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 The Day After
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| Postcard from Klosters on New Year's Day. |
New Year’s Eve in New York was a lot quieter this year from this writer’s perspective (and according to the cabbies), although those who watched the Ball drop in Times Square saw an entirely different story. However, on the Upper East Side, there were a lot of empty taxis for most of the night leading up to the midnight hour.
I went to Swifty’s with two longtime friends, Sassy Johnson and Barbara Preminger. The place was very festive and cozy with the ceilings covered with silver and gold balloons. Both rooms were packed with celebrating diners, and except for the occasional tin horn bleating out of nowhere, it was the typical vocal clatter of the restaurant. We dined on crab cakes, American paddlefish caviar, Dover Sole, champagne, and a variety of desserts all of which spelled chocolate in one way or another.
Fifteen blocks north Elaine’s was having its annual New Year’s dinner/bash with Elaine presiding of course, over her brood of famous and legendary regulars.
The evening had been sold out for days. So many people wanted to get in that they had to lock the doors. A celebrity-filled crowd -- a cross-section of New York "movers and shakers" congregating in the “Elaine’s” fashion -- shifting from one table to another wishing peace, joy, and good health to old friends and new.
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The ceiling at Elaine's |
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Paige Peterson |
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The institution that is Elaine’s is such that the waiters and Barry the chef, are great friends, and people look forward to going to Elaine's to see them. Elaine’s regulars and staff all know about each others’ kids, and when one of the waiters goes on vacation everyone says, "Hey, where is Tony? Where is Johnny?" They are the center of the Elaine's family.
The crowd felt totally at home, as they always do. It’s like a cozy private club where all your great friends show up and talk/ debate/schmooze/celebrate/console the evening away. A jazz and rhythm-and-blues band played through the night, and everybody danced into the wee of hours. Elaine never looked happier; she was in her glory.
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Elaine |
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| Barry the chef |
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| Marty Bregman and Ken Roberts |
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Great jazz |
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Dominic Chianese and Charlie Rose |
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| Ken Roberts, Author Stuart Woods, and Leslie Alexander |
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Christopher Cerf |
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Paige Peterson |
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| Cornelia Bregman |
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Christo and Jeanne-Claude |
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Dominic Chianese |
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| Meanwhile down in St. Barth’s where the boats were a-floating big time, there were a lot of New Yorkers (and a large contingent of the Hollywood set) celebrating celebrating celebrating where’er you looked. Any path you walked down was a “walk of fame”: Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, Martha Stewart, newlyweds Harvey Weinstein and Georgina Chapman, Ron Perelman, Nicolette Sheridan and Michael Bolton, Anne Hathaway, George Lucas, Kevin Spacey, Terrence Howard, Brett Ratner, Billy Zane, Roger Waters, Jon Bon Jovi, Penny Marshall, Russell Simmons, Rashida Jones, John Krasinski, Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes, Jimmy Buffett, Ashlee Simpson, Paul Allen, Google founder Sergey Brin, Lorne Michaels, Patrick Demarchelier, Andre Balazs, Larry Gagosian, Tamara Mellon, Samantha Boardman and Aby Rosen, Andrew Saffir and Daniel Benedict, Serena Boardman, Bob Colacello, Richard Meier, Nicolas Berggruen, Bettina Zilkha, Miguel Forbes, Rachel Zoe, Donny Deutsch, and Gilles Bensimon, to name only a few. |
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Looking towards the Eden Rock Hotel from Baie de St. Jean in St. Barth’s. |
Elizabeth Sans writes about an annual visit to Klosters over the holidays.
For nearly 30 years, since I was a small child, Klosters has been my home away from home during the Christmas/New Year or Sylvester holiday, as it is called here. Nothing much has changed in this old world, very Swiss village of about 3,500 residents. While modern conveniences are enjoyed, it remains unspoiled by the modern world.
Loyalty reigns supreme. The people who come here for the first time and love to return again and again. Teenagers can safely roam the tiny village, and stay out dancing at the discotheque until dawn without fear of any kind of harassment or danger. Parents can sleep at night.
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Liz and Stephen Sans |
With the exception of one recently renovated hotel, most are run impeccably, although several need facelifts. Ours, the Hotel Pardenn, has been the subject of gossip for the past several years. When the owners died, leaving no children or succession plan, the hotel was put into a trust, and after much squabbling over cousins who had never even met their benefactors, it was sold to some local developers, in conjunction with a Swiss hotel chain. At least this is what we are told.
We had been told that 2007 would be our last at the Pardenn, and so were thrilled when we received a lovely card last summer stating the “Pardenn” will open, albeit for its last run, December 2007 through March 2008.
Having grown up skiing here and other Swiss, Austrian and French ski towns, and having lived in Aspen for a few years, I am an enthusiastic skier. However, I also love to walk, read, have tea, and do the other things one wants to do on vacation, and certain towns are not quite as conducive to non alpine activities as others, Not so in Klosters.
