Swimming in Quicksand

On New York Social Diary, 2011's Memorable Washington Columns

AT THE CAPITAL CLUB'S "SINATRA SOIREE"

On New York Social Diary a return to what I consider the most memorable columns of the last 12 months, including social life, travel, restaurants and rants.

I hope I represented Washington well. fyi, NYSD has more than 600,000 unique visitors a month, and the readership is global in a strong way. I receive reader messages from all over the world and I appreciate every one. Please give this compilation a read: Washington Social Diary's 2011 Memorabe Moments. 

Tina Alster's Christmas Kicks

WHAT SANTA BROUGHT TINA ALSTER: A NEW PAIR OF LANVIN'S

Hohoho. Christmas presents take all forms. So, this afternoon at a festive holiday party I could not resist aiming my camera at the feet of Dr. Tina Alster, wearing her new Christmas kicks. Fresh off the lasts at Lanvin, these are serious stilettoes. I'm not one, (I prefer to own shoes rather than fondle them) but I offer this up on behalf of foot fetishists everywhere. These are not Georgetown heels nor are they sensible Washington pumps. These are kick ass, kiss my feet, know your place, serious business shoes. Three cheers for Dr. Tina, and Merry Christmas.

Back by Popular (and not) Demand: The Salahi Interview In Full

For better or worse, it remains the definitive interview with Michaele and Tareq Salahi:

 

 

 

 

 

The New M Street?

We know commercial M Street is going through changes, trending toward more mall stores. Still, I burst out laughing at the sight of this mannequin in the window at Calvin Klein. The Georgetown of Dorcas Hardin is gone, baby, gone.  Is this what the rebranding campaign means with the slogan, "Come out and play in Georgetown?" Hahaha. More hahaha. The complete package? An Anthony Weiner homage? CK's bf? Wishful thinking? 

Better be careful, it could scare the little children (and some adults).

The Westin "Georgetown" ???

 LOOK CLOSELY. THE WESTIN SIGN SAYS "GEORGETOWN." 

I got this habit from my friend Topher Mathews at The Georgetown Metropolitan. He cries foul on businesses, especially realtors, when they stretch Georgetown's borders to improbable lengths, sometimes practically into Cleveland Park, routinely into Foggy Bottom and also Burleith and Glover Park. 

Today I noticed a good example in a neighborhood that is unequivocally West End. The Westin Hotel there has a sign that says "Westin Hotel - Georgetown." Unh? No, it is not in Georgetown. Not at all.  

West End is actually a fine neighborhood and has worked hard to define itself when once upon a time it was just a dreary stretch of road linking Georgetown to downtown. It deserves credit. Besides, Westin West End has a decided ring to it. 

Jennifer Aniston Dates Justin Theroux, And He's A DC Native

JUSTIN THEROUX (courtesy comicbookmovie.com)

Okay, here's a tabloid moment, but interesting because it connects to our city.

Did you know that Jennifer Aniston's latest BF is a native of Washington? Yep. Actor and writer Justin Theroux was born and raised here and went to one of the city's most interesting schools, The Field School on Foxhall Road. According to his IMDB profile he chose Bennington for college. He's related to all those other Therouxs, including Paul, who is his uncle. If you believe Wiki, his parents live here; she's a journalist and he's a lawyer. Interesting, eh?

This from IMDB: Academy Award-nominee (documentaries) Rachel Grady and her friend, Brooke Jones, took Justin Theroux to his first prom in Washington, D.C. and Justin's journalist mother, Phyllis Theroux, reported on their date in the June 5, 1985 New York Times.

I'm sure you already know of the other actor and emerging star from our neighborhood? Olivia Wilde, whose latest film is "Cowboys and Aliens." She grew up in Georgetown, along with an older sister and younger brother, and I believe attended Georgetown Day School before heading off to boarding school. Not positive about GDS. Her parents are the journalists and documentary filmmakers Leslie and Andrew Cockburn, long-time friends. One evening a while back I bumped into Andrew, Leslie and Olivia, walking along N Street ... just a young woman out with her parents. Like her parents she's smart and intuitive and it is fun to watch her career bloom.

Hmmm. Maybe Justin and Olivia should co-star in something?? 

NOTE: I saw "Cowboys and Aliens" this weekend. It's fun. Olivia and Daniel Craig carry the film, though in respect to Daniel Craig it his mostly his buff butt.

TP'd In Georgetown, But Oddly Beautiful

I have no idea whether the owners of the house are thrilled, and can't help but wonder the nature of the provocation, but regardless this TP prank on 31st Street is oddly beautiful. Maybe it's the way the streams of 2-ply hang from the tree and catch the hot breeze, making it seem a degree cooler. Maybe it's the artful wrapping of the fence. I swear, there's a hint of Christo. 

