Sophisticated Living St. Louis Jan/Feb 2024 by Sophisticated Living Magazine

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Jan/Feb 2024

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Deconstructed Decadence Written By Cortney Vaughn

SIGNATURE SENTIMENTS As we move toward bigger statement jewelry, there are clear nods to our favorite ‘70s themes that designers are embracing: both bold and minimalistic styles; sexy torque collars and layered long pendant necklaces; statement brooches and chunky cocktail rings, and glitzy diamond hoops and long drop earrings. Take our iconic Y Bracelet (pictured above) for example. Inspired and designed by Eric Siebert, and famously worn by Andy Warhol, the bracelet was sold around the world for many decades before Elleard Heffern purchased the design in the 1990s. It has since been the most covetable signature staple both in our store and on the arms of our clients. What’s your signature piece?

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{St. Louis' Finest}

Jan/Feb 2024

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The Movers and Shakers Ball

Photography by Suzy Gorman Photography

Jan/Feb 2024

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on the cover:

A Christine Corday Exhibit at the Contemporary Art Museum. Photo by Dusty Kessler

Digging Out of a Ditch

The Trip of a Lifetime

New. Next. Now.

Boffo for Boca

See Worthy

Just Bead It

Rabbit Hole

Natural Selection

Hey Now You’re An All Star

Over The Moon at Under Canvas

Night Moves

Champagne Dreams

The Diderot Effect

Of Friendship and Food Influencing

Sophisticated Celebrations

A Tasteful Affair Celebrating Childhood

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Friends of Kids with Cancer

The Movers and Shakers Ball

City Academy Celebrates 25 Years

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HATRED IS A DISEASE. IF THEY HATE ME, THEY WILL HATE YOU TOO.

PUBLISHER Craig Kaminer craig@slmag.net EDITOR IN CHIEF Christy Marshall EditorSTL@slmag.net DIGITAL CONTENT EDITOR Grayling Holmes DigitalSTL@slmag.net ADVERTISING Cortney Vaughn Cortney@slmag.net

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STAND UP T0 JEWISH HATE

Rachel Sokolich Rachel@slmag.net Karen Palmer Bland Karen.palmer.bland@gmail.com ______________________________________________ CONTRIBUTORS Writers Rosalind Early Craig Kaminer Christy Marshall Design Stephanie Grateke Photography Suzy Gorman Greg Rannells Carmen Troesser ________________________________________________ SOPHISTICATED LIVING MEDIA Eric Williams Bridget Williams Greg Butrum Jason Yann

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Sophisticated Living® is published by High Net Worth Media, LLC and is independently owned and operated. Sophisticated Living® is a registered trademark of Williams Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Sophisticated Living® is published six times a year. All images and editorial are the property of High Net Worth Media, LLC and cannot be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission. Annual subscription fees are $25.00; please add $5 for subscriptions outside the US. Single copies may be purchased for $5 at select fine retail outlets. Telephone 314-82-SLMAG.

SLMAG.NET

From the Editor-in-Chief

For decades, I made New Year resolutions. Spend less. Save more. Go to the gym. Lose 15 pounds. None of it ever happened. In the last few years, that list has shimmied down to one: Be kind. The older I get, the less impressed I am with anything but kindness. Sadly, I care about it more in a world where it happens less and less. I grew up in St. Louis under the proverbial crystal bell jar. I had warm and loving parents; my sister, brother, and I wanted for nothing; we lived in a lovely house in University City; we went to great schools, and we all made wonderful friends— several we still consider our nearest and dearest. But there were hairline cracks in the glass. Hate crept in. When I was six, my father hired a couple from Mississippi to take care of our farm. Sam and Leler Scurlock. You could not find finer people. Period. They were simply the best — in every way. But they were also the first Black Americans to move into our patch of Jefferson County. The reaction was horrific. Feces left in our mailbox. Threats. Hateful telephone calls interspersed with obscenities. I remember once when my brother, Jay, and I answered the phone. I stood next to him sharing the receiver but not really understanding what was being shouted. But I felt the hate when I heard it. Jay, then about 9, gathered all his nerve and timidly admonished the man spewing the venom. Then he hung up. I couldn’t fathom what being ostracized for simply being who you are was until years later. After college, I moved to London thinking I had a job when, without a work visa in my name, it suddenly vanished. I had to pivot quickly and find another. I became an au pair in a tiny town outside of Glasgow. It was idyllic except for the fact that I was a Protestant and the family who hired me was Catholic. They didn’t care but everyone else in the town certainly did. The line was drawn. It wasn’t Northern Ireland but it felt an awful lot like it. The village’s priest had to hire a Protestant housekeeper because the local store wouldn’t sell him food. One day walking home, I encountered a small band of lads who threw rocks at me at the same time they loudly damned me as a “Proddy dog.” Of course, while it was stunning, it was nothing, absolutely nothing, in comparison to what others have suffered. I grew up in a world where manners were paramount; speaking back to an adult forbidden; where you did your best to stick to the script your parents handed you practically at birth. Today, the rules have changed. People sass back and are cruel. Really cruel. We see it every day. Everywhere. 24/7. We live now in a world when public figures mock people with disabilities. Where people call each other names … on national TV. Where all kinds of racism runs rampant. Where danger dominates and where kindness is scarce. Far. Too. Scarce. Our world has evolved into a perilous place. The new circuit attorney, Gabe Gore, assured me that he feels no fear living and working in downtown St. Louis. Maybe not. But the week after that interview, a person was murdered in an apartment on Wydown in Clayton. There was a carjacking in Ladue. Maybe Mr. Gore doesn’t feel fear in the city because nowhere is safe anymore. We live in a nation where there are 120 guns for every 100 Americans and in a state that eschews federal firearms mandates. It’s terrifying. So I’ve decided that my resolution for 2024 is to fight for the underdog, help the vulnerable, advocate for sanity—and against haters. To do the right thing. And, above all else and without exception, to be kind.

Christy Marshall, Editor in Chief EditorSTL@slmag.net

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K E L L Y J O H N S O N D E S I G N . C O M

DIGGING OUT OF A DITCH Gabe Gore was named St. Louis Circuit Attorney when the office was in a state of complete chaos and violent crime had reached epidemic proportions. By Christy Marshall / Portrait by Suzy Gorman

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Taking over as the Circuit Attorney of St. Louis in 2023 was a lot like grabbing the helm of a dinghy in the middle of a hurricane. The staff had dwindled to less than two dozen attorneys, police were requesting arrest warrants that were never issued, homicides went unprosecuted, crime climbed steadily, and the person in charge, Kim Gardner, was pursuing a nursing degree … in her spare time. Hello, Gabriel Gore. Appointed last May by Missouri Gov. Mike Parsons, Gore was tasked with bringing the office back from the brink. A reluctant politician in a keenly political job, Gore left the comfy confines of the blue-chip Clayton law firm Dowd Bennett to assume what had to be the hottest seat in town. Yet he was composed. Collected. And now, eight months later and in somewhat calmer waters, it appears Gore is successfully righting the ship. “It has been said that it is one of life’s great blessings to have the opportunity to work on important work,” Gore says. “That’s what we have in this office. In droves.” His road to becoming a lawyer began in Detroit. He was in grade school—12 or so. “In grade school, I was not known as a particularly stellar student,” he admits. “I was considered a behavioral problem, which really stemmed from the fact that I came from a house of six kids and we kind of ran wild. So, it didn’t seem to me that I shouldn’t be doing that at school.” Then, in 7th grade, he took a civics class, mandated by Michigan State law. “We got into some of the landmark Supreme Court cases, Marbury v. Madison, Brown v. Board, that kind of stuff,” he says. “I just found the subject matter fascinating.” A teacher who had spotted Gabe as a potential problem noticed he was finally engaged and interested. “He was the first one to tell me, I’d make a great lawyer someday,’” Gore says. “That was the beginning of that interest, and it just kind of continued. In my mind, I started saying, ‘Well, yeah, I guess I’ll be a lawyer if I’m not a professional basketball player.” Then there was Miss Dick, “the meanest teacher in the 7th grade. “She was the one who made it her own point to make sure that I was not a behavioral problem,” Gore says, laughing. “I spent a lot of time with her. But she was also very encouraging. She started putting me into things that were for the more academically inclined students. She volunteered me to be in a creative writing contest and she put me in this quiz show, like a mock ‘Jeopardy’ game that you did in front of the assembly. It was always the really smart kids up there, and everybody suddenly was like, ‘What??! Gabe’s up there?’ And she had done that.” When Gabe was 14, his father, already working at Chrysler, was transferred to St. Louis to reopen a plant to build minivans. “Our joke about my dad is that ‘he’s easy like a Sunday morning,’” Gore says. “He’s a very hard worker. At Chrysler, you work first shift, second shift, third shift—your shift goes from three until two in the morning. For most of his career, he was working twelve-hour shifts because you’re building as many cars as you can.”

The move from Motor City to West County was a culture shock. Urban to what was then rural. All black to nearly all white. “In my school in Detroit, you could count the number of white people on one or two hands,” Gore recalls. “And then I went to a school that was predominantly white where there were maybe 20 black students.” He ran track, played basketball, made friends, and again caught the eye of a couple teachers. “I took a class at Parkway called Pre-Law,” he recalls. “It was a law class taught by Mr. Regenbogen. He was a young guy. He always talked about how he went to, like, eight different colleges before he graduated. He taught the law class because he did two years of law school, and he quit because he decided he wanted to be a teacher.” Regenbogen, too, assured Gore that he had the makings of a fine lawyer. So, when he enrolled at Missouri State University in Springfield, he declared his major, pre-law, on the first day. He was assigned a pre-law advisor, a professor by the name of Alice Fleetwood Bartee. “She was really huge for me,” Gore says. “I never had a lawyer in my family. I knew nothing about the process.” She taught him how the world of law worked. He was the first Southwest Missouri State University student to go to University of Chicago Law School. There, in a class on criminal procedure, he met his future wife, Nicole Reid. They married in 2006. She’s now associate dean in the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards at Washington University. Their daughter, Grace, graduated from Wash. U. and now lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., working in crisis management public relations. Their son, Zachary, is a junior at Wash U. Hanging on the wall of Gore’s office in the Carnahan Courthouse is a series of framed documents carefully hung in chronological order. There is his letter from U.S. Federal Court of Appeals Judge John R. Gibson accepting Gore’s resignation at the end of his clerkship. Then his appointment to the United States Attorney’s office of the Eastern District of Missouri, where he worked in the violent crime unit. Then another letter, signed by then U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, assigning him to the federal investigation of the Waco siege. Gore had moved on to private practice at Dowd Bennett before being tapped to take the Circuit Attorney job. Waiting for him when he arrived was a backlog of 4,500 still pending applications for warrants that had been made by the police but had not been issued. “I said, ‘Day One, if you’re in a ditch, what’s the first thing you do? You stop digging.’ So, I’m like, let’s start fresh today, and let’s make sure we’re not creating any more backlog.’” Gore reopened the warrant office and informed the police of a new procedure: “You don’t have to just email your application for warrants in. We want you to come in in person. We want you to bring your witnesses, bring your victims. We want you to explain to us your evidence, and we’re going to make a charging decision that day about whether or not we’re going to charge this person.” slmag.net

Chief Warrant Officer Steve Capizzi, Director of Diversion Programs Jennifer Lorentz, Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore, Victim Advocate Kathleen Small

Gabe Gore with one of his new hires, the Hon. George W. Draper III

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Now, he says, the vast majority of cases worth pursuing are charged within 24 hours of application. After he stopped digging, Gore immediately started adding staff—and rehiring attorneys who fled under Gardner. They started to plow through the 6,700 filed applications “to identify the most serious cases right away,” Gore says. They also found 250 homicides in the backlog. After eliminating cases that were no longer valid due to the statute of limitations, that lacked sufficient evidence to proceed, or had been filed multiple times, the attorneys were able to whittle the number down to 4,176 cases. From the end of June to December, Gore’s office filed charges in more than 2,650 cases. (Kim Gardner filed about 1,460 over the same period, a year prior.) When Gore arrived, the Circuit Attorney’s office was staffed with 22 trial attorneys and three others working exclusively on child support. He’s added 24 attorneys and 14 support staff — and he says it’s still not nearly enough. “Ideally, you would probably want a homicide prosecutor carrying 40 cases,” Gore says. “I would say our homicide prosecutors are currently carrying probably 80 to 100. In violent crime, you might want an attorney covering carrying 60 to 80. Our violent crime attorneys are probably carrying 100. General felony attorneys, you probably want carrying, like, 200 cases. We’ve got general felony attorneys carrying 300 cases each.” But as hard as Gore works and as many warrants are issued and trials held, fears of downtown crime persist. The Circuit Attorney argues that those fears are unwarranted. “I am here every day,” he says. “Me, and my staff, we’re here every day. I feel safe here. I live in the city. I walk to lunch. I go for drinks after work. There’s no doubt that in St. Louis we have a violent crime epidemic. I think the perception that downtown is not safe is a misperception. There’s too much violent crime in all areas of our city, but it really is concentrated in our lower socioeconomic areas, where you have the violence at epidemic proportions and where our office is focusing most of our attention. Downtown is not one of those areas.” But as misconceptions linger and the number of guns on the streets climbs, the daily grind of pulling out of a past administration’s morass is overwhelming. But clearly Gore is willing to wage the fight. In early December he announced that he would be running in the November 2024 election to keep his current job. A man who clearly suffers no fools, he was initially reluctant to recast himself as a politician. “I never signed up to be a political candidate,” he says. “I am an attorney.” That future was settled at age 12. Now that the office has stopped digging and started untangling the chaos he inherited, Gore can run on his record. His accomplishments veer beyond the courtrooms. He added Leann Mosby as the Director of Community Engagement in order to create relationships between the public

