DREW BARRYMORE dives headlong into the role of fashion’s most unlikely muse in the remake of cult classic GREY GARDENS. Her inspired portrayal of tragic socialite “LITTLE EDIE” BEALE shows an actor at the top of her game. Aaron Peasley on the part that Ms Barrymore truly makes her own.

In 1975 documentary-maker brothers Albert and David Maysles released a film called Grey Gardens depicting the lives of Edith “Big Edie” Bouvier Beale and her daughter, “Little Edie”, the aunt and first cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. In the film, the oddball duo had fallen from the top of the Social Register into a state of spectacular yet oddly mirthful decay, together with their once glorious East Hampton home, Grey Gardens.

The film, by turns hilarious, touching and downright mortifying, offers an irresistible riches-to-rags tale set against the backdrop of the Beales’ squalid mansion, complete with its impenetrable, overgrown grounds.

Grey Gardens features a supporting cast of feral cats and raccoons and includes scenes of the two eccentric Beales eating from tin cans and cooking from a makeshift bedside hotplate in their shared sleeping quarters. Throw in a few spontaneous song and dance numbers, lots of mother-daughter
squabbling and some unforgettable freeform fashion — cardigans as turbans, towels as togas — and you have the ingredients for an enduring cult classic. In the three and a half decades since its release, Grey Gardens has grown into an unlikely American legend, inspiring a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, fashion collections, art exhibits, coffee-table books, Facebook groups and countless drag routines.

The latest project to have sprung from the sensationally camp documentary is a new dramatic movie of the same name, starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore as Big Edie and Little Edie, respectively.
While the Beales’ faded glories echo throughout the Maysles documentary, the new film, directed by Michael Sucsy, takes us back to the pair’s early years. Thoroughly researched flashbacks illuminate the Edies’ lives as far back as the 1930s, and these sequences are interspersed with re-created scenes from the documentary. There’s a moment in the film where Little Edie, captured marvellously by a dazzling Barrymore, says plaintively, “It’s very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present — awfully difficult.”

While Washington D.C. began shredding it’s staid reputation during the Clinton years (Hillary controversially jettisoned some of the more traditional décor in the White House) there has been an undeniable shift in the last decade. Like an ailing senator who doesn’t want his health problems to become a political Achilles heel, Washington has quietly undergone open-heart surgery, resurfacing as a fun loving, pleasure seeking city. It’s out with the brogue and in with the peep-toe pump.

The reasons for Washington’s transformation differ depending on whom you ask, even though the name Bush rarely comes up in conversation. Washington, like many other government hubs, was the ultimate city of transients – so much so that even high profile senators would live, college style, in share houses with other senators, all skipping town the minute congress rested. Similarly, ambitious graduates would do ‘time’ in the city, sweating it out in campaign boiler rooms before heading to other city centers like New York and Chicago to make the big bucks and let their hair down.

Some note the huge influx of lobbyists who’ve entered Washington in the last decade, bringing with them a desire for the cosmopolitan spoils. Whatever the reason, who can deny during this year’s thrilling election cycle that US politics have become just a little glamorous again?

The best way to experience Washington’s new mood is by reserving a table at one of the city’s excellent restaurants. The city’s culinary scene has not so much come of age, as completely reinvented itself. Washington’s dining has long been defined by power dining with a capital P: muted timber paneled rooms in which major deals were quietly fleshed out over mounds of steak and sauvignon. While classic restaurants like the venerable Old Ebbitt Grill, one of the Bush administration’s unofficial power bases, are worth a peek, the culinary shift has been nothing less than tectonic.

These days you are just as likely to find Washington’s elite in dining rooms like the chic Blue Duck Tavern or fighting for a chair at the colourful Café Atlantico. Jose Andres, proprietor of five Washington restaurants, including Café Atlantico, is considered a major force in reinvigorating the frowzy Washington dining landscape. Andres turned conventional wisdom on its head in 1993, when he opened the casual tapas restaurant Jaleo in a shady section of downtown. Now the area, rechristened as the Penn Quarter, is a booming culinary corridor.

