Fall might be my favorite time of the year. The year begins to wind down, the weather starts to turn, new restaurants, stores, movies, plays, and books are abundant, and Thanksgiving is an added bonus. Every Labor Day, I like to reflect on the past year. Although we are no longer on the “school” vacation schedule, we have lived it so long that it is still reflected in our lives.

My post-COVID life has been exhilarating. I might be turning 63 this year, but I have a lot of energy and love building things. Having an idea, bringing it to fruition, and then seeing it evolve with more structure using data and thinking about our connection with the consumer at Gotham, the store where culture meets cannabis, has been a major part of my last year. I couldn’t be happier with all of it. Gotham will be part of the new stores this year, opening in Hudson NY this week at 260 Warren Street, the Refinery at Domino in Williamsburg at 300 Kent will be open on September 26 (and possibly before), and 146 10th Avenue sometime in December.

At the Public Housing Community Fund we have made major strives building a board, an advisory board, and making an impact in the lives of NYCHA residents working with organizations to run swim programs, rebuilding parks, amplifying the importance of art through internships and residencies, almost 100 CUNY scholarships, and much more. We are a conduit where our only mission is to impact the over 500,000 residents of public housing.

After all these years, 63 of them, and shit load of therapy, has my head in a place that feels good. I am still playing and working hard because that is who I am. It has been a fun summer and a great year so far, and I am hoping for more fun, excitement, breaking more glass, a female President, more time with our kids, travel, impact, and, of course, checking out what is the new new – after all of this I am still the Gotham Gal.

When we first came to NYC, we lived on 28th and Madison Avenue. The neighborhood was close to our work; we could walk, and we didn’t realize that this area was filled with SROs, prostitutes, and drug dealers. It was the 80’s.

We would walk down to the village through Madison Square Park, not a pretty sight, multiple times a week. It took little to realize that owning real estate is a significant asset. Admittedly, I was obsessed with buildings that were only for parking cars. There is only a little upkeep on a car lot.

US real estate is an asset class divided into residential and commercial. The asset class is different in other countries, where they have figured out a way to keep the cost of real estate, which means purchasing and renting, down to a price that fits into the economy.

The cost of residential and commercial space in cities has gotten so high that I wonder how long this can go on. Too many people have jobs but can’t afford a roof over their heads. How does that change?

A case is in front of the DOJ accusing Real Page, a real estate software developer, supposedly colluded with landlords to keep rents artificially high. Unclear where this case ends up but I know countless people who got deals during COVID only be told after the pandemic subsided that their rent is now going up 75%. Yes, 75%.

Commercial real estate is also questionable right now. A few weeks ago a $100m property was put on an auction site, highest bidder wins. Supposedly in the past this has been a good place to sell but this time a commercial midtown building that was being auctioned off, had only one bidder, for $8.5m. And that bidder now owns a building that was once valued at $100m for a steep discount.

I am not sure where all these small red flags are going but there are ample vacancies in the city that are sitting there empty with landlords hoping for higher rents. The only thing that changes the value is building more residential real estate. As for commercial real estate, no matter what people want to believe, nobody is every going back to a 5 day workweek at the office.

The conversions to commercial to residential speak volumes. Significant buildings are being converted from commercial to residential but that does not fill the void and needs of many residents who are vital to our city who can’t afford housing. Will the zoning change? What will these areas look like in a decade?  

At one point, something will shift, and what happens will be interesting to watch.

Art programs at the Public Housing Community Fund Program. Thanks to the Mellon Fund for this grant. It isn’t where you are from but where you are going.

The past is restless. History, like individual memory, is not fixed.  It is constantly revived. This sentence comes from The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women who Survived Nazi Germany. It stuck with me.

I have read countless books about the Holocaust and many historical novels, but this one is a true story told through the eyes of the survivors, their writings, and their children. The bravery of these women and their need to survive speaks volumes.

The sentence that I wrote down speaks to all of us. We all have our own baggage and history that changes over time as we reflect on what makes us who we are today. Nothing stays the same; as we return to the past, we can look at events and learn from them with new eyes each time.

Most of these women never discussed what happened to them, as it was a different time. People were expected to move on, compartmentalize their feelings, lock them up, and return to what was before. Locking those experiences in a box affected their relationships as a wife, a mother, and a friend. Some of their children had no idea about their journey until they passed yet when they found it, their relationship was better understood.

I love change. I have worked hard at understanding the baggage I carry around, but each time I return to parts of it, I look at it with a new set of eyes because time and memory change. I embrace every day and continue to learn from the past. I am going to keep that sentence around. It is a good one.

