podcast. She enjoyed that experience. I thought she might get a kick out of it. She seemed to. And then after that, we had a nice lunch at uh Temple. Is it the Temple Lounge? I forget what it's called. It's at the Beman Hotel on Beman Street in the financial district. Fabulous hotel. Fabulous like restaurant, bar room, lounge, whatever. Um, it's not called Temple Bar. Temple Bar is a different thing. It's like Temple Lounge or something like that. But anyway, that was terrific. And then the weather sucked yesterday.
But we came back home, had a little beauty nap, and then I we had reservations at the Polo Bar um with much much gratitude to my friend Nelly who was too good to me. And then uh but beforehand we had some time and I thought I wanted to show her cuz she you know she's in her 20s and girls like to shop and I wanted to show her the Ralph Lauren store and the Ralph Lauren store cuz it's I don't know I I find the Ralph Lauren experience particularly the men's store the Ralph Lauren flagship in the Rhinellander mansion on 72nd in Madison I find that to be a very singular retail experience as retail goes.
And then so we did that today actually, but last night instead we hit the Metropolitan Museum of Art and it's overwhelming. I feel so under I feel like my consumption and appreciation of art is like way behind. I feel like there's so much that I've I don't know missed and you know but I I just I've been a member there for a couple so much a member there and I'm not a very active one that when I got there I had two membership cards at the Met and they each of them had different membership numbers.
And so I went there and I presented both my membership cards and this really nice gentleman who was very helpful said, "Sir, you have two active memberships. Did you mean to do that?" I said, "No." He said, "I'm going to make sure that this is all consolidated and you know everything." So that was I mean lovely, right? And we um so we just kind of like explored around the museum. No agenda. Wandered, meandered. And you know, when you wander and meander around the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you're not going to scratch any surface. I mean, it's just, you know, it's a lot. It's a lot to take and it's a lot to take in, but it's fantastic. And I just I love it there.
Um I think our museums are like churches. To me, houses of worship are art museums, galleries, movie theaters, like theater theaters, like for shows. Hang on a second. Um my glasses are foggy and it's driving me nuts. So it was kind of fantastic. We had a really, really, really nice time. And then walked for a little bit and then caught a cab to the Polo Bar and then had a lovely dinner at the Polo Bar and then walked around a little bit after that. Took a little peek inside the Plaza Hotel. She'd never been in there.
And um I really recommend by the way if anybody is New York City curious a year or so ago, Architectural Digest or maybe a couple years ago, Architectural Digest started doing these little mini documentaries about New York like Skyscrapers of New York, the secrets of Central Park, Architecture of the Upper East Side, the Plaza Hotel, the Chelsea Hotel. And I started to I'm working on it and maybe I'll share it here. I worked on a playlist on my YouTube channel of all these videos that AD Architectural Digest did on New York and they did this amazing one on the Plaza Hotel. Um, it's so much, you know, again that probably that barely scratched the surface, but such interesting tidbits and trivia about the Plaza Hotel and its history and all of that. K. Thompson, Eloise, the list goes on and on and on and on. Uh, no mention of the Trump ownership though. It did mention that Trump did marry his second wife Mara there like the wedding was there. But uh anyway um so we did that.
And then today lazy morning like we slept in till 10:00 and then breakfast at Tarluchi Aino a favorite local haunt and um then we went over to the Ralph Lauren store. We did it today this afternoon. No pressure. We didn't have any we didn't have anywhere to be. She loved it. I did it because I think, you know, if somebody's interested in clothes, I'm not one to shop really, but I, as I said, Ralph Lauren is such a singular retail experience, that store. And anybody who's interested in style, merchandising, retail, the Ralph Lauren store is a masterclass. It really is. I don't I've never experienced anything that really rivals it. Down to the dressing rooms and the bathroom. I mean, everything. Yeah.
Uh and then yeah, she's at her and then I brought her over to her friend's house. So, it's just been a really nice um I love it because I don't have kids, so that's the, you know, the one time I get to like one opportunity I get to really spoil um all of that. Jennifer Blackburn here says, "Burgdorfs is a must." It is. Her visit was only it was a real tight one. I mean, she got here Thursday night and she's only here till tomorrow, like early afternoon, late morning. So, you know, next time we're going to do Burgdorfs for sure. She should see that cuz you're right, Bergdorfs is like a museum. It's kind of fantastic. The women's in particular. I like the men's store. And there's a great bar in the men's store. Good men's bar. Love it.
Um, so someone said, "I'd bet you'd make a good dad, George. Thanks, Mike." I probably would. I'd be a good stepfather. Um, what else was I going to say? Oh, so speaking of dad, so I was thinking about how, you know, we've got that we've got this like weird crisis with, you know, men in crisis, the loneliness crisis with men and men aren't really like, you know, getting track, you know, complaining about not getting traction with women and they're not connecting and all of that. And, you know, my buddy Scott Galloway often talks about it's this is a big pet subject with him and his friend Richard Reeves about the the male the men's lone young men's loneliness crisis, right?