It’s hardly a surprise that some of the globe’s best-known celebrity chefs have heard the clarion call and want a piece of the pie. Last year Wolfgang Puck opened The Source within the glassy Newseum, joining Eric Ripert’s Westend bistro and French Laundry alum Eric Zeibold’s CityZEN as some of the city’s most coveted reservations. None other than culinary god Alain Ducasse is set to open his second Adour restaurant in the Washington St Regis this year.

The fun doesn’t stop when the dinner cheque arrives. New visitors to Washington DC expecting a soporific nightlife scene and early curfew can think again. Not far from the Penn Quarter, the K street downtown precinct has emerged as one of the city’s most happening nightlife districts, joining more traditional party pockets like Georgetown and Adams Morgan.

Washington possesses the cultural riches of a city many times its size, but a string of new museums and attractions have joined an already overwhelming list of must sees. Claiming the last plot on the National Mall, the excellent Newseum opened this year, as did the Museum of Crime and Punishment in the bourgeoning Penn Quarter. The Smithsonian Museum of American History is preparing to reopen after a major renovation, one highlight of which will be a new viewing area for old glory, the star spangled banner. Even the iconic Capitol Building is undergoing a huge renovation, the largest in the building’s 212-year history, set to include an exhibition gallery, theatres, and a cafeteria.

It’s certainly a good time to be in Washington. While Washington isn’t going to bump New York or Paris off their perch in the glamour stakes any time soon, it’s what’s new that’s finally getting the city attention. The city has a palpable sense of buzz as the Bush era draws to a close and the White House prepares for a change of tenants. If the current mood in Washington is any indication, the next presidential inauguration, to be celebrated in January 2009 with a series of galas and events, is going to be a party to remember.

HOTELS
Donovan House
1155 14th Street
202.737.1200
Washington’s hotels have traditionally been all work and no play. With the arrival of NY based Thompson hotels latest property, named after “Wild Bill” Donovan, the father of the CIA, there is a now a bona fide boutique option. Grab a spot beside the sleek rooftop pool and you’d never imagine this was once a Holiday Inn.

Hotel Monaco
700 F St
202.628.7177
www.monaco-dc.com
Housed in a handsome marble clad landmark building, this handsomely hip boutique hotel is perfectly positioned on the doorstep of the booming Penn Quarter. The Kimpton chain is known for their quirky properties and sense of humour, both of which are in profusion at this fun, colorful spot.

Four Seasons Georgetown
2800 Pennsylvania Avenue
202.342.0444
www.fourseasons.com/washington/
With a prime location on Georgetown’s doorstep, this luxurious bolthole – known for its power breakfast scene – has the scale of a smaller hotel combined with superlative service and amenities, like the high tech pool and health club.

Mandarin Oriental
1300 Maryland Avenue
202.554.8588
www.mandarinoriental.com
The only five star hotel in the city with sweeping views of the elegant Jefferson memorial and the tidal basin. Request a room on a high floor for the best panoramas as well as access to the private club.

RESTAURANTS

Blue Duck Tavern
1201 24th Street
www.blueducktavern.com
202.419.6755
Haute barnyard meets urbane cafeteria, at this glass-fronted restaurant. The focus here is on the freshest seasonal ingredients, prepared in an open-fronted wood fired kitchen. Request the handsome private dining room for larger parties.

Café Atlantico/Mini Bar
405 8th Street
202.39.0812
www.cafeatlantico.com
Years ago, Washington’s well heeled would never have been seen in this part of town, let alone begging for a table at the highly coveted Mini bar, famous for its 35 course tasting menu. Unless you’re organized or extremely lucky, settle for a table at popular Atlantico, mini bar’s mother ship which serves a delicious confection of pan Latin flavours.

Citronelle
3000 M Street
202.625.2150
www.citronelledc.com
Setting the benchmark for a new era in Washington power dining, this iconic Michel Richard helmed classic is a winning combination of French technique, locally source ingredients, and American pragmatism.

Tackle Box
3245 M Street
202.337.8269
With crab cakes their unofficial signature dish, Washingtonians are major seafood lovers. Head to the casual offshoot of eco conscious neighbour Hook, for a loose recreation of a fun New England seafood shack, featuring peel and eat shrimp, delicious crab cakes, fish and chips and wonderful local clams.

