New York City Style Holds up in Thursday Downpour

Above: LoveShackFancy store on Madison Avenue--a street that is a living museum of style shops.

Sis is my museum mentor. (Dan is another.) She is a fan of The Frick Collection of art, temporarily relocated to the building that housed the Whitney Museum--at Madison Avenue and 75th Street. 

She got us two tickets to the Frick Madison. Enlightening. History, beauty, masterful skill. Ornate gold frames, blue and white urns, sculptures, marble-topped tables. Paintings of impressive height and width. You would need a mansion with big rooms to display them.

Above: We saw this painting....Rembrandt, Self-Portrait, 1658.

The Montclair-based Decamp bus line to NYC suspended its by-then-phantom buses in August. The #66 careen up and down Valley Road for months, empty--people were working from home, not commuting on buses that were previously packed at rush hour. And in the summer, they took (safe) vacations. The New Jersey Transit train line has been up and running, but since the pandemic hit, I have only gone into NYC by car:

• In the fall, when Dan and I drove in to meet our friends Celia and Greg for Saturday sushi dinner near Stuyvesant Town.
• In December 2020, when I drove Skippy in with two friends one evening to window shop and see holiday decor as only NYC can do it. (Skip’s two young friends are Jewish, and we even saw a donut menorah and, on the Upper East Side, the moving, mobile Mitzvah Tank.)
• In February, when Sis and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and got corned beef sandwiches and best pickles to go at Katz’s Deli.
• Today.

Sis and I sat outside in the street at Serafina--plastic tent, heat lamp above each table, plexiglass barriers, masked wait staff--and talked about our beloved city over ravioli with porcini mushroom sauce (me) and salad with steak (she). We talked and ate as the rain poured outside.

Our city isn’t the same, and that’s no surprise. We miss the passion, the pulse, the crowds, the hustle and bustle. I miss seeing people of all ages chasing the best of the best--writers, models, actors, hotdog vendors, artists, comedians, dancers, singers, editors, reporters, ballerinas, chefs, makeup artists, doctors, scientists, bookstore owners, tailors, designers, salespeople, baristas, fashionistas, coffee roasters, sandwich makers, cookie bakers--with a fire in their bellies and their hearts. 

I hope our beloved city comes back full swing.

Fun sightings today:

1. LOVESHACKFANCY store on Madison Avenue. I’ve seen the brand in collaborations on Aerin.com but was exited to see the shop. Wow. We walked in and a young man was styling the final details for a bridal shower in the store this evening. The tables looked so beautiful--with LoveShack pink floral linen tablecloths, pink china, exquisite flower bouquets and pink iced cookies. Glass jars filled with pretty pink candies and pink-foil-wrapped Hershey's Kisses. The other store locations are in Newport Beach, CA; Palm Beach, FL; Sag Harbor, NY, etc. So glad I went in here, and got less frivolous Sis to enter, too! The hand towels and the candle in a teacup--so lovely.
2. MEPHISTO. Stylish, comfortable shoes--flat or not, sneakers, Mary Jane styles, sandals--made in France. So pretty. Cork inside. Going back! Really nice. I'm behind the curve, not walking on Madison Avenue to window-shop and wish, as I used to. I am behind on knowing my fashion labels.
3. JOE COFFEE. Served in the Frick Madison cafe. But my parking meter was going to run out and I didn’t want to risk a ticket (I paid $10.75 twice, for two maximum two-hour blocks of time). It smelled very good; the large lattes/capps in cups and saucers looked great. I like the blue packaging/logo.
   
   
   
4. DIPTYQUE (pronounced DIP-TEEK). Luxury French fragrance and sensibility via Madison Avenue outposts, and several other NYC locations. Sis had been eyeing a scent for her bday--I paid for about a third of it. They gift-wrap beautifully. And we attended a virtual Sniffapalooza Diptyque event from our homes that entitled us to a solid perfume in pretty case with any purchase.

Eyes closing. I drove us back to Sis’s in Connecticut and I’m sleeping over tonight. Good night.