MY WEEKEND:
Raoul Felder
Long before he brokered Rudy Giuliani’s divorce — and Robin Givens and Mike Tyson’s — Raoul Felder was just another poor kid in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a period he recalled in his 2012 memoir, “Reflections in a Mirror.” His next act? A book of short stories, “Dancers on a Dark Street,” out Nov. 15. These days, the 82-year-old “divorce lawyer to the stars” lives on Sutton Place with his wife of 50 years, Myrna. He tells BARBARA HOFFMAN about his typical New York weekend.
EVERY Saturday morning, we have breakfast with our daughter and granddaughter at Ping’s, a dim sum restaurant in Chinatown. I can’t tell one dish from the other, but anything that’s seafood without eyes, I’ll eat. My 15-year-old granddaughter will eat chicken claws — she’s adventurous.
After that, we’ll go to the bookstores: Barnes & Noble, Rizzoli, the Strand, the Mysterious Bookshop. I have between 2,000 and 3,000 books, and five copies of every book Raymond Chandler wrote. When I go to a strange city, I go to bookstores. Better than strip bars!
Every Saturday night, I have dinner with Jackie Mason and his wife, Jyll. We go to Piccola Venezia in Queens. It’s a great Italian restaurant — otherwise I wouldn’t go to Queens! Or we go to Le Périgord. I’ve never paid. Jackie says I don’t eat much, and it’s complicated to divide the check, so he tells me I can pay next week. It’s been 30 years — it’s always “next week.” They’ll cook anything for us.
If it’s good weather, we might go down to Brighton Beach [in Brooklyn]. It’s like the Jewish Riviera. You sit on the boardwalk, look at the water and watch the people walk by. I only go when there’s no wind blowing.
Sundays we’ll go to a flea market. My daughter takes me to some great ones in Williamsburg. One is an indoor place called Artists & Fleas; another serves only food, Smorgasburg. You can take the boy out of Williamsburg, but you can’t take the Williamsburg out of the boy.