From newyorksocialdiary.com
Social Diary• BY: David Patrick Columbia
Thursday, December 4, 2025. Colder nights, last night and tomorrow. And the last of this Moon is over us out there. This is notable. This week brings “the Last Supermoon of 2025,” which is the last of a trilogy of bigger, brighter full moons this year. This moon is called: “Cold Moon.”
I do have political opinions just like everybody else, and over the years I have volunteered in elections from local to the Presidency. What I liked doing was calling on people in a neighbourhood and hearing how they were doing. I’ve never engaged in debates about candidates. Furthermore, the “Vote” you cast is your most personal business, whatever the description.
Over the past few decades I notice that campaigning is very financially (to the voter) related. In both parties. Every bit of information that is sent to potential voters ultimately ends asking for money. And a second time, a third, or…. That never happened before.
Yes, campaigns always seek backers, but any message I get from a candidate these days ends (or begins) with a request for a donation, immediately followed by the tiered chart to make expressing your generosity clearly expressed. As it happens, I get a lot of these requests every day from both sides, and from all over the country — often multiple identical solicitations. Given the very hard times for the American public, which are obvious when you read about the effect on people’s employment, I’m left wondering how much a lot of these candidates truly know about the American voter’s wallet.
Trump. The NewYorkSocial Diary.com five days a week, now in our 25th year.
I’ve watched his “career” as it turned out, like a spectator, since he first came on the scene in Manhattan, circa 1960s. What was notable to me was how this kid (early 20s) who grew up in Queens where his father was successful in the real estate business in the Queens piece of New York, and went out into the world of New York called Manhattan. And became a young man’s version of a real estate tycoon. And a family man.
You could imagine that happening to anyone under those circumstances. No. Not in New York. In New York everyone of success has their own path. I have never really known him personally except everybody kind of knows Donald Trump, or think they do.
I have been observing his career since the beginning, more than a half century ago. I always liked Donald Trump and I — having been, like him, a Democrat — will always like him. I am, however, surrounded by those who do not like him even though they know next to nothing about him. But because I have a daily public voice with the Diary, I STAY OUT of any public reference to the current politics today, as everyone has a right to his or her opinion.
I’ve worked in several political campaigns over the years as a Democratic volunteer. It all began in the late ‘60s, inspired by the impression JFK (and millions of others) made on me on one dark, cold evening in early November of 1960. That night in Lewiston, Maine, Senator John F. Kennedy from Massachusetts was traveling through the New England area in the very last days of his campaign for the Presidency. He was making brief speaking appearances in the New England states just two days before the election of 1960.
I and other classmates, fraternity bros, had made the hour or so trip that night down the highway from Waterville. Senator Kennedy’s appearance (outdoors on Bowdoin campus) was slated for 10 pm.
It turned out to be just a bit after midnight when he finally arrived. The scene was set outdoors, lighted only by lanterns and spotlights in the dark, cold Maine night. He made his entrance with a deep, frozen grimace, squeezing his way through the deep crowd that pressed as close as possible to the stage. He was essentially pushed through the young, pressing crowd to the platform where he would speak.
This was the first time I’d ever experienced being in a “politically oriented election type” crowd. Senator Kennedy, who looked exactly like his photos — a young man of 43 — was dressed in a grey flannel suit and tie, speaking at midnight midweek on a freezing cold night in Maine.
And we were all awestruck by the man, his presence; the Harvard-educated speaker with a heavy down-home Boston accent. On dark cold midnight in down Maine at this time of year.
It was a quality of personality that you felt very at home with. He exuded authority but also intelligence, and frankly, I’d never heard a politician running for office who was so attractive in presence yet commanded such attention with his broad Boston accent.
Of course he was murdered three years later while in office. It’s the nature of the game of the New World that has grown darker by the year. We are a very ignorant “people.” I don’t refer to it as an intent; it’s nobody’s fault; we’re all learning.
It was no doubt the result of our astounding progress beginning with the electric light and the telephone, followed by the auto, the plane, the rocket, the camera; it all burst, like a flower in Springtime over the last century. And mainly out of the men and women of the United States of America.
That time has now passed but The great progress always included the darker tunnels which can lead to the thoughts that total destruction eventually occurs.
These last dozens of decades have transformed the civilization of Man for the first time in recorded human history. Or at least it has restored what existed in ancient times which are referred to vaguely since next to nothing is known about their existence when learned about. Rome is a perfect example.
Now, onto something a bit more fun. They say you can’t be in two places at once, but clearly, they haven’t met Michael Della Femina. If you don’t know the man, he’s a real worker, and is in the midst of launching not just one but two new NYC culinary spots in the same week.
It’s been a long time coming for those of us who have followed him and his various projects, and the anticipation is understandable (he counts fans like Leonardo DiCaprio, Harrison Ford, and Kendall Jenner). JH and I first ate at his LA hot spot, Croft Alley, on our last trip to the West Coast and were sold on the really good food (classic comfort food but elevated) and the vibe. We thought at the time, wouldn’t it be great if we had one in New York? And now we do!
The New York debut of Croft Alley is opening its doors this weekend, trading the glamour of Beverly Hills for the grit of downtown (at 210 Sixth Ave between King and Prince). His second spot, Lily Pond (183 West 10th Street), slated to open next week, is a new West Village bistro and an entirely family affair.
The design and concept — which Michael and his wife Laurie started as a supper club — is their personal homage to the great, gone haunts of Old New York (think Florent, Elaine’s, and Mortimer’s). The full team bringing this vision to life includes Laurie, Jack, Allie, and William Della Femina, alongside Annabel, Jodi and John Kim, and Daniel Benedict.
This whole operation, of course, is part of the Della Femina family legacy. Michael’s father, advertising legend Jerry Della Femina, famously owned Hamptons staples like Della Femina Restaurant (now the popular East Hampton Grill) and The Red Horse Market, and the next generation is equally busy: son Jack owns the popular café Bravo Toast, while William recently launched the wellness brand Just Juice LA.
The real challenge now? Michael is reportedly working hard to pry his dad, Jerry, away from his weekly lunch table at Michael’s, where he’s lunched with his best buds for over 30 years. The goal? To get him to lunch at the new Croft Alley instead. (“Not Happening!” says Michael’s GM Steve Millington).
All the while Della Femina is busy juggling two restaurant openings — a state most chefs would describe as being deeply “In The Weeds” — he has simultaneously been on set for the mini-series of the same name. In The Weeds is a hilarious spiritual successor to the cult comedy Ivy League Crimelords (which has been described as Curb Your Enthusiasm meets GoodFellas).
The plot is a sharp dose of art imitating life: Della Femina plays himself, conned into being the subject of a fake “restaurant rescue” show, all while trying to convince his fake director/producer friends to invest in his very real restaurant empire. He reunites with the original “Crimelords” crew: director/producer Michael Mailer (the oldest son of the great American novelist Norman Mailer), seasoned hedge fund manager Jonny Friedman (who also happens to be JH’s cousin), and actor Adam Storke.
So, how do we know all this? Well, our very own JH ran into cousin Jonny, Della Femina, and their good friends last week in the West Village, and during a vital “research trip” — a small Pizza Tour hitting Mama’s TOO! and L’industrie — Michael happily spilled the details on his double life.
Stay tuned. And definitely stay hungry.
https://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/cold-moon-hot-kitchen-and-the-great-american-hustle/
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