Robert Devaney • August 10, 2011

Singapore celebrated its 46th National Day with an Aug. 2. party, which also honored its armed forces. Ambassador Chan Heng Chee greeted dignitaries and guests at the embassy’s International Place complex with a 50th birthday cheer for President Barack Obama — after the U.S. and Singapore national anthems were played — as well as a full and spicy buffet of food and ample drinks. (The city-state island republic was founded Aug. 9, 1965.) Also addressing the crowd were Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.). Webb saluted “the energy of the people of Singapore, who have performed an economic miracle.” Stearns admired Singapore’s double-digit growth rate. [gallery ids="100260,106934,106946,106939,106943" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney • July 27, 2011

Neyla restaurant on N Street provided an above-average sartorial scene, July 14, for a stylish book-signing party, hosted by Robert Finfer, president and CEO of Integrity Capital Partners, and Michael Yo of both E! News and the Chelsea Handler Show. The man of the hour was Glenn O’Brien, “Style Guy” columnist for Gentleman’s Quarterly, and author of “How to be a Man: A Guide to Style and Behavior for the Modern Gentleman” (Rizzoli New York).

“How to be a Man” is a trusty compendium of man-knowledge. Part how-to guide, part memoir, “How to be a Man” covers the important items in O’Brien’s signature common sense and conversational tone. Chapters include “How to Not Look Stupid” and “Hair Today (Gone Tomorrow?).” In a world where men have long since abandoned wearing ties to work, along with the majority of manners, it is nice to see a guide for the modern gentleman.

O’Brien, a Georgetown University graduate, got his start in New York covering Manhattan’s pop scene for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine, later becoming its editor. He has since written for Spin and Artforum. O’Brien’s GQ column, “The Style Guy,” answers readers’ questions about everything from skinny jeans to pinkie rings.

The well-suited crowd of guys (and gals, of course) included local influencers, politicos, media types and financial advisors, who sipped cocktails from Rémy Martin as well as iced tea mixed by The Teaologist’s Jennie Ripps. They also received O’Brien’s new book which he happily signed. The style guru recalled his days as a Hoya, working for a time at Clyde’s and Safeway. He said he was delighted to have lunch that afternoon at The Tombs which looked to him pretty much as he left it back in the late 1960s – and more than delighted at his reception at Neyla. As for D.C. style? The women dress better than the men, he said. And future books? Maybe, he said, something on White House protocol . . . and “How to be a Congressman.”
[gallery ids="100241,106636,106629,106633" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas, Nevada, is a blessing and a bet. Once a simple railroad stop with its underground springs and “meadows,” as its name means, the city sits at the intersection of America’s great deserts and west of one of this nation’s greatest natural wonders: the Grand Canyon. During the Great Depression and the construction of the Hoover Dam, Las Vegas decided to allow and profit from gambling and other sins. And it has not looked back much since . . . until now.

Amid today’s economic downturn (Nevada has the highest state unemployment rate), I arrived a few weeks ago at Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino for the Society of Professional Journalists’ convention. Somehow, that seemed apropos for a profession facing its own awkward challenges.

It was my first business trip to Las Vegas, but I was no stranger. I first visited at the age of six during a family trip—we drove from New York City to Los Angeles in our new station wagon. My aunt and uncle, who last worked at Caesar’s Palace, had moved there in the early days. My brother would later work at the Las Vegas Hilton.

This time around I walked along Las Vegas Boulevard—the strip—for an evening with the lights, sights and crowds. I crossed the street to the Bellagio, as its elegantly choreographed water show held everyone’s attention. Next door was Caesar’s Palace, which boasts its own Serendipity3 restaurant at the sidewalk front. With the Georgetown location opening soon, it seemed time to sample a pricey, great hamburger at the bar. Vegas, mind you, is full of fancy burgers: from KGB, Kerry’s Gourmet Burgers, to the $777 burger at Paris Hotel’s Brasserie.

Early the next morning, before our business sessions, I wandered through the new City Center with its top-end stores, which looks like a Beverly Hills transplant. One local musician, walking home from his night’s gig, told me it did not belong in Las Vegas, which made me wonder what really does.

During the convention, we met with clients for steaks at Mon Ami Gabi at Paris. During breaks, I visited the Miracle Mile Shops, part of the Planet Hollywood complex. There were lots of shops, but Bettie Page, with its retro clothes and lingerie, is unique. The Sugar Factory, offering $25 lollypops, is also pretty sweet. I got to play a little roulette at the casino’s Pleasure Pit (yes, dancing girls!) and relax at the Pleasure Pool for two hours. Alas, I did not see Holly Madison’s Peep Show at PH, nor have I yet experienced Cirque du Soleil’s “The Beatles’ Love” at the Mirage.