And yes, money is important. You know, you want to prove to a potential mate that you can be a provider or you know, a good hunter gatherer or whatever. Fine. But I and also I'm noticing lately, you know, with men trying to like looks max themselves and you know the Andrew Tatness of it all. It is amazing to me. It is amazing to me what men will do to avoid learning and putting the time in how to be charming.
If that doesn't make sense, like I think one of the best qualities and on this Scott Galloway and I agree, we agree on many things and this is another one where storytelling, being able to tell a good story, being a good storyteller is a real superpower. Like being funny is a real superpower. Um, in my experience, good-looking people, not across the board, but in my experience, good-looking people, it tends to stop there because so many doors open for you if you're good-looking, why would you bother with learning like trying to hone any other skill? Like all these doors open for you and pants fall down and it's amazing when you're good-looking. People who are deemed traditionally less attractive have to work a little harder and you know that's what like you know that's why billionaires I think go after all the money because without the money they wouldn't get laid right like the money is the honey.
But it's got me thinking about my dad and my dad he wasn't a rich man. I mean we were comfortably upper middle class I think like I was I my education was paid for I got a car when I was 18. Like, you know, we had grew up in a nice house. Like, we were a steady upper upper middle class pretty much. There were some lean years in there for sure. But my point is my dad was not like a wealthy. My dad was not a baller like by today's standards. No way. Um, my dad was not gorgeous. My mother would have argued that my dad was cute. And my dad was not tall. He was on his best day, maybe 5'7. [gasps]
Um, so it kind of shatters this notion that guys are going to really like strike gold with women or potential mates if they're tall and handsome and rich. And my dad was none of those things. And yet I was thinking, I hadn't thought about this in years. And yet he scored my mom who was pretty. My mom was my mom was beautiful. Um, and I remember in high school observing when uh my dad or people around my dad, women like the the other married women around him, like friends of ours, especially if they would have a few cocktails and they would flirt with my dad. I watched women flirt with my dad. My dad was attractive to women.
Again, not because he was rich, because he really wasn't. He wasn't tall. He was, as I said, 5'6 or 5'7, depending on who you talk to. And he was like, as my mother said, he was cute. He wasn't gorgeous. My uncle Bill, Katherine Han's dad, Katherine's dad was handsome. Uncle Bill was handsome. My dad was cute. Little and cute. So, what was my dad's superpower? What was it about my dad that made him so like attractive to these women who I watched them like flirt like crazy with my dad? He was funny. My dad was hilarious. He was charming. He was a good storyteller.
So my point is, and I'm I'm thinking about this. I might I'm thinking about writing an essay about it. How we are really kind of as a society, I'm noticing right now, um, in this aggressive struggle for masculinity and maleness, we're losing the art of being charming. Like, charm is gold, man. Scott Galloway says it all the time. Like, if you can make a woman laugh, you can ask her out. I'm laughing. I'm laughing. I'm naked. Like, we've lost the art of charming.
And I find myself I consider myself very lucky because I had my father as a role model. He wasn't, he taught us, my father taught us how to be kind. Like he, you know, we were loved. We were taught a kindness practice. We were shown ethics. He was a great example. My father was always helpful to people. People sought my dad out for help, for scholastic advice, for career advice. Um, I remember this one girl, friend of my sisters, whose dad was just not a friend of my sisters whose dad was like a not a real show up kind of a dad and my dad took her out to help her shop for a prom dress cuz her dad wasn't really present. Like that's the kind of guy he was.
So we need more men like that, you know, and I find myself very fortunate to have had my father, a man of that character and a man of that quality as a role model. And that's also a call to fathers, especially fathers of sons. This on you, man, to be that kind of a role model for your sons. And I want to start thinking more about that and write some things down and get some clearer ideas. I'm really just kind of rambling here. You know, it's easy for me to say because I'm not a dad, but my dad my dad was 33 years old when he met my mother and they got married. And my mother was a widow with four children.
He had to instantly become a father like literally overnight of four children. And then they had me. He was a he was a he was a person of character and we're missing that. So I would really love to sort of examine something maybe a series of pieces I would want to write or conversations on the podcast about getting back to charm, character, wit, humor. Not this strong arm, this horrible behavior we're we're learning about with these men in Epstein, with Andrew Tates and Nick Fuentes of the world. Like, these guys. That notion of masculinity. Are you crazy?
We got to get back to being funny. Ask any woman who doesn't love who isn't turned on when a man makes her laugh. Any woman who observes a man who is good to his mother and doesn't look at that and go like, "Oh, this might be a good investment here. My time with this guy might be a good investment." Kindness, wit, charm, humor, not this strong arm masculinity.
My dad was a draw to women. He was short, wasn't gorgeous, and he wasn't rich. Why was he so attractive? He was a man for others. He was he was he was eager to be of of service to help somebody when they needed it. He was a great storyteller. He was kind and he was funny. Yeah. Anyway, that's it. Have a good Sunday or no, Saturday. Sorry.
