I don't know if it's just me or not, but because of the state of the country and this lousy administration, people seem to yearn for some relief and seems to be in the spirit of the holiday more than usual. I have seen more homes with lights out then then last few years. I don't know. But it was good to finally get out and enjoy some time with friends. I departed Thursday as I and the clan got together for a bit of a jolly in NYC which didn't disappoint. We took in some of the sights, a trip to the lovely John Derian shop, and even enjoyed my first cocktails since the surgery... just enjoyed time being away, with no schedule. As always, the city didn't disappoint, but being visual, I did return last night very mentally spent. We even beat the crowds, planning out times at places smartly. But the getting up early could have killed me.
Rockefeller Plaza! It's been a minute since I've been there.
It's been ages since we enjoyed drinks there, But I always love it. A stop at the Blur Bar is an opportunity to sip where history was made and sit in the very space that helped shape New York's literary and theatrical scene. Everyone from Dorothy Parker to James Dean, to Alan Jay Lerner and Fredrick Loewe who composed over days the music to My Fair Lady in the hotel, to the likes of Harold Ross, founder of the New Yorker, Robert Benchley, artist and illustrator Neysa McMein, playwright and humorist, George S Kaufman, Harpo Marx, Tallulah Bankhead, and later, wasn't uncommon to see the likes of Maya Angelou, a young Harry Connick Jr, Liza Minelli and everyone's favorite booze hound, Elaine Strict, among a long list of others. After Prohibition, the bar reopened with a unique touch- John Barrymore, a frequent guest, convinced the hotel to install blue lighting gels above the bars' fixtures, believing the cooler hues were more flattering to everyone's, but mostly his, complexion. Today, the same lighting still reflects off the cocktail glasses held by guest and patrons, who knowingly or not are partaking in a timeless tradition, and are in a place graced once by so many colorful camp characters. For over a hundred years they have been serving cock-a-tails, it tickles me to be just a small piece of scrap in it's overall fabric.