The Source
575 Pennsylvania Avenue
202.637.6100
www.wolfgangpuck.com
It was only a matter of time before the culinary big shots arrived en masse to the Nation’s capital. Wolfgang Puck’s foray, within the Newseum is one of the finest, featuring a chic take on mid Atlantic cuisine imbued with Puck’s signature SoCal and Asian fourishes.

BARS
Tattoo Bar
1413 K Street
202.408.9440
www.tattoobardc.com
Styled a little like an early 90s Poison video with a sophisticated spin (see: leather banquettes), this is fun destination for hearty drinks and retro rock classics populated by a fun local crowd who aren’t ashamed to know the words to Guns and Roses’ ‘November Rain.’

Rock and Roll Hotel
www.rockandrollhoteldc.com
1353 H Street
202.388.1004
DC is one of the best centers in the US for live music. With an eclectic roster of acts – everything from hard rock to burlesque – this intimate venue on the booming H strip, is one of the city’s best music venues.

Town and Country Lounge
1127 Connecticut Avenue
202.347.3000
For all the talk of a hip makeover, Washington does excel in the traditional tryst-worthy hotel lounge. Head to this fine specimen, located in the Mayflower hotel, where Elliot Spitzer was recently caught with his pants down, to feel like an extra in The Candidate.

STORES
Georgetown Cupcake
1209 Potomac Street
202.333.8448
www.georgetowncupcake.com
Washington’s first cupcakery, just off M street, has been a hit with the city’s sweet tooth set – rumored to include Hilary Clinton – since it opened in February this year.

Jeweler’s Werk Galerie
3319 Cadys Alley
202.337.3319
www.jewelerswerk.com
You’re not likely to find Laura Bush shopping for her signature pearls at this chic, curatorial style jewelry store located on the semi-secret Cadys Alley. The focus here is on wearable art from au courant designers like Michelle Jank and Karl Fritsch.

Apartment Zero
406 Seventh Street
202.628.4067
www.apartmentzero.com
Home to such welcome houseguests as Jonathan Adler and Marc Newson, this store, designed to resemble a dream apartment is one hot address.

Betsy Fisher
1224 Connecticut Avenue
202.785.1975
www.betsyfisher.com
High on style, low on attitude is the formula for this stylish DuPont circle boutique, which stocks everything from Diane Von Furstenberg frocks to the latest European heels and accessories.

SEE+DO HUGHLIGHTS

Newseum
www.newseum.org
5555 Pennsylvania Avenue
1.888.639.7386
Opened in April this year, claiming the last available site on the National Mall, this 76,000 square metre newcomer is devoted to the history of news reporting. Featuring exhibits ranging from the fun (be your own TV reporter!) to the poignant (Journalists memorial), the slick new building also houses the largest section of the Berlin wall outside of Germany as well as two surviving Checkpoint Charlies. Don’t miss the great views from the outdoor deck.

Smithsonian American Art Museum and Portrait Gallery
Independence Avenue at Seventh Street
202.786.2682
www.npg.si.edu
Closed for an extensive renovation, the latest element of which is Sir Norman Foster’s graceful courtyard canopy, this gallery features the mugs of prominent Americans from Abraham Lincoln to Jerry Seinfeld. Find a seat under Foster’s latticed roof, and take advantage of the free wi fi.

International Spy Museum
800 F Street
202.393.7798
www.spymuseum.org
This hugely popular museum has its cheesy moments, but even the lactose intolerant can enjoy the exhibits dedicated to the elusive art of espionage. Even celebrity spies, like Julia Child, Marlene Dietrich and Josephine Baker are remembered in an exhibit called celebrity spies. If you’re hungry head next door to the spy themed Zola restaurant.

National Gallery of Art
4th Street and Constitution Avenue
202.737.4216
www.nga.gov
The mother lode for art fans, this stunning building hold over 100,000 works spanning two interconnected buildings.

Corcoran Gallery of Art
500 17th Street
202.639.1700
www.corocoran.org
Just steps from the White House, the first art museum to open in the city remains one of the city’s finest attractions, housing an impressive collection of 20th century art. Past exhibitions have featured everything from the photographs of Annie Liebowitz to the furniture of Frank Gehry.

