Photo: Nicole Freezer Rubens

We are paying tribute today to a dear member of our Three Tomatoes community, and a long-time contributor, Sandi Durell, who recently passed away. On a lighter night, The Three Tomatoes holiday lunch is back! There’s much going on to enjoy like Luna, Luna at Hudson Yards and the Winter Village that just opened at Bryant Park. And we’re excited about the renovations at the Frick. Long Island Restaurant week is here and our reporter has the scoop. The forever young Judy Katz is speaking at the “It’s Ok to Be Old” event. Our roving photographer is roving at the Brooklyn Heights Designer Showcase. And here’s to legal jaywalking in NYC, the NYC Marathon, and don’t forget to set your clock back one hour!

Remembering Sandi Durell: A Cabaret Champion

The Three Tomatoes and the NYC cabaret communities have lost a cherished friend. I first met Sandi Durell about 15 years ago, just as I was starting The Three Tomatoes, and she was launching her passion project, Theater Pizzazz, dedicated to keeping cabaret alive. Sandi soon became a beloved contributor to The Three Tomatoes with her NYC Cabaret column. She gave us permission to continue to share reviews from Theater Pizzazz. Here are a few heartfelt tributes from some of her closest friends. READ MORE.

Our Holiday Luncheon is Back!!!

The last holiday lunch we had was pre-COVID, so we are so excited to bring it back at one of our favorite restaurants, Turkish Cuisine. It will be a wonderful afternoon of celebrating friendships and heralding in the holiday season.  Co-hosted by Cheryl Benton, Anne Akers, and Randie Levine Miller. GET THE DETAILS. 

Spotlight on Long Island Restaurant Week 

Long Island Restaurant Week is a biannual event where participating restaurants across Long Island offer special prix-fixe menus at a discounted rate. The goal is to showcase the variety and quality of the region’s dining options and encourage people to explore new places or revisit favorite ones.  It’s an excellent opportunity to experience Long Island’s diverse culinary scene-from fine dining to casual eateries, and our Long Island reporter, Andrea Peponakis is spotlighting a few of her favorites.  GET THE DETAILS. 

Nov. 10. VIP Invite

The artist, and creator of Foto Art, Sharon Marantz Walsh’s inspiration comes from the photographs her clients send her, or those she takes personally.  To Sharon, every photograph represents a blank canvas, a canvas that inspires her mind’s eye to create and recreate endless possibilities, a new story waiting to be told, perhaps in another time, perhaps in another place, a forever memory to be cherished always. She now works digitally, through mix medias of photography, painting, and collage. A unique, one-of-a-kind personal gift for that special occasion. www.fotoartcfm.com

The evening’s host EuroOptica, offers you the comfort and convenience all in one location to have your eyes examined and have your prescription lenses customized in their on-site laboratory.  Enjoy browsing through their huge collection of sophisticated exclusive eyewear.  https://www.eurooptica.com

100% of the night’s raffle proceeds will be donated to the Taylor Matthews Foundation.  TMF is dedicated to raising awareness and funding childhood cancer research.  TMF funds cutting edge research and treatments that can reach cancer stricken children Today, not months or years from now, in  memory of Taylor Matthews who lost her battle with cancer at 16, it is the mission of the TMF that children with cancer will live long and productive lives.  https://www.taylormatthewsfoundation.org

Tickets are $25 (cash or check at door.) RSVP:  fotoartcfm@gmail.com

Bryant Park’s Winter Village is Back

You know the holidays are around the corner when Bryant Park has been transformed into a festive wonderland.  Visitors can enjoy free-admission ice skating on a 17,000-square-foot rink, holiday shopping at the European-inspired open-air market, and seasonal treats from The Lodge, an open-air food hall. The village also offers cozy private igloos, iceless curling, and festive cocktails, making it a magical destination for all ages. Whether you’re ice skating, shopping for unique gifts, or simply enjoying the holiday atmosphere, the Winter Village promises a delightful experience. GET THE DETAILS.