It feels as if we just entering the Presidential race although in reality it has been going on for three years. I so hope that because of the shift that took place a short while ago, where Kamala is now the Democratic hopeful, that we will no longer have to listen to politicians beg for cash over three years and then listen to the daily media onslaught of different angles depending on who you are reading.

The reality of what is happening in our country versus what politicians want us to believe or not so they can put voters and money behind them is astounding. Energy is a perfect example. This snapshot above speaks volumes.

Thanks to Mike Bloomberg, who created Beyond Carbon, has paid over 370 coal companies to retire. He has doubled down on his commitment to get them all to close by 2030. Bloomberg Philanthropies works with state and local agencies to promote data and research, litigation, policy and advocacy, helping clean energy deployment and leads with environmental partners.

Trump wants to support coal, but the reality is coal is done. We should be promoting new energies including nuclear. This speaks loud and clear to the reality of what is happening in energy across our country. It also speaks to the importance of private funding to fill in the blanks where Government is hand tied.

As we enter the next few months of media nonsense and presidential candidate nonsense, take some time to research the reality of what is happening in our country and the actual impact needed. We need to evolve, not move backward.

I believe in data. It is infuriating listening to people espouse their nonsense without any facts. People have been calling for teen cannabis consumption to rise including how people can become addicted, how harmful it is to our health, how your IQ can go down. I could create a huge list but the reality is there will always be issues that affect a small percentage of people but that is true of pharmacuticals and other products. Have we seen the pharmceutical ads on TV? It makes me wonder why I would ever take any drug.

Here is the one piece of data that we all knew. Teenagers rebel, so it is not surprising that in the states where cannabis has legalized, teen usage is down by 6%. What is the point when it is legal? Perhaps we could learn from this when it comes to wine consumption vs. the hard core attitude in our country around no drinking until 21. If you learn how to consume vs the taboo attitude then perhaps we wouldn’t see the crazy drinking that happens to many in their early 20s. Maybe that is why the US has such high rates of alcohol disorders.

It is not shocking that teen consumption is down because access and exception aren’t as exciting as keeping it from your parents. If anything, this data is refreshing and a step in the right direction for federal cannabis legalization.

Seeing the top athletes in the world compete is exciting and inspiring. Being in person, cheering on the players and the countries, and being part of the crowd is also exhilarating. I know many Parisians who opted out, but if you had a place to stay, it was a mistake to leave town.

Some activities, such as track and field, are easier to watch on TV. The field is so large, and there are so many happenings at once, and everyone is standing to see, which makes it hard to be part of anything except where you are sitting. Whereas basketball, which is probably why we love going to basketball games at home, I always feel part of the game, no matter where we sit.

We went for two weeks, and that is definitely not necessary. If we did it again, 4-5 days is plenty, although doing Paris is always good. The hardest part is the heat and that is never going away. Should these games be in June instead? Los Angeles is not going to be any cooler than Paris has been this year, if anything it might be warmer.

I have watched sports games my entire life. I enjoy sports, and was all in as a player when I was younger. The one thing that I have noticed at this Olympics, is there seems to be a healthier competition than there has been in the past. Regardless of winning or losing, competing teams and players support each other after the game is over in a way that I have not seen before. The conversation around mental health, how to process, how one feels, is part of the forefront. We did not see that a decade ago. Athletes did not share their angst. Hats off to Simone Biles who let that be ok, and athletes embraced that because they have all been there.

Perhaps it is also the anxiety we are seeing in the world, with dictatorship on the rise and wars that make zero sense, that at the Olympics, that can all go away. We can watch a North Korean diver high-five a Chinese diver or an athlete fall down and an athlete from a competing country help them up or literally pick them up and get them to the sidelines.

At track and field, we tried to talk to the Japanese family behind us, and neither of us understood each other, but we were all having fun. We may need to see more of this worldwide and more empathy as we embrace each other’s cultures without judgment. That feels good.

The last day was a triple whammy. We were all over town seeing three different competitions. The Metro made it easy. We began the day at women’s table tennis, aka ping pong, the doubles and singles. The double-final game was Japan vs. China.

Then, each player played the singles against each other. The 16-year-old Japanese woman did not win the gold, but gold is no doubt in her future.

The audience was wild. Easily, more than half the audience was from China, cheering on their country. It was so good.

Our next stop was to grab something to eat, Le Petit Vendome, which has been around forever. We ended with beers, french fries, cheese, charcuterie, and, of course, bread.

And then we were off to Break Dancing, the first time at the Olympics. Break dancing was in the middle of La Concorde, and so were two other venues, 3X3 basketball and skateboarding. La Concorde is a huge traffic circle and shutting it down to do this is wild.