Gabe and Nicole Gore

and his office. He hired veteran Post-Dispatch journalist Christine Bertleson as his public information officer to ballyhoo the office’s successes. Gore has also reorganized the office’s diversion programs. In a press release heralding his first six months as Circuit Attorney, Gore said: “When I took office, there were fewer than 40 participants in all our diversion programs and partnerships with the Circuit Court. In next six months, we anticipate that there will be about 300 participants in our felony and misdemeanor diversion programs. In addition, we will be much more active in utilizing our the 22nd Judicial Circuit’s Treatment Courts.” Now Gore’s task is reversing the tide, making St. Louis safer, and running to keep his job. “When I said failure is not an option, it is not an option that we have a failed circuit attorney’s office in the city of St. Louis,” Gore says. “This office has to function, and it has to function effectively... That is something everyone in the city has to be engaged in.” sl slmag.net

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Great views of downtown Florence abound from the various overlooks near Piazzale Michelangelo.

THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME

If I ever disappear from St. Louis, look for me in Florence. Written and photography by Craig Kaminer

What better way to celebrate key milestones in life such as a 35th wedding anniversary and our 60th birthdays than with our kids and dear friends in the place where it all began for us in Florence, Italy? While there is no shortage of love stories told about the Tuscan countryside and cuisine, ours started in 1985 — and is still going strong. And to share this place with adult kids and great friends was a dream come true…truly an unparalleled experience. For many, a once-in-a-lifetime trip takes them to faraway places they have never been before and are unlikely to ever see again. But for us, we returned to where we first met and have returned many times since. This time, we stayed in a well-appointed three-bedroom apartment on the Arno, and we and our guests lived the lives of Florentine locals. Feeling like a native was the best feeling of all and by the end of the trip we referred to Florence as our city, just as our tour guide did about her beloved Firenze where her family had lived for hundreds of years. Florence is just that kind of place. Walking the same streets as the Medici, following in the footsteps of Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Galileo, Dante, and many others who had the vision to change the course of history through the patronage of the arts and to pack a city with visitors as the envy of the world to this very day, is unlike any other experience I have had. Some cities have great war histories, ancient ruins, citizens whose names we all know, or wild animals roaming the tundra. Florence has it all: the foothills of the majestic Tuscan

country, the Chianti wine region, and small hill towns one more charming than the next, and each chock full of truffles, porcini mushrooms, wild boar, and vineyards as far as the eyes can see. I first visited Florence in 1984 as a senior study abroad student from the University of Michigan. I was eager to complete my studies and become a restoration architect. Fifty students and our professors lived in a fabulous villa near San Domenico on the outskirts of Florence and a few minutes by car to Fiesole, the small Roman and Etruscan hill town from which Florence was born. Our classrooms were either in the villa or on-site at the many landmarks we studied. This time, our home was at Sonderini Lugarno 1 which is right on the Arno, two bridges down from the Ponte Vecchio known for its jewelry stores which have catered to tourists and locals alike for hundreds of years. In fact, it was the only bridge in Florence the Nazis spared when they occupied the city during WWII. Our location was across Ponte Carraia in the Santo Spirito area known for its artisan workshops and the Augustinian church designed by Brunelleschi – who also designed and completed the great Dome of the Florence Cathedral (Duomo) – and today is best known for its quintessential Renaissance design. We chose this spot to be out of the centro where crowds of people congregate at all times of day and night, and to be closer to one of the more authentic parts of Florence where the artisans still work and the restaurants cater to the people of the neighborhood. And it turned out to be perfect. slmag.net

Garage full of vintage Fiat 500’s and Vespa’s available to rent.

The apartment was large, lovely, and following a restoration by a father and daughter, newly on the AirBnB rental market. While it didn’t have hundreds of 5-star reviews (yet), after speaking with the owner Sophia, I had the sense this was the perfect location and ideal place for a month. It was. Since coming on the market, it has only received rave reviews. (https://tinyurl.com/35hy5xpn) During our stay, our two sons, our daughter-in-law, and four groups of close friends visited, each staying from four to six days. As we were preparing for this trip, I reached out to three of the au pairs who had helped us raise the boys 30 years earlier and with whom we have stayed in touch via social media despite their living in Denmark or Sweden. Furthermore, they didn’t know each other as they were never in St. Louis with us at the same time, but one month before we left the United States for Florence, the au pairs announced on a group text that they were all coming to visit us. At that point, I panicked a little not knowing what the expectations were (when they were au pairs we paid for all of their travel, accommodations, and food) and my kids were concerned that the au pair time would infringe on the family time. Suffice it to say, it all worked as I had hoped, and the experience was one of the highlights of the trip. Despite not having seen each other in 30 years, it felt like yesterday when they stood in our kitchen crying when they had to leave the boys they helped raise. I felt that way when they left 22 slmag.net

Photo of Sienese chef taking his lunch after a long shift.

Florence this time, and of course, my kids loved every minute of it, too. They didn’t remember the au pairs as they were very young, but they sensed a deep connection based on the stories and photos they shared with us now. They sang lullabies they had taught our kids, and surprisingly they were extremely familiar to us all 30 years later. For anyone who knows us, you know the highlight of any Kaminer family trip centers around food. Our sons, PJ and Bear, (and to a lesser extent my wife, Debbie, and daughter-in-law Emily) took charge ordering everywhere we went. Did we have leftovers? Of course not. These kids ate like there was no tomorrow. Some of the restaurant highlights were: Angiolino, Chingale Bianco, Cammillo, Osteria Vini et Vecchia, Club Culininaria, Il Santo Bevitore, Neromo, and 4 Lioni. Of course, one of our personal favorites is La Spada and we’ve been going there for 40 years since our days as study abroad students. The Tuscan food is so delicious that many nights we ate the exact same thing from the night before; we couldn’t get enough of it. We always started with a pasta course with fresh porcini mushrooms or black or white truffles, followed by roasted chicken, a veal chop, or a 2-inch-thick piece of Bistecca Fiorentina. The fresh spinach was so good (and good for you) that we ate it daily. Of course, there were exceptions to this daily diet when we ate pasta with pesto, carbonnara, caccio e pepe, chingale (wild boar) or vongole (clams). The food never disappointed us. No restaurant

Sign leading guests to Giulio the Truffle Hunter’s home.

Spectacular view from the bar atop of the Excelsior Hotel.

was more than $50 per person including amazing wine and a tip (which in Italy is not expected). Frequently, we enjoyed gelato twice a day — at least I did. On the first floor of our building was an excellent gelateria named Gelateria de Carraia, but we found smaller boutique gelaterias called Gelateria della Passera and Sbrino that combined the freshest ingredients, unusual flavor profiles and artistry which called to our senses frequently. During the days we had a variety of fun-filled adventures. We did a truffle hunt with Giulio the Truffle Hunter and his team of truffle-sniffing Lagotto Romagnolo dogs. Giulio lived a short taxi ride away in the hills overlooking Firenze so it was easy to get there and back without turning it into an overnight experience. Following our hunt, which yielded seven black winter truffles, Guilio shared one of his prized white truffles he found just the day before. We went back to his house where he prepared a typical Tuscan meal with a first course of cured meats, cheese, olive oil, and shaved truffles; followed by fresh mozzarella cheese with Tuscan olive oil with shaved black truffles; and then homemade pasta with the white truffles which filled the room with their distinctive perfume. We were stuffed but we were still able to make room for the dessert course. Another day we signed up for a Vespa adventure in the hills surrounding Firenze. The day started out slowly while we waited for late guests and went through a safety check to make sure everyone could drive safely. Eventually, we got onto the roads, zipping by monasteries,

Santo Spirito and the artisan district where we lived.

Galileo’s home, multiple vineyards, and of course, the Cypress treelined Tuscan countryside that once you see, you’ll never forget. With the wind in our faces, we traveled around the hillside, ending up at the Romanesque church of San Miniato al Monte, and terraced overlooks which were perfect for taking photos with the Duomo in the background. The experience was excellent, but we decided to rent our own Vespas another day without the restrictions of the group, That was even better and we had the chance to see where we had once lived (Villa Bosco Bello near San Domenico), eat at the neighborhood pizzeria up the block, which is still owned by the same family, and stop at the Piazzale Michelangelo to take a group shot where we had taken so many before but couldn’t resist the opportunity for one more memory. We slowly drove back to the Vespa rental location, stopping at a variety of places, and relishing the fact that for once we were able to drive in the center of town which are typically off-limits to cars. It was electrifying…literally, as we rented the all-electric 125 Vespa which are only available in Europe. In all of my travels, our tour guide Sara Papini is the best…and unforgettable. She reads her audience perfectly and makes each tour fun and invigorating. Our kids noodled me before the tour acting as if I wanted to punish them and make them go “on a tour.” By the end, they wanted Sara to eat lunch with us and be with us every day. She is a true Florentine and so proud of the city’s amazing history, art, and culture. slmag.net

A typical morning walk along the Arno.

View overlooking the first century BC Roman Theatre in Fiesole.

During our stay in Florence, Sara led us on the following tours: The Uffizi Galleries, The Food and Artisans of Florence, and the Accademia where Michelangelo’s David stands in all his naked glory, and finally an in-depth tour of the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella. Sara has the unique skill of selecting the highlights of each location, presenting the history in manageable bites, and always adding humor to the history—like when my wife asked why David didn’t have a larger penis? Sara had the answer. She took us to the original pharmacy at the convent known to be the oldest still functioning. It is where herbal medicines were made during the Renaissance, and then later perfume, soaps and other aromatic housewares. It continues to create these to this very day. Once we rented a car and drove to The Mall which is a fabulous luxury outlet mall with Gucci, Prada, Brunello Cucinelli, Armani, Balenciaga, Loro Piana, Bottega, Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, TOD’s, and much more. If you’re a shopper and covet these brands but would prefer to pay 40 percent less, it’s worth the halfday trip. We drove thru Chianti on the way back, had lunch in Greve, and ended up at a vineyard called Verrazzano (as in the 24 slmag.net

PJ Kaminer proving that every meal in Italy is good to the last drop.

Our guide Sara Papini at the Uffizi.

Typical market where you can pick up the freshest ingredients.

Verrazzano Bridge in NYC) taking a tour, having a tasting, buying some wine and balsamic vinegar, and heading back to Florence in time to drop off the rental car in order to avoid a late fee. Another day we drove to the ancient walled city of Lucca. It was charming with lots of history. Most notably, Lucca was able to remain independent from Florence which conquered most of the cities in its reach. We walked many of the streets, stopping for cappuccini and biscotti (also called cantucci) before wandering into the town square (actually it is a circle). In need of some water and wine, the kids selected a restaurant with a thoroughly modern take on Tuscan food. In truth, it was very good, but in our collective opinion, the traditional Tuscan recipes are best left alone. We continued the journey to the other side of Lucca, stopping to climb a bell tower and see miles around the city and to listen to a street musician who played his guitar, kept rhythm on the body of the instrument, while singing and tap dancing at the same time. He was quite talented and as the crowd would suggest, he is an Italian troubadour or better yet Sgt. Pepper. Then we made our way in the direction of the car. Before we got there, my eldest son

5 glasses of wine later, happy guest Julie Marcus and childhood friend Debbie Kaminer at Osteria di Passignano.

Chef Matteo Giuliani with his finest students (l to r) Craig and Debbie Kaminer and Jeff and Katie Brodsky.