Nov. 17. Judy Katz Featured Speaker at “It’s Okay to Be Old” Event

Judy Katz, prolific ghostwriter, and a beautiful and vibrant 84-year-old has long wanted to change the conversation about aging. Her philosophy is that while aging is inevitable, looking, feeling and being old is a choice. She chooses to live her best life from this point on, and she wants to take you along for the journey. Learn more about the event and the other speakers as well. And as a friend of Judy’s, you will get a 50% discount. GET THE DETAILS.

November 20 – January 5: Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy at The Shed, NYC

Exciting news for Hudson Yards! This November, we’re bringing back the magic of Luna Luna, the world’s first art amusement park that debuted 36 years ago in Hamburg, Germany. Featuring rides, games, and attractions by iconic artists like Basquiat, Haring, Lichtenstein, and Hockney, Luna Luna was a groundbreaking experience. But after its closure, the park’s treasures were forgotten in 44 shipping containers in Texas—until now.

Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy opens this November, revealing the enchanting story of the most extraordinary fairground the world has ever seen. This is a spectacular event you won’t want to miss! Tickets are on sale now.

Roving at the Brooklyn Heights Designer Showcase

Our Roving Photographer Nicole Freezer Rubens writes:

This year’s Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse is certainly worth a visit before it closes on Sunday evening. The Greek Revival row house built in the late 1840s has a rich history. Today it features the heartfelt work of local interior designers and benefits the Brooklyn Heights Association. BHA is a 124 year old organization focused on social action and advocating for the historic neighborhood.

Some of the most remarkable decorations are the transformation of the cellar by Batliboi Studio, who took a mostly unusable space with 6 foot ceilings, dropped the floor and created a cozy media room with a very groovy opium den vibe. Standing in this plush, plum, pillowed space I felt like I Dream of Genie inside her bottle. The deep toned palette of this room was actually inspired by the colors of the Brooklyn Kings Theater.

The unique primary bedroom walls are encased in custom plaster sheets reminiscent of the wheat grass the designer Lynn Kloythanomsup of Landed Interiors saw on her trip to the Cotswolds last summer. The application and the tones were also inspired by Wedgewood china.  Although 182 Clinton Street is not the grandest home on the block, the selected designers did a fine job evoking current day living in Brooklyn Heights while respecting the charmed neighborhood’s past and the current functionality for the way New Yorkers live.

The doors are open from 11-7pm on Saturday and Sunday. I hope you get a chance like I did, to have your wish granted underground in Brooklyn Heights. GET THE DETAILS.

~Nicole Freezer Rubens is the author of The Long Pause and the Short Breath

The Frick Collection to Open Second Floor for the first time.

The Frick Collection has been undergoing its first renovation since 1935. And one the exciting parts of the renovation is that next year, for the first time, the public will be able to access the mansion’s second floor, which is especially well suited for the presentation of small-scale sculptures, ceramics, portrait medals, drawings, and paintings. Galleries on the second floor will increase the museum’s display space for permanent collection objects by 25 percent, enabling visitors to enjoy more of the Frick’s art than ever before.

Special Exhibition Galleries

The Frick’s special exhibitions are acclaimed for their quality, originality, and intellectual rigor. A suite of three new galleries on the museum’s first floor will provide dedicated space for special exhibitions, allowing—for the first time—works from the permanent collection to remain on view alongside loaned objects, instead of being removed to temporary storage.

The Boucher Room

A highlight of the second floor will be a gallery dedicated to a series of mid-eighteenth-century decorative panels by François Boucher and his workshop, which have been reinstalled in the room they occupied during Henry Clay Frick’s lifetime. This intimate space, overlooking Fifth Avenue and Central Park, also will be used to display French furniture and Sèvres porcelain from the same period.

The Frick Collection building, located at 1 East 70th Street in New York City, was originally the residence of industrialist Henry Clay Frick. Constructed between 1912 and 1914 during the Gilded Age by the architectural firm Carrère and Hastings, the mansion was designed to house Frick’s impressive art collection. After Frick’s death in 1919, his daughter Helen Clay Frick continued to live there until her mother’s death in 1931. Following a renovation by architect John Russell Pope, the building opened to the public as the Frick Collection in 1935. The museum features an extensive collection of European fine and decorative arts, and it is known for its intimate and welcoming atmosphere. GET THE DETAILS ABOUT THE REOPENING.