If I Became Mayor of Georgetown

First of all, I don't want the job. Second, it doesn't exist. Third, I'd have to be paid. Therefore this is one of those fun hypothetical blogs one writes on a summer night. That said, here's some of what I'd do if I became mayor of Georgetown. (For better or worse, this is where the mind goes during a day of jury duty!)

1. Create a restaurant and bar committee/commission/bureau. Whatever you want to call it. This would not be about liquor licenses, it would be about food, about wooing entrepreneurial chefs and owners who want to open statement restaurants and bistros, markets and bakeries, charcuteries and produce emporiums, food ideas we haven't even experienced yet. They would start here. Not chains. Maybe they'd be so hot they would become a chain (like Georgetown Cupcake), but Georgetown would be famous as their birth place. It would be the culinary hub of Washington and, ultimately, the mid-Atlantic.

As for liquor licenses, issue them on the basis of creative invention, enhancing the community, not necessarily who is standing first in line. They need to be a lure for premium enterprises.

2. To achieve No.1 I would ask that landlords be given a significant property tax break for offering good deals to these same chefs and owners. These same owners would be offered subsidies from the city. Everyone who got involved would benefit. It's been said before but: build it and they will come.

3. One night a week -- Thursday or Sunday -- cars would be banned from M Street between 29th and 33rd Streets and on Wisconsin between M and N Streets. There would be dance bands and dancing, shopping and game stalls. It would be the village square as boulevard. 

4. On that same "Georgetown Night," I would offer free or deeply discounted parking at all the garages. (Don't scoff. It would bring a lot of retail business in general).

5. Parking meters would be free in Georgetown after 6:30 every night of the week. The city may balk, but the money lost on meters would be more than recouped in sales tax from restaurants and shops, and income tax on employment. Non-punitive parking would bring people back to Georgetown. 

4. Once a month a First Night-like restaurant extravaganza that was about deals and discounts for patrons. Maybe it would be the first Monday of the month. If the first Monday in October works for the Supreme Court why wouldn't the First Monday of the month work for Georgetown? It would.

5. Create a Georgetown podcast that featured interviews with chefs and shop owners, especially the businesses that are sole proprietor, where customers can actually MEET THE OWNER. What a concept! This podcast would highlight the best of the Georgetown websites: the Dish, the Metropolitan, the Patch, the Georgetowner, Vox Populi ... and so on. Those publishers would be regular guests, in addition to anybody of interest who happened to be in the village. Instead of The Sports Junkies (which I download like a junkie), it could be The George Junkies ... or whatevs. By all means pull in the people who live and work here who are under the age of 45! It's their Georgetown, too. Comparable to the Division of Food (see item #1) also have a Division of Social Media and exploit it in every way.

6. Honor the BUSINESS OF THE MONTH. Balloons, confetti, a marching band...and no city audits for a whole year! Also, I would not let a business like Furin's close. I would work hard to relocate, because some businesses are worth extra effort in preserving.

7. Work with Vornado to transform the Georgetown Park Mall into shopping delight similar to the Chelsea Market. Have them inaugurate it with Washington's first Dîner en Blanc.  (Also a good spot for re-invented Furin's, Nathans, Garretts, French Market, Hudson Brothers ... a virtual memory lane of Gtown classics). 

8. Provide food trucks a permanent residence along K and Water Streets, fronting the Georgetown Waterfront Park. Wow, would the tourists love it, not to mention the locals.

9. Yes, I would have an ice rink at the Georgetown Waterfront Park, and it would have a food concession with hot dogs and hot chocolate on winters nights, and music, and strings of white lights.

10. I don't have a 10th idea. That's for YOU to fill in ... if YOU became mayor of Georgetown. 

 

PRESIDENT OBAMA AND DAUGHTERS GRAB FATHER'S DAY ICE CREAM AT GEORGETOWN'S THOMAS SWEET

 THOMAS SWEET ICE CREAM PARLOR SOON AFTER THE OBAMAS STOPPED IN

The Secret Service arrived quietly at Georgetown's Thomas Sweet Ice Cream shop at approximately 7:30 Sunday evening, asked the customers just to go about their business, and then  President Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia walked in to grab some Father's Day scoops of cookie dough and vanilla.

 THOMAS SWEET IS OFTEN CROWDED THIS TIME OF YEAR. MAYBE POTUS GOT TO JUMP THE LINE

I was nearby, walking the dog, and noticed the motorcade. For the President, it was a discreet motorcade; as lengthy as usual but without sirens or flashing lights -- a caravan of black SUVS, one that had a video cameraman perched through the top hatch, a few DC police cars, an EMS vehicle. As I said, the usual. After the ice cream stop they cruised P Street toward Dupont Circle, which is an easy route back to the White House.