Smithsonian Museum of American History scheduled opening November 2008
www.americanhistory.si.edu
14th Street and Constitution Avenue
202.633.1000
Known as “America’s attic”, this unmissable museum, reopening in November after a major renovation, features iconic cultural objects from Dorothy’s ruby slippers through to Carrie Bradshaw’s laptop. The most popular attraction is set to be ‘old glory’ the star spangled banner, which will be housed in a dramatic new exhibit.

Shakespeare Theater Company
610 F Street
202.547.1122
Try to catch a performance at the slick, new glass-fronted 800-seat Sidney Harman Hall, which opened last year. Featuring gently updated Shakespearean classics; it is one of two premier local theaters owned the company.

Washington.org

Until recently, if you were to use the word culture in reference to Los Angeles, the word car would invariably precede it. But in the last decade – beginning with the billion-dollar Getty Centre and more recently with the opening of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum – Los Angeles has emerged as one of the hottest cultural capitals on the globe.

While most visitors to Los Angeles come looking for sun, surf, and stars, all of which are in profusion, many may not be aware of the city’s cultural bona fides. According to studies, Los Angeles attracts less than a quarter of the cultural tourists that London, New York or Paris receive, and whereas almost 90% of tourists to Paris engage in some kind of cultural activity, less than 15% of visitors to Los Angeles do.

It’s not that Los Angeles lacks the cultural riches: With the recent opening of the 156 million dollar Broad Contemporary Art Museum, an addition to The Los Angeles County of Art complex, tinsel town now boasts the most contemporary art gallery space in the world. According to Bettina Korek, founder of ForYourArt, an LA based organization that promotes cultural philanthropy, visitors who don’t touch on the city’s vibrant art scene are missing out on a chance to discover a side of Los Angeles one would never find through a camera lense. “It’s an amazing time in Los Angeles” says Korek, “the cultural landscape is taking shape and it’s incredible to be a part of it.”

ForYourArt began organically when Korek worked at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). “While many people were interested in supporting the museum, there wasn’t a reliable source of information to promote cultural philanthropy in a broader sense” said Korek, “So I started an email blast to give people information about events, exhibitions, and others ways to get involved in the arts.” With a diverse, rambling cultural landscape and an exploding gallery scene, LA residents and visitors needed some way to keep track of the fast paced scene. Since then ForYourArt has grown to become a leading cultural resource, which includes quarterly guides and maps, weekly e-newsletters and an online portal.

With arguably the hottest contemporary art scene on the planet, Los Angeles is no longer a one-industry town. Besides the world-class institutions – including the Getty, LACMA, and MOCA – Los Angeles is home to more than 400 independent art galleries. Studies also show that Los Angeles is home to the most working artists in North America, as well as being the fastest growing cultural center in the country.

Besides being cheaper and more tight-knit than other cultural centers, Korek points to the laid-back, livable culture of LA is one of the reasons for LA’s increased popularity among young artists, “Besides offering a wonderful lifestyle, it’s very open here and not as market-driven, which allows for more risk and perhaps even greater focus on process” she said. With five major, world-class art schools there is no shortage of new talent, not to mention that the city has been siphoning artists, including Australia’s Venice Biennale representative Ricky Swallow, away from other art capitals.

LA’s art scene postdates the city’s emergence as a film capital. The scene began to take shape in the late 1950s primarily with the Ferus Gallery, which held Andy Warhol’s very first solo show, an exhibition of his Campbell’s Soup Cans in 1962, and later with exhibitions by pioneering local artists like Ed Ruscha.

Discovering LA’s thriving contemporary art scene is one way to get to uncover the secrets of the city itself. With art communities spread out over most of the city, LA’s decentralized scene can be confounding to the first-timer. Yet, many point to the sprawl as the key to Los Angeles’ non-linear art scene, which produces work that’s iconoclastic and highly idiomatic. “Our MAP ForYourArt was designed specifically with the issue of sprawling LA in mind” explains Korek, “Everyone knows that LA is a driving city, which can be overwhelming considering the “center” depends on who you are talking to. I would suggest taking in a couple of gallery and museum neighborhoods to get a feel for what is happening – Chinatown, West Hollywood, Culver City, Santa Monica, Westwood, Silver Lake to name a few.”

