Zach Helfand
HBO Max Becomes Max, Ron DeSantis Becomes . . . Rhonda Santis?
Can other nomenclatural switcheroos offer clues as to how the Florida governor should pronounce his last name, or what to call the Tappan Zee bridge?
Is the New P.G.A. Tour Motto “Always Take the Money”?
The Saudi-backed LIV tour, which paid some golfers a hundred million dollars or more to defect from the Tour, turned into an expensive, expandable negotiating tool.
A Parting Glass for the Ritz-Carlton’s Norman Bukofzer
One of the late, great barman’s best customers, Liam Neeson, presided from a “fecking” sickbed upstairs as drinkers toasted the guy who’d served Jodie Foster, Ralph Fiennes, Bono, Joe Torre, and Bette Davis.
An Opera Singer Jabs and Weaves
Speedo Green, named after his father’s favorite underwear, fell in love with “Carmen” at fourteen. Now he’s training to box for Terence Blanchard’s opera “Champion.”
When Donald Paid Stormy: A History of Hush Money
Buying silence is as old as Genesis. Among the hushers: Bill Cosby, Michael Jackson, Bette Davis, and a U.S. President with a special friend called Jerry the Penis.
Roger Stone Shakes a Nixonian Martini
The pardoned felon delighted true believers with tales of who shot J.F.K. and Tricky Dick’s special way with an olive.
When Skinheads Picket Your Broadway Show
Ben Platt, the Tony-winning star of “Dear Evan Hansen” and, now, “Parade,” discusses some links to the character he plays, and discovering that he’s Josh Groban’s cousin.
A Coup at the WestView News
A succession battle involving a fight for the patronage of Sarah Jessica Parker threatens to stop the presses at a Greenwich Village newspaper.
Meet the Man Who Brought You George Santos
Chris Grant, the founder of Big Dog Strategies, consulted on more than a hundred Republican campaigns last year. His hero: Karl Rove.
Off the Grid in the Big City
Josh Spodek disconnected the circuit breaker in his apartment, and now—thanks to solar-powered vegan stew—his carbon footprint is about that of three house cats.
If You Lived Here, You’d Never Have to Leave
The Set, a new bubble inside a bubble in Hudson Yards, lets residents eat and sleep and Zoom and work without ever touching the pavement.
Meet the New Nates: Two Day Students at Andover
The prep-school pollsters Alex Shieh and Patrick Chen take a break from the Math Club and Latin to survey the midterm Senate races.
Curtain Call, with Zamboni
Victoria Clark and the cast of “Kimberly Akimbo” turned into rink rats to prepare for their Broadway opening.
Will the Saudis and Donald Trump Save Golf—or Wreck It?
High-level defections! Tiger Woods and Jared Kushner! Lawsuits and blacklists! Is the new LIV league a way to reward players, or the vanity project of a despot, or something else?
The Lost Underwater Hamlets of the Catskills
Lucy Sante, the author of “Nineteen Reservoirs,” circumnavigates the Ashokan Reservoir, under which lie “apple knocker” villages razed and flooded by New York City for drinking water.
Elvis Costello and Regina King Let Their Bird Flags Fly
To benefit the Audubon Society, “For the Birds,” a COVID passion project, brings together ornithophiles and artist-designed birdhouses, including a 12BR Apt, A/C, No Elv, Vus.
James Patterson Is Unapologetically Rich
At his riverfront spread up the Hudson, the king of best-sellers talks about his boyhood on the other side of the tracks, his COVID-project memoir, and hanging with Bill and Hillary.
Reports of the Pay Phone’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated
Days after the city bid farewell to its “last pay phone” with much hoopla, one sleuth reported on several remaining phone booths—by making calls from said phone booths.
Andrey Kurkov Is Banned in Russia but a Hit at PEN
Following in the footsteps of Hitchens and Rushdie at the World Voices Festival, the writer muses on Russian fatalism, on printing a novel on sandwich-wrap paper in Kyiv, and on the lamentable deaths of his childhood pet hamsters.
The Yankees Fan Yankees Fans Like to Watch Watching the Yankees
Joseph Solano, better known as JoezMcFly, who makes a living live-streaming his reactions to baseball games, exults the morning after Aaron Judge’s walk-off home run against the Toronto Blue Jays.