MOHAMMED ALI, THOMAS SWEET'S OWNER, SMILING AFTER THE OBAMAS' VISIT

Thomas Sweet is one of Washington's most popular ice cream parlors. It is located at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and P Streets and is almost always packed on warm days and evenings.  

 MR. ALI AND CREW, BACK TO BUSINESS AS USUAL AFTER FIRST FAMILY VISIT

Are the Obamas falling for Georgetown? Just a week ago Sasha and Malia and friends were at Georgetown Cupcake's Potomac Street studio for a private birthday party for Sasha. At the very least, they seem to like our sweets.

It's Time For Limeade, Lobster Rolls, and Everything Else That Defines Summer

 OUR PARIS HOTEL ROOM, SUMMER, A FEW YEARS AGO

It's tough to figure out where to begin on a blog post such as this one, but let's just leave it to this: my holiday weekend has been defined so far by hot dogs, lobster roll, limeade, Mojitos, French rose wine, grilled chicken, ice cream, movie matinees, a Sunday night party with friends, a good book, tank tops (yes, even with breast cancer surgery, it's doable!), Coppertone (the smell recalls 100 summers, even those I haven't lived yet), there some tanning, naps the Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer in the City" (ancient but still iconic),because, after all, I'm doing it urban. No beach, no country, no mountains for me this weekend. It's been asphalt and bricks and back gardens, and all good.

As for the limeade and lobster rolls, I always return to one treasured (and almost ten-years-old) cookbook, which is named, appropriately, The Lobster Roll. Buy it now and I promise it will be worn and stained (in a good way) by Labor Day. It is my summer go-to. And here's the special feature of well made (meaning fresh) limeade: the base converts perfectly for Mojitos!! Just add rum and mint. I took a big bucket of same to the swingin' shindig/book party hosted for me last night by neighbors Margaret and David Dunning.

IS THIS AN AD FOR EYEWEAR? NO. IT'S OF GUESTS AT THE DUNNINGS PARTY: ANN BONHAM, WOODY KAY AND JESSE JOAD

The party rocked and we sold books. I love these small at-home book parties. It was a 6-8 that went until 11pm! At the beginning I didn't know most of the guests, but by the end I did. As I noted, summer in the city. 

Would I like to be on a beach? Of course. But a nearly empty beach. After writing my NYSD column this morning, I stole away to the air-conditioned peace of my local Bijou and watched Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris." In true Woody fashion it is full of itself, but in true Woody-of-olden-days fashion it has some authentic humor and it is a Valentine. His best films always are a Valentine to something: Manhattan, the boroughs, appropriate women, inappropriate women, the U.K., and with this film, Paris. OMG, it's my Paris, too, and I missed it, but loved seeing it lookin' so good.  

We should all be young and in love and in Paris. Or in love and in Paris. Plus Le Train Bleu to the Riviera!

 

caroljoynt.com: Welcome to My Website

If you are a first time visitor to caroljoynt.com, welcome. It has a few different components. Chiefly it is home to a daily diary I write, "Swimming in Quicksand," which is about my life, my community, events in the news, popular culture, food, travel and the occasional rant. SIQ began several years ago on my first website, nathansgeorgetown.com,set up for the restaurant I inherited, Nathans of Georgetown. The site was launched to promote my interview program, The Q&A Cafe, but during the summer months when it was on hiatus I needed to find a way to keep visitors visiting. I started a daily diary. My inspiration was Ana Marie Cox, who at the time wrote for the website Wonkette. She'd been a guest on my show and I was impressed with her candor--both in person and online. I thought, to quote my late mother, Well, why not?

At first the diary was titled "Diary of a Mad Saloon Owner," but I never liked that name. It was unoriginal, and I wasn't mad, only the saloon business was mad. It was the world around me that was sapping my resources, making me vulnerable, scared, feeling as though at any moment I would sink beneath the surface. Voila! Swimming in Quicksand was born. 

In its early years, the late oughts, SIQ was where I went to vent a day of feeling challenged by so much I did not always understand. I wrote about trying to stay afloat, especially financially. Every day I had less and I had to find ways to cope. Writing the diary helped enormously, at least emotionally. There was a thousand ton weight on me, Nathans, but when that got cut free in 2009, the relief was tangible. I had much less money, much less, BUT, significantly, I had freedom. The glitch game in that I bought my freedom at the same time the economy was in meltdown. I made myself unemployed when there were no jobs. That's why I kept the diary and new website (caroljoynt.com) up and running. It was as relevant as ever.

