The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
Old elegance still lives on in Manhattan
Amy Tara Koch rediscovers her fashion-loving grandmother’s New York, from refined dining spots to deliciously decadent hotels
Hilda frolicked in a Mrs Maisel-like universe
My grandmother was an Upper East Side babe in her heyday, a chess-playing, fashion-loving sculptor who would dress to the nines just to walk the dog. My visits to New York from Miami in the 1970s and 1980s were fun-filled but also tutorials in refinement, how to dress (no jeans!), how to eat and how to appreciate art.
Hilda would position me just outside her wardrobe and dispatch aphorisms as she accessorised. “You can’t make a second first impression,” she opined, cinching a Jackson Pollocklooking scarf at her neck. “Who knows who we will meet at the bank?” She loved jewellery and amassed quite a collection travelling to conferences with my grandfather, a cardiologist. “Amy,” she would trill as she popped on a cocktail ring, “polish doesn’t mean predictable.”
Our days were infused with culture, piano recitals, Broadway matinees, a pop into the Frick’s Fragonard Room, a morning at the Met’s Egyptian wing. In winter, ice skating in Central Park was added to the mix. Sweets always followed, ice-cream sodas at the corner coffee shop or, more dazzling, fudge-slathered sundaes at teddy bear-festooned ice-cream parlour Rumpelmayer’s. My grandfather adored dining out. The Oyster Bar at the Plaza Hotel was his favourite. Or Gino’s, where we would often encounter locals such as Woody Allen enjoying veal parmigiana in the zebra-papered dining room.
Hilda loved to host Sunday brunch. To prepare, we hopscotched from Lobel’s for perfectly frenched lamb chops to the white-aproned man on 2nd Avenue for gravlax, then over to Greenberg’s for desserts, ending at E.A.T. for fresh-baked bagels and whipped cream cheese.
It’s hard to imagine that this type of glamour still exists in a metropolis teeming with crop tops and chain stores. Yet, a smattering of classics survives, even a handful of my grandmother’s prized purveyors. Here’s where to find old-world elegance in modern Manhattan.
TO EAT
To get the feel of a neighbourhood, there is nothing like a classic coffee shop. Neil’s, which has been around for 50 years, serves standard diner fare in a room that feels plucked from the set of Mad Men (961 Lexington Ave). Another old-school noshery, Viand, is known for all-day breakfast, overstuffed sandwiches, and “diet delights” such as fruit salad, cottage cheese and melba toast. Sadly, Rumplemayer’s is gone. But decades-old Serendipity 3 is a stand-in for jumbo wedges of cheesecake and icecream sundaes (225 E 60th St). My grandmother’s preferred bakery, William Greenberg’s Desserts (1100 Madison Ave), still sells old-fashioned brownies and cake-style black and white cookies. Also thriving is Eli Zabar’s E.A.T., where society swans gather for smoked whitefish salad sandwiches (1064 Madison Ave).
Institutions such as Elaine’s, Swifty’s and Le Cirque have shuttered, but Elios is still where locals and glitterati (Mick Jagger, Richard Gere, Gwyneth Paltrow) convene for clubby conviviality and veal chops (1621 2nd Ave; 001 21277 22242). Sant Ambroeus (referenced ad nauseam in Gossip Girl) is another Upper East Side fixture. Pastry and espresso are available in the Milanese-feeling café while Italian dishes such as vitello tonnato and risotto alla milanese are served in the bijou restaurant at the back (1000 Madison Ave; 001 21257 02211). At the Plaza Hotel, the Oyster Bar is long gone. But tea at the Palm Court (revamped but still lovely) under the stained-glass dome where JFK, Sinatra Marilyn Monroe and F Scott Fitzgerald once dined, feels grand (768 5th Ave; 001 21254 65300).
TO DO
Just as in the 1970s, matinees are an affordable way to access Broadway theatre and thrift-seekers such as my grandmother can still turn to the TKTS booth located in Times Square for halfpriced, day-of tickets. The shows have changed, of course; on now are Hades
town, The Book of Mormon, The Tina Turner Musical and Dear Evan Hansen, while The Kite Runner commences previews on July 6.
Central Park remains quite unchanged. Aside from the hordes of athleisure-attired selfie-takers, parkland pastimes such as picnicking on the Great Lawn and cruising across the lake beneath the Manhattan skyline by rowboat are a throwback to days gone by. In the evening, free Shakespeare in the
Park productions (this summer it’s Richard III, produced by Robert O’Hara) unfold exactly as they did at Delacorte Theater when theatre maestro Joseph Papp first introduced the free event to New Yorkers in the 1960s (001 21296 77555; publictheater.org).
Legging it up the piazza-like steps to the Metropolitan Museum of Art today, I clearly remember the routine I had decades ago with Hilda. We would pick just one exhibition to visit and keep our stay to under an hour. I was told to select my favourite work, which would then be discussed at the Met’s Dorothy Draper-designed restaurant, famous for its muse-themed reflecting pool. This dining spot has since closed but the art remains. Currently you’ll find the likes of Louise Bourgeois: Paintings; In America: A Lexicon of Fashion; and an Afrofuturist Period Room (001 21253 57710; metmuseum.org).
TO WEAR
Hilda frolicked in a Mrs Maisel-like universe flecked with houndstooth and double-faced cashmere. While she favoured designer clothing, overspending was frowned upon. Why pay full freight at Bergdorf Goodman when slightly less au courant duds could easily be procured at an overstock shop?
Her haunts have disappeared, but La Boutique Resale would have thrilled her. The two-story consignment boutique sells “gently used” discounted Hermes, YSL, Etro, Chanel, Prada and Armani clothing (1132 Madison Ave, 2nd floor; 001 21298 81998). For dramatic, heirloom-feeling jewellery similar to my grandmother’s collection, try DK Bressler (appointment required; 15 W 47th St STE 906; 001 21230 22177).
TO STAY
Since 1930, the Carlyle, which has served as a base for countless dignitaries, celebrities and every US president since Harry Truman, has upheld its reputation as the most civilised hotel in New York City (rooms from £738; 001 21274 41600; rosewoodhotels. com). Most things remain unchanged; the black and white marble lobby, the Renzo Mongiardino-designed Gallery with its come-and-linger red-fringed velvet chairs and dazzling Turkishthemed wallpaper, and Bemelmans Bar (named for the Ludwig Bemelmans
murals adorning the walls), still an art-deco time capsule for classic cocktails and performances by pianist Earl Rose.
But every grande dame needs a niptuck. Tonychi studio has refreshed bedrooms with black lacquered panelling and textured walls, plus creamy, modernist furnishings to set off the sweeping views. Also new is Dowlings, a 1940s-inspired restaurant with a focus on tableside preparation of dishes such as salt-crusted branzino and Steak Diane. Another hotel that smacks of old-school Manhattan is the Lowell, which began serving the wellheeled in 1927 (rooms from £623; 001 21283 81400; lowellhotel.com). Its 74 rooms are classic luxe with cosy, piedà-terre touches, while Michelinstarred Majorelle beckons with French/Moroccan flavours and turnof-the-century glamour.
Covid rules Proof of vaccination required. Unvaccinated travellers are not permitted to enter the US. For more information, see fco.gov.uk