicas, go to www.johnwlures.com or give him a call at (309) 868-0045.

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literature M U S T - R E AD S F R O M T H E D E S K O F E D W I N A S A N DY S Edwina Sandys is an artist and sculptor living in New York & Palm Beach

Bunnies

By Hunt Slonem Glitterati 2014 $84.00

“A couple of rabbits, producing six bunnies once a month, can start a production run that will reach into the billions within six years,” Hunt Slonem remarks.

Growing up in England after the war, our family farm was overrun by rabbits and they were eating everything in sight. Roast chicken was the favored Sunday lunch treat… Rabbit was known as the poor man’s chicken. Now it’s the other way round…rabbit is a gourmet delicacy and rubber chicken, the tasteless fare for catered events.

Beatrix Potter anthropomorphizes bunnies. Hugh Heffner bunnifies pretty girls. Hunt gives bunnies the royal treatment and this gorgeous tome is covered inside and out from top to tail in gold leaf.

There is no writing at all in the body of the book. In the foreword, John Berendt writes: “Every morning, Hunt Slonem awakes and performs what he calls his daily ‘warm-ups’. Slonem paints rabbits in outline, applying quick broad strokes that resemble calligraphy as much as they do rabbits.” He has been known to paint as many as 60 bunnies at a go before his second cup of morning coffee. They are his artistic equivalent of Andy Warhol’s flower sequences.

Who would have thought that one could put up with so many bunny portraits…two or three should be sufficient. I have counted at least 1450. But they do grow on you. One thing leads to another…and so on ad infinitum…

Colorful in life and person, as in his art, I was first aware of Hunt’s work in his bird paintings. But Hunt does not only paint birds, butterflies, fishes, monkeys, tigers, a veritable Noah’s Ark, he also collects houses galore and fills them with his creatures, his creations and his creativity.

Fellow artist Bruce Helander, in the essay writes: “Hunt has such a firsthand knowledge and familiarity with his models, many of whom he lives with; they share space on his shoulder, or in the case of a baby bunny, nap in his lap as he paints. His thick lines, dispersed in all directions … form a cohesive, clear picture…a rhythmic order… recurring themes…as in nature itself” I keep turning the pages and enjoying their company more and more. Looking for subtle differences, exchanging glances, wondering what these bunnies are thinking.

Yes, it’s all in the eyes…that strong as steel, invisible thread…eye contact between the viewer and the subject. My favorite portrait of all is the last one in the book. Max looks up at me with one soulful eye, eyelined in orange, as if to say, “Are you all maxed out now?”

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Edwina Sandys

The Supermodel and the Brillo Box

By Don Thompson Palgrave Macmillan 2014 $27.00

The great English landscape painter, William Turner, the forerunner of the Impressionists, would probably turn in his grave at the thought of Tracey Emin’s Unmade Bed being shortlisted for the Tate Gallery prize named after him. This work of art was recently sold for $4 million dollars. Don Thompson in his latest book discusses this phenomenon and explains in sparkling clarity the inner workings of today’s Art Market.

This scintillating book starts with the story of Trophy Wife, a lifelike, nude waxwork of former actress and supermodel Stephanie Seymour, the wife of Peter Brandt.

One wall of their library featured trophies of a gazelle and a buffalo shot by Brandt on a 1970 Kenya safari. The sculpture of Stephanie, her back arched like that of the gazelle, was hung on the opposite wall. According to the artist Maurizio Cattelan, she was “hunted and mounted… the result of a domestic safari.”

One of Thompson’s main points is the enormous increase in price obtained for a work as a result of a riveting celebrity ‘backstory.’ He asks, “Will this art be important 25 years from now?” and “Will this art double in value in seven or eight years as would a moderate-risk bond portfolio?” His answer, “For almost all art, the answer is no.”

Investor Beware!

Once upon a time the great art patrons were part of the royal and religious establishment. They had great taste and were interested in aesthetics. Michelangelo spent months upside down in the Sistine Chapel producing beautiful and wondrous art. Nowadays, the art buyers are mainly the princes of finance as they continue to fuel the stratospheric upward curve of art prices.

What would the Medicis, who had the greatest backstories of all time, buy in today’s art market? The Jeff Koons purple Balloon Dog for $58 million? Perhaps the Damien Hirst diamond-encrusted human skull For the Love of God for a cool $100 million? Or the Unmade Bed at the bargain basement price of $4 million?

One sometimes wonders these days, “Can art be beautiful?”

EDWINA’S PHOTO COURTESY OF HARRY BENSON

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Ride2Revive Miles of Smiles for Children on the Road to Recovery

By Dale King and Julia Hebert

A heartwarming story of how Brooke and Brett David and Valerie Kaye of Prestige Imports bring smiles to local children fighting cancer.

