Trad Lunch

Fraunces Tavern is at Pearl and Broad down on Wall Street. I loved this place back in the '80s. The history first attracted me. Washington resigned his commission and said goodbye to his general staff here. The fireplace was always welcome on a cold night. Along with the giant bowl of soft Port Wine Cheese and a plate full of Ritz crackers at the end of the bar.

It was my favorite place to meet a date for drinks before heading uptown for dinner. Artifacts, mostly reproductions, were crammed into the place. The food wasn't that great then but the place had real soul. And dust.

I met management one night thanks to a date of mine. She was an FBI agent and while going to the bathroom her .38 fell out of her waist holster and into the toilet. Lucky for her this happened before. She fished the Smith & Wesson, I think it was the hammerless model ... I'm not sure, out of the toilet and since there were no paper towels, she unloaded it and with the cylinder open, placed the gun under the hand dryer. I think the dryer was manufactured by World Dryer, a future client of mine...I'm not sure.

At about this time I was in the harbor on a boat in one of the worse ice storms the city had seen in years. I was running an hour late....maybe an hour and a half...I'm not sure.

While Jean was drying her side arm another lady walked in. And while I'm not sure of this...I'm almost positive this woman had never been exposed to firearms. Certainly not one being held under a hand dryer in the bathroom of Fraunces Tavern. Which would explain why she screamed so loudly as she ran out.

My date, being the ever prepared agent, was ready for management when they stormed the ladies room by holding her credentials out at arms length in one hand and the .38 in the other - - still under the dryer. Management, some pretty big fellas...I do remember that, laughed and stood by the door until Mr Smith and Mr Wesson were dry.

Upon exiting the ladies, my date and management stood by the fireplace and laughed. This is where I came in ...seeing four big men standing around my date and laughing...I thought, "What in the hell...?" Which is when my date saw me and said loudly, "Where in the fuck have you been?" This caused some more laughs as well as one of my favorite phrases from management, "Drinks are on us."

Today, I come here to remember. Dates with FBI agents. George Washington saying a tearful goodbye to his Army. The fireplace. All good. But that was then.

It's pretty horrible now. Someone took all the reproductions and dust. It seems empty and cold. All the charm lost somewhere between then and now. I like to have lunch here alone and ponder what 23 years can do to a place...and to me.

More Trad Dad

Since my earlier post about my father...and thanks to all who have expressed their concerns about his health...it has occured to me that I keep coming back to him. This is a photograph I grew up with. I was seven or eight when it was taken. This was before he finished the officer's Special Forces selection course. After which he was awarded a full flash (the patch on the beret) and sent off to Vietnam.

I remember when he left. We were at Pope AFB. He kissed my mother and sisters goodbye. He turned to me, pointed a finger at my chest and said, "You screw up once while I'm gone - - I'll come back here and kick your ass. You got that?" I nodded in the affirmative. He turned, threw his duffel bag on his shoulder and walked off to a waiting C130.

As a kid, I walked a fairly straight line. That is, I made every effort not to piss him off. Growing up on Army posts was somewhat unique in that a child's actions were a direct reflection on his father as well as his father's career. As I watch children today running loose in stores, kicking the back of my plane seat from Heathrow to O'Hare, demanding everything from their parents and most recently...video taping the beating of a fellow student...I am reminded of what it was like to grow up with this kind of father. Who could give you that kind of look. Thanks, Dad. If that ain't Trad - - I don't know what is.

The Trad Museum

Some things don't change and thank goodness the Met in NYC has kept this exhibit going. I first saw these guys in the mid 80s and damned if they're not still at the Met. I remember walking into this room for the first time and seeing these four Knights and thinking , "Holy shit. " Probably not what the curator was after but it blew me away. Still does.

Is it Trad? I think it is. I mean it's the Met. And any Trad knows that if this stuff bores you there's always the Wine Bar where you can get a bottle of Claret for $40. That's a pretty good deal for a NYC museum. So sit at the bar, share a bottle of wine with a friend, cross your legs so everyone can see your socks and talk about the fact that none of this stuff would be here if people didn't have sex. You can't get more Trad than that.

