Seventh Heaven - Another Fashion Reunion Party

The month of May was less then merry for me. thanks to a few personal mishaps that I'd rather not get into here.  I desperately needed something to cheer me up.  Fortunately, there was the annual mid-spring event I always look forward to - model Nancy Donahue's and hairdresser Harry King's reunion party for fashion icons on the seventies and eighties, at the Soho Grand Hotel in New York.  Yes, another night to be surrounded by gorgeous models from the Me Decade and the Reagan years who have only become more beautiful with age.              

And how do I get to go these parties when I was in grade school and middle school in the seventies and in high school and college in the eighties - and would never have been allowed in Studio 54 even if I had been old enough to go?  Again:  When you run a blog depicting beautiful women that includes the most gorgeous women of the golden age of modeling, you get attention and acceptance from those same legendary beauties. :-D

And, of course, I took pictures.

Below are two women you all know from posts about previous parties - Halston muse Alva Chinn on the left, and Jany Tomba on the right.  Both were among the pioneering black models of the seventies, and Alva was one of the stars of the famous 1973 Versailles show in which a multiracial group of American women modeling for Halston dispensed with protocol and showed up their French counterparts. Jany did a lot of ads for cosmetics and also appeared on the cover of Essence.  They are both strong, confident women who are happy with who they are and have no problem sporting gray hair . . . because they know that gray is beautiful! :-)

My dear friend Bhavaja Kat was also in attendance, as was one of my new friends - Beverly Lee, and I don't mean the woman who sang in the Shirelles.  Beverly Lee is the groundbreaking model of East Asian ethnicity who opened doors for women of all Asian backgrounds in modeling, and she was enthusiastically glad to see me at this party.  Before we met at one of Nancy's and Harry's parties, I only knew her as a still image, but now I have enjoyable conversations with her at these parties . . . which is difficult to do, what with all of the loud disco music.  Below are Bhavaja Kat and Beverly Lee (who are friends) with model Coco Mitchell second from right, joined by musician Earl Davis.

Earl Davis runs Project Brownstone, a non-profit organization that, in the words of its Facebook page, "applies a holistic approach to empowering and developing underserved youths in Harlem by using education as a tool."  It helps try to get kids in Harlem to see themselves as leaders.

I also got a picture of Beverly in profile, while was taking to makeup artist Pam Geiger.

The kid on the left is Dante Spinelli, whose father Tony was one of the leading male models of the seventies.  I'm assuming that he's reacting to Beverly's enduring beauty . . .

. . . which I captured perfectly in this photo of her with hairdresser-turned-real estate agent Daniel Cohen.

You'd be amazed how many people in the fashion business have started second careers in real estate.  Heck, I know of a woman who used to be a TV reporter who's know a real estate agent, so there's something about the field that's appealing. 

And the modeling profession certainly attracts a lot of appealing women . . . as evidenced below. 

Here's photographer Dustin Pittman with three of my favorite ladies, all among the sweetest and dearest women in modeling of all time - from left, Kim Charlton, Shanti Patty Owen, and Yasmine Guenancia.  As the old Emerson, Lake and Palmer song goes, oooooooooooooh, what a lucky man . . . he was! :-D

I was lucky enough to get a picture of Kim Charlton solo, and even though I was aiming at a candid shot of her, she noticed me and blew me a kiss as I snapped the lens.

It's too bad my camera was slow.  But I still love her expression here.

Kim comes from as far and exotic place you can come from within the lower forty-eight - Seattle, the Emerald City.  She's very happy in Manhattan, thank you very much, which, as far as the fashion world is concerned, is Oz.  :-)

And what a mystical place New York City is, with all of these beautiful people!

Linda Morand, the iconic model from the sixties, was there resplendent in red . . .

. . . as was model Asia Dyrkacz, with a gentleman friend.  Asia spent most of the night twirling her pins; when the DJ played the Bee Gees' "You Should Be Dancing," she took that advice very very seriously!  So getting a picture of her in a seated position was a fantastic stroke of luck. 

