A Club for People Age 35 and Over Just Opened in NYC

If you’re sick and tired of the flocks of selfie-taking, avocado toast–eating youths that fill up dance halls across New York City these days, a new club in Chelsea is the place for you.

RetroClubNYC, which opened its doors last Thursday at 161 W 23rd Street, is geared toward the 35-and-over crowd. Now open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, the spot features throwback music from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s and aims to be reminiscent of the bygone clubs of those eras.

“We’re catering to a slightly older crowd,” owner Jeff Wittels tells us. “I don’t think there are any dance clubs like that in the city.”

The bar is more of a celebration than a recreation of New York City’s discotheques of yore and is designed to attract people who twinkled their toes into the night when acts like the Bee Gees and Sylvester were at their height.

“We’re bringing back the vibe from the old days of Studio 54,” Wittels said, “except without some of the things that got them into trouble back then.”

If you’re a twentysomething who simply wants to groove out to some vintage jams, fear not. RetroClubNYC is open to anyone older than 21, and Wittels said that its debut last week attracted people of all ages (and an Australian tourist). He also said that the bar’s DJs are including some contemporary tunes on their playlists, citing Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk.”

Wittels first announced the concept for the club back in January, and it drew more hype than almost any other “trendy” bar opening in the city. Its Instagram account has amassed more than 13,000 followers since then, and the space has already started booking private events.

The bar is still working on its food and drink menu, but Wittels says it will feature small plates and “drinks that you don’t really see anymore,” including sloe gin fizzes, Long Island iced teas and a rotating signature drink called The Retro, the ingredients of which are kept secret.

For now, the club will open its doors at 9pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, but Wittels is hoping to add more days during the week this fall.

Wittels declined to tell us his age, but assured us that he is definitely older than 35.

Art Gallery of Greater Victoria Looks Forward to a Busy September

September is an excellent time to consider visiting, or re-visiting, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.

Activities and events being staged include the ever-popular House Tour, a tour of unique and architecturally stunning Victoria homes, on Sept. 24.

Tickets for the event go on sale on Friday.

The first Tuesday of the month is always Admission by Donation Day, your excuse to spend a morning (or afternoon) exploring the galleries.

The gallery’s new Water Work Space is part-exhibition and part- workshop. It opens with a public open house and admission by donation on Sept. 16.

The space explores issues related to water — as a resource, a site of trade and exchange, and in relation to climate change.

The Party for our People, a celebration with local and regional artists featured in current exhibitions, features music, refreshments and interactive activities. It takes place on Sept. 21, from 6 to 9 p.m.

ART + FARE 3 is a celebration of all things local (and an annual fundraiser). It is held at and organized by the Union Club of British Columbia. The event takes place on Sept. 23, from 7 to 11 p.m. Tickets are available at artandfare.com.

There are three exhibition tours offered in September, the cost is included with admission:

• Moving Forward by Looking Back, Sept. 2 at 2 p.m.

• Close to Home, Sept. 3 at 2 p.m.

• Close to Home Curator’s Tour, Sept. 5 at 2 p.m.

AGGV House Tour

AGGV House Tour set for 64th Anniversary edition

The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and the Gallery Associates invite you to mark your calendar for Sunday, Sept. 24 when they present the 64th Anniversary House Tour. A mix of new and stunningly renovated homes, five of Oak Bay’s most beautiful residences will be open for viewing from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

In addition to viewing the unique Oak Bay residences, visitors will have the opportunity to chat with local artists working at each location. This year artists include: Richard Hunt, acclaimed First Nations carver; Mary Fox, ceramic artist; Will Millar, former leader of the Irish Rovers and renowned painter; Mary-ellen Threadkell, abstract painter; Keith Holmes painter, muralist and graphic artist and Joan Pattee, multi-genre painter. To accent the design of the homes, each stop on the tour also features imaginative floral creations from the Victoria Floral Artists’ Guild.

