Essays

Best of 2018

This year’s list skews toward London because we spent the summer there.

Best Protest
The anti-Trump protest in London.

Best Restaurant in London
NOPI. Thank you Patty Motzkin and Rick Feldman!

Best Restaurant in Los Angeles
Kali. Never mind that Pauly suffered gout the next day! Thank you, Johnny Benson.

Best Art Show
Summer Exhibition. There is something fantastic about a show that is very open. It’s not curated around a theme. It is more of an experience. I am not mad for Grayson Perry, but the Royal Academy of Arts 250th Summer Exhibition was full of joy. You can still buy many of the pieces. I bought this subtle print.

Best Architecture Show
Sea Ranch at SFMOMA. Just opened OK, I am partial.

Best Nonfiction Book
The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border by Francisco Cantú.

Best Live Theater
Tie between Glenda Jackson in Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women and Ian McKellen in King Lear.

Best Auction Catalog
Paul Rand at Wright Auctions.

Best Hotel
Shangri-La in Santa Monica. We went to LA for Kristina and Kevin’s wedding, and the hotel upgraded us to a penthouse suite with terrace. I felt like a movie star.

Best Fountain
Diana Memorial Fountain in London.

Best New Experience
Go Ape! in Battersea Park and Go Karting in Bergerac (thank you Robin Higgins!).

Best Mid-Century Architecture Experience
Paul Rudolph (and Toshiko Mori) in Sarasota.

Best Cheap Ride
London double-decker buses!

Best Folk Concert
Joan Baez’s final tour, of course.

Best Choral Concert
A tie between the performances of Paul’s work in Lichfield and Tucson.

Best Local Resort
Indian Springs, Calistoga. Best place to float away an afternoon. The prices are a little high, but the rooms in what used to be a separate hotel, Nance’s Hot Springs, are more reasonable.

Best New Museum Building
Johnston Marklee’s Drawing Institute at the Menil Collection and Thomas Phifer’s addition to Glenstone. Full confession, I haven’t visited either yet.