I strive to be no B.S.-- honest, candid, funny when possible, compassionate, community-minded, but don't claim to be the official point of view. For example, for grounded online news about Georgetown, I always aim people to The Georgetown Metropolitan. Also, there's The Georgetown Dish. The Georgetowner, a print newspaper, is the dean of Georgetown media. 

Caroljoynt.com is also where I post news about The Q&A Cafe. In its first seven years, at Nathans, the show was weekly. Since 2009 it has been monthly, at The Georgetown Ritz Carlton Hotel. It airs on DC Cable, TV 16. The show's ten year anniversary will happen in October 2011. I'm quite proud it has lasted this long. In the last decade I've interviewed some 300 notable people. I hold that up there with my Emmy Award as a proud achievement. 

Also here you will find news about my book, "Innocent Spouse," a memoir that is to be published May 10 by Crown. We welcome advance orders on Amazon or any other book website. Writing the book has been my "job" for the last year and a half. It was a writing project and an emotional purge and an altogether excellent experience. I owe a lot of gratitude to my agent, Laney Katz Becker, who found me, and to my editor, Suzanne O'Neill, who fell in love with the book and whose passion for it stayed strong all the way through. Working with the full team at Crown has been a rewarding experience, reminding me of the best collaborations I enjoyed during more than 30 years in mainstream print and network news. 

I also use caroljoynt.com to link to a weekly column I write about Washington for the website New York Social Diary. It is not a "society" column, but rather my take on the city where I have lived since 1977. Its about all aspects of the capital, including the occasional encounter with so-called society, but I'm not really sure what that is in a company town. Society, in the wealthy, frivolous, fashionable and trendy sense, is as ill a fit here as reality TV. What Washington has is more a "nouvelle" society, people with some new money and who want to spread it around or show it off. Since generosity matters, that's not a bad thing. The "going out" society in Washington is about fundraisers and rich entrepreneurial suburbanites and more fundraisers. They are commendable for their support of the arts, culture, preservation. In particular they are drawn to institutions that will put their names on walls and at the tops of invitations. I don't fault them for that. If it is a productive incentive, hat's off.

At the other extreme are the "cave dwellers," who by choice are off the grid. Their interest in public mention is entirely old school -- "birth," "marriage" and "death." They are an aging population of Washington families, some connected to government but most not, some with inherited money, some with less money, and they rarely go out. The best place to find them is the January Washington Winter Show, the Tudor Place Garden party and the Chevy Chase and Sulgrave clubs. But really, they don't want you to find them.

There's a young partying group in Washington, also quite active in fundraising. I find them interesting, diverse and ambitious. It includes many pretty women and I wonder why they stay in DC, where the men are mostly interested in other men, and I don't mean that necessarily in gay way. 

If there's any authentic high society in Washington it is among the old-guard African American community, as closed and tight as any true social bastion anywhere in the U.S. They dress up, they go out, they are mannered, they know each other well and there is a fierce hierarchy. If I were able to get inside that group and write about them then I could call myself a Washington society writer. But I can't so I'm not.

What I do for New York Social Diary is go to all kinds of places and events, observe the rituals, see things, eat an occasional meal, take photos, and report back, trying to put the experience in context for the most powerful city in the world. My editors, David Patrick Columbia and Jeff Hirsch, are great. When a DC power player is full of hot air, they let me say so.  If I could make a living writing my weekly column, I would do it from here to the horizon. But, alas, after the book does its turn, I will need to find gainful employment.

caroljoynt.com is a great front for the fact I am private, shy, not social, not fashionable, a loner, tight with a few close friends and interested primarily in my family and my home. Everything else is what I do to not sink in the quicksand. I hope you'll visit often. And, should you want to, please write. I welcome feedback. 

NYSD Today: The Jete Society Dance Party, and Chris Botti

A tribal rite of almost spring, the Jete Society Dance Party happened this past Saturday night in a vacant office space on the Georgetown waterfront. Lots of young women and men, drinking, dancing, nibbling on corn dogs, and into the wee hours. But how do those pretty women of DC tolerate the DC men? Also, a party for trumpeter Chris Botti at the Kennedy Center. Read about it here. 

NYSD Today: JFK, Lyndon Boozer, Luci Baines Johnson, Dan Snyder

 KENNEDY ERA SOUVENIRS AT THE KENNEDY CENTER GIFT SHOP

There was quite a lot to talk about for this week's DC column on New York Social Diary. Part of it the Alvin Ailey gala at the Kennedy Center, where I remembered JFK and also spent time with Luci Baines Johnson and Lyndon Boozer, and took some photos I like of them, plus Howard Fineman, Katharine Weymouth and others. 

Also, my thoughts on the $2 million lawsuit filed by Dan Snyder against Washington City Paper.

Read it here. 

Swimming in Quicksand

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