“This year’s House Tour includes not only excellent architecture and interior design but the homes also feature significant works by renowned artists,” said Bill Huzar, 2017 House Tour Chair. “Visitors will have the chance to enjoy the superb personal art collections that owners have on their walls throughout the homes.”

Huzar added, “the tour is the annual Gallery Associates’ major fundraiser in support of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. All funds raised go toward supporting programs and operational expenses incurred by the Gallery. The Gallery Associates volunteer, promote and support the AGGV through fundraising events and programs.”

Tickets for the self-directed tour cost $35 and go on sale September 1 at the AGGV, 1040 Moss Street; online at aggv.ca/events

The Trilogy is Complete!

Union Club member Henri van Bentum is proud to announce that the trilogy is complete – he has released his third children’s book!

Henri’s charming new children’s fable is titled “The Misadventures of Rexie the Damselfish”.  

Not all is calm within the coral reefs. In this third of a series, van Bentum’s whimsical story telling and Heyliger’s fanciful illustrations take a turn towards the dark side, plunging into fishy conspiracies and slimy espionage.

The aquatic misadventures of little Rexie, the damselfish, lead the reader through a quickly shifting kaleidoscope of wondrous shapes, spectacular colors and awesome life forms.

All the while, something fishy is going on, with a lesson to be learned from the sparkling depths of the sea.

For more information, or to order your copy, please click here.  Also, Henri will be pleased to autograph any copies purchased by fellow UC members.

Stephen Lowe – the Artist Who Bridged Two Cultures in Unique Style

As originally appeared in January 29, 2017’s Times Colonist newspaper…

The Guangzhou Museum of Art, in a city of 13 million people in the south of China, recently hosted a month-long exhibition for Stephen Lowe (1938-1975).

Lowe was born in Quangdong and was long a resident of Victoria before his death from lymphoma at the age of 37. The Lowe family, of Calgary and Victoria, spent 2016 in China, preparing three exhibitions there, and culminating in the recent publication of the long-awaited and definitive book on Stephen Lowe’s life and art.

Lowe spent most of his life in Victoria, beloved by students and collectors here. It’s inexplicable how he achieved such skill and produced so much in the short time he had. And it is even more surprising to realize that his work and his example are enormously appreciated in the burgeoning world of Chinese art.

Lowe’s grandfather, Liu Chang, emigrated from Taishan village in Quangdong to work in the coal mines in Cumberland in the early 1900s. When the turmoil of civil war swept over south China in the late 1940s, his family was stripped of most of its possessions.

Stephen, the eldest of five children, made his way to Hong Kong at age 17, and his determination to study art led him to Zhao Shaoang, leading exponent of the “Lingnan school,” a progressive and atmospheric style of painting that is the distinctive expression of South China. At the request of his grandfather, Lowe emigrated to Canada in 1956, at 18 years of age. He arrived to find his grandfather living in a lean-to in a ghost town, one of the few surviving emigrés still living in Cumberland.

Lowe’s talent and personality brought him valuable support in Victoria. Through connections from his first job, as a room steward at the Union Club, he was sponsored for a year in Hong Kong, where he continued his studies and met Eunice, his wife-to-be.

On his return, he began teaching painting at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. The persuasive artist and designer Allan Edwards championed Lowe, and arranged work for him in Eaton’s department store display department. Exhibitions at the provincial library and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (with Lawren Harris) followed, remarkable accomplishments for an artist then just 23 years old.

Skipping forward, we note his huge exhibition at the newly opened Royal B.C. Museum in 1971, and the opening of the Stephen Lowe Gallery on the Humboldt Street side of the Empress Hotel — provided rent-free by the hotel. An exhibition was later held at the United Nations building in New York, and Edwards commissioned 66 originals for the new Skyline Park Hotel in London.

Then, in the fall of 1974, Lowe was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma. After summoning up the energy for his 23rd solo exhibition, he died within a year.

