City Desk: The Party

THE end of autumn is the season of obligation-of Christmas parties, office parties, book parties for the holiday list, all perks of our specialness as city dwellers. Open bars greet us as we arrive, bags of trinkets accompany us as we leave. Yet we go to these festivities dutifully, like spoiled children complaining of our piano lessons, or our Ivy League course loads. Life is hard. It takes special effort to infuse these invitations with what even jaded New Yorkers will recognize as glamour.

The worthy institution, which recently celebrated a birthday here, did an excellent job. Worthy Institution had three things going for them as celebrants: They are from out of town, so no one is used to them; they don’t celebrate every year, so no one is tired of them; and (thanks to reason number one), they did not do what every New York institution does, which is to book the grand ballroom of a midtown hotel, opting instead to reserve an evening at the best restaurant in town.

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser

Historian Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

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THE end of autumn is the season of obligation-of Christmas parties, office parties, book parties for the holiday list, all perks of our specialness as city dwellers. Open bars greet us as we arrive, bags of trinkets accompany us as we leave. Yet we go to these festivities dutifully, like spoiled children complaining of our piano lessons, or our Ivy League course loads. Life is hard. It takes special effort to infuse these invitations with what even jaded New Yorkers will recognize as glamour.

The worthy institution, which recently celebrated a birthday here, did an excellent job. Worthy Institution had three things going for them as celebrants: They are from out of town, so no one is used to them; they don’t celebrate every year, so no one is tired of them; and (thanks to reason number one), they did not do what every New York institution does, which is to book the grand ballroom of a midtown hotel, opting instead to reserve an evening at the best restaurant in town.