The Trad Hotel on the Trad Island

I fell in love with Bermuda on my first visit. It was England...but with sun. The taxi ride from the airport to my hotel in Hamilton was magical. It was a Friday afternoon and all of the traffic was coming toward us. Men on scooters in blue blazers, Bermuda shorts, kneesocks, Rep ties and sunglasses. Quick images of the ocean outside my taxi window framed by flowers and pink houses with electric blue shutters and bone white roofs. The humid breeze was soaked up by my dry, five below zero with the wind chill flesh. This place is so Trad and I haven't even discussed Dark and Stormies yet.

I stayed at the Hamilton Princess. I was on business and it was where everyone else was staying. A nice pool. Horrible food but only idiots and the lazy ate at the hotel. I was introduced to Dark and Stormies at the hotel bar. Barrits Ginger Beer and Goslings Black Seal Rum. With a lime. Somehow this drink manages to taste like Bermuda. I was invited to tea by some locals at Waterloo House. A charming little hotel between the Princess and downtown Hamilton pictured above.

I'm sitting in the courtyard drinking Lapsang Souchong and nibbling McVitties digestive biscuts and wondering why I'm staying at the Princess when I can be staying at Waterloo. I am on expenses. What do I care. And so I started staying at Waterloo when I could. It's small. Only 30 or so rooms and tends to fill up fast. And that's the reason it is to be closed.

"Not as good as it was but better than it will be." Remember that.

Bermuda, God bless her, has managed to keep most Yanks out of her knickers due to some serious employment and real estate laws. But Bermuda has gotten the whiff of money. Insurance money. Quiet and serious stuff. It seems the footprint of the Waterloo is too small for a 30 room hotel. As it is, this charmer sits between multi-storied midrises whose tenants count insurance company money. Waterloo will close this July based on information just passed to me by a good friend. She will be replaced with office space more in line with the value of the land.

I am in mourning. Maybe the best thing about getting older is knowing that everything wonderful will be shit canned by some ass hole with an accounting degree. By the time I'm my father's age nothing will be left. "Not as good as it was but better than it will be." I'm translating that into Latin and putting it on all my Polo shirts.

Trad Sunglasses

So, were having this discussion about Trad Sunglasses over on Ask Andy about Trad. What brand do you like, what model, what you're willing to shell out...Persols and Ray Bans seem to be winning. But is going to a Sunglass Hut and dropping almost $300 anywhere close to Trad?

I found these Giorgio Armani sunglasses in a consignment shop in Chicago. Made in Italy, I'm guessing they're circa 1980 to 1985. Bought 'em for $35. Lenses were in bad shape so I took them to Friedrich's in NYC. They put new lenses in and threw in a super nice blue leather case with buff interior (I love Blue and Buff) for $50 bucks or so.

They go well with a Blue Blazer and a Rep Bow Tie.

The Trad Movie Theatre

The Paris Theatre
Over the weekend I caught the Rolling Stones Docu at the Imax in New York. $16.00 a pop. When my Dad returned from a tour in South Korea, I pestered him to take me to see the Beatle's docu, "Let it Be." Walking out of the theatre he said, "Those guys could shit in a paper bag and people would buy it." I felt the same way about the Stones. I guess I am turning into my father.

The next day I went to the Paris for some contrast. It's a lovely little place tucked between the Plaza Hotel and Berdorf Goodman. Been there for 65 years and has yet to be chopped up into some cash inhaling multi-plex with postage stamp screens, video games and the ever present 16 year old hoovering the carpet. The "Lounge" is downstairs and damned if it ain't a lounge. Plush seating and art decco details everywhere. It really is something from a time long gone. There's even an open balcony. It's civilized and that's Trad.

My Trad Dad

He's on the far left. With the Ballantine can in front of him. Vietnam- circa 1967. A quiet, no bullshit, Green Beret, A Team Leader in the Central Highlands. A fan of movies. Especially, The Wild Bunch. His favorite quote from Pike Bishop, "When you side with a man - - You stay with him. And if you can't do that you're like some kinda animal. You're finished. We're all finished." Abso-fucking-lutly.

He's not really a Trad. You'd never see him in a bow tie. Although, he was fond of short sleeve Madras button downs. Bleeding Madras of course. A Rolex Explorer he purchased in Vietnam for $200. A Randal Attack Survival he gifted me when I joined the Army. Along with a French Foreign Legion Para Jacket. Those Army issue glasses are certainly Trad but this man is hard to label.