While downtown, recently a cultural wild west, has rapidly emerged as a cultural hub, it is Culver City, in western Los Angeles that is in the midst of a major art quake. Pedestrian friendly Culver City is composed of over fourty galleries, as well as design houses, and art centric bars and restaurants. Until recently, the area was most famous for being the home of MGM, the heart of the notoriously shallow movie-making machine. There’s just a little irony that the erstwhile home of MGM studios (now Sony), which still houses parts of the delightfully fake yellow brick road, is now a white-hot cultural hotspot. I think it’s fair to say that if Dorothy were around today, she wouldn’t know the place.

www.foryourart.com

SEE + DO Cultural Los Angeles

Los Angeles County Museum Of Art (LACMA)
5905 Wilshire Boulevard
323.857.6000
www.lacma.org
Home to an impressive 100,000 works, displayed over 7 buildings and 20 acres, this is one of the most impressive art institutions in the world. The current star is the new kid on the block; the travertine clad Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM), designed by Renzo Piano, which houses the collection of billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad. The inaugural exhibition, which made news when Broad retained ownership of his collection rather than donate it, is a pop-heavy mix of modern art greats, including Warhol, Koons, Hirst and Sherman.

MOCA, The Museum of Contemporary Art
The only museum in Los Angeles devoted exclusively to contemporary art, comprised of three annexes, two of which are downtown. If you’ve only got time for one, head to the largest, the Arata Isozaki designed Grand Avenue complex, which despite exhibiting the works of younger artists, has a great permanent collection spanning almost 70 years. The excellent museum restaurant, Patinette, is also worth a stop.
Moca Grand Avenue
250 South Grand Avenue
www.moca.org
The Geffen Contemporary
152 North Central Avenue
Moca Pacific Design Center
8687 Melrose Avenue

Watts Towers
1765 East 107th Street
213.847.4646
With everything from art deco movie theatres to Mediterranean castles, Los Angeles is known for its architectural curiosities. For sheer spectacle, Watts Towers, built by Italian Immigrant Simon Rodia, takes the cake. The complex is comprised of 17 towers, two of which reach heights above 30 meters, assembled from glass, steel, shells and other found materials. Condemned in the 1950s and later saved, Rodia’s masterpiece is an enduring testament to the power of the imagination as well as LA’s penchant for the eccentric.

Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Blvd
310.443.7000
www.hammer.ucla.edu
Part of UCLA, this adventurous museum merges the classic and the contemporary in a range of exhibitions spanning all mediums. Opened in 1990, the museum has displayed everything from Catherine the Great’s treasures through to architect Jean Prouve’s prefab Tropical House.

Architecture and Design Museum
5900 Wilshire Blvd
323.932.9393
In recent years, the boundaries between art and design have blurred tremendously. This Culver City museum is dedicated to exposing the importance of architecture and design, with an excellent series of exhibits featuring design world stars. Also, don’t miss the photography gallery, which displays and sells pieces from luminaries like Julius Shulman.

Museum of Latin American Art
628 Alamitos Avenue
562.437.1689
www.molaa.org
The largest of its type in North America, this museum, located in the thriving East Village arts district, is dedicated to post war artists from Mexico, and Central and South America. If you have the time dine at the onsite restaurant ViVa, which serves delicious pan-Latin creations.

Barnsdall Art Park
www.barnsdallartpark.com
4800 Hollywood Blvd
323.662.8139
Los Angeles is blessed with a huge number of parks and gardens, not to mention some of the world’s best residential architecture. Enjoy all of the above at this relatively undiscovered gem, located in the heart of East Hollywood. Home to Frank Lloyd Wright’s impressive 1927 Hollyhock House, his first house in LA, as well as an art gallery, outdoor theatre and park, which has picnic perfect views of the city below.

EAT AND DRINK

Royal T/Maid Café
8910 Washington Boulevard
310.559.6300
www.royal-t.org
This playful Culver City newcomer is a mixed-use space, fusing gallery, store and café. The highlight is the latter; the first US version of the Japanese maid ‘cosplay’ concept. The café serves Japanese food with a So Cal spin, delivered by waitresses dressed in ‘French maid’ akihabara uniforms, named after the Tokyo district where the phenomenon took off.

The Mandrake
2692 S La Cienega Blvd
310.837.3297
www.mandrakebar.com
Crowded with hipsters and local artists, this timber-panelled hangout has the feeling of a busy, sceney art gallery opening – without the art. What it does have is a lively bar, expertly mixed cocktails (try the Rose’s Garden) and the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the city’s most successful artists.

