Let’s Celebrate: It’s a New Year!

We have finalized plans for this New Year’s Eve, 2020. Given that it was a tough year, we thought we should splurge and go in style this year.

     First, we have reserved a black 1949 Cadillac limousine to sail us down to New York and glide us home again. Our first preference was the 1948, of course, because of its better looking grill-work (not quite so square) and a more dynamic treatment of chrome side-accents. But none were available, so we happily settled for the ’49, as these differences are immaterial for the traveller. The interiors offer identical ample comfort for both models, notably the sofa-like luxury and the fine material of the two-tone (black and brown) sumptuous upholstery.

     Black-tie is the requirement for the gentlemen, naturally, and beautiful gowns for the ladies. Décolletage is always admired and appreciated!

     On our drive down, with Count Basie playing on the Wonder Bar Radio, we will have appetizers and light drinks – select French beers and Italian wines, the latter from the Vento region only, please! For the abstainers we will have nectar of the grapes, hand-pressed – or should we say feet? – from the Bordeaux region, “right bank,” to be certain. It goes without saying that we will offer canapés, and there will be Sesame-Garlic Edamame especially for vegetarians. We will have Belgian Toast Cannibal for the carnivores, along with shrimp cocktail and caviar for revelers with a predilection for such, and escargot for those of a French persuasion. Don’t eat too much – dinner awaits!

     We are, naturally, travelling to the Waldorf-Astoria on Park Avenue. No other venue would quite do. We should find ourselves in the wonderful ballroom by 7:30 or thereabouts. Do not forget to tip the hat-check and cigarette girls generously, by the way – they are essential and work very hard, and we are, after all, ushering in not only a new year, but, we hope, a new era. Speaking of: cigarette smoking is nearly obligatory, but you are not required to continue the habit after the evening. No need to worry about this – after all, this is before cigarettes were considered harmful. For the ladies, ebony and gold cigarette holders are always in style.

     The Waldorf has the usual splendid menu, but we are recommending a few items that seem appropriate to the evening. First, you cannot go wrong with the Ahi Tuna Tartare as an appetizer, although a more neutral but delicious option is Sweet Pea Guacamole with warmed Tortilla Chips. For a main course, consider, if in the mood for seafood, the Roasted Faroe Island Salmon or the Dover Sole Meuniere with Lemon Butter and Persil. Of course, some may want more traditional ocean fare, such as the Roasted Maine Lobster with Glazed Cabbage and Sriracha Butter. Personally, though, we have our heart set on Peppercorn Crusted Wagyu Beef Tenderloin with Glazed and Roasted Carrots and Miso-Mustard Sauce. Again, there is a provision for the vegetarians: we cannot recommend enough Chef Joel’s Gnocchi in rich Pomodoro Sauce with Capers and Basil.

     The meals and evening would not be complete without a smooth flow of Manhattans, Dry Martinis (shaken, premium gin only, not vodka!), London Bucks, a Dark and Stormy or two, and naturally, for the more classically-minded, highballs such as Scotch and Soda or Gin and Tonic – and again, for the teetotalers, we have provided tall, rosy, and tasty Shirley Temples.

     The earlier part of the evening features none other than Sammy Kaye and his Swing and Sway Orchestra. Just try to keep your toes from tapping and feet from dancing to the sounds of Daddy, or Chickery Chick! If you are not smooching your Darling when Harbor Lights is played, then you are already dead. I expect to see some fabulous dancing out on the floor – Swing and Fox Trot, and we would not be surprised to see a few old-timers still doing the Lindy Hop.  

     At 11 p.m., Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians will take over the bandstand, for “the sweetest music this side of Heaven.” See if you can resist crushing that sweet honey in your arms, while waltzing to the strains of When I Grow Too Old To Dream. And of course, New Year’s would not be New Year’s at all, without Auld Lang Syne at the stroke of midnight.

     We can expect to stay at the Waldorf until 1 a.m., when our car will whisk us away to the newly opened club, Birdland. Expect an exciting night! Who knows who will show – Bird himself? Stan Getz? Youngsters like Sonny Rollins or Chet Baker? Imagine if Satchmo brought his horn in from Queens and waltzed through the door! One never knows who will turn up for a New York New Year’s Eve jam session, but whomever it is, you can be guaranteed a potpourri of inventive and swinging jazz that will set your hair ablaze.

     At 5:30 a.m. the Cadillac will pick us up at the door and swish us down to Houston Street on the Lower East Side for breakfast at – where else! – Katz’s delicatessen. The only allowable option there is, of course, the Oversized Omelet with the filling of your choice. Expect to be stuffed to the brim for the trip back – oversized is the key word here.

    Then it is tumbling back into the Cadillac and out the tunnel for the smooth ride home. We can expect to be sleepy on this part of the adventure, but rest assured that our smart and attentive driver, Willie (“The Dirk”) MacDonald, will be wide awake, and will guide us deftly between the lines while we float along. With Sinatra and Ella crooning on the Wonder Bar, we can expect to slumber nicely…six sleepy people, by dawn’s early light…     

     It is a new dawn. A new day. It is a new year; 2020 is gone.

     2021 is here.

     Anything is possible.