My extra time in Vegas was saved for one, singular sensation: a helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon. I had saved the best for last. There are several aviation companies operating out of McCarran Airport. I chose Maverick Helicopters with its slick, new Eco-Star copters. Admittedly, I was reminded of John McCain. We arrived at the airport for our morning flight, as each pilot lined up the mostly European tourists. It is an expensive roundtrip—$400 plus—with the landing just above the Colorado River in the Western Rim of the Grand Canyon. From the hotel and back, the entire journey takes four hours. An important tour tip: reserve a mid-day flight for the best illumination of the canyon, as the canyon is overtaken by shadows if the sun is not high enough.

Our pilot went over safety requirements with his seven passengers. We strapped ourselves in, put on headsets and felt the copter gently hover in line with its team of four others above the airport tarmac. “Ready?” asked the pilot.

We popped into the sky above Las Vegas, seeing the four-mile strip with its glimmering hotels, and veered east toward the Grand Canyon. We looked down at Lake Las Vegas—hard to believe that it’s man-made—and then Lake Mead and the mighty Hoover Dam came in sight. Just downstream stands the new bypass bridge, officially The Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, named for a Las Vegas Sun editor and Nevada governor, as well as Arizona’s football player turned soldier who was killed in Afghanistan. Completed 75 years after the Hoover Dam, the bridge takes traffic off the dam’s packed two-lane road and is seen as an economic and psychological advantage for the region.

The etches of Lake Mead’s waters and curves of smaller canyons still caught our gaze as the pilot flew over the extinct volcano Fortification Hill and announced where the military had an airfield for practicing aircraft carrier take-offs and landings during World War II. With desert light whizzing by, we flew near an edge and spied the new skywalk ahead.

“Here we go,” said the pilot, as he took us into Grand Canyon, turning, softly tilting and descending 3,500 feet.

We landed at a spot 300 feet above the Colorado River, part of the Hualapai Indian Nation, with picnic tables for our champagne toasts. We were by—and beside—ourselves in the stately rock of the Western Rim. The cool morning air and absolute quiet were stunning. Parts of the canyon have rocks more than one billion years old. I put a few pebbles in my pocket. You had to look up far and wide to take it all in.

All too soon, it was time to climb back into the helicopters and ascend the Grand Canyon, weaving along the light and shadows of the rock faces and up and over the wide desert, where our aircrafts stopped for re-fueling. We got out again in what felt like the actual middle of nowhere. Aloft, we approached the other end of Las Vegas, as the pilot pointed out Nellis Air Force Base and reminded us that legendary Area 51 was up north several miles. We eased above downtown and flew over the strip, landing back at McCarran. All too quick, but a trip of a lifetime.

Las Vegas also provides air and ground trips to the Southern Rim of the Grand Canyon—the more famous and more breath-taking section, if you can believe it. Farther away to the east lies Grand Canyon National Park lies (I once flew over it in a helicopter, but it didn’t land).

America’s adult playground continues to struggle with lower gambling revenues, while it has so much else to offer. The cirques keep running, the singers still perform, the hotels get shinier and the restaurants more upscale. One new hotel, the Cosmopolitan, sitting between City Center and the Bellagio, opens Dec. 15.

Yet, down the road, beyond the wastelands, reclines an old friend, the mother of ancient attractions: the Grand Canyon. Its playground has been open for millions of years and still can give Vegas visitors a real rush. [gallery ids="99255,104290,104286,104264,104282,104269,104278,104274" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

On baseball’s raw Opening Day, March 31, the Washington Nationals ran onto the field amid celebration, the roar of the crowd and unbending optimism.

In his press conference during NatsFest, the day before opening, manager Jim Riggleman said that it was strange not to be managing against the Atlanta Braves’ retired manager Bobby Cox. For him, Ryan Zimmerman has had “a great start.”

“And expectations for the team?” asked Lindsay Czarniak of NBC 4.

The Nationals must “play good, fundamentally sound baseball,” Riggleman said. “And give up less runs.” As for the new Nat and former Phillie Jayson Werth, he added, “Jayson speaks up. It carries clout when you’ve won.”

The Nationals have yet to have a winning season, and attendance on this drizzly afternoon was the lowest ever for a Nationals’ Opening Day.