In addition to lanlaffing (Nordic skiing), ice skating, tobogganing, carriage riding (right out of Currier and Ives), numerous hiking trails, and many excellent restaurants, even non-skiers can journey to the highest point in the graubunden region, the Weisflhugifel (2,800 meters), there are neighboring towns with activities as well.
The “cousin” mountain, as Davos is to Klosters (similar, yet very different) is a mere gondola ride, or 20-minute bahn ride away. The longest run in the world begins at the top of the aforementioned Weisflhugipfel and ends in Sernaus. One passes through Klosters on the way.
There are many hotels of all kinds in Davos, as well as many more restaurants shops and places of interest. There is the Schweitzer Museum, which I did not go into, as I was on a mission to find the Speigalzemnen museum, which is really a toy museum, which has a scaled replica of the sanitarium featured in Thomas Mann’s “The Magic Mountain.” The Bellevue, now a luxury hotel, had been a sanitarium for tuberculosis sufferers. But the amazing aspect of this museum was the Barbie exhibit. There were Barbie’s of every genre, beginning with the very first in that ubiquitous black and white maillot! There were Barbie’s of my vintage (1964-70) and some new one’s as well. Of course, the older Barbie’s were so marvelous, and upon learning the value of a pre-1970 Barbie in good condition, was thrilled I hade managed to hang on to several of mine. |
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We decided to check out Davos as a place to stay during the 2 years that our beloved “Pardenn” is being rebuilt. Perhaps we would like Davos? Home to the World Economic Forum each year? No, too big. It would be a great place had we not discovered Klosters first.
We also decided to check out St. Moritz with all its glitz. It is about two hours from Klosters with the recently built tunnel. We had to change trains twice. We were thinking we might come to St. Moritz next year. I had been there as a child with my family, but had no recollection of it. A quick 10-minute cab ride from the station to the “Centre Ville”, we passed the legendary Badrutt’s Palace. When the taxi abruptly stopped, in front of a UBS branch (UBS is like McDonald’s here), we got out to what looked like a charming little alpine village. A few steps up the hill, it was Gucci, Pucci, etc. everywhere you looked.
We went over to Hermes to replace a belt I’d lost. There were many blonde women in sable and chinchilla, buying scarves, belts, gloves, ashtrays, you name it. Their bored “wallets” stood in a distance with the black titanium AMEX waiting.
Time for lunch, I recalled the Chesa Viglia and Hanselman’s as the two places my parents most frequently talked about in St. Moritz, so we tried Chesa. A two-hour wait, we are told, and not graciously. So we tried Handselman’s. There, we were told that most tables were reserved. However, we saw people simply pushing the reserved signs away, and seating themselves, so we did the same. After a bit of a wait, a nice women took our order. |
Although St. Moritz had a certain je ne sais quoi, and the best hot chocolate I had had in a week, I missed Klosters, and could not wait to get back. Before hopping on the 4:04 train, we walked to the Palace to have tea and people watch. We were told at the front desk that they would be delighted to have us, but it was an entirely different story when we arrived in the gallery: no tables, all reserved. More big blondes, but at least 30 open tables. Shall we try our luck again? And I am about to remove the reserve sign, my darling husband said, “if we run, we can catch the 3:04 to Klosters, so run we do. Soon we were seeing the twinkling, welcoming lights of our little Village.
With the impending razing of the “Pardenn”, we decided we must look into the alternative for next year. There is a group of us, about 27 strong, that have been coming here for years, including many third generation Klosters visitors like me. We decided to narrow our list of hotels to two, and speak to the manager telling our story, of how we need about 15 rooms, and have been at the Pardenn, leaving our belongings there as well from year to year.
All the hotel managers were lovely and very accommodating -- even the “frosty” yet heart-of-god Klosters royalty Ruth Guler, proprietor of the Wynegg (home to many members of the British royal family) wanted to accommodate us. However, Madame Guler did tell us hat she has her regulars, and they get first priority, so nothing could be confirmed at the Wynegg. We asked if we might buy the Wynegg (pronaounced v-neck -- I was nearly serious) She said “one never knows ...” |
We decided on the Silvretta. Once owned by Peter Pulitzer (many moons ago), when I first came to Klosters, we stayed there. It has gone through a few changes of hands, been rebuilt and renovated a few times, and while does not exude that warm, old world feel that Pardenn does, it has a certain indescribable lure.
The rooms at the Silvretta are typical Swiss, with modern bathrooms, and all the rooms have either a north or south view, so even the “economy” level rooms are not bad. There is a full service spa, an Olympic sized swimming pool, and three dining room choices. They also offer just a stone’s throw away, the Gotschna Bahn, the tram that takes everybody to the slopes. That makes the Silvretta a desirable location too.
So, on leaving Klosters after this visit, we will again leave our belongings here (I have the same ski jackets and pants from 1986, when I lived in Aspen). We cross our fingers that the Hotel Pardenn gets another “stay” before execution, but at the same time, if not, we all feel that as long as we are together, in Klosters, all est klar! |
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Photographs by Paige Peterson (NY) and Liz Sans (Klosters). |
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