Lowe’s supporters insisted that his wife Eunice continue the Stephen Lowe Gallery, for many years a bright spot in Victoria’s art world. In her tiny shop, and later in the prestigious corner location of the Victoria Conference Centre, she brought unique Chinese antiques and works of art to an international clientele.

The family opened another branch in Calgary in 1979. The Victoria gallery closed in 2006, though the Calgary store managed by daughter Anna flourishes, with a focus on contemporary painting.

In 1985, just as China opened to the West, Eunice took 129 Stephen Lowe paintings for an exhibition at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, followed by subsequent showings in Nanjing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The president of the Chinese Artists Association, Wu Zuoren, personally inscribed the banner for the opening.

This was a moment when the older generation of artists, long marginalized by the Cultural Revolution, came out in the light of day for the first time. Their approval of this previously unknown artist was overwhelming.

While to Canadian eyes Lowe’s paintings are certainly Chinese, in his homeland, this art spoke with a new accent. Here was an artist who emigrated but did not lose his roots — a message of profound importance to the Chinese of that day.

When the Lowe family returned to Victoria in 1986, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria presented a retrospective of 75 of the paintings, curated by Barry Till. In my review at the time, I wrote: “Lowe’s all-night painting sessions, his speed of execution and his ever-expanding range of subjects are legendary. He painted to challenge the limits of the acceptable and to continue the progress of Lingnan.”

Eunice Lowe has been working since 2005 to create the new, and definitive, book on her husband. Last week, she and her son, David, presented me with a copy. But first they told of their past year.

In 2016, Lowe’s paintings were chosen as a “bridge between cultures,” for the opening of the new Canadian Consulate offices in Guangzhou. Simultaneously, a prestigious show of Lowe’s work opened at the Guangzhou Museum of Art, which is a shrine to the masters of Lingnan-style painting.

It’s hard to express the importance of this event. The Lowe family have decided to donate their collection of paintings by Lingnan masters, and some Stephen Lowe originals, to that seminal collection.

The book is a delight. The 330 pages include reproductions of 125 paintings in colour, some of the reproductions 50 centimetres across. The Chinese-language version has been published by the People’s Fine Art Publishing House of China, and the English-version, privately published, will be available soon in Victoria. The quality of layout, paper stock and binding are beyond anything available in this country.

For information, contact stephenloweartgallery.ca.

What a story: A penniless immigrant lad, with nothing but native talent and the support of Victorians, created a timeless body of work in a few short years, far from home. And now Stephen Lowe’s reputation is reaching heights we just can’t imagine. Victoria’s art culture is rich.

The World’s Most Luxurious Airport Lounges

For those who have not traveled business-class seat, and long to be in a first-class air experience, it is usually a moment of surprise to see the benefits passengers offered to the pre-boarding privileged. Amenities ranging from hair styling, fine dining, reading in private cabanas, personal assistants, spa treatments and filled champagne flutes are available for first class travelers in business class lounges.

When your dream of traveling in a preferred class comes tomorrow, we have compiled a list of the most luxurious airport lounges in the world!

AIR FRANCE LA PREMIERE LOUNGE
Where: Charles de Gaulle Airport

There is the best quality treatment provided for passengers reaching terminal 2E flying in Air France La Premiere Lounge. From the particular arrival lounge, Guests go to the pre-security waiting area that comes after the beautiful Le Premiere Lounge. This lounge consists of few luxurious and richly expensive seating area, business center, a Biologique Recherche spa complimentary treatments, a rest area for sleeping, stylish and luxurious bar and an excellent restaurant organize by none other than master chef Alain Ducasse. It has been observed that the preferred dish ordered by frequent visitors is ”Conquillettes”. At the time of boarding guests in the lounge move quickly to their particular gates by car.