The small town or hamlet of Volpaia in Chianti which boasts a population between 26 and 40 depending on the season.

suggested that we rent bikes and ride atop of the ancient walls (kind of like the High Line in New York City but thousands of years old). Despite being exhausted, how could I say no? So we did it and it was great! On the ride back to our apartment, the whole car was asleep until we pulled up to the building. A couple of our friends surprised us with a day-long cooking experience. It started when Chef Matteo Giuliani from thecookingtouch.com met us outside our apartment and led us to his favorite small grocer for some fresh vegetables and fruit. We learned of his history as a top chef and his need to give up the chef ’s life to raise a family. Lucky for us, he was quite handsome and charming — as I was reminded repeatedly by my wife — and made a 5-course lunch from scratch. Matteo’s kitchen, called The Cooking Lab, was more like a studio with large pane glass windows overlooking the Ponte Vecchio and Arno River, which he said was owned by the Ferragamo family. We watched and asked questions, and Debbie decided to jump into action and help make the fresh pasta for the ravioli. Our meal included stuffed zucchini flowers, fresh artichoke-and-tomato salad, made-from-scratch

ravioli and gnudi (pasta-less ravioli), a fresh hot lava cake, and, of course, gelato made from the in-season persimmon. On top of this, each course was paired with a wine so by the end of the experience we were drunk and full. But o dio it was good. While I always prefer the family owned trattorias, osterias, and rosticcerias, our day trip to visit the Antinori-owned Badia a Passignano and the hamlet of Volpaia arranged by our closest friends was truly the highlight of the trip. We were picked up in front of our apartment by a private Sprinter van and driven to the Badia located in the heart of the Chianti region where we were dropped off at an ancient monastery dating back to 395 AD and founded by the Archbishop of Florence. Today it is inhabited by the monks and one nun of the Vallombrosian order who remain custodians of its cultural and historical treasures tending to their gardens and grapes, but have turned the wine production over to the Antinori family. We were greeted by Gabriele Gorelli, the director of the Osteria di Passignano (https://tinyurl.com/ yc2rvdm7) who led our *four-person private tour and who personally oversaw our 5-course lunch and wine tasting. slmag.net

Double rainbow on the last evening in Florence.

We started with a sampling of three different and unique Tuscan olive oils and a glass of 2021 Where Dreams produced by Jermann. It was followed by guinea fowl in milfoil pastry paired with the namesake red 2020 Badia a Passignano Chianti Classico. No one thought they would like the guinea fowl, but we all did and the Chianti Classico was the best we have ever had. Next, we had gnocchi made with veal cheek and spring onions and paired with the incomparable 2020 Tignanello. We all sampled the awardwinning Super Tuscan and immediately asked for a refill. The pairing was perfetto. Then we graduated to a perfectly prepared veal course with Cartoccio potatoes paired with 2020 Guada al Tasso, Marchesi Antinori’s super-stylish Bolgheri Superiore Bordeaux blend. The color is intense, almost black with a shiny, purple rim. If this wasn’t enough, we were served a variety of Tuscan cheeses and a 2018 Maggiarino Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. As a special treat, Gabriele served us some very rare Biondi Santi Brunello. Despite not being from the Antinori collection, it was the perfect compliment to the perfect day. Before rushing off to our next tasting, we were served petit fours and coffee by our incredible hosts. Each course and wine pairing was great in their own right, but when served one after the other with each being better than the former, it is one of those experiences we will likely never have again…ever. Glancing down at our watches, we noticed that we were late for our next wine tour at Volpaia, which was 50 minutes away. So we rushed out, thanking everyone for their hospitality, but missing the chance to buy some wines and olive oil directly from the producer so we could ship it home. Don’t worry. I followed up with Gabriele and he sent a case that arrived in three weeks. When we arrived in Volpaia, everyone in the van was asleep but we quickly mustered up a second wind to explore this little town—called a hamlet by the inhabitants— where just 26 full-time residents live. Sure, the town swells to 40 during the wine production season, but the raw simplicity, serenity and smell of the earth was 26 slmag.net

intoxicating…as was the wine. We sampled four or five more wines, all featuring the Sangiovese grapes, but the last, their Super Tuscan called Volpaia Coltassala, was truly excellent. Chianti Classico still reigns supreme in Tuscany but I prefer the Super Tuscans which blend the Sangiovese grapes with cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and/or merlot. I simply like the taste of the oak and the smoothness of the blend. But this is still a controversial topic among the locals who have fought against the new world Super Tuscans. Regardless, Italian wines are best paired with foods compared to drinking without and these were among the very best. We didn’t go to Montalcino this trip to sample the newer vintages of Brunello, but that is reserved for the next trip—and the next story. Florence’s weather in October was warmer than I remember. The days were mainly sunny with temperatures climbing as high as 85 degrees and the nights dropping back into the 60’s. Just as we were preparing to come home to St. Louis we had a cold snap where the temps never rose above 70 and the nights were a brisk 50. It rained most of the day on our last day but it cleared by late afternoon. Just as I stepped out on the terrace overlooking the Arno to take a picture, I saw it…a double rainbow. I interpreted it as Florence saying arriverderci and welcoming us again for when we return. And we will. I have experienced many great places in the world, some for a short stay, and others for an extended period. But I can truly say Florence is my favorite. Maybe it’s the fact that I met my wife there, or because I know it like the back of my hand, but everything about the center of the Renaissance speaks to me…the art, the politics, the city planning, the colorful characters, and certainly the food. If I disappear from St. Louis one day, you should first check Florence as that’s where I hope to spend my life…amongst the art and artists. sl *It should be noted that our friends who arranged the Antinori and Volpaia experiences and who were supposed to be on this trip with us, had to stay home at the last moment to care for a sick parent, and unfortunately missed this unforgettable culinary and wine indulgence which they would have loved. Thankfully his father is recuperating as planned and we hope to have many more adventures together in the future...

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NEW. NEXT. NOW. CAM captures the city’s love of contemporary art By Craig Kaminer / Additional photos by Greg Rannells Before CAM was the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, it was the First Street Forum located on Lacelede’s Landing, and best known for its cutting-edge programming, influential board and big vision. By 2003, some two decades after it had begun, the board decided that it wanted a permanent, bespoke home, and a name consistent with its mission. Now 20 years after opening the museum next door to the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, CAM works to enrich lives and inspire curiosity, creativity, and learning through experiences with contemporary art. Its mission is to create meaningful engagement with the most relevant and innovative art being made today in a welcoming space of architectural significance. And, it’s free to all. I remember the conversation with Susan Sherman who was the then board chair about the decision to morph The Forum to CAM and take a leap for St. Louis into the highly competitive world of noncollecting contemporary art institutions, select a world-class architect to design the eventual building, and launch the museum on the Western fringe of Grand Center — just as if it were being done in New York or LA. It all seemed like a pipe dream, until it became a reality. Emily Rauh Pulitzer, the founder and chair of the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, said at the time: “Although everyone had to climb stairs to the third floor to the Forum for Contemporary Art, they came as it showed the work of many important artists

for the first time in St. Louis. Among the most memorable were Kara Walker, Dawoud Bey, and Martin Kippenberger.” At the time Susan and I worked together on many projects, so as the museum became a reality, we were hired to launch CAM to St. Louis. With a newly hired museum director, Paul Ha, an impressive board of directors, and its newly completed architectural masterpiece by American architect, Brad Cloepfil, the opening ceremonies were set with the Today Show’s Al Roker and Deborah Roberts to emcee the black-tie celebration. From that first day to today, CAM has thought — and acted — big. Since 2003, more than 683 artists and 260 exhibitions have been attended by 500,000 visitors. Some of the artists have had their first major show at CAM, and have gone on to have illustrious careers not only with museums but also catapulted by the main gallerists of our time. The first show featured Dzine, now Carlos Rolon, and the buzz it created was amazing. Yoshitomo Nara was also featured early in the CAM history before Nara became the pioneering figure in contemporary art whose signature style — which expresses children in a range of emotional complexities from resistance and rebellion to quietude and contemplation — celebrates the introspective freedom of the imagination and the individual. Other big name artists, like Cindy Sherman and Maya Lin, were featured in the early years too. slmag.net

And the art world took note. For the first anniversary, Glenn Lowry of the Museum of Modern Art was a guest speaker. Others including Jerry Saltz from New York Magazine, Thelma Golden from the Studio Museum of Harlem, and Jeff Rosenheim, the Curator in Charge of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, were happy to visit CAM and speak to its leadership and community. Because CAM is a non-collecting museum, it doesn’t have to focus on shepherding its own collection and can show many pointof-views. Over the past two decades, CAM has covered a lot of ground. Not only has the art been breakthrough, but the directors, curators, and staff have gone on to lead some of the most impressive museums in the country including MIT List Visual Arts Center (Paul Ha), RISD Museum (Dominic Molon), and CCA Watis Institute for Contemporary Art (Anthony Huberman). “The risky, big thinking spirit of The Forum is still very much alive today,” says Lisa Melandri, CAM’s executive director since 2011. “The programming has changed, but the spirit hasn’t. The Forum was less institutional (by its nature), but we have done so many commissions of new work that we often don’t know what we’re going to get. This experience comes in the form of every medium including performance art, which makes some 30 slmag.net

viewers uncomfortable, but we continue to push the envelope of what a museum can be.” CAM is the perfect complement to the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, which was designed by Tadeo Ando. While often mistaken for their similar concrete structures, the buildings couldn’t be more different. The Pulitizer is intimate while CAM is loud and open. Together they have transformed the western edge of Grand Center and have brought the best of the modern and contemporary art scene to the heart of the arts district. These two seriously important examples of modern architecture have been transformational. According to Melandri, every artist and their gallerist or collector has always ended their visits with a “‘Wow.’ People are surprised by the offerings in St. Louis. They’re amazed.`` Internationally collected art megastar Katherine Bernhardt, who grew up in Clayton and has lived in Brooklyn for much of her career, has been featured in CAM. It was the first time for Bernhardt to do something in St. Louis. During her installation, she went out for lunch and bought a building nearby for what she thought would be a central storage facility for her art. It is now a gallery for contemporary artists (and friends) called Dragon Crab Turtle. Bernhardt is re-seeing our city’s art scene with fresh eyes.

Katherine Bernhardt, installation view, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis January 27-April 16, 2017. Photo: David Johnson.

Basquiat Before Basquiat: East 12th Street, 1979-1980, installation view, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, September 7 - December 30, 2018. Photo: Dusty Kessler

Lisa Melandri. Photo: Jordan Gaunce

Left: Cindy Sherman: Working Girl, installation view, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, September 16 - December 31, 2005.

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Amy Sherald, installation view, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, May 11-August 19, 2018. Photo: Dusty Kessler.

There aren’t many cities in the United States with the kind of access to art and artists that we have in St. Louis. Our museums are free and especially at CAM, the artists and curators are available to discuss the art. “We want to be responsive and never make the viewer feel uneducated,” Melandri says. “We want to turn people on to art one at a time, if that’s what it takes. The silver lining of COVID is that CAM is a place to see work and interact in real time. It’s a place people want to go, even if it’s just to watch people [look at art].” So what is the future of art museums? Melandri confidently says, “The next 10 years will not be the dissolution of the 32 slmag.net

museum. It will be about what the audiences ask of us. How will programming change? More conversations, not just the art, but what is happening in the world. We will always want to be a responsive, nimble, institution but be ready to change.” A good friend and former partner of mine, Eric Thoelke, developed a campaign years ago for CAM called New Next Now. It perfectly captured the soul of the museum, why it was created, and what it brings to St. Louis. Melandri says, “While it hasn’t run in some time, don’t be surprised if we use it again; it’s the perfect message at the perfect time.” sl For more information about the museum, its hours and how to support it, go to https://camstl.org

Yacht Club exterior

BOFFO FOR BOCA

Reinvigorated under the ownership of Michael Dell's MSD Partners, The Boca Raton, an iconic South Florida resort, delivers panache without pretense. Written by Bridget Williams / Photos courtesy of The Boca Raton

