As I leave my “pink paradise” of Palm Beach and the Colony Hotel where I resided for three months, my heart is heavy. Happy to come home, but sad to leave!
When I arrived in Palm Beach in early January, I knew no one. But that changed over time thanks to some special people that I met. The people I leave behind until next year will forever have my gratitude and be in my heart.
My last weekend was filled with sweet farewells.
What better place to meet friends Donna Schneier and Stacey Baron than at the Colony Club, in a corner table, surrounded by palm trees and greenery.
Donna, an art dealer specializing in artists who design jewelry, has become like a sister to me and opened doors to people in her art world. It’s extraordinary — as soon as we met, Donna and I bonded as if we knew each other our whole lives.
What a treat it was joining her for lunch and meeting with Ghislain d’Humieres, the director of the Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach’s version of MoMA.
Then, we went south to Boca Raton to have lunch with Irvin Lippman, the director of the Boca Raton Museum of Art.
Sadly I will miss Donna’s Bijoux featuring jewelry artists from around the world in an exhibit and sale at the Boca Raton Museum of Art this week.
I remember how an old friend, Stacey Baron, living in New York, had lunch with me and mentioned she was going to Palm Beach. I jumped and told her I was thinking of opening Dan’s Papers in Palm Beach! She instantly invited me to stay at her apartment and show me the area.
That gave me courage to go down, explore and find a “home” for my monthslong stay.
I decided against finding an apartment and instead chose to look at a few hotels.
The Breakers Palm Beach felt too much like a convention hotel, with waves of people in every corner. Not a place to call home.
The Chesterfield Palm Beach was sold out. I then looked into The Brazilian Court Hotel, a small, quiet, intimate place. But the very dark “woods” in all the hallways felt depressing.
My next stop was to the Colony Hotel, which I instantly called the “Pink Palace” since the building is painted pink!
I walked into the lobby and it instantly put a smile on my face. The beautiful wallpapers and sitting areas made for an intimate feeling and I knew this was the place for me!
Through Dan Rattiner, I met his neighbor and friend Adele Fuchsberg and through her, I met Irene Fisher. Both became great friends.
On Saturday, I had lunch with Jane Hanson, who I knew from the Hamptons and also has a home in Palm Beach. Together, we created our new TV show, “Dan’s Papers Palm Beach Roundtable” featuring many people from the Palm Beach world and filmed at the COlony Hotel.
What fun to add a TV show that will be streaming over our many media websites that have over 9 million page views every month!
Jane, an Emmy Award-winning broadcaster who had been with NBC for over 25 years, is joining our PoliticsNY team. Lucky us!
My “spider web” of meeting people at the Colony Hotel had an unexpected addition.
While swimming in the pool one morning, I was joined by a Ford model being photographed poolside. She was using a “prop” of a heart-shaped, pink and baby blue patterned float. I asked where I could buy it and it turns out that LoveShackFancy, one of my favorite stores here and in the Hamptons, is creating a new home line, and that will be part of it!
The model shared that Rebecca Cohen, the owner of LoveShackFancy, was doing a pop-up shop for the people training with celebrity trainer to the stars Isaac Boots. There, he and his husband Jeffrey O’Brecht were all dressed in pretty pink.
Meeting Rebecca enabled me to suggest many symbiotic ways we can work together this summer in the Hamptons. After all, she won best designed table at the Hampton Classic, and hopefully she can design ours, too!
In tribute and gratitude for their friendship, on Saturday night I invited art dealer and sponsor of our Dan’s Papers Palm Beach edition’s front cover artist Ted Vassilev and his brilliant wife Simona Petrova to dinner with my dear friends from New York, now transplanted to Florida.
Peter Meyer, the Market President of TD Bank’s central Florida commercial division, and Senior Vice President of Citibank Denise Arbesu of Citibank. Both were former chairmen of the renowned Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce now living in West Palm Beach and joined us at Sant Ambroeus for dinner.
I picked it because the famed restaurant fits my “Golden Triangle,” meaning it reaches people in Palm Beach, the Hamptons and New York City, where our newspapers are distributed.
The food, paired with Ted’s excellent wine selection, made for a memorable evening.
As a bonus, Jean Shafiroff, another “Golden Triangle” friend, was at the next table! Ironically, she sponsored the back page of the February edition of Dan’s Papers Palm Beach and Ted sponsored the front page! A happy coincidence!
What a way to end a glorious stay in sunny south Florida. I can’t wait to return!
Welcoming the ‘Gray Lady’
With the closing of the New York Daily News presses that printed dozens of our newspapers, we transitioned to a new home for printing at the New York Times plant in Whitestone, Queens. At 8 p.m. on Sunday, March 20, my family and I watched with amazement and heard the buzz of the multiple presses spinning out our amNewYork Metro and Metro Philadelphia papers.