AL MOURJAN BUSINESS LOUNGE
Where: Hamad International Airport

Qatar Airways is one of the outstanding lounges across the board, and it has an excellent reputation for giving quality services, and it’s one of the exceptional location is the AL Mourjan Business Lounge. Its large size and magnificent decor make it among the finest lounge in the world. Al Mourjan Business Lounge has an extensive area of two floors, and it is more than 100,000 square foot. The characteristics of this feature include:
• Conference rooms
• Showers
• Diversification in restaurants
• Rooms for short sleep
• Rooms for Family
• Exclusive game rooms
This lounge also has a well-stocked bar, in fact, it is the only one airport lounge which provides Krug Champagne for free.

AMERICAN EXPRESS CENTURION LOUNGE
Where: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport

American Express has opened a series of Centurion Lounges domestically in airports (six to be exact), with more to come. The American Express Centurion Lounge located in DFW is one of the best lounges you’ll be able to find. The Centurion Lounges come with unique perks; according to their locations, the San Francisco Lounge has a dedicated area for tasting Napa Valley wines. DFW has special Spa treatments with Exhale products, a luxurious shower suite, and locally inspired food specially cooked in accordance with the James Beard Award-Winning Chef Dean Fearing. All Centurion Lounges provide ample space and opportunities for productivity, family time and relaxation along with the featured cocktail programs overseen by Master Mixologist Jim Meehan.

BRITISH AIRWAYS CONCORD ROOM
Where: Heathrow Airport

In spite of the fact that there are few galleries for the first-class passengers in British Airways, only the Heathrow and JFK have ”The Concord room”, luxurious lounge-within-a-lounge with a distinctively Anglo vibe. The Concord Room is certified for providing stylish, expensive and luxurious furniture, elegant chandeliers and impressive artworks. It offers dining services includes covering a large choice of champagne and wine before a flight. Heathrow became successful gradually as compared to JFK because it offers private cabanas, where guests have access to using a day bed and private bathrooms before leaving the airport.

CATHAY PACIFIC FIRST CLASS LOUNGE
Where: Hong Kong International Airport

If you are looking for an elite comfortable experience then Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), is one of the best options. With its famously beloved Noodle Bar in the Business Lounge, and the newly renovated The Pier- the first lounge designed by famous designer Ilse Crawford, who produced the lounge with a subdued residential vide. The lounge is known for its luxurious shower suites, private work rooms, eight private suites that can be reserved for relaxation, and three suites where guests can receive free neck and foot massages. And it’s not just relaxation in the suites, the lounge has a drinking and dining bar with a featured a la carte menu and custom cocktails, and in our experience, there are no unappetizing buffets found in these bars.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS PREMIUM LOUNGE
Where: Abu Dhabi International Airport

Etihad Airways Premium Lounge consists of two terminals including 1 and 3. Some amenities appear in terminal 1 and some are in terminal 3. The characteristics of this lounge are:
• Relaxation area
• Business Centre
• Shower rooms
• An employee who guides and assists these guests
• Provides International Buffet
• a la carte dining
This lounge also offers entertainment for all ages of kids. Kids can enjoy and pass time in their family rooms, while for adults there are individual TV Pods. They also offer special Six Senses Spa which includes a variety of massages and facials. In Terminal 3, there are special services of Salon for men and women, where men can get a haircut and a shave, and women can book their appointments for shaping their eyebrow, nail treatments or a blowout.

EMIRATES FIRST CLASS LOUNGE
Where: Dubai International Airport

Emirates flight experience has a reputation for being one of the best, and Emirates’ First Class Lounge in Dubai has the distinction of being the largest first-class lounge in the world, with an entire length of the airline’s terminal dedicated to flights departing on A380s. So you can imagine the many amenities i.e shops, restaurants, comfortable seating, restroom, showers, cigar bar and recharging options. The lounge even has a wine cellar with a staff of sommeliers to help customers find a perfect bottle, and the best part is you can board your flight directly from the lounge after getting your wine rather than exiting and going to the gate.