The contributions of architect Addison Mizner and business tycoon Henry Flagler to elevating Palm Beach County's prominence as a long-time playground for the rich and famous cannot be understated. The latter's landmarks include The Breakers Palm Beach, which well-heeled travelers of the late 1800s accessed via his expanded railroad system. Mizner literally followed Flagler's tracks to leave an indelible mark courtesy of his Spanish and Mediterranean Revival style buildings, whose architectural ambiance is now regarded as a quintessential South Florida architectural hallmark. Arriving in Palm Beach with sewing machine heir Paris Singer during the winter of 1918 gave Mizner, a self-taught architect, instant entrée into the upper echelons of society. By all accounts, his charisma quickly garnered attention, but it was the architect's unique perspective and exacting execution— extending to workshops he

established to turn out tiles, wrought iron fixtures, cast-stone trim and columns, and furniture to his specifications—that kept clients calling. Among Mizner's dossier of "Mizner Mediterranean Revival" buildings are more than 50 mansions, the Everglades Club and nearby Via Mizner on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, and the RitzCarlton Cloister Inn, part of a sprawling development spearheaded by his Mizner Development Corporation in Boca Raton, which in the early 1920s was just a small farming community. The 100room Cloister Inn, which opened to great fanfare in 1926, went on to become the Waldorf Astoria-run Boca Raton Resort & Club and most recently reemerged under Michael Dell's MSD Partners' ownership and a $200M facelift as simply The Boca Raton. Following my recent visit, I can only surmise that Mizner would be tickled as pink as the pastry case in Maison Rose, a sweets shop in the historic Cloister Lobby with the renovation of the resort and private club. slmag.net

Lazy river at the Harborside Pool Club

A sprawling property encompassing five lodging options, The Cloister remains the heart of the property. It is the embarkation point for guests staying here and at the Bungalows, the Tower, the Beach Club, and the Yacht Club, an adults-only luxury mid-rise where I was lucky to lodge for a few days. It's nearly impossible to pass through The Cloister without stopping at least once to marvel at the architecture, the ornateness of which is even more pronounced against a blue-chip collection of contemporary art from the likes of Alex Katz, KAWS, and Fernando Botero placed in partnership with Palm Beach's Sponder Gallery. Moving past Sadelle's (an outpost of the beloved SoHo institution often credited with the best bagel in the Big Apple) and the soaring-ceilinged and strikingly stunning Palm Court lounge, a corridor lined with art that's heavy on photography 34 slmag.net

and nostalgia, including a diamond-dusted portrait of Jackie O by Russell Young, leads to the private Yacht Club entrance, only accessible to registered guests. After being greeted in the living-room-like lobby, guests are escorted to their suites, all of which face the Intracoastal. The terraces in each suite provide a bird's eye view of Lake Boca Raton and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. The Yacht Club's sleek interior design—bleached oak floors and a blue and white color scheme— aptly calls to mind the superyachts moored just outside the lobby. Guests of the Yacht Club are privy to scores of exclusive amenities, including butler service, full access to the lush private pool and wellness facilities of the Forbes Five-Star Spa Palmera, and the ability to take the house car, an Aston Martin DBX707 (the world's most powerful luxury SUV) out for a spin.

Palm Court

The Flamingo Grill, a Major Food Group restaurant.

The adult’s pool at the Harborside Pool Club

The Ritual Bath at Spa Palmera

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Spa Palmera Great Room

Palm Court

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The pool at Spa Palmera is open to guests of the Yacht Club to use for the duration of their stay.

Yacht Club guests have privileges at two exclusive food and beverage outlets: Flybridge and an alfresco Champagne Terrace featuring premium bubbly from French Champagne house Moët & Chandon, including Ice Impérial, the first and only champagne designed to be enjoyed over ice. Located on the top floor of the Yacht Club, Flybridge is an intimate fine dining concept serving breakfast and Executive Chef Peter Annewanter's beautifully plated and exquisitely orchestrated three- and five-course tasting menus at dinner, including a vegetarian option tempting enough for a carnivore like me to try. Outside the Yacht Club's rarified air, you'll find a plethora of amenities scattered throughout the resort's 300+ acres. In total, there are 15 restaurants and lounges. Take advantage of a sunset cocktail on the smartly outfitted terrace of The Flamingo Grill, overlooking the 18-hole par-71 golf course. A Major Food Group restaurant, there's a touch of South Florida's mid-century golden age in the interior design and snappy attire of the service captains at this classic American steakhouse. Harbor House, which leans heavily on seafood and supersized salads, is adjacent to the sprawling Harborside Pool Club, which encompasses a 450-foot lazy river, waterslides, a surfing simulator, an adult-only pool, and luxury cabanas. Leave room

for their Tackle Box sundae, where giant scoops of ice cream are delivered alongside a retrofitted tackle box full of toppings. The whimsical wallpaper and light fixtures at the Monkey Bar are an homage to Johnnie Brown, Mizner's pet spider monkey, who ran for mayor of Palm Beach and was buried in Via Mizner after he died in 1927. You can spy a larger-than-life statue of the duo atop a clock tower in downtown Boca Raton. The 50,000-square-foot Spa Palmera is a visually stunning palace of pampering open to Yacht Club guests during operating hours, with no appointment. Inspired by Spain's Alhambra Palace, the ritual experiences offered in the opulent Moroccan baths are a must-do, either on their own or in conjunction with indulgent face and body treatments that use products from Natura Bisse and Biologique Recherche, among others. Those wanting a little pumping up in addition to pampering can avail themselves of a superbly equipped fitness facility with a slate of daily complimentary classes, a Racquet Club with 16 tennis courts and six pickleball courts, and seven swimming pools. From formal to frivolous, all types of monkeying around are possible at this comprehensive resort, which meant I could follow up an afternoon of zipping down the waterslides with dressing up for a refined five-course dinner at Fybridge. Mizner would approve. sl slmag.net

SEE WORTHY Bentley creates a bespoke interior for Contest Yachts’ new 67CS sailing cruiser. Written by Andre James / Images courtesy of Contest Yachts

A Bentley design team specializing in crafting interiors for the Continental GT and Bentayga received a unique opportunity to create a bespoke interior for a 20-meter Contest 67CS yacht following the private client’s visit to Bentley’s Crewe Factory. “We are delighted to be working with Bentley Motors, adding the option of fully matched Bentley auto and yacht interiors to our portfolio,” said Contest CEO Arjen Conjuin. The team at Bentley worked closely with the Contest Yacht design team, Wetzels Brown Partners, to create the unique interior, which they described as “an exciting challenge that pushed the create boundaries of its craftspeople.” The team harnessed prototyping methods, including 3D printing, to enable the feasibility of individual components with a full mock-up of some items, including the sofa, produced before fitting out to ensure their exacting standards were satisfied. Bentley’s instantly recognizable diamond quilted hides were book38 slmag.net

matched throughout the vessel’s interiors, with details such as the tissue holder and drink coasters created from scratch to the customer’s preference. Hand cross-stitching, employed by Bentley craftspeople to produce the steering wheel, was adopted and adapted throughout this project for new applications. The project also provided a platform to showcase pieces from the Bentley Home furnishings line, including the Malvern Chair. A bar and vanity unit are among the one-off case goods. The Contest Yacht’s Captain’s chair and ‘Egg’ tables were given a bespoke touch by Bentley, along with the sofa, which was handbuilt at Bentley’s engineering facility. “Yacht interiors, like that of a car, must be exact with precision details,” said Dr. Matthias Rabe, Member of the Board for Engineering at Bentley Motors. “The finished article is a testament to the incredible talent and skill of our craftsmen and women who rose to the challenge and pushed the boundaries of what is possible.” sl

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JUST BEAD IT Compiled by Bridget Williams

This page, clockwise from top left: Assael Sciacca coral multi strand earrings ($4,800). Available through Diamond Cellar in Columbus and Nashville and assael.com. EF Collection emerald bead & bezel diamond necklace ($925, efcollection.com). Established Jewelry Cowboy necklace ($2,550; establishedjewelry.com). Marco Bicego Paradise gemstone & pearl earrings ($1,340). Available through Diamond Cellar in Columbus & Nashville, Reis-Nichols Jewelers in Indianapolis, Davis Jewelers in Louisville, and marcobicego.com. Essentially color South Sea pearl & diamond necklace from Picchiotti. Available through Moyer Fine Jewelers in Indianapolis, Elleard Heffern Fine Jewellers in St. Louis and picchiotti.it. Elhanati men’s Isha jade bracelet ($2,416; elhanati.com). Jenna Blake pink and white Heishi bead necklace ($4,800; jennablake.com). Opposite page, clockwise from top left: Guita M opal bead necklace with porcelain pendant ($3,200; guitam-jewelry.com). Ray Griffiths Sonoran turquoise necklace ($5,445; raygriffiths.com). The Last Swan necklace by Sanjay Kasliwal ($80,000; sanjaykasliwal.com). Nikos Koulis Lingerie collection brooch (nikoskoulis.com).

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A bird’s eye view of the Rabbit Hole distillery with downtown Louisville in the background.

RABBIT HOLE Through the Looking Glass Written by Claire Williams / Photos courtesy of Rabbit Hole Bourbon, at its base, is a story of creativity and innovation. Traveling monks who immigrated to Ireland and Scotland used fermented grain mash and cereals to make aqua vitae (early concoctions of whiskey, which in Latin means "water of life") due to the absence of vineyards and grapes. European settlers who traveled to North America used distillation techniques to create new whiskey styles with local grain mash and corn. Even during prohibition, medicinal whiskey could be prescribed by a doctor for pick up at a local pharmacy, enabling distilleries to skirt strict prohibition laws. In the centuries succeeding those early renditions of whiskey and bourbon, some argued that America's native spirit had lost some of that original imagination and ingenuity. Kaveh Zamanian was among those who believed the whiskey category had "fallen asleep." Two decades ago, when Zamanian met his wife Heather, a Louisville native, he said he had the chance to fall in love twice: with Heather and with whiskey. Launching Rabbit Hole in 2012 represents Zamanian’s love letter to the latter. Working in bars in his 20s, Zamanian pined for a career in the spirits industry, and opening Rabbit Hole was the realization of a deferred dream that simmered on the back burner as he pursued another path as a successful clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst. Zamanian remarked that once he caught the "bourbon bug," he envisioned what the spirit could be, saying it’s "51% corn and 49% possibilities." While he always envisioned Rabbit Hole as the next great United States whisky brand, even today, Zamanian has

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"pinch me" moments when he reflects on how what he thought would end up as a small craft distillery has become an international phenomenon. “It’s not a cliché for me to say that I go down ‘rabbit holes’ to challenge what bourbon is and what it can be,” he says when discussing one of his most personal projects, the limitedrelease Founder’s Collection. Rabbit Hole focuses on capturing new emerging whiskey consumers, essentially the antithesis of the stereotypical Mad Menesque tippler or those who only see whiskey as suited for cocktails. As such, Zamanian knows that learning from both sides of the bottle is crucial. He believes it's the industry's job to educate consumers while listening to their needs and wants. Teaching moments frequently occur at their distillery, where they conduct tastings of whiskey flights that may encompass expressions aged in cognac barrels to double chocolate bourbon, creating a natural learning flow on both sides. Occasionally, distillery visitors "test" new expressions, with their feedback contributing to the finished product. Zamanian says, "Shoot me if I only have one idea," explaining his belief that it's his job to inspire his team to think like chefs as much as distillers while tasting and testing ingredients to see how they can keep pushing the boundaries of bourbon and whiskey. He wants Rabbit Hole to be an innovative hub for American whisky and a leader in the whisky renaissance. At the same time, Rabbit Hole pays homage to those creators and innovators who pioneered American whiskey while constantly evolving and creating new styles. '

Kaveh with Raceking, part of the Founder’s Collection. The bourbon is crafted with a oneof-a-kind mash bill featuring chocolate-malted wheat and chocolate-malted barley, and aged in new American Oak barrels.

Kaveh Zamanian with Boxergrail Cask Strength, part of the Founder’s Collection.

Kaveh Zamanian with Amburana, part of the Founder’s Collection. It’s a blend of 12 year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon aged in Brazilian oak barrels to impart more exotic notes.

Kaveh Zamanian with Mizunara, part of the Founder’s Collection. The aged whiskey is finished in Japanese Mizunara Oak.

Kaveh Zamanian with Nevallier, part of the Founder’s Collection. 15-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon is finished for one year in new French Oak barrels made by Tonnellerie Leroi, one of France’s most renown cooperages.

