Mastermind

by Bruce Bawer

What newspaper other than the New York Times would describe somebody as the "mastermind” of a bar-restaurant?  Oh well, never mind.  The Café des Artistes was indeed an exceedingly charming and convivial place.  Half a lifetime ago, a friend of mine from the Deep South moved to New York and lived at the Des Artistes, where he spent his time drinking gin and tonics.  When I went to visit him one day, probably not much later than noon, and found him already sloshed, I suggested we go for a walk in Central Park, right across the street.  We didn’t get farther than the Café, where the gin and tonics were indeed splendid.  He’d only lived in New York for a few weeks, but, as I discovered, he'd already met his neighbors: when we walked out of the Café three or four drinks later, he waved hello to a couple of them on their way out of the building: “Hi Mary!  Hi John!”  It was ex-Mayor John Lindsay and his wife.  Only in New York, kids, only in New York.