A career Army officer, he was also an artist. Two paintings of his are in The Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, NC. He experimented with oil paint on strings of firecrackers and subscribed to the Evergreen Review.

At 16, I earned my third degree brown belt in Judo. I told him over phone and he told me when he was in a wheel chair he'd be able to kick my ass. Adding, "I'll bite your adams apple out and spit it in your face."

He's very sick now. I love him dearly.

Surplus Ersatz at Bergdorf

I stand open mouthed at the article of clothing above in the Polo Department at Bergdorf Goodman. A sales clerk approaches.
Clerk: Isn't that a great looking jacket?
Me: Actually, I think it's obscene.
Clerk: (With a, "Oh, shit." expression) Uh, well. Why is that, sir?
Me: They're knocking off uniforms. That ain't right.
Clerk: You know, I asked my manager if we've ever had complaints and he said, no. Maybe if we were in West Virginia it would be different.
Me: Why is that?
Clerk: 'Cause they're more patriotic than New Yorkers I guess.
Me: You know, some men died wearing this stuff. Don't you think it's a little...I don't know...
Clerk: No, I know what you mean. Still, no one complains. You're in the minority.
Me: I guess so.
Made in China by the way. By Communists. Odd that.

Airborne Trad

I'm walking up Lexington Avenue when I see these in the Stubbs & Wootton window. The old Airborne, "Death from Above" logo on a pair of linen slippers. The maroon beret signifies the Airborne or Paratrooper status. Oddly enough - - throughout the entire world. That's right. All countries signify their Airborne troops with a maroon beret. Nice to see the world can agree on one thing.

The skull is Death. And the wings are from US Army designed jump wings. Trad Airborne Slippers? No. They are not Trad. In fact, a Knish has a better chance at being Trad than these. I was in the Airborne and I find these repulsive. Those who will pay $395 for them in New York or Palm Beach will most likely have no idea what they are. The sales girl in NY certainly didn't know anything about them.

I find designer's impulse to "knock off" military patches and awards a lazy afront to those who "earned" them.

More Yiddish than British

Contrast is everything. I can't stand matching. "You need to pick up the shirt in the tie." Old girlfriends were big on this. And they were wrong. You need contrast in clothing just like you need it in life. Six hours of a BBC miniseries can wear you down. Before you know it you're asking people to hold the lift. Asking where office drinks will be and telling your mates you're off to Spain to holiday for a fortnight with some nice Toddy you chatted up...

The Knish rides to your rescue. Hopefully, before all of your friends think you're an affected tool. I discovered the potato Knish during my first job outta college in NYC. I was looking for something in the morning that was cheap and would fill me up. The Knish off a Greek coffee cart fit that bill. After a couple of months in the city a nice Jewish girl showed me around. "Never eat Nova lox. That's for the Goyim. Always get Belly." And so it was...I learned about White Fish and H&H bagels. And I was taken here for a proper Knish. Are they Trad? Well, they are hand made. On Houston between 1st and 2nd.

The Trad DVD

If you like Public Broadcsting (and what Trad doesn't), the BBC, amazing clothes and beautiful location shots, then buy or rent this DVD set of, "Edward and Mrs Simpson" (1978) with Edward Fox and Cynthia Harris. You'll never see wardrobe like this and Fox wears his so well. Smoking jackets galore, brown chalk stripe suits with suede shoes and shirt collars so high it boggles the mind. Double breasted suits fill this TV series to the gunwales.

Mind you...there's a lot of smoking in this. Cigars, cigarettes and pipes are all smoked with an elegance of the time. Americans who whine anout the "image" of smoking should avoid this DVD at all costs. It was shot on video and 35mm (I'm guessing) which gives it a unique look. Video for the interiors and film for the exteriors. And the exteriors are amazing. As are the Art Deco sets. A real mind blower all around. The story? Eh, it's there and you already know the ending anyway. So, check it out. What have you got to lose? Other than six hours...