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Cavehill, one of Rabbit Hole's original bourbons and the recipient of multiple prestigious accolades, is named to honor generations of Louisville distillers and those daring enough to experiment and take risks to forge the path for modern whiskey. Before Zamanian was wooed by whisky, he loved the earthiness and smoke of a single malt scotch; those same flavors echo in his Cavehill Bourbon. In the early days of distilling, pioneers fermented yeast, water, and corn, and Cavehill bourbon pays homage to this process with a grain mash of seventy percent corn, ten percent malted wheat, ten percent honey malted barley, and ten percent malted barley to create a four-grain, triple malt whiskey those previous generations would undoubtedly approve of. Each blend at Rabbit Hole evidences its commitment to innovation and celebrating tradition. For instance, Dareringer (inspired by Zamanian's wife) is a straight bourbon whisky finished in PX Sherry casks, marrying Spain and Kentucky in a fruity finish with a hint of vanilla. Boxergrail, an homage to Louisville's august boxing legacy, is a robust rye whisky with a ninety-five percent rye mash, offering a balanced blend of sweetness and spice. Serving as a physical manifestation of their forwardthinking, in 2018, Rabbit Hole opened a distillery in Louisville, Kentucky's NULU neighborhood, a buzzy area known for its arts, culture, and culinary scene. In contrast to the brick and iron-framed windows of historic buildings on nearby Distillery Row, Rabbit Hole's architecture presents a modern 44 slmag.net

take on a distillery as a luminous landmark with a large glass facade, courtyard, and an open-air terrace that showcases the entire process of crafting bourbon from grain to bottle. Just as Zamanian is proud to be a part of the whisky revival in Louisville, he is equally keen on being a cornerstone of the neighborhood, which has seen more than $400 million in investments since the distillery opened. The Rabbit Hole distillery welcomes some 50,000 visitors annually, and Zamanian believes we're just at the beginning of what whiskey can be. It's a sentiment reflected by wine and spirits juggernaut Pernod Ricard, who acquired a majority stake in Rabbit Hole in 2019, just seven years after Zamanian founded the company. During meetings with Alexandre Ricard, CEO of Pernod Ricard, Zamanian said he was reassured that he would retain creative freedom and "no handcuffs." The partnership has already resulted in a new brand, the Mary Dowling Whiskey Company, inspired by the "Mother of Bourbon," a successful female distiller in the male-dominated world of pre-Prohibition bourbon, who moved production to Mexico in 1926. Presently producing two distinct whiskies, their Mary Dowling Tequila Barrel is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey finished in tequila casks to honor Mary's D & W Distillery in Juarez. Storytelling through distillation, particularly of brands lost to time, is something Zamanian is enthusiastic about and what he feels will ultimately separate a good bourbon from a truly great one. sl

NATURAL SELECTION Historic Champagne house Leclerc Briant builds on its legacy as a pioneer in biodynamic winemaking. Written by Bridget Williams

Deep in the cellar of Leclerc Briant in Epernay, France, I spied the standard trappings anyone who has spent time in a similar setting would recognize, namely orderly rows of oak barrels playing the waiting game as the wine inside slowly oxygenates. However, in the muted light of the chilled cavernous space, one is quick to note foreign forms: glass globes, terracotta eggs, a sandstone vessel, a barrel made of pure titanium, and a stainless-steel barrel concealing a treasure more valuable than wine: a lining of 24-carat gold two microns thick. This experimentation is all in a day's work for winemaker Hervé Jestin, who has been at the forefront of biodynamic winemaking and bioenergetics for over three decades. He's been the lead winemaker at Leclerc Briant since it was purchased—some would argue saved from being entirely swallowed up by larger Champagne houses—by Mark Nunnelly and his wife Denise Dupré (who also own nearby Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa) in 2012. Lucien Leclerc founded the family vigneron estate in the village of Cumières in 1872. In 1955, Bertrand Leclerc and his wife Jacqueline Briant moved the company's head office to Epernay, thereby elevating its status as a full-fledged Champagne house. Bertrand is credited with experimenting with organic viticulture in the 1960s, something his son Pascal took to the next level in 1990 when he introduced bio-dynamic methods to 50 acres of vineyards. Following his untimely death in 2010, Pascal's daughters sold most of the company's 75 acres to larger Champagne houses. Nunnelly and Dupré's acquisition of the brand included the winery, cellars, offices,

and 32 acres of vineyards. Wanting to build on Pascal's legacy, they hired Jestin, a respected global authority on biodynamic winemaking who had worked alongside Pascal from the late 1990s. Rounding out the C-suite at CEO is Champagne native Frédéric Zeimett, who spent 20 years at Moët & Chandon. We recently sat down for an elegant lunch with Zeimett in the Zuber-papered dining room at Le 25bis by Leclerc Briant (le25bis. com), an exquisite five-bedroom guest house and wineshop on the prestigious Avenue de Champagne in Epernay. "Champagne is magic; it's a gathering point that brings people together in a way that wine cannot," Zeimett stated. As an arbiter of that afternoon's enchantment, while our group dined on Breton lobster roasted with truffle oil, Zeimett placed a barnacle-crusted Champagne bottle on the table. The 2017 Leclerc Briant Abyss Champagne inside, a blend of thirtyfour percent pinot noir, thirty-three percent chardonnay, and thirty-percent pinot meunier, spent 10 months submerged nearly 200 feet in the same waters our lobster once roamed: just off the Breton coast where the English Channel meets the Atlantic Ocean. The first pass of the Champagne's nose was like an electric shock to the senses, a feeling, Zeimett says, is attributable to the fact that the Champagne "has a great and powerful story to tell." Zeimett elucidated that "submarine" aging is just one of Leclerc Briant's many projects focused on "capturing the different energies present in nature and the universe." slmag.net

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After lunch, we were escorted to the LeClerc Briant winery by Paul Lebard, director of VIP guest experiences, during which we learned how minimization of human intervention maximizes quality. Many aspects of the process are bespoke, from hand-picked grapes to tanks designed by Jestin for this winery. Each vintage undergoes nine to ten months of barrel aging and fermentation, a timeframe determined per biodynamic principles. While we marveled at the unconventional aging vessels in the cellar, Paul did a stellar job explaining how the myriad materials impact the wine's maturation. Still, when we met Jestin, the Willy Wonka of wine behind this oenophile's playground, we truly understood the method behind what some would perceive as madness. At the winery's rooftop tasting room, which opens to a walled garden, Jestin explained that "wine holds the memory of our planet" and, as a result, "creates a special consequence to the wine." Jestin shared that Rudolf Steiner, founder of the biodynamic approach, didn't provide any guidance when it came to viticulture,

so he and others of the same mindset have had to create their own textbook. "It's why we wake up in the morning," he explained. Jestin's passion is palpable as he explains that his ultimate goal is not an endproduct for consumers, what he calls a "horizontal dimension," but a "vertical dimension" for humans. "Drinking Champagne should be a mind-body experience," he said, adding that "when you share wine, it's building bridges between the people enjoying it and those who made it." While naysayers say biodynamic agriculture is pseudoscience, I find no fault in Jestin's reverential regard for the process from ground to glass. He is even quick to acknowledge that some people have called his unconventional approach, in which he sees winemaking as "communicating with the ancients via the soil," crazy from time to time. However, his results speak for themselves. Jestin's zero dosage cuvées frequently appear on Wine Spectator's list of the world's top 100 wines. "The wines I am making now are the ones I dreamed about when I started forty years ago," Jestin said. sl slmag.net

HEY NOW YOU'RE AN ALL STAR Compiled by Bridget Williams

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This page, clockwise from top left: Nouvel Heritage medium star bracelet ($2,100). Available through Reis-Nichols Jewelers in Indianapolis, and nouvelheritage.com. Colette Jewelry Comète bracelet ($1,000; colettejewelry.com). Anna Maccieri Rossi Aventurine painted day and night art necklace (annamaccierirossi.com). Lionheart Moon to My Stars lapis lazuli charm (from $1,675; lionheartjewelry.com). Opposite page, clockwise from top left: Samantha Tea Astrid ring ($3,310; samanthatea.com). Chris Ploof Designs Damascus star pendant (chrisploof.com). Eden Presley Harem pinky ring ($2,000; edenpresley.com). Bondeye Jewelry Howlite signet ring ($850; bondeyejewelry.com). David Yurman Starburst cable bracelet ($1,300). Available through Diamond Cellar in Columbus and Nashville, Moyer Fine Jewelers and Reis-Nichols Jewelers in Indianapolis, Davis Jewelers in Louisville, and davidyurman. com. Modern Moghul Karana earrings ($4,500; modernmoghul.com). Sorellina Constellation drop earrings ($4,100; sorellinanyc.com). Aurelie Gi NIXIE stud earrings ($265; aureliegi. com). Reza Revolution earrings (worldofreza.com). Orly Marcel Fez inlay signet ring ($9,600; orlymarcel.com). Pamela Zamore star cigar band ($5,200; pamelazamore.com). Ashley Zhang Jewelry Victorian diamond star bangle ($2,550; ashleyzhangjewelry.com).

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Moonrise above the Under Canvas Lake Powell - Grand Staircase property. Photo by Bridget Williams.

OVER THE MOON AT UNDER CANVAS The segment-defining brand offers upscale safari-style accommodations and unparalleled access to some of the United States' most iconic and beloved outdoor destinations. Written by Bridget Williams / Photos courtesy of Under Canvas

An unfamiliar sound roused me from a deep sleep. I sprung upright, hurdling the grey area between dreamland and daybreak and into an immediate state of alertness. Was the racket coming from an early risers' party, an emergency, or the last call for breakfast? Overnight, the temperature had dropped like a lead balloon, and I sat completely still, the tendrils of my warm breath creating curlicues in the air as I allowed the cacophony of calls to clarify in my head. After a few more minutes, I realized it wasn't a group of revelers but a pack of coyotes greeting the day. Comfy and warm under the weight of multiple blankets, I touched the tip of my nose as confirmation of the chill. Freeing myself from the bed's warm embrace, I unzipped a corner of the door to my tent to witness the day's first light silhouetting the trees with an orange glow. Entranced by the scene, I moved out to the deck, savoring the scent of wood fires burning in the stoves of 50 slmag.net

neighboring tents. As the field of wildflowers in the grasslands of the Bar N Ranch—just 10 minutes from the primary Yellowstone National Park West Entrance—swayed in the breeze, I thought: this is why people come here – for moments just like this. Under Canvas' West Yellowstone camp was the company's first, debuting in 2012. The brand has since grown to encompass eleven camps from Moab to Maine, all with direct or easy access to National Parks and recreation areas. "Essentially, what we do is connect people to the outdoors and each other," remarked CEO Matt Gaghen, a native of Montana and a passionate outdoor advocate, during a campfire chat near the banks of the Yellowstone River at Under Canvas' newest location, North Yellowstone – Paradise Valley. "It's our mission to offer upscale hospitality in nature-oriented settings complimented by subtle programming that is exceptionally executed."

A tent at the West Yellowstone Camp.

Interior of a Stargazer tent in the Paradise Valley camp.

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Live music at Pine Falls Lodge near the Paradise Valley camp.

The fifty-acre North Yellowstone property, boasting one mile of Yellowstone River frontage and prime fly fishing just steps from camp, opened this past summer on a parcel that's part of a fifteenthousand-acre, fifth-generation family-owned ranch. It's a setting that Gaghen, whose father was a Yellowstone park ranger, said "is quintessential Montana to a Montanian." I grew up camping for family vacations, living the "van life" before it was a hashtag, so Under Canvas' "glamping" tents weren't a tough sell. For those not as seasoned, the experience is hardly roughing it, with tents boasting amenities including ensuite bathrooms with hot water pull chain showers, a polished concrete sink that would be right at home in an urban loft, plush kingsize beds with luxury linens, and a wood-burning stove for chilly nights. Premium Stargazer tents feature an arced clear window at the head of the bed, while suite tents offer additional elbow room with an expanded seating area. My favorite upgrade has to be the kid-sized "hive" tents with two twin beds, allowing younger guests to experience semi-autonomous adventures. Under Canvas tests and constructs its bespoke and patented tents at its corporate office in Bozeman, Montana. What's missing is electricity and 52 slmag.net

WIFI, intentional omissions that Gaghen says prompt guests to disconnect from technology and connect with others. With the exception of the West Yellowstone camp, which features a large brick-and-mortar restaurant, expansive main lobby tents serve as a hub of camp life, where guests can enjoy upscale breakfast and dinners served from café-style kitchens. The food at each location far exceeded anything I'd expected from a camp kitchen. The varied and flavorful menus focus on locally sourced ingredients and offer choices for those with specific dietary needs and preferences. Complimentary coffee and tea are available throughout the day, and there are grab-and-go selections for lunch and snacking. Each Under Canvas outpost offers a host of complimentary camp programming, from yoga to live music and family-friendly scavenger hunts, guided hikes, and arts and crafts. Nightly fireside s'more making is the most popular activity, with guests gathering to swap stories about the day's adventures and marvel at star-filled skies that those living in light-polluted urban areas rarely get to experience. Under Canvas Lake Powell - Grand Staircase property is the first-ever DarkSky-certified resort in the world, a distinction that demonstrates its environmental leadership in the hospitality industry.