But fans were not thinking about that on this day. You know it’s a good day when you walk out to the street looking for a cab and find neighbors—yourself included—jumping into a station wagon bound for Nationals Park. Our driver Ken Dreyfuss, who coaches the freshman crew at Georgetown University, recalled the days when DC school kids could submit notes from their parents to be excused from school because they were attending Opening Day. It was a given, and baseball retains that natural, neighborhood ease of inclusion and serendipity.

A renewed DC Hall of Fame began the show: CBS sportscaster James Brown, Olympic gold medal gymnast Dominique Dawes, former Washington Redskins running back Brian Mitchell, former Anacostia High head football coach Willie Stewart, former Post columnist Michael Wilbon and former DeMatha High head basketball coach Morgan Wootten. (Dawes could not attend.)

“The Star-Spangled Banner” was sung to a giant flag on the field. Then, a unique, slightly awkward set-up: the first pitches by five generals to five catchers. And then, Mayor Vincent Gray, cried out: “Play ball!” And he was booed. Loudly.

Happy regulars were seen around the stadium: former Mayor Adrian Fenty with his children going to the Stars and Stripes suites, as PR legend Charlie Brotman walks by and says hello; councilman Jack Evans in a parka cabitzing with friends; neighborhood commissioner Bill Starrels leaning on the rail; publicist Victoria Michael looking pretty in pink.

You see, baseball reserves its power to take it all in—win or lose—and make it all right, even if the Nats did lose, 2-0, to the Braves. A half smoke and a cold beer ain’t so bad, either. [gallery ids="99219,103520,103516,103513" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

Raise a glass, Washingtonians, to Richard McCooey, who celebrates 50 years in the business world this year, and his 80th birthday on October 14th. You likely have dined at his first classics in Georgetown: 1789 Restaurant or The Tombs, now owned by Clyde’s Restaurant Group.

Today, McCooey and his wife Karen run a restaurant design and consulting business that has left its mark from California to Russia.

It began in Georgetown back in 1960 with the plans to build The Tombs and 1789, where McCooey
had been a student. “I always wanted to open a restaurant near Georgetown University since my freshman year there,” recalled McCooey, who had just arrived back in D.C. from Florida, where another restaurant venture was discussed.

He has collected art since college and has worked with Clyde’s John Laytham in art and collectibles for many of Clyde’s restaurants. Laytham liked The Tombs and 1789 so much that he purchased 1789, Inc., in 1985, along with F. Scott’s.

Before McCooey made his archetypes of a student pub and faculty club a reality, he had to convince Georgetown residents that his plan made sense for the community as well. There was opposition to his project. When The Georgetowner’s founder Ami Stewart stood up at a citizen’s meeting to back McCooey, the tide turned. Two restaurants that epitomize Georgetown today were born in 1962. McCooey never forgot Stewart’s support and towards the end of her life would regularly send waiters to her home with meals from his restaurant.

Back in the 1960s, McCooey was the first in D.C. to introduce things we take for granted: pizza and gourmet burgers in a pub, rock ‘n roll music — with students selecting the music — and a consistent story throughout the restaurant’s concept, design and decor. By the way, if anyone asks, why the name “1789”? That was the year the Federal government was established, Georgetown University founded and Georgetown, Md., incorporated. And “The Tombs”? Inspired by T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.” In it, “Bustopher Jones, The Cat About Town” likes to lunch at the tomb. (Add to that McCooey’s nickname in the Air Force: “Bustopher Cat.”) As for the now private club, F. Scott’s, it is named after author F. Scott Fitzgerald, a distant cousin of Francis Scott Key.

“A restaurant is a neutral spot,” the soft-spoken and private McCooey says. “It is where people can forget their troubles. I have a drive to delight people by giving them a magical, tasteful and soul-filled space in which to be.”

Years from running a restaurant, McCooey and his wife Karen now use their design talent and an impressive art collection of posters and other artwork in their restaurant design business, Persona
Studios. “One of our principal contributions to a project is the basic concept and the art and artifacts that support it,” they say. “The concept can be a unique idea or can flow from the style of food, the general history of the area or even the personalities of the owners.”

“So, we celebrate Richard,” says his wife Karen, “ . . . for his loyal 50-year career in Washington,
D.C., for sharing his exquisite gift in designing comfortable, gorgeous restaurants . . . and for dedicating his life to feeding us — body and soul. He serves up an inspiring example.”