And now, a group photo of a whole bunch of beautiful people! 

Yes, that's Nancy Donahue, the hostess of the evening, looking just divine in a white dress, joined by from left, model and musician named Seth Adanmenoukon, Kim Charlton, Seth's dad Ja'Dee Murphy, Dustin Pittman, Asia Dyrkacz,  Yasmine Guenancia and Fred DeVito.  Fred is another friend of mine, a chap worked on newspaper ads for Bloomingdale's.  It was one of his ads that introduced me to the beauty of German model Margrit Ramme, another friend of mine (who, sadly, was not at this party).

Nancy is nothing if not a superb hostess.  Whenever you're at one of her parties, she's everywhere.  You can't escape her (and why would you want to?).  Here she lives it up on the dance floor. :-)

Party on, Nancy! :-) 

And here she is letting her hair down . . . literally.

Speaking of hair, Tony Spinelli, whom I already mentioned here, has perfect hair; I envy his ability to keep it straight and in place even in the middle of summer (the 2015 reunion party was in August; he kept his hair perfectly neat while I constantly had to fix mine! :-D).  But that's in part what made him one of the top male models of his day and why he's still the most handsome guy at these parties, which in turn explains why all the women still like to pose with him - including his fellow models Jennifer Backus . . .

. . . and Jennifer Brice.

And if there were any other Jennifers there, I missed them.  But I was more than overjoyed to see Jennifer Brice, whom I first met at Nancy's and Harry's 2013 fashion reunion party.  Jennifer and I connected big time, and she was eager to tell me personally that she'd be at the annual party this time, having missed the previous five. She is a very special woman to me and she's a sweet and generous person, a joy to be with. Modeling agent Joey Hunter (with Jennifer, below) would certainly agree.

Okay, how do you know I took all of these pictures or was even really there?  Well, here's Jennifer with me. :-)

I not only posed for this picture, I took it - the first selfie I ever took that I look normal in!  But then I had a lot of initiative to get it right.  I was determined to get my picture taken with a model again, like I always do, and I'm glad it was Jennifer.  See, when I first met her in 2013, she became the first top model I ever kissed.  And if you want to know if I got to kiss her or any other legendary beauty in attendance this time . . . sorry, I'm not going to say any more.  That's privileged information.  But I do have one more photo to offer, the only picture on this blog post not taken by me . . .

This is me with Bhavaja Kat to my left.  The woman on the left of the photo is a woman named Renée Rimmer.  I regret that I don't know who the woman on the right is.  I also regret that I don't remember who took this photo.

Needless to say, a splendid time was guaranteed for all, even though the DJ didn't play any Beatles tunes, and I had just that.  How could I not, in the company of so many lovely women?  This was my seventh fashion reunion party, and it still floors me that, only ten years ago, I didn't know any of these models despite having idolized them when I was a teenager and I had no idea that featuring them on a blog would get their attention, their appreciation and their friendship.  And I remain grateful to Nancy Donahue for having me at these parties - she always makes sure I'm in attendance.  Thanks, Nancy.  :-)

Un . . . Deux . . . Trois . . . Book Signing!

The ongoing follies in the Washington and the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang distracted me from practically everything else, but I'm here today with something different . . . an account of a social event I went to in New York City back in January.

My friend Shanti Patty Owen, a former model and also an occasional actress, was one of the most sought-after models of the late 1970s and early 1980s.  Known for her fierce, fearless look, she's really a lovable sweetheart.  But life wasn't always glamour and sweetness for Shanti; she dealt with a sexual obsession that turned into an addiction that led to the most sordid lifestyle one could possibly imagine.  She has chronicled her dark period of sex addiction in her new book, "Memoirs of a Legal Courtesan," and she launched the book this past January 30 at Cafe Un Deux Trois in Manhattan.