Break Dancing was so much fun. The strength, the speed, the audience, the clothes, the music, the athletic abilities of these dancers. We would have stayed longer if it hadn’t been for the third event, and the perfect event to end with, the men’s basketball finals, the US vs. France.

When we walked into the arena, it was so hot. I ramped up my fans, and multiple people told me how hot they were.

The good news is the arena was nice and cold. The game was fun, and the US took home the gold. Steph Curry was on fire.

The game ended, the crowd exploded, and we went home. France did it right, and the Olympics were an absolute blast. I’m so glad we went!

Last night, we saw two basketball games: France vs. Germany and the US vs. Serbia. Both were exhilarating. I am convinced the audience pushed France to win. The noise, the songs, the chants—it was fantastic.

After one nail-biting game, we saw one for the records: the US vs. Serbia. The US was down fifteen points and truly never in the lead until the last few minutes of the game. LeBron was not going to lose. Our next game to watch will be the US vs. France. We hope that it will be as thrilling as the last two.

The next day was chill. We strolled around the Marais, checked out a few spots, and eventually ate lunch down the street from our place. They do have an incredible artichoke. This week, most spots have closed shop, and the city feels emptier as each day passes.

I met the crew at Folderol for ice cream and wine. If you follow the restaurant scene in Paris, Folderol has been written about countless times. How they closed during the pandemic, and returned with wine and then ice cream, and folded it into one. This is from the couple behind Rigamarole that opened to rave reviews.

We had been to Rigamarole, and were not wowed, but one off night can happen. Although I am not the only one who had that experience. Folderol blew up on TicToc and freaked the owners out because their idea was to be a local spot that serves ice cream and wine for parents (their concept) became out of control. Lines down the block, neighbors being pissed, etc. It is a hard line to balance as we all know. Social media can bring in the customers but it can also bring in utter chaos.

Fast forward, Folderol has banned all social media from the store. The ice cream is good with flavors changing daily from nectarine to chocolate fudge banana or sesame, served in cups of housemade cones (chocolate or vanilla). The wine selection is vast and my guess is they also sell to the locals to bring home for dinner.

Here is the thing, if you are going to open a charming concept of bringing together ice cream and wine, then be charming. Don’t rush you through the wine selection process, don’t have a puss on your face the second the door opens to take the ice cream orders. Perhaps they are not thrilled with all the English being spoken but the guy behind the counter is wearing a Zabars hat. I mean c’mon.

So perhaps it all goes back to my original post on Rigamarole: Don’t always believe the bunk.

We walked into Kubri and sighed in relief as the place had air conditioning. Kubri is a new contemporary twist on Lebanese food opened by two French Lebanese sisters who brought in a female chef from Beirut. We almost tried everything, as it is all about sharing. Some of the dishes were a bit heavy handed but mostly delicious.

Ice cream has been on all of our radars, and randomly, many of the good shops are not open until Thursday. We went to Les Gourmandises, Glaces Maison, not far from where we are staying. The owner is lovely and sources his products from “the best.” It’s the perfect summer dessert.

The next day we bagged returning to the Aquatic Center to see artistic swimming. We are here for the experience, and the experience of the Aquatic Center was not good. Instead Fred and I strolled through the 11th over to Rori, a slice shop that also makes its own beer. The menu is limited to a few pizzas they make but it was just what we needed. Very thin crust on the potato pizza with a dill dip on the side (not necessary) and a square pepperoni with hot honey, salame picate, mozzarella and a sesame crust. I would have preferred just a simple pepperoni square but oh that crust is so good!

We strolled to the canals to grab a few treats at Du Pain et des Idees.

This particular bakery always has a line, but not in August and not later in the day. There were only a few things left, but I did grab a few goodies. This is one of my favorite bakeries in the world.

We jumped on a few bikes to make our way home. The biking system here is excellent.

Our evening activity was hitting up a few wine bars. Again, what a treat it was to be able to walk in and grab a seat. Septime La Cave is the guiding star. You can also buy a bottle of wine and take it home. All the wine bars have tiny plates for a nosh.

After, we walked over to our other fave wine bar, Aux Deux Amis, which is always a hit,

Today, we will start hitting the evening games, from basketball to break dancing. We went to the Bourse Commerce in the morning.

I love the room of sculptures by Peter Fischli & David Weiss. This one is called the Nerd.

We hit up a few stores, including G. Detou, which is an incredible place to buy food products. Of course, I picked up a few things, although I could have filled a suitcase!

A stroll through the Palais Royale.

Chez Miki is our last stop before the basketball games tonight. We have been a few times before. The foie gras sushi is insane. I might dream about it tonight.