“Even more special than driving some of my favorite dream cars was learning there are people who enjoy helping sick kids,” said young Joseph who, during the past year, has gone through two surgeries and rounds of chemotherapy. But Joseph got his groove back at Ride2Revive. “The event was so much fun,” he said.

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A young guest at the 2014 Ride2Revive, hosted by Prestige Imports - Miami Lamborghini, enjoys a ride in a stunning supercar.

Ride2Revive is a festival of fast cars, food and fun for young people facing cancer.

said Valerie. Brooke added, “This is just the beginning of what we want to do to help the community.”

“This event is strictly for the kids,” said Brett David, 27-year-old CEO of Prestige Imports and Lamborghini Miami, which sponsors the festivity. Several years ago, Brett, his sister Brooke, 22, and their mother Valerie Kaye, launched the celebration to bring “miles of smiles” to children undergoing treatment at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. This year, youngsters joined in from the local Chai Lifeline chapter. MyWish4U (Kids vs.

Cancer) brought in children from Israel.

Community Involvement Joining in the yearly Ride2Revive are volunteers from the MPH Club; Gotham Dream Cars; Holy Bagels and Pizzeria; and the Miami Auto Museum at the Dezer Collection. Valerie says interacting with the children is priceless. “They ask so many questions. They want to know the make, year and cost of the cars and how fast they go." Ride2Revive will be back in 2015 to bring more miles of smiles to children in South Florida.

a mother's perspective “It’s super important to have an event like Ride2Revive that can take children’s minds off of what they are going through or have gone through,” said Beth Pinsky, mother of Aaron who was diagnosed at age 4 with Ewing’s sarcoma stage 4. “At Ride2Revive, it was a blast watching the kids playing with these life-sized toys.”

The Pinsky family just visited Prestige Imports last week for the second time.

Aaron’s favorite car is the Lamborghini.

Brett, Brooke and Valerie agree young people like Aaron and their families need a reprieve from their hospital surroundings.

Riding in Lamborghinis and other supercars around a professionally laid-out track at the Mardi Gras Casino in Hallandale provides a thrilling day, as well as a sense of normalcy.

Brett David, Valerie Kaye and Brooke David of Prestige Imports pose with a young guest.

“We have a love for giving back to the kids,” said Brooke. “These supercars are intriguing and cool for kids to ride in. Through Ride2Revive, they can put their everyday struggles aside and be free. It’s rewarding to see them smiling from ear to ear. They don’t even want to leave.”

Children mingled with police and fire crews from Hallandale who brought cruisers, trucks, K-9 trackers and a SWAT team. The Broward County Sheriff’s helicopter flew in, joining face painters, balloons, arts and crafts and lots of food.

“It keeps getting bigger and better each year,”

Aaron Pinsky smiles for the camera after enjoying an exciting ride of a lifetime in a Lamborghini.

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C on d o L a w

By Michael S. Bender, Esq., Kaye Bender Rembaum, P.L.

2014 LEGISLATION AFFECTING COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS During the 2014 Legislative Session in Florida, a number of bills were adopted which will have an impact on community associations.

Among the new legislation is House Bill 807, which contains provisions affecting condominiums, effective July 1, 2014.

Following is a very brief overview. For more details, including the Community Association Manager Bill – House Bill 7037, go to www.southfloridaopulence.com.

•R epair and Rental of Abandoned Units: Provides authority for an association, at the discretion of the board, to enter an abandoned unit to inspect the unit and adjoining common elements.

• I nsurance - Repair Obligation Clarified: Provides that in the absence of an insurable event, any repairs required will be by either the association or the unit owner, in accordance with the declaration or bylaws.

• Official Records & Unit Owner Directories: Modified to clarify that all telephone numbers may be included in a Directory, although an owner may choose to not have their numbers listed (i.e., opt-out).

• Board or Committee Meeting Participation: Allows participation in a meeting by telephone, to add real-time video conferencing, or similar real-time electronic communications as a way for a Board or Committee member to attend, be counted toward quorum and vote.

• Board Member Communications: Authorizes board members to use email as a means of communication but clarifies they may not cast a vote on an association matter via email.

• Removal of the Association as an Intervening Owner for Purpose of Determining the Obligations of a New Owner for Past Due Assessments.

Michael Bender

• Limitation on Attempt to Terminate a Condominium: If a plan of termination of a condominium fails to receive the required approval vote, the plan shall not be recorded and a new attempt may not be proposed for 180 days after the date of the failed plan was first given to all owners.

• Elimination of the Community Association Living Study Council.