The Otheroom Los Angeles
1201 Abbot Kinney Blvd
310.396.6230
www.theotheroom.com
Set back from the colorful beachside boardwalk, this handsome New York import is in the heart of Venice’s gallery and retail district. Decorated with pieces from local artists and featuring performances by local musicians, it’s one of the best places to take in Venice’s particular brand of artsy California cool.

Mountain Bar
475 Gin Ling Way
213.625.7500
www.themountainbar.com
Owned by artists Jorge Pardo and galleryist Steve Hansan, this seductive red-lit bar has a semi-hidden location in a building that was once Chinatown’s oldest restaurant. Playing host to some of the cities most unique cultural, musical and artistic events, you can expect a laid-back crowd, good music, and refreshing lack of poseurs.

SHOP

Opening Ceremony
451 North La Cienega Blvd
310.652.1120
www.openingceremony.us
Known for their collaborations with artists and filmmakers (including director Wong Kar- wei), this East coast import has some of the best on-trend threads in the city.

Moss Los Angeles
8444 Melrose Avenue
323.951.0697
www.mossonline.com
From a limited edition Campana brothers chair to cult porcelain from Studio Job, this slick gallery-style Melrose arrival carries the latest and greatest in design pieces and furniture.

Art Catalogues
8687 Melrose Avenue
310.289.5223
www.artcatalogues.com
Housed within Moca’s Pacific Design Centre location, this insider favourite specializes in current and out-of-print exhibition guides, as well as the latest books on modern art and photography.

Equator Books
1103 Abbot Kinney Blvd
310.399.5544
www.equatorbooks.com
LA’s best bookstore, frequented by art world heavyweights like Dennis Hopper and Ed Ruscha, has out-of-print and collectible books organized according to categories like bullfighting and surfing. Don’t miss their selection of vintage magazines and the vinyl record bar.

The tiny island of Nevis, adrift in the southernmost stretch of the West Indies, has long been a haven for those seeking quiet isolation.

Arriving at Nevis’ Hermitage Plantation Inn late in the evening, I feel as if I’ve travelled back in time. Perched 800 feet above sea level, on the southern slopes of the grand 3232-foot Nevis Peak, the resort looks like a little village of crayon coloured cottages, lighted like Christmas ornaments amidst a lush landscape of mango, cashew and breadfruit trees. In my second floor villa, the moonlight filters through the latticed, bougainvillea-covered verandah, creating little diamond shaped beams of light across the room. With a soundtrack of chirping Bell Frogs, a light tropical breeze and the perfume of ginger flowers, I have all the ingredients one could need for a perfect night’s sleep. Until a series of loud, disquieting thuds rattle my rooftop.

Over breakfast the next morning I decide to ask my gracious hosts, the Lupinacci family, about the noise. It turns out things that go bump in the night are nothing to be concerned about around these parts. The racket was merely the work of the cheeky green Vervet Monkeys, cohabitants of this paradise since the 1700s, who like to toss mangoes and other tropical fruit into the wee hours.

It doesn’t take one long to learn that man tends to take a backseat to nature in Nevis, a gloriously laid back slice of the Caribbean.

The Hermitage is one of a handful of Nevis’ romantic plantation inns, all lovingly restored remnants of Nevis’ history as a sugar production capital in the 18th century. Back then, Nevis was known as the queen of the Caribbean and great houses like the Hermitage’s were the residences of wealthy sugar barons. All but one of the plantation style inns are hidden high above the ocean, where cool breezes ease even the hottest days and gorgeous panoramas reveal themselves at every turn.

What sets Nevis’ plantation style hotels apart from most Caribbean resorts is that, far from being faceless beachside compounds, they feel like part of a vibrant community with a genuine sense of history. On weekend evenings, the Hermitage’s 340-year-old Great House, believed to be the Caribbean’s oldest wooden structure, is transformed into the centre of Nevis island social life, just as it was hundreds of years ago. Evenings are convivial affairs, beginning with a rum punch at the gracious cocktail bar, followed by dinner on the porch, where a four course meal – prepared from the hotel’s garden and livestock – is taken by flickering candlelight. Guests include relatives of the Lupinacci’s, hotel guests, many of whom return every year and a quirky collection of local characters.