EVA AIR INFINITY LOUNGE
Where: Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport

Step into the future, but stepping in at The Infinity- one of EVA Air’s premium lounges at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. This is not just any typical lounge, with its twinkling lights, curved walls, comfortable areas to relax with delicious Chinese and Western food buffets, EVA Air’s Infinity’s Lounge in Taiwan Taoyuan is your dream airport lounge if you have a thing for first class flight luxuries.

Special Amenities: Themed shower rooms, a nursery, and a business center. And if you get bored you have easy access to three other lounges; The Garden, The Star and the Club, all three located in the same terminal.

FINNAIR PREMIUM LOUNGE
Where: Helsinki Airport

Finnair makes a huge effort to offer exceptional services to its passengers so that they can have a great experience. At the Finnair lounge, there are Scandinavian design displayed, where Marimekko, Alvar Aalto, Eero Aarnio and Eero Saarinen are one of the most respectable names presented. On the two floors, Lounge offers a huge variety of seating areas including different furniture and curtain dividers are available for creating a sense of privacy. Several drinking and dining options are also offered day and night and luxurious designs, famous and well reputed Finnish Sauna is one of the private shower suites.

JAL FIRST CLASS LOUNGE
Where: Haneda International Airport

Haneda International Airport has had a beautiful redesigned JAL first-class lounge since 2014 featured with contemporary Japanese aesthetic with a vast and spacious outlook. The lounge is a perfect place to spend few hours while eating the well-stocked buffet and delicious hot dishes and taking advantage of the comfortable armchairs and sofas of the lounge. This rarely crowded lounge has several amenities for its guests i.e. shoe polishing, playing foosball, champagne, and neck and back massages that can be followed by a shower.

LUFTHANSA FIRST CLASS TERMINAL
Where: Frankfurt Airport

Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal is not just a lounge but a large beautiful building, a world for premium passengers. From Valet staff to personal assistants are being provided for the ease of the passenger. The valet staff is available to park personal vehicles and return rentals, while personal assistant welcome customers at the terminal entrance and accompanies them through security and passport control. A very relaxing environment has been created to ease the passengers and feel their best; relaxation chairs, two private chairs with day beds, four shower rooms and a cigar lounge with a very pleasant environment which allows guests to enjoy their time.

Michelin-starred chefs’ cuisine and a bar with 150 whiskeys make visitors cheerful and then personal drivers escort them to their gate.

OMAN AIR FIRST CLASS LOUNGE
Where: Muscat International Airport

Personal chefs at Oman Air’s First Class Lounge are available to cater the guests whether they want a snack or three-course meal. A very friendly and generous staff is available after dining to entertain guests and take care of them if they seek to focus on business or sleep in a relaxation room. They have stocked up bars and satellite TV for any entertainment and passing the time. Also, complimentary services like 15-minutes massage are provided to make them feel relaxed and good, relaxing shower rooms stocked up with bathrobes and Amouage perfumes. Personal drivers are available to drop guests at their plane in a limo at their departure time.

QANTAS FIRST LOUNGE
Where: Sydney Airport

Qantas’s airport First Lounge with maniacal admirers in Sydney secures extortionate marks for providing all of their offers. It has an elegant and attractive design which makes the lounge look broad and spacious and yet private. The restaurant menus are decided and designed by the prestigious chef Neil Perry, and it has charming spa with treatment rooms that are equipped with living walls of greenery. Other features which accentuates the lounge very elegantly are full-time barista, showers, library, sleek furniture and more. The lounge also offers outstanding tarmac and runway views, which is very difficult to find in any other premium lounge, and if you do not have enough time to take in the view and relax, there is a work area and dining lounge with a buffet for guests with less time.