Under Canvas Lake Powell - Grand Staircase property is the first-ever DarkSky-certified resort in the world. Photo by Travis Burke.

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The Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park. Photo by Bridget Williams.

A slot canyon at Under Canvas Lake Powell - Grand Staircase. Photo by Travis Burke.

Fly fishing guides in the Yellowstone River, just steps from Under Canvas’ Paradise Valley camp. Photo by Bridget Williams.

There are nearly 6,000 bison in Yellowstone National Park. Photo by Bridget Williams.

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Traveling down the Yellowstone River is McKenziestyle drift boat hand-built by Jason Cajune can be arranged by the concierge at the Paradise Valley camp. Photo by Bridget Williams.

Paradise Valley camp.

At West Yellowstone, we "met" a herd of elderly wild horses rescued by the general manager. At North Yellowstone-Paradise Valley, we hiked to Pine Creek Falls, which is located in a designated road-free wilderness area larger than Yellowstone. Later, we capped off our evening with live music and craft beer at Pine Falls Lodge (an occasional haunt of John Mayer, who lives nearby). At the Lake Powell Camp, perched atop a boulder-strewn valley, we hiked a trail leading to a hidden slot canyon. An in-camp concierge operates out of the lobby tent and can share insider tips on favorite under-the-radar hikes and craft bespoke guided outdoor experiences, from fly fishing to rock climbing. At North Yellowstone, we floated down the river, noshing on charcuterie and sipping chardonnay in the hull of a handsome wood McKenzie-style drift boat hand-built by Jason Cajune. The lifelong outdoorsman, hunter, and adventurer learned his craft from his father, who grew up on the Flathead Reservation. The waitlist for those wanting to get their hands on one of his boats can span as much as six years. Rather than ramp up production, Cajune prefers to go at his own pace and enjoys operating the guiding side of his

business alongside his adult daughters. An Under Canvas organized fly-fishing expedition introduced us to the most passionate and patient instructors, who quickly made us feel like seasoned pros. After visiting four Under Canvas locations, it would be easy to go on and on about the amenities, the caring and capable staff, the stunning beauty of each location, and the company's sound environmental practices, but honestly, what really struck me time and again, was witnessing the impact of the outdoors on the younger set. For instance, one evening during dinner at the Lake Powell camp, I got teary-eyed when a group of raucous boys paused their roughhousing to marvel at the sunset, with one excitedly exclaiming, "The whole sky is a rainbow!" And, as someone who fondly remembers a childhood largely spent outside, taking stock of children's muddy knees and animated conversations that gave way to drooping eyelids as they sat around the campfire at the end of an activity-filled day recalled my fireside chat with Gaghen, who said that the passion for his position at Under Canvas stems from "taking my childhood memories and helping make them happen for others." sl For more information about Under Canvas, visit undercanvas.com.

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NIGHT MOVES Maserati unveils MC20 Notte, which it calls "a fierce creature of the nocturnal world." Written by Andre James / Photos courtesy of Maserati

Following on the heels of the hugely successful 2023 Maserati MC20 coupe and Cielo convertible sports cars, with eager customers quickly snatching up the entire first-year production allotment, Maserati has announced the MC20 Notte, the first of its promised limited edition super sports cars. Meaning "night" in Italian, the Notte Edition of the MC20 is limited to 50 units globally. The Notte Edition springs from an internal collaboration with Andrea Bertolini, Maserati reference driver and 2010 GT1 world champion for the marque. In contrast to its shiny roof, the sportscar's body offers a new dramatic paint finish: a matte version of the glossy 'nero essenza' hue presently available on the MC20. Bertolini's "Midas touch" is credited for turning the details - the Trident, the side logos, and the Maserati signature – from silver to matte white gold. The 20" matte black birdcage wheels feature accents in flat white gold, while the brake calipers are black. The minimalist cabin of the MC20 Notte features 6-way power sport seats in Alcantara black/grey with yellow stitching. The unmistakable Trident is emblazoned on the headrests, and the Alcantara sport steering wheel boasts carbon fiber inserts. 56 slmag.net

An exclusive metal plate celebrating the MC20 Notte Edition and a distinctive 'UNA DI 50' (one of 50) signature are applied between the two headrests. Under the hood, the Notte builds upon the standard MC20, with a mid-mounted 3.0-liter twin-turbo V-6 Nettuno engine putting out 621 horsepower and 538 lb-ft of torque and linked to an 8-speed twin-clutch automatic transmission that pushes its power through the rear wheels. The MC20 Notte is a project of Maserati's in-house Fuoriserie customization program, which Klaus Busse, Head of Maserati design, says "is conceived to create one-of-a-kind rolling sculptures for our clients." To celebrate the MC20 Notte's launch, global brand ambassador and MC20 enthusiast David Beckham and Andrea Bertolini starred in a short film where Beckham's dazzling MC20 is transformed into a new racing creature blazing through the night across the city and on the racetrack. Following a sneak preview exclusively for Maserati Tridente members, MC20 Notte is now available worldwide. Its future owners will be invited to experience the thrill of a Maserati on-track driving experience. sl

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CHAMPAGNE DREAMS Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa Written by Bridget Williams

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For a man so often associated with being small in stature, Napoleon Bonaparte looms large in French lore and legend, elevated to the forefront once again courtesy of director Ridley Scott's recently released epic historical drama film. Napoleon's proclivity for grandiosity contrasted with his natural frugality, with Champagne being counted among the rare gastronomic pleasures he truly appreciated. A lifelong close friend of Jean-Rémy Moët, the founding grandson of the iconic champagne house Moët et Chandon, Napoleon would often visit the Moët winery in Epernay to buy a few cases during many of his campaigns. "I cannot live without Champagne; in case of victory, I deserve it; in case of defeat, I need it," is a quote famously lent to the emperor and military commander. Another of Napoleon's frequent stops in France's Champagne region was a 19th-century post house, where the

kings of France traditionally stopped en route to their coronation in Reims. Picturesquely perched on a hilltop near the commune of Champillon, the site offers sweeping views of UNESCO-listed vineyards, forest, and the nearby quaint village of Hautvillers, where Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon is interred at the base of the altar in the humble Abbey of St Peter, founded in 665 AD. Today, the humble royal rest stop is preserved as a Michelinstarred restaurant and cornerstone of the region's only five-star hotel and spa, aptly named Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa. Already operating as a hotel when it was acquired in 2014 by American married entrepreneurs Mark Nunnelly and Denise Dupré, the couple retained Reims-based architect Giovanni Pace to lead a multi-million-dollar renovation and expansion of the property, which reopened in July 2018. slmag.net

The spa's indoor pool overlooks the UNESCO-listed vineyards of Champillon.

Unassuming from the approach, the forty-seven-room property's amphitheater-like architecture crowns the hillside like a champagne cork, embracing interiors that are a master class in quiet luxury, orchestrated by Parisian interior designer Sybille de Margerie. Modern in its approach, upon closer inspection, one is quick to note classical design elements associated with French history and local heritage. The hotel's logo—a horse and rider – first appears at the entrance and is repeated throughout, including the walls of its Le Bellevue restaurant to guest rooms' thresholds. At check-in, guests are offered a glass of the house bubbly, Leclerc Briant, a house founded 150 years ago in Cumières and resuscitated by Nunnelly and Dupré after they purchased it in 2012. The tiny bubbles in our glasses mirrored the light-filled interior's effervescence, highlighted by light wood tones, a soft and calming color palette, unique lighting elements, and nods to natural aspects of the local terroir. All the guest accommodations are large and thoughtfully designed with an ombré vine-inspired wallpaper adorning the wall behind the bed, heated floors in the oversized bathroom, and plenty of closet space. Arguably, the pièce de résistance are large private terraces, perfect for sipping bubbly and savoring the view, including the most spectacular sunsets I've seen in recent memory. Much like the weather in my home state of Kentucky, where it's often said, "If 60 slmag.net

you don't like the weather, stick around a day or two, it'll change," I imagine that at least one French thinker or poet has described Champagne's skies as a femme inconstante. Alcohol is often considered counterintuitive to restive sleep. However, the hotel's unique Royal Sleep Experience package, which includes mocktails and a special dinner menu with sleep-supporting ingredients, a bedside sound machine with guided meditation options, a sleep mask embroidered with "sweet bubbly dreams," Sleep & Glow melatonin drops, sleep infusion herbal tea, and Aime essential oil sleeping mist, all but ensures a good night's rest. Having the distinction of being Champagne's first destination spa, an entire ground floor wing of the Royal Champagne is given entirely over to wellness, the centerpiece of which is a sprawling heated 25m indoor pool with floor-to-ceiling valley-facing windows. There's also a hammam, an outdoor infinity pool and hot tub, a beauty bar, a well-equipped fitness center, a yoga room, and nine spa treatment rooms. The spa has forged impressive partnerships, including Jo de Carvalho, one of just 50 people in the world considered a master of the Kobido facial massage technique, Biologique Recherche, KOS Paris, and their newest partner, Clarins. I indulged with a results driven but relaxing Clarins myBlend facial, which combined deft human touch with technology, including an LED mask to stimulate cells close-up.

View from the lobby of a besopoke crystal chandelier, designed to mimic flowered grapedvines, that's suspended above the library.

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Pastry chef Claire Santos Lopes sharing her confections during a holiday tea service.

A statue of Bacchus watches over a vineyard in Champillon.

Chargers in Le Royal feature love letters penned by Napoleon.

Each of the spacious guest rooms provide vineyard views.

The spa's infinifty pool is heated for year-round enjoyment.

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Franco-Italian chef Paolo Boscaro oversees the 40-seat fine dining restaurant, Le Royal, the interior of which is heavy on Napoleonic references related to the women he loved.

Under a ceiling dripping with crystals, or outside on the sprawling terrace in warmer months, Le Bellevue is buzzy from breakfast through dinner.

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Royal Champagne offers two dining options: the gastronomic restaurant, Le Royal, and the more casual but no less chic Le Bellevue bistro. Franco-Italian Chef Paolo Boscaro oversees the 40-seat fine dining restaurant, Le Royal, the interior of which is heavy on Napoleonic references related to the women he loved. Portraits of his wives and mistresses are emblazoned on curved half walls in the room's corners. Love letters penned by Napoleon are reproduced in the round on specially commissioned chargers, while a statue of the emperor stands at the center of the room beneath a bubble-esque pendant-style light fixture. Head sommelier Philippe Marques hand-picks a local winemaker to create a pairing menu each month. During our visit, the six-course gastronomic tour-de-force, beautifully presented in a well-choreographed fashion, was paired with Champagne by biodynamic winemaker Francoise Bedel, who works with her son Vincent Desaubeau in the Marne Valley's Meunier-rich western fringe. Inside, under a ceiling dripping with crystals, or outside on the sprawling terrace in warmer months, Le Bellevue is buzzy from breakfast through dinner. The diverse menu offers local specialties like Jambon cuit de Reims, to indulgent black truffle risotto. The adjacent Abysse Bar & Terrace is ideal for an aperitif and caviar, or a juicy cheeseburger. If you've been told to never trust a skinny chef, you can throw that advice out the window after tasting the confections of petite pastry chef Claire Santos Lopes. Sublime without being overly sweet, her creative capabilities are on full display during seasonal Royal Tea Time, served fireside in the dramatic two-story library lounge. Lopes' winter offerings were laden with chocolate, dried fruits, and nuts. The latter, Claire pointed out, are full of 64 slmag.net

antioxidants and vitamin E that can help you get through the cold months "like squirrels in the winter." Royal Champagne is arguably the best place in the region to take a deep dive into learning all about Champagne, from on-site sommelier-led tastings to the hotel's Champagne Chauffeur program, which provides entrée to tasting rooms not typically open to the public via partnerships forged by hotel management with local growers and makers who often meet with their colleagues at Le Bellevue restaurant for a power breakfast or lunch. A self-guided two-mile trek through vineyards and forest park leads to Hauteviller, full of typical maisons champenoises and 140 whimsical wrought iron signs, historically used as a visual depiction of the various businesses inside. Epernay, and its famous Avenue de Champagne, is about 4 miles away, while Reims is less than a 30-minute drive. We enjoyed a two-hour on-site and in-depth tasting at Salon Fines Bulles at a long table adjacent to a glass Champagne cellar with assistant head sommelier Antony Laviron (one of five sommeliers on staff), who has been with Royal Champagne since it opened. Among the 450 Champagnes from the hotel's extensive wine list, the approachable Antony chose four of varying ages for our tasting, during which he dispelled several myths, including that Champagne must always be served super-chilled and the "good stuff" can and should be cellared. Our engaged group sipped with intention, learning to appreciate the nuances of flavor and texture. A lover of old vintages, Antony is adept at romancing the vine and the enduring allure of Champagne as a drink and a destination. "Imagine that a couple chooses a bottle from the 1980s," he surmised as we tasted a 2004 Gosset' Grand Millesime' Brut. "It could have been harvested on the day they met or were married, and now they and it have both traveled here to finally meet at this very tasting room." sl