Trad German

While they even look good at the scrap yard (see below), there is something so beautiful about these cars when they've been cared for. The paint is so deep and the lines look like scupture. Why the Germans haven't taken their design genius for cars into clothing is a puzzle. They even came out with some pretty snappy uniforms a while back. Wonder what happened to the guy that designed them?

Trad Slippers

Trads use their own initials when going the monogram route. I'm not crazy about monograms on shirts. If you have to then something very small and discrete at the ribcage. Never script on the cuff. That's about as bad as it can get. I have my last name sewn onto my shirtfly by my tailor, Frank. But slippers scream out for a monogram. Not R.L. but your own. These are Shipton & Heneage. Not Lobbs. Hell, not even E. Green but they work. Worn at home with the rare venture outside in summer with tartan bermuda shorts and a white polo sans any logo. They do get looks. Even on 57th Street. I do wear these with a dinner jacket which explains why they're a little beat up. But beat up is very Trad.

Trad Italian

You know... I could watch this a hundred times. Is there anything Trad about this? I don't know and I don't care. I'm an Anglophile. And this makes me an Italiaphile. I wanna meet her in an Alfa Romeo outside of Lucca and just listen to her roll her r's with the top down. The guys at the bar are Trad. Love the glasses on the short one. But Mina stole my heart a long time ago. Ciao.

Trad Tretorns

Tretorns. How much can a shoe say? This one says a lot.

1980s. Tennis shorts that were short and made out of cotton. Fred Perry shirts. The Prince just starting to shove wood Jack Kramers off the courts. Long legged girls in tennis skirts with sweaty bangs on their forehead and a two handed backhand. Losing to a girl. Drinking cold Gins and Tonic later. She lights a cigarette. I arch an eyebrow. She crosses her legs and her tennis skirt hikes up another inch and a half. I lean to her and whisper, "How can I get back at you for beating me on the court?" She smiles and answers...

Anyway, these Tretorns were bloody hard to find. Zappos had zippo when it came to my size. These are made out of sail canvas. I love them. And the memories they bring me.

Not Trad Shoes

Despite the Pink and Green - - these are not Trad. In fact, I don't think they're shoes. I have friends and family who I love and they wear these. I also have friends who do the "tie tuck" at lunch, wear ventless suits with tone on tone shirts and pick their nose. Actually, I think picking your nose is a step above wearing crocs. But that's me.

The Trad Car Graveyard

What is it about these cars? There's a timeless beauty to them and always the questions. Who owned them? What action did the back seat see? Where did they travel to? How did they end up here? A love of history may have something to do with my attraction to them. That they look so grand in this state speaks to my love of Trad. Objects that never were in fashion - - never grow out of fashion.

The Trad Dog Show

There are people who are nuts about dogs. I'm not one of them. But I do like them. While living in a suburb on the north shore of Chicago I had a Wire Fox Terrier. I loved that dog and have fallen in love with the breed. They rate somewhere in the 400s on the list of 500 dogs by popularity. Good news if you think Golden Retrievers and Labradors are boring.

I bought my Fox from a breeder I met at Westminster 15 years ago. I went back yesterday for the first time since then and noticed two things. People who attend Westminster have the oddest way of dressing and I love dogs more than ever.

One last thing about this great show. It got crowded. In 1992 (when a Wire Fox won Best of Show) I walked the floor and stood inches from the ring for Best of Breed competition. Yesterday, I couldn't get closer than three rows back. The Bench area was worse. Impossible to move through the crush. So, like everything else Trad, it's not as good as it was - - but it's better than it will be.

The Trad Model in Lacoste

Is she cute or what? I saw a bumper stinker in London which read, "Warning! I brake for Blondes but back up for Red Heads." Exactly.

Anyway, Lacoste opened their show Saturday with enough grey to paint the fleet in Norfolk (as an army brat across the bridge in Hampton we liked to call it Norfuck). A big fan of Lacoste for years, they, like everyone else, started making their stuff in countries you may never have heard of. While the label says, "Designed in France" it sure as hell ain't made there anymore. Too bad. But the line looks great for the Fall. It reminded me of the Talbot's Catalog from the mid 70s. It might help if Talbots looked at their own catalogs.

The Trad Approach to NYC

What makes this horrible flight worth it? My favorite approach to LGA. It never fails to make me feel like a 12 year old on my first trip to NY. It is jaw dropping.