ROYAL FIRST LOUNGE
Where: Suvarnabhumi Airport

Royal First Lounge is considered one of the best lounge of Thai Airways at the Bangkok Airport. Personal escorts are available to assist First Class Passengers to and from the lounge, and buggy rides are also available for rides through the airport so that passengers can easily move from one place to another to avoid any hassle. In the lounge, there are sleeping rooms, shower suites, VIP rooms, Private corners for groups and families and 22-seat dining room. They give great services to their guests including 60-minutes full body massage and 30-minutes neck and shoulder massage. These massages are available at the Royal Orchid Spa. This spa has steam rooms and shower suites. Both the lounge and spa on the same Concours so that passengers can easily visit both locations, but many passengers decide to spend most of their time at the Spa.

SINGAPORE AIRLINES SILVERKRIS LOUNGE
Where: Singapore Changi Airport

Three SilverKris Lounges at Changi have been operated by the Singapore Airlines. A very high-class Private room available to first class passengers or suites on the carrier. The Private room is itself a unique feature of the lounge which is exceptional at providing excellent services and dining. There’s a profusion of luxe armchairs for guests to relax into, two private rooms for rest, and a very active team of attendants who look after the guests. The main spotlight of the lounge is the high-end five-course meal dining choice which makes guests jubilant. Also, a well-stocked buffet with a range of dishes is also provided.

STAR ALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL LOUNGE
Where: Los Angeles International Airport

Star Alliance International Lounge is highly competitive with One World Lounge and Qantas’s International First Lounge but it maintains its uniqueness in one way: A grandiloquent rooftop area with a breathtaking view of the Hollywood Hills and the L.A. skyline. The other most appealing feature of the lounge is an indoor bar with a substantial adjacent balcony that makes the look of an airport terminal alluring. Another distinctive feature is that the lounge is LEED Gold certified, which is most apparent in the lounge’s dependence on natural light rather than artificial light. The design of the lounge is made by L.A. based designers Charles and Ray Eames. Although the lounge has exclusively allocated sections for business and first-class travelers but this is where the former outweighs the latter.

SWISS FIRST LOUNGE
Where: Zurich Airport

SWISS manages an astonishing nine lounges at Zurich airport, in which First Lounge in Terminal E is the most luxurious one. Customized culinary formation in a high standard dining restaurant and classic dishes from the states at the American Diner fully enjoyed by the guests. In this lounge, there are suites for work and conferences, but the exceptional quality features are two hotel rooms with real beds, private bathrooms and a panoramic view of the Alps. There are more than 1,000 bottles stored in the lounge’s container from which Oenophiles can choose more than that and lovers of whiskey can go to the Senator lounge in Terminal E where they can select more than 120 whiskeys around the world. In pleasant weather, it’s a better option to enjoy the Alpine vistas rather than sitting on the expensive seat on the covered terrace.

TURKISH AIRLINES CIP LOUNGE
Where: Istanbul Ataturk Airport

If you worry about your kids relaxing while traveling, then the CIP Lounge is a great option for you with its children’s playroom and private rooms where you can take care of your infants and relax. However, it is not limited only to family travelers. It has a variety of options available for other guests, i.e. TV, movies, video games, a music room equipped with a big screen, a billiards room, library, golf simulator, slot-car racing track and much more. So whether you are looking to relax while traveling with family, or want to relax with a great book, get a massage, play games or just take a shower, CIP provides you with all the options. And if you are going there, then do not forget to check out the olive garden with real olive trees and an olive bar.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC CLUBHOUSE
Where: John F. Kennedy International Airport

I know some of you might be partial to the Heathrow location of Clubhouse, but personally, we are favoring the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at JFK, considering how U.S. lounges tend to be cramped. This lounge provides a similar experience to Virgin Air’s in-flight experience, with its fun and funky décor, fun games (in the entertainment zone with its signature red-ball sofa), semi-formal dining in the brasserie area and complimentary cocktails before evening flights. The Clubhouse in JFK is the only location, apart from London, with a Clubhouse Spa, complete with Bumble & Bumble hair products and Dr. Hauschka skincare line, with special spa treatments ranging from hair styling to facials and massages.