HBO Max Becomes Max, Ron DeSantis Becomes . . . Rhonda Santis?
Can other nomenclatural switcheroos offer clues as to how the Florida governor should pronounce his last name, or what to call the Tappan Zee bridge?
Is the New P.G.A. Tour Motto “Always Take the Money”?
The Saudi-backed LIV tour, which paid some golfers a hundred million dollars or more to defect from the Tour, turned into an expensive, expandable negotiating tool.
A Parting Glass for the Ritz-Carlton’s Norman Bukofzer
One of the late, great barman’s best customers, Liam Neeson, presided from a “fecking” sickbed upstairs as drinkers toasted the guy who’d served Jodie Foster, Ralph Fiennes, Bono, Joe Torre, and Bette Davis.
An Opera Singer Jabs and Weaves
Speedo Green, named after his father’s favorite underwear, fell in love with “Carmen” at fourteen. Now he’s training to box for Terence Blanchard’s opera “Champion.”
When Donald Paid Stormy: A History of Hush Money
Buying silence is as old as Genesis. Among the hushers: Bill Cosby, Michael Jackson, Bette Davis, and a U.S. President with a special friend called Jerry the Penis.
Roger Stone Shakes a Nixonian Martini
The pardoned felon delighted true believers with tales of who shot J.F.K. and Tricky Dick’s special way with an olive.
When Skinheads Picket Your Broadway Show
Ben Platt, the Tony-winning star of “Dear Evan Hansen” and, now, “Parade,” discusses some links to the character he plays, and discovering that he’s Josh Groban’s cousin.
A Coup at the WestView News
A succession battle involving a fight for the patronage of Sarah Jessica Parker threatens to stop the presses at a Greenwich Village newspaper.
Meet the Man Who Brought You George Santos
Chris Grant, the founder of Big Dog Strategies, consulted on more than a hundred Republican campaigns last year. His hero: Karl Rove.
Off the Grid in the Big City
Josh Spodek disconnected the circuit breaker in his apartment, and now—thanks to solar-powered vegan stew—his carbon footprint is about that of three house cats.
If You Lived Here, You’d Never Have to Leave
The Set, a new bubble inside a bubble in Hudson Yards, lets residents eat and sleep and Zoom and work without ever touching the pavement.
Meet the New Nates: Two Day Students at Andover
The prep-school pollsters Alex Shieh and Patrick Chen take a break from the Math Club and Latin to survey the midterm Senate races.
Curtain Call, with Zamboni
Victoria Clark and the cast of “Kimberly Akimbo” turned into rink rats to prepare for their Broadway opening.
Will the Saudis and Donald Trump Save Golf—or Wreck It?
High-level defections! Tiger Woods and Jared Kushner! Lawsuits and blacklists! Is the new LIV league a way to reward players, or the vanity project of a despot, or something else?
The Lost Underwater Hamlets of the Catskills
Lucy Sante, the author of “Nineteen Reservoirs,” circumnavigates the Ashokan Reservoir, under which lie “apple knocker” villages razed and flooded by New York City for drinking water.
Elvis Costello and Regina King Let Their Bird Flags Fly
To benefit the Audubon Society, “For the Birds,” a COVID passion project, brings together ornithophiles and artist-designed birdhouses, including a 12BR Apt, A/C, No Elv, Vus.
James Patterson Is Unapologetically Rich
At his riverfront spread up the Hudson, the king of best-sellers talks about his boyhood on the other side of the tracks, his COVID-project memoir, and hanging with Bill and Hillary.
Reports of the Pay Phone’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated
Days after the city bid farewell to its “last pay phone” with much hoopla, one sleuth reported on several remaining phone booths—by making calls from said phone booths.
Andrey Kurkov Is Banned in Russia but a Hit at PEN
Following in the footsteps of Hitchens and Rushdie at the World Voices Festival, the writer muses on Russian fatalism, on printing a novel on sandwich-wrap paper in Kyiv, and on the lamentable deaths of his childhood pet hamsters.
The Yankees Fan Yankees Fans Like to Watch Watching the Yankees
Joseph Solano, better known as JoezMcFly, who makes a living live-streaming his reactions to baseball games, exults the morning after Aaron Judge’s walk-off home run against the Toronto Blue Jays.