Named for its location at 123 West 44th Street, Cafe Un Deux Trois is a charming little restaurant in the heart of New York's Theater District frequented by  many stage actors and actresses . . . and me.  I like to go here whenever I can, ever since I first became acquainted with it when top model Nancy Donahue and top hairdresser Harry King had one of their parties here - you know all about that!   Shanti chose this place for her book launch, and a lot of her friends showed up to buy copies of her book and get her autograph.  Alas, I couldn't afford a copy, but Shanti was nice enough to sign a promotional card for me.  And I got a lot of souvenirs in the form of pictures.    

This is Shanti Patty Owen, easily one of the nicest women you'll ever meet.  Here she is at Cafe Un Deux Trois all ready to sign copies of her book.

And here's her book. 

I have a feeling that the public library in my hometown would ban this book on the basis of the cover alone.  But Shanti is nothing if not frank about her past.    

Many of our mutual friends were there, including her fellow top model Alva Chinn, with whom she poses below.  Cool mirror image, huh? :-D.

She also received one of the most legendary models of all time, Linda Morand Phillips (below), who was modeling in Paris back in the sixties.  Of course, both Alva and Linda are friends of mine as well.   

Shanti spent two hours signing books, and she met with many of her old friends in the process.  Those of us who've only known her for a little while as well as her lifelong buddies were happy to support her in her literary endeavor. 

Yours truly got into the picture - literally - courtesy of art director and designer Fred J. DeVito, who has worked on many a fashion ad.  Here's  Fred's picture of me with my good friend Bhavaja Kat . . . 

  . . . and here's a smartphone pic of the two of us with male model Tony Spinelli.

No, I didn't change my shirt.  Some digital cameras reproduce color better than others.

It was a night to remember. like so many other nights with the veteran movers and shakers of New York fashion, and Shanti was as always a gracious hostess.  but then, she was amply surrounded by friends.

If your friends are there, then everything's all right. :-)    

You can buy Shanti's book here.

The Prisoner of Second Avenue

Perhaps no passenger rail line in the United States - not even any of the proposed high-speed intercity lines that never got past the proposal stage, bar a few lawsuits - has been delayed longer than the Second Avenue subway line in Manhattan, having first been proposed over a century ago but just beginning service less than a week from now, on New Year's Day 2017.  Work on the subway didn't actually begin until the early seventies, but the 1975 fiscal crisis and a shift toward more highway construction in the country in the 1980s put it on indefinite hold - at about the same time the New York City subway system became more famous for its violent crime, is filthy stations, and its graffiti-splattered cars than for quality service.  But, with the "crime and grime" era behind it and with demand for more trains on Manhattan's East Side continuing, New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is ready to go with the new Second Avenue line.  (One of its new stations is shown below.)

Well, not completely.  This is just the first phase, which runs from East 63rd Street to East 96th Street.  The entire line will connect East 125th Street in Harlem with Hanover Square near the Financial District in Lower Manhattan.  And just getting this first leg done has taken longer than expected.  The MTA has been accused of rushing things too quickly to get it done by an arbitrary completion date of January 1, 2017 . . . which is ironic, since the MTA has taken its sweet time even getting this far.  For most Upper East Siders, it can't happen too soon.  They've had to take the Lexington Avenue line, which handles more passengers than entire rapid-transit networks of Chicago and Washington, D.C. put together, and it's woefully overcrowded.  Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, is certainly pleased with this new line.  "New Yorkers have waited nearly a century to see the promise of the Second Avenue Subway realized," he recently said, "and after unrelenting dedication from thousands of hardworking men and women, the wait is over . . ..  The on-time completion of this major, transformative project reaffirms confidence in government competence, increasing capacity on the nation’s busiest subway system, and delivering a new, vital transportation artery to millions of New Yorkers."

Just as long as New York City and New York State can reassure beleaguered Manhattanites - who've had to deal with a rapid-transit-free Second Avenue since the elevated railway there was demolished in 1940 - that the rest of the line will be done in good time.  At least this much has been done.  Meanwhile, as President Barack Obama plans to leave office this coming January 20, not a single mile of his proposed national high-speed rail network has been built.  And unless California can overcome overwhelming odds and oddities (those lawsuits again), no high-speed rail will ever be built here.