Trad Air Travel

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AKA cheap air travel. From the southeast to the northeast there's only one way to go cheap...Delta. Usually 40 seats or so for $150 bucks or so. For an hour and a half you feel like you're sitting on a toilet. In fact, there's only one place to get any relief and spread out...in the toilet.

Trad Work

A painting of a Lloyd's of London syndicate. Insurance is a horrible profession made bearable by frequent travel, if one is lucky, to London. The bald man in the middle is the underwriter. His assistant is to his left. The broker to his right "brokes" a risk or pitches an insurance placement. Other brokers que at the "box" and wait their turns.

The Underwriter had this painting commissioned by the artist, Frances Watt. Titled, "Hard Bargaining at Lloyds", it really is a cracking good depiction of how boring insurance can be. The young man in the foreground to your right is the Entry Boy. A charming description that does not translate well to North America.

A Trad Music Video

I love this. I love everything about it. The music. The photography. The place. The clothes. The band. The audience. It gives me goosebumps.

The Duffle Coat

From Gentry Magazine's Winter issue of 1951. A good example of how Trad borrowed from the Brits, made it their own and started screwing up a good thing. Today cheap horn toggles replace the wood toggle and leather strips replace the hemp. The original patch pocket gets a flap and it's usually lined in some ersatz tartan. Some designers have the chutzpah to throw a $1,200 price tag on it.

Trad Ranger

The scaffolding dates this... but the guy in the middle isn't dated. And isn't that the point of Trad? Simple yet loud (that madras is yelling). It is a timeless approach with these basics -- Blue Blazer, white oxford cloth button down, shotgun shell belt, Ray Ban Aviators and Madras trousers. Any of it could have been worn 20 years earlier and any of it can be worn 20 years later.

In the mid 1980's, a contributor to the Statue of Liberty Foundation offered a Manhattan cruise on his yacht to National Park Service employees assigned to the Statue of Liberty. This guy was the only Ranger who dressed properly.

Trad Cologne

Should a Trad have only Old Spice?

The Trad Toilet

It's too cold to go outside. I'm too shy to ask people for a picture. I'm lazy. And I've been asked to post more often. Aside from being flattered, my camera battery is dead and I can't find the charger.

So, with a cell phone camera, here's some Trad stuff from the medicine cabinet. How lazy can you get? From the left:

Taylor of Bond Street (puchased on Jermyn Street) Comb
Euthymol Tooth Paste (a kick you in the pants flavor that many detest but the tube looks cool)
Caswell Masey Greenbriar Cologne (J. Press sells it for $15 more with their logo)
D. R. Harris Hair Cream (they make my favorite lemon shampoo)
Guerlain Vetiver (behind the hair cream) Cologne. The "Gulf Foxtrot" (Girl Friend) is always stealing mine
Berocca. A pretty good hang over cure from the UK
Santa Maria Novella Shaving Foam. The best damned shaving cream in the world.

That was exhausting. Okay, see you next month.

Resort Trad

It would be nice to post a picture of someone dressed like this today at a resort. Don't you think? Of course, it's impossible. Flip flops, sleeveless tee shirts, fanny packs and the chewing of sugarless gum is more of what you're to see. It breaks the heart.

Inside Apparel Arts Magazine

The Origins of Trad

Apparel Arts Magazine. The birthplace of Trad. University students at Yale and Princeton were the sartorial leaders in this country circa the mid 1930s. They followed students at Oxford and Cambridge and that's why Trad has such a close relationship to the UK. This epherma is history. Beautiful illustrations document men's dress in what most agree was the Golden Era...the '30s.

Trad Haircut

Peter's is on 1st Ave. An odd place to be sure. Peter owns it. Boris (Boris the Blade) cuts my hair. $26.00 includes a shampoo. Very Trad.

My Family Tartan

Thinking of tailored trousers by Chris Despos in the family tartan. Is there an uglier one? I don't think so.

Christmas at Turnbull & Asser

No one can do Christmas like the British. An annoying fact of life but there it is. Bloody little you can do about it. T&A doesn't get any better.

Trad Art

Okay. It's not really art. It's a poster. But you gotta love that Pink and Green greatcoat.