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THEC&MDIDEROT EFFECT Interiors transformed a 1923 house into a sea of serenity with the feel of a boutique hotel. By Christy Marshall / Photography by CH Studios

A decade ago when this homeowner strolled through the front door of this century home in Parkview Place, she was moonstruck. “It was love at first sight,” she recalls. “I still remember how I felt walking through the Open House. We put an offer in the next day. I fell in love with the character and the architectural details. We still have the original leaded glass doors and the arched windows in the sunroom.” While the home captured her heart, the décor did not. “The previous owners took great care of the house, but they had lived here 30 years,” the homeowner says. “I believe they did the vast majority of their renovating and updating in the 1980s. It was dated.” Soon after the couple moved in, they redid the kitchen. But the rest of the house and all of the bathrooms beckoned so the homeowners sought out interior designers and landed on

Channing Krichevsky and Maria Hogrefe of C&M Interiors. The women, now in their 30s, started the firm when they were 23. Today C&M has a staff of seven. The first assignment was the living room and then an update of the bordering sunroom. The house was filled with pieces the homeowner had either found at estate sales, collected as hand-medowns, or inherited. “I had outgrown the furniture,” she confesses. The living room’s design was dictated by a portrait by Milwaukee artist, Charles Dwyer, leaning atop the mantel. The designers bought new furniture but mixed it with vintage pieces, such as the antique French mirrored drum table found on 1st Dbs. The homeowner already owned the artwork, including the huge poster on the wall. slmag.net

“My parents collected French posters years and years ago and as they downsized, I was very fortunate to inherit some,” the homeowner says. After the sunroom was spruced up, the design duo (lead by Channing) turned to the dining room. At first, it was just a touch here, a change there. It wasn’t enough. They ending up redesigning the entire room with all new furnishings, new Porter Teleo wallpaper, new drapes. “I love how elegant this room feels,” the homeowner says. “It’s still has some casualness to it. It’s not very formal, but it’s elevated.” But soon — very soon — after the designers started working their magic, the homeowner began adding more rooms to be done. 68 slmag.net

“We knew that we wanted to do the second and third floors and all the bathrooms needed to be updated,” she says. “I mean, it was always going to be Phase Two. But when we saw this come together so beautifully on the first floor, I said, ‘Okay, let’s go, time to go.’ There’s a name for that. It’s an effect.” Phones are grabbed; the sound of fingers frantically tapping resonates in the air. Eureka. It’s called the Diderot Effect. Definition: Obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption, which leads you to acquire more new things. With the exception of the kitchen and one powder room, C&M Interiors touched nearly every other space in the

4,000-square-foot house. Going up the original stairway, the second-floor landing opens into the primary bedroom suite. The walls were painted in a Venetian-plaster-like finish by Portola. All new custom bedding and drapery were added. The nightstands came from Chelsea Editions. Built-in bookshelves (chock full of neutral-colored books) were created by Marc Christian, who also did all the cabinetry in the bathrooms and in the earlier kitchen remodel. In the adjoining office, the designers (again with Marc Christian) added a tea nook. “You’ll notice we have different window treatments throughout,” Maria says. “They all tie together really well, but we

were able to use really great textures in different spaces. We added little trims and tapes everywhere and have the layering of the shears in certain rooms.” The primary bathroom was gutted and transformed. When the homeowners moved in the room had a small shower, toilet area, and oversized Jacuzzi smack dab in the middle of the space. “I said that I really want a spa-like bathroom with white marble and unlacquered brass,” the homeowner says. “And it is just what it is. When I go on vacation, I’m very excited to get home to my bathroom.” The closets were redone by New Space but with Channing consulting on the countertop finish, hardware and paint. slmag.net

The house has four bedrooms. C&M redid them all—and all of the upstairs bathrooms. “This one was a gut too,” Maria says, referring to the second bath on the second floor. “The space was still the same, but everything was redesigned in here.” The homeowner was immediately smitten with the wallpaper. “I feel like we kind of designed all of the finished colors and the tile selection and the vanity paint color around that particular wallpaper,” Channing adds. Throughout the house, the designers picked fixtures by Waterworks that they sourced locally through Immerse. The second guest bedroom was also redone by C&M. “It’s dreamy,” Maria says. “It feels like you’re in an English garden.” “We had a friend recently come through the house,” the homeowner recalls. “He said, ‘I’m walking through and I feel like 70 slmag.net

I’m in this boutique hotel.” While the artwork previously existed in the room, the furniture is all new. On the third floor is yet another bedroom and another bath, gutted and redone by the designers. The vinyl wallpaper is a whimsical pattern of blow fish, titled Mr. Blow. Channing customized it by choosing the background color. Although the project started in the throes of the pandemic, there were few snafus. But then again, there was still a lot going on. During the three years of working on the house, both designers had babies. Three babies in toto: Channing had two, Maria had one. In fact, Channing styled the primary suite the day before she went into labor. Before everyone left after the interview, the homeowner mentioned that first floor powder room. The one the designers hadn’t touched. Yet. “I’ll be calling,” she said. It’s the Diderot Effect. sl

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One of the most important areas of the home is the Laundry Room. This useful space is where we clean, iron, fold and organize our clothes. By creating a customized and organized laundry room, your family can benefit in several ways. Incorporating features such as pull-out ironing boards, laundry hampers, adjustable shelving, cabinets, folding counters, and telescoping rods can greatly enhance the productivity and attractiveness of the room. An organized Laundry Room can help to simplify and streamline the chores associated with laundry, which in turn can free up more time and energy for you and your family to enjoy the more important things in life. With careful planning and design, a Laundry Room can be functional, practical, and even enjoyable to use. When designing your Laundry Room, there are several things to consider; • What size appliances will you have in the room (front or top loaders)? • Do you need room for hanging clothes and/or space for a drying rack? • Is your Laundry Room off your kitchen and will it also serve as a Drop Zone?

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• Besides Laundry, what else will your room be used for, cleaning supplies, paper goods... • Do you shop in bulk, and will you need large deep shelves for detergent? • How many laundry baskets will you need for your family? Once you’ve considered all your needs, contact a trained designer who will come to your home, measure your Laundry Room, and come up with design ideas for your space. No two spaces are the same, so it’s important to consider form and function, while at the same time including ample storage and organizational solutions. Moms and homeowners in the St. Louis area: this is your chance to shop local and give your Laundry Room an incredible makeover! Not sure how to get started, Saint Louis Closet Co. offers free in-home design consultations so you can finally get the dreamy Laundry Room you deserve. It’s time to take your Laundry Room from blah to bliss with the help of our custom design team. Don’t wait any longer – make this 2024 your year of Laundry Room transformation with Saint Louis Closet Co. Say goodbye to the Winter Blahs and make your Laundry Room Dreams come true!

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Orlando Peyton, Mary Asher, Braden Tewolde and Whitney Scherr

OF FRIENDSHIP AND FOOD INFLUENCING

St. Louis foodies have taken Instagram by storm and made lasting friendships By Rosalind Early / Photography by Carmen Troesser

“Do you want to get this pour?” food influencer Orlando Peyton is asking if fellow influencer Braden Tewolde wants footage of him pouring syrup on his waffle. The friend does and picks up his iPhone to pan the action. This is the world of food-influencing. It looks like someone just grabbed a few snippets of video while out with friends. But the 2-3 minute videos that pepper TikTok and Instagram are intentional, with influencers shooting B-roll, carefully selecting a table with the best natural light, ordering things that plate well, and photographing the food till it’s cold. And the pay is abysmal. Most influencers are buying their meals themselves and spend more than they take in, which means everyone has a day job. So how do food influencers juggle a full-time job, filming restaurants, editing reels, engaging with their platform, finding brand deals and the rest of life? We talked to four: Braden Tewolde of bradenstl, Mary Asher of mary.eats.stl, Orlando Peyton of epic. eats.stl and Whitney Sherr of whitneyinthecity to find out what a day in their life looks like. While no day is the same, they’re all filled with three things: photos, phones, and tons of food. 74 slmag.net

BRADEN TEWOLDE It’s 7 a.m. and Braden Tewolde is up checking email and his DMs on Instagram to see what’s urgent. He doesn’t just work a 9 to 5 recruiting for an insurance company. He also is food influencer BradenSTL, podcast host of Ope Cast the Pod, which highlights St. Louis creators, and he runs his own marketing agency Space Mission Marketing. “No day is the same,” he says. “But every day is busy.” Today, he spends the morning on marketing calls about Avalanche, a holiday pop-up event, and in meetings about a new hire for Space Mission. After that, he works his day job till lunchtime when he heads over to the season announcement for the Muny. After 5 p.m. Tewolde comes back to his influencer office at Tech Artista in the Central West End, gets the equipment to record his podcast live, and then heads home around 10 p.m. to edit a video. He may crawl into bed around 11:30 or midnight (or still be up answering emails) only to get up the next day to another jam-packed schedule. “People have different hobbies,” Tewolde says. “We don’t watch TV. We just create.” Tewolde is speaking about himself and fellow food influencer Orlando Peyton who posts as epic.eats.stl (for more on Peyton, see below). The two are good friends and Peyton credits Tewolde with teaching him the importance of good

Braden Tewolde

lighting when they first met back in the summer of 2020 at a Burger Week event. They both started influencing in 2020 to help local restaurants get business during the pandemic. Tewolde has a singular interest: building up St. Louis. For him, St. Louis needs more influencers to showcase how great the city is. “We see all the potential,” Tewolde says about fellow influencers. “We grew up here. We know what’s holding our city back and we know where we need to go.” MARY ASHER If you recognize food influencer Mary Asher (mary.eats.stl) out in public, she will give you a sparkly sticker with her Instagram handle on it. It’s the perfect remembrance because Asher herself is, well, sparkly. “Isn’t this place cute?” she asks as we meet at Fiddlehead Fern Cafe for some sumptuous golden chai tea lattes and lunch. “Cute” is a word she uses frequently. “I didn’t think she was genuine when I first met her because she’s so friendly,” says food influencer Whitney Scherr (for more on Scherr see below). “Then I realized… she’s just genuinely amazing and good.” Asher’s excitement about life makes sense when you realize she is a little bit surprised to be alive. She has cystic fibrosis, a genetic

Mary Asher

disease that damages the lungs and other organs. In 2019 she got sick and declined rapidly. She got a lung transplant later that year. “I was in the hospital and could not breathe. I pretty much had to get the lungs or I would have died,” she says. She pauses. “At least now I can talk about it without crying.” Reborn, Asher started getting more into food influencing, especially when the pandemic hit. She would get to-go orders and photograph them while picnicking or at her home. Now, Asher, who has a day job, spends most of her nights and weekends going to events, restaurants, bars, and cafes to get content. She walks me through a typical weekend. “Breakfast out. If it’s Saturday, I’m eating at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market. If it’s Sunday, I like to find a coffee shop or bakery with a great breakfast sandwich or croissant.” She generally skips lunch, and uses downtime to photograph products or relax. Dinner might be out or at home (she and her husband love to cook), and there’s usually an after-dinner event to go to. The editing slog is for the workweek, when Asher will find some time in the mornings or evenings to put her reels together. “I’m living my second chance at life,” she says. “So why not have fun?” slmag.net

Orlando Peyton

ORLANDO PEYTON With 63,000 followers on Instagram, Orlando (he goes by Lando) Peyton is one of the biggest food influencers in St. Louis. His polished reels posted under epic.eats. stl not only make the food he’s showing you look appetizing, he also makes St. Louis look cool. But his popularity explosion is fairly recent. In December 2022, he only had 5,000 followers after being a food influencer for two years. “I started making reels that were aesthetically pleasing, but didn’t really catch people. So I had to learn processes and look at other cities and other influencers,” he says. His breakthrough is in part due to making his videos more personal. “I started putting my face more in the videos,” he says. The ideas were actually Tewolde’s (see above), a good friend and fellow influencer. But there was another element to Peyton’s breakthrough. Previously, he didn’t want to post anything negative. 76 slmag.net

“I had people commenting on my posts like, ‘Nah, he’s saying everything is all good.’ And I was like, ‘OK, I need to be really authentic in my videos. So, if I don’t like something, I’m still posting,’” Peyton says. He incorporates critiques into his reels (typically sandwiched between more positive comments) and emphasizes that what he’s stating is opinion. “I’m not bashing the restaurant,” he says. “It’s just my preference.” We head over to Bowood by Niche so Peyton can get some footage. He’s never been there before even though it’s not far from the office he shares with Tewolde. As he’s gathering B-roll, the hostess recognizes him. They strike up a conversation. “Where should I go next?” he asks. She tells him Pastaria, another Gerard Craft spot. Peyton has never been there and says he will try to go. “I’m always looking for recommendations,” he explains. “People want me to tell them where to eat, but I want to know what’s your favorite spot.”

