Darlene Love
Christmas is the season of Love — Darlene Love. The powerhouse Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, who sang with Elvis Presley, Dionne Warwick and Marvin Gaye, is perhaps best known for her holiday classic, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” Love, 75, lives in Rockland County these days, but always visits the city at Christmas. She tells LAUREN STEUSSY about her favorite holiday haunts.
I’ve been all over the world at Christmastime, especially in big places like London, [but] nothing, absolutely nothing, compares to New York City in the Christmastime. I usually stay at the Essex House. There are so many places to eat and drink around there. I always go to Landmarc in Columbus Circle when I’m craving a delicious bacon cheeseburger and fries. And I really like Porsena — I came across this place with Stevie Van Zandt, who lives in the neighborhood. [For a treat], I share a large frozen hot chocolate with my husband, Alton, from Serendipity 3.
The skating rink at Rockefeller Center is one of our favorite places to go. It’s nice and cold, we have hot chocolate, and we watch the skaters. It’s especially fun to watch the ones that can’t skate, the ones out there for the first time. You know, you laugh with them, you laugh at them. They show you a great time.
The Palm is one of our favorite places to eat dinner. The food is so good. You ask for a steak and they fix it exactly the way you want it fixed. And I don’t think they’re being really overnice to me because of who I am. You notice that they treat everybody that way.
Saturday is my day that I give to Darlene, where I don’t do anything but Darlene things. I try to get a massage once a week, usually at the Peninsula Spa on Fifth Avenue. It used to be where I said, “I can’t afford that.” Now, it’s that I can’t not afford it.
It’s Darlene time.
I always like to see the window displays at Macy’s, of course. You have to get there early to see the window because you almost have to stand in line. But that’s OK, it’s New York. It’s what we do! When I go shopping, I hear my song all the time. It never gets old. When I started my career off almost 40 years ago, you never think you’re gonna hear your song in the elevator or the grocery store or in the post office, but my music now is a part of Christmas, so I get to hear it quite often when I’m Christmas shopping. It does feel good, it does.