Eccentricity – British and otherwise – has certainly found a home in Nevis. The island has a wonderful cast of oddballs (like the Scottish beekeeper who taught the locals honey production), many who’ve been seduced by its offbeat charms and natural beauty and simply stayed for good.

Like its genteel cloistered compounds, the circular island of Nevis still feels like a secret. Just thirty six square miles, and divided into five parishes, Nevis is one of the Caribbean’s last Shangri-Las; a haven of verdant green hills, pristine beaches, underwater coral kingdoms and vast tropical rainforests. Nevis was named by Christopher Columbus in 1493, who thought the ever-present clouds that wreath the volcanic peak resembled those of a snow-capped Pyrenees mountain, thus naming it nieves, the Spanish word for snow.

Until recently, Nevis was packaged as a double act with its bigger, brasher sister St Kitts (together the two islands make up the smallest country in the Americas). While they remain a federation, freewheeling Nevis is taking a different, decidedly more upscale path. In one way, Nevis, which seems worlds away from the sunburnt hoards, defines itself by what it lacks; like all-inclusive resorts, chain stores and fast food outlets. Certainly no one comes to Nevis expecting designer boutiques (St Barts it’s most certainly not) or late night beach parties. The truth is, Nevis doesn’t feel much like the Caribbean at all.

While there’s no doubting that Nevis lures the wealthy –the influx of Gulfstream jets and A list celebrities has been duly noted– one would have to hunt rather hard to find any evidence of glitz or ostentation. If you did, the closest you’d come would be the Four Seasons Resort, which, when it’s not closed for post-hurricane renovations (as it is now), attracts a wealthy North American clientele. But if Island chatter is to be believed, the Four Seasons will soon to be outluxed by the arrival of the Asian based chainlet Aman Resorts.

It’s easy to imagine an Aman outpost here. Days in Nevis tend to be languorous stretches spent swimming in the calm coral waters, dropping in for a rum punch at one of the low key beach bars, or simply staying within the coddled surrounds of one’s hotel.

A types that don’t deal with idyll, head to Oualie Beach, which – I can safely assure you – measures up to the translation of ‘land of beautiful water’. Oualie Beach is dominated by the no frills Oualie Beach Resort, where the Friday night party comes as close to ‘nightlife’ as Nevis gets. During the days, the beach is an activity centre of snorkelling, sailing and scuba diving, as well as home to Barbara Whitman’s Under The Sea, a popular sea life conservation and education centre where visitors can handle the marine life in touch tanks or swim with Crush, Whitman’s rescued Hawksbill sea turtle.

Another breathtaking experience is a horse ride through the tropical rainforest. At the Hermitage, the Lupinacci’s keep a large stable of rescued thoroughbreds, which are lucky to be living their second act in this lush Eden. My horse was Yo-Yo, a placid gelding who once raced in neighbouring Puerto Rico, before his careless owners discarded him. As the horse was saddled up before the early morning ride, it was clear that the Hermitage’s horses are cared for just as well as their hotel guests.

Riding down dirt roads, past abandoned windmills, and on through narrow rocky paths beneath branches heavy with ripe tropical fruit, it’s easy to fall in love with the quixotic spirit of the teeny Island and the generous, friendly Nevisian people. On my way back to the hotel I come face to face with one of the playful Vervet monkeys, a reminder that in Nevis, nature is blissfully alive, irresistible and, as I’ll learn once again tonight, far from silent.

Best beach bar
Sunshine’s
Sunshine’s eponymous bar and restaurant, decorated with low slung wicker furniture, colourful flags and beaten up number plates, began selling barbecued seafood, spiced with fiery marinades, 12 years ago on a quiet stretch of Pinney’s Beach. Since then, the bright shack has become a mandatory island destination drawing everyone from families staying at the neighbouring Four Seasons resort, to local Rastafarians and visiting celebrities. The food is among the island’s best, featuring salads, burgers and grilled lobster, but the star attraction is Sunshine’s legendary Killer Bees, a potent rum punch cocktail, which, true to its titular promise, delivers a stinging headache the next day.
Pinney’s Beach
00869.469.5817
www.sunshinenevis.com

Best dining experience
Miss June’s Cuisine
Imagine, if you will, that you’