Whitney Scherr

WHITNEY SCHERR When she was training for the New York City Marathon a few years ago, Whitney Scherr decided to start trying more restaurants. “The only thing I actually liked about training was I could eat anything I wanted, especially on my long run days, and so I would hop around restaurants in New York,” Scherr says. She took photos of her outings and posted them to social media. When she had to move to St. Louis for work in 2017, Scherr had amassed 7,000 followers, and she continued food influencing here. “I thought I was moving to the land of chain restaurants, but before I even officially had moved I met a group of people walking up to Food Truck Friday and they showed me the ropes.” The folks also remain friends with Whitney to this day. Another person that Scherr ran into due to food (this time food influencing) was Mary Asher. They each claim the other as their BFF. Each year, for instance, Scherr goes to the same number of restaurants as she is old, an epic (and ever longer) restaurant crawl.

“The one rule is you can’t say the f-word, which is ‘full.’” says Scherr. “You can’t say ‘I’m full’ or ‘you’re full’ or ‘this restaurant is full.’ Full is a state of mind, and we don’t need that on this day.” She has to get something to eat or drink at each restaurant. This year, she turned 37 and says that the crawl took about 11 hours. Asher and husband Nick were along for almost every spot. “I visited a place before I met up with them,” Scherr says. Scherr even divides her time similarly to Asher, focusing on getting content over the weekend and editing it during the week when she’s not at work. She’s embraced St. Louis (it did take a while to get used to our Italian food, she says, because our red sauce is so sweet) but does she ever miss New York? Nope. “St. Louis is one of the most unique places I’ve ever lived, because people here genuinely want to support,” Scherr says. “Like if you were living in New York… you wouldn’t be caught dead in a New York shirt. In St. Louis it’s actually abnormal to walk into a restaurant and not see somebody wearing a St. Louis shirt. And that just says a lot about the community and how much people here love their city.” sl slmag.net

O NE GALA, TWO NIGHT S

WYNTON

BRANFORD

MARSALIS FEB 21, 2024

JAZZ ST. LOUIS FEB 22, 2024

THE CHASE PARK PLAZA Supporting Jazz St. Louis’ Education Programs! jazzstl.org/slmag

WISHING YOU A HAPPY, PEACEFUL AND SAFE NEW YEAR.

NEW IN 2024! We are launching 2 new concepts, and re-introducing 3 tried-and-true restaurants in the heart of the Delmar Maker District near Third Degree Glass Factory, MADE, The Magic House Made for Kids and Craft Alliance.

W I N T ER-S P R I N G 202 4 The launch of FLORENTIN, a Tel Aviv-inspired cafe serving breakfast and lunch with an emphasis on Shakshouka. The opening of ESCA, a coastal Mediterranean restaurant with an emphasis on charcoal grilling. The re-opening of NIXTA, the award-winning authentic Mexican restaurant with the addition of Bar Limon. S U M M ER- FA L L 202 4 The re-opening of OLIO and ELAIA in a new building with indoor and outdoor seating, gardens and plenty of parking. Thank you for your continued support.

FOOD OF LOVE FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD

The St. Louis Private Jet Membership Program, Charter Shares, Wishes you a Happy New Year! By offering a St. Louis based fleet of midsize and large cabin jets, St. Louis Members receive premium service with utmost efficiency. Charter Shares offers new for 2024, spacious, large cabin jets, capable of accommodating up to 11 passengers with a serene cabin environment, and the added luxury of a dedicated cabin attendant.

With over 40 years of experience, SpiritJets is locally owned and operated, with numerous options to accommodate your private jet travel needs. Meet our flight control team. Left to right: Jenny, Nate, Gina, Matt, Brendan, Jasmine

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SOPHISTICATED CELEBRATIONS

Presented by

January

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One Africa! One Nation! Farmers Market, oneafricamarket.com DOGA (dog-friendly yoga led by Urban Breath Yoga), barkdogbar.com “To Kill a Mockingbird”, stifeltheatre.com Cardinals Care Winter Warm-Up, mlb.com St. Louis Auto Show, saintlouisautoshow.com Dancing with the St. Louis Stars, IndependenceCenter.org “Funny Girl”, Fox Theatre, fabulouisfox.com The Arts and Education Council’s St. Louis Arts Awards, keeparthappening.org The Fashion Tour + Night Market (FWRDSOCIETY), saintlouisfashionfund.org Missouri Botanical Garden Orchid Show, mobot.org

February

6-25 8-18 9 9 10 19 23 29 TBD

“Moby Dick”, repstl.org “The Lion”, coca.org Mayor’s Mardi Gras Ball, stlmardigras.org Dessert First, girlscoutsem.org Doorways RED Gala, Hyatt Regency, doorwayshousing.org Gent Men’s Fashion Week, saintlouisfashionfund.org “Lift Every Voice” with the St. Louis Symphony, Stifel Theatre, slso.org The Collective Thread Annual Fashion Show Fundraiser, 21c Museum Hotel, saintlouisfashionfund.org St. Louis Boat & Sportshow, stlouisboatshow.com

For more Celebrations and party pics, go to sophisticatedstlouis.com slmag.net

“The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements. Past results afford no guarantee of future results and every case is different and must be judged on its own merits.”

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A TASTEFUL AFFAIR

Food Outreach’s premier event, A Tasteful Affair, took place on October 15 at the Four Seasons St. Louis. Almost 500 guests celebrated the organization’s 35 year anniversary. Beverage and Culinary partners offered guests a wide variety of food and drinks. The night’s winners included: Best Decor -Serendipity Homemade Ice Cream; Best Savory: Pork Belly with Grits from The Westchester; Best Sweet: Gooey Butter Cake from Pure Catering STL; and Best Beverage - Narrow Gauge Brewing Company. ATA has been Food Outreach’s signature event for the entire 35 years they have served the community. This year, the event raised over $300,000 to support Food Outreach’s mission to providing nutritious meals and nutrition counseling to men, women, and children living with HIV or cancer. The organization’s nearly 2,000 clients live in 150 Missouri and Illinois zip codes.

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CELEBRATING CHILDHOOD

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Kids In The Middle hosted their annual Celebration of Childhood Gala on Thursday, October 19, at Third Degree Glass Factory. Over 200 people attended a night full of fun with a silent and live auction and raffle. The event raised over $150,000 to provide services to children and families going through divorce, separation and/or remarriage.

A Tasteful Affair 1) Food Outreach Executive Director Julie Lock with Board Members John Schmieder and Craig Marsh 2) Alyssa Hilderbrand 3) Food Outreach Board - 2023 4) LaDawn Ostmann, Dennis Voegele, Amy Hoch Hogenson 5) Sydney Gosik, Kathy Spencer 6) 2023 Culinary and Becverage Partner Celebrating Childhood 1) Dave Yates, Lisa Yates, Andy Bramman, Grace Bramman 2) Derrick Brooks, Collen Daum 3) Emcee Margie Ellisor 4) Chuck Vogel, board president; Cathy Goldsticker, Erin Eberhard 5) Deborah Hatwell, Derrick Shaffer 6) Joan Clarke, Bill Clarke

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FRIENDS OF KIDS WITH CANCER

The 29th Annual Fashion Show & Boutique brought in a grand total of over $350,000 to support Friends of Kids with Cancer’s programming. Held at The Ritz-Carlton, guest models included doctors, social workers, nurses, community supporters, St. Louis Cardinals players and alums Paul Goldschmidt, Tommy Edman, Andy Benes, Brad Thompson, and Andy Van Slyke, as well as St. Louis CITY SC players Michael Creek and Niko Gioacchini and St. Louis Blues announcers, John Kelly and Joey Vitale. Guests enjoyed boutique shopping from local vendors, gourmet food by The Ritz-Carlton, raffles, auctions, and more. Patient models were showered with personalized gifts, one-night stay at The Ritz-Carlton, and even time on the microphone as our emcee, Susanne Rosenberg, gave way for joke-telling and singing during the shows.

1) Allison Sconce, Cardinal Glennon Childlife Specilist, with Natalie and Nelly 2) Patients Noah and Jamyla with CITY StL’s Michael Creek 3) Bella and Adrienne Columbus (Social Worker at Glennon) 4) Patients, best friends, and guest speakers Bella and Sarah 5) Ashley Duneske, Christy Hubbell 6) Stephanie Swearington, Blake Swearington 7) Dailyn with St. Louis Cardinal Paul Goldschmidt 8) Nicholas Gioacchini (CITY SC) with Cai, Jacob, & Jarvis 9) Guests enjoying the VIP Solarium at The Ritz

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Photography by Suzy Gorman Photography

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THE MOVERS AND SHAKERS BALL

Those who attended the glamourous Big Muddy Dance Company’s “Movers & Shakers” Ball, held at the Center of Creative Arts, were mesmerized by two compelling excerpts from dance premieres curated by Big Muddy’s Artistic Director Kirven Douthit-Boyd. Congratulations to event co-chairs, Rio DeArmond and Robert S. Harvey, Executive Director Erin Prange, and to the host committee: Marie Helene Bernard, Shereen Fischer, and Jessica Tavares. By the end of the night, more than $170,000 had been raised. A big round of applause goes to the event’s master of ceremonies KSDK’s Travis Cummings.

1) Jonathan & Monique Levy, Shereen & Michael Fischer 2) Robert S. Harvey, Erin Prange, Rio DeArmond, Kirven Douthit-Boyd 3) Mark Braun, Christy Beckmann 4) Kathie Winter, Richard Winter 5) Jessica Taveres 6) Donald Jones, Susan Sherman, Kirven Douthit-Boyd, Topher Bordenave, Indigo Sams, Marie Helene Bernard, Dario Calmese 7) Marie Helene Bernard, Stephane & Asa Deneve, Doug Copeland 8) Dancers with the Big Muddy Dance Company

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CITY ACADEMY CELEBRATES 25 YEARS

More than 300 guests gathered at City Academy on November 4 to celebrate 25 years of navigating bright futures. The unforgettable evening included a gallery of student artwork, an interactive physics experience, a captivating performance by 2021 City Academy Alumnus Ricco Martin, Jr., and an inspiring keynote speech from 2012 City Academy Alumna Zuri Thomas. The evening concluded with a performance by City Academy’s faculty and staff band. The event raised more than $600,000 for the school’s endowment, ensuring successful outcomes for students for years to come.City Academy was co-founded in 1999 by Don Danforth and Duncan Marshall on the belief that a family’s geographic location and income should never be a barrier to accessing high-quality education. As the only private, independent school in North St. Louis, City Academy provides scholarship support to 100 percent of its 228 students, ages 3 through 6th grade.

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1) City Academy President and Co-Founder Don Danforth shares highlights from the past 25 years. 2) Guests were entertained by the incredibly talented Ricco Martin Jr. (City Academy Class of 2021), who worked with Music Teacher Laren Loveless to create a special City Academy-themed medley of songs. 3) City Academy’s 25th Celebration Event was chaired by Heather Strahorn, member of the Board of Trustees. 4) Zuri Thomas, a 2012 graduate of City Academy, served as the event’s keynote speaker. 5) City Academy Head of School Jarrett Young recounts his personal story of growing up near City Academy in North St. Louis before the school existed, and then going on to attend MICDS. 6) City Academy’s Board Chair Michelle Strawbridge (purple top) surrounded by family, friends, and alumni of the school. 7) The evening concluded outside with a performance by City Academy’s Faculty and Staff band, consisting of Laren Loveless, Laura Reycraft, Dr. Noah Hollenkamp, Russ Jaffe, Larry Reese, and Erik Taylor. 8) City Academy Alumni (from left) Lauryn Gross (Villa Duchesne), Audrey White (John Burroughs School), Kaylee Gillespie (Crossroads College Preparatory School), and Elle Smith (John Burroughs School) greeted guests as they arrived and escorted them to the entrance. 9) City Academy’s 25th Celebration event raised more than $600; 000 for the school’s endowment fund.

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