This is for informational purposes only and is not intended, nor should it be considered, the providing of legal advice. Should you have any questions about any of the information contained in this article, please contact your association counsel.

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Have an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust?

What if it’s needed to pay estate taxes?

By Eric Garcia, Financial Consultant

Question: The death benefit from insurance on my life will be paid to an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT). What if those funds are needed to pay my estate taxes?

Answer: Life insurance death proceeds paid to a valid ILIT may escape estate taxation in your estate as long as the trust owns the policy and you haven’t retained any incidents of ownership in the policy, such as the right to change the beneficiary. Typically, the terms of the ILIT provide that the insurance proceeds be distributed from the trust to your beneficiaries in accordance with your wishes, which are spelled out in the trust document.

Generally, life insurance is purchased within a trust to provide for your family while ensuring that the death benefit is not reduced by estate taxes. Unfortunately, to keep the death benefit from being included in your

estate, you cannot require the trustee to use the proceeds to meet estate settlement costs. However, your estate may run into liquidity problems and need to have access to the cash in the ILIT to avoid having to sell assets in the estate.

There are two ways to solve this dilemma.

One is to include a provision in the ILIT that permits (but does not direct) the trustee to buy estate assets. The other is to give the trustee permission (but not instructions) to loan the estate some of the proceeds.

If these techniques are used, the estate will have access to the funds it needs to meet its obligations without causing the assets in the ILIT to be included in your taxable estate.

If you have questions about an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust, email Eric Garcia at ericgarcia@bpop.com or call 305-477-9908 or 305-335-5333. Popular Investments are located at 2317 Ponce De Leon Blvd., Coral Gables, FL.

The information herein is provided for information purposes only, and is not to be used, considered or construed as legal, investment, tax or professional advice or as a legal opinion on specific facts or circumstances.

Before entering into any particular transaction or making any legal, investment, accounting, tax or estate planning decision, you are advised to obtain independent financial, legal, accounting, tax and other advice as may be appropriate under the circumstances.

Banco Popular North America and its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries make no representations or warranties relative to, and expressly disclaim any responsibility for, the content and the accuracy of the information provided herein.

Copyright 2014 Broadridge Investor Communication Solutions, Inc. Used by permission.

Securities are offered through Essex National Securities, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Insurance products are offered through Essex National Insurance Agency, Inc. and Essex of the Pacific Insurance Agency, Inc., (CA Agency License #0D34067), which are not affiliated with this financial institution. Advisory services are offered through Essex National Securities, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor.

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Contact our South Florida Relationship Manager: Rebecca R. Prieto, V.P. 786-953-1221 rprieto@bpop.com

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From Our Readers “The Summer issue of South Florida Opulence was a wow success in the rooms and through the hotel at The Greenbrier during the PGA Greenbrier Classic in July in West Virginia.

Thank you!”

Carleton Varney

Opulence’s Erika Buchholz (far right) is joined

by Mary Stelnicki and Chris Collins at the exclusive Ferrari-Maserati of Fort Lauderdale and Ferretti North America event.

Miami’s own, DJ Irie hosted his 10th Annual Irie Weekend to benefit the Irie Foundation (www.iriefoundation.org ). Pictured: Chris Bosh, Chewie and DJ Irie.

I am a numismatic author and have had my writing featured in both Coin World and The Numismatist. While I live in New Jersey, I happened upon your publication through someone who had an article appear in a previous issue and was impressed by both the breadth and class of your features.

Sincerely, Todd R. Sciore

Congratulations on hosting an extraordinary event [4th Annual Opulence Yacht Gala in April] on Fisher Island. I am very aware of what it takes to plan, coordinate, and execute a Gala of this caliber and just couldn't wait to send you a note of appreciation. What a superb team South Florida Opulence has!

Susan D. McGregor President and General Manager RoboVault

Jennifer Lopez attends the iHeartRadio Ultimate Pool Party at Fontainebleau’s Bleau Live. Photo Courtesy: John Parra, Getty Images for Clear Channel.

Hollywood film photographer Robert Zuckerman and Project Runway star Emilio Sosa spoke at the Celebrate Your Soul Women's Empowerment Event at The Betsy Hotel.

I just got my copy of South Florida Opulence and read Ava Roosevelt's imaginary “interview” with Steve Jobs. It is brilliant, so original and beautifully written. I will actually save it.

It’s that good!

Deborah J. Hamilton, President Hamilton Advisors Inc.

Ariana Grande performs at the iHeartRadio Ultimate Pool Party at Fontainebleau’s Bleau Live. Photo Courtesy: Larry Marano, Getty Images for Clear Channel.

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