Here is a partial list of establishments where McCooey has been involved: Clyde’s 1789 Restaurant, Clyde’s Tombs, Clyde’s F. Scott’s Restaurant as well as the Clyde’s on M Street, in Reston, Chevy Chase, Gallery Place, Columbia and the Old Ebbitt Grill; The Tap Room, Georgetown Club; Union Street Cafe, Alexandria, Va.; Riverbend Restaurant (Philadelphia Airport Marriott); The Polo Club, Marriott Grand Aurora Hotel (Moscow, Russia); Tap Room, The Greenbrier (White Sulphur Springs, W.V.); Marriott Laguna Cliffs Resort (Calif.).

Robert Devaney •

Before her official welcome to Washington today, President Barack Obama took German Chancellor Angela Merkel to 1789 Restaurant, where they dined alone, having salad and beef tenderloin but no dessert, at the second-floor Wickets Room, June 6.

Dan Harding, general manager of 1789 and the Tombs, said that the White House gave them short notice of the special visit, calling at 4 p.m. for a reservation. Dinners for the two leaders were prepared by sous chef Erwin Rhodas, not executive chef Daniel Giusti, who was off for the day, filming a Food Network show in New York, Harding said.

The presidential motorcade rocketed along Prospect Street just after 7 p.m., as neighbors found nearby intersections closed by the Secret Service and the Metropolitan Police Department. Countersniper team moved atop Georgetown University’s Walsh Building across the street from 1789 and the Tombs, and police dogs checked the sidewalks. A crowd gathered at 36th & Prospect with phones and cameras and waited for the president to depart.

Meanwhile, patrons continued to enter 1789 and the Tombs and were wanded by the Secret Service. Georgetown University students Saum Ayria and Chris Scribner, dining at the Tombs at the same time as the president, enjoyed the surprise. “What a Washington, D.C., experience — the president just upstairs.” Scribner said. As Obama and Merkel left around 9:15 p.m., Jennyfer Sellem, a lawyer from Paris interning at the French Embassy, snapped a shot of the leaders inside the limo as it raced back to the White House. “What happened yesterday evening has added to my amazing experience here,” she said.

The big state dinner for Germany is tonight at the White House. [gallery ids="99930,99931,99932,99933,99934" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

D.C.’s Newsbabes lit up the Collonade Room May 17 at the Fairmont Hotel, all to benefit the fight against cancer, to meet friends and colleagues and to make some guys smile. The third annual Newsbabes Bash for Breast Cancer is a prelude for the June 4 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. The stunning and fun group of female journalists honored cancer survivors Jennifer Griffin of Fox News, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and others. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius spoke about how cancer has touched her and America’s families. Washington, D.C., first lady — or first daughter — Jonice Gray Tucker recalled losing her mother Loretta to cancer and “all those left behind” by her death and stressed the greater need by underprivileged or minority groups to fight cancer and raise awareness for early detection. When the Newsbabes lined up, WTOP’s Man About Town Bob Madigan joined them as the honorary host and one lucky fellow. [gallery ids="99761,99762,99763,99764" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

The first Americans called it Tohoga – “sweet land of sassafras.” This settlement may have changed its trails and huts, but Georgetown remains the meeting place for the District and its nation.

When walking along M Street – once called Bridge Street, and later referred to as “The Miracle Mile” – we should be mindful that these same steps were once trod by the likes of George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Other notables followed: Francis Scott Key, William Marbury, Benjamin Stoddert, William Corcoran and J.C. Calhoun. Georgetown, formerly of Maryland, was the first (and for a while the only) complete business community and village in the new nation’s capital.

The Old Stone House (residential, 1765) and the City Tavern Club building (business, 1796), both on M Street, are the oldest structures in Washington. The beginnings of IBM occurred on 31st Street. Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone switching station was next to the C&O Canal, where such a telecommunications structure still remains today. Georgetown University is the oldest Catholic institution of higher learning in the country. President Abraham Lincoln frequented Oak Hill Cemetery, where his son Willie was once interred.

Then in the late 19th century, Georgetown suffered an economic downturn as a result of progressively worse flooding and river silting. Becoming almost a slum, the city was essentially frozen in time.

That freeze later melted when those with government jobs sought housing here during and after World War II. The antique, authentic aesthetic has attracted smart, affluent Americans and foreigners alike ever since. It is said that by leaving their homes untouched, the poor saved Georgetown.

Fifty years ago this month, in 1960, Georgetown became the fashionable place again when an N Street resident by the name of John F. Kennedy ran for president. Today, we are intimately familiar with the senators and government officials, foreign dignitaries, journalists, authors, artists and businesspersons all living or working here. Together we are helping this old town continue to tell new stories. You see, history is not only the past in Georgetown. It is present all around you. [gallery ids="99248,104169,104190,104174,104186,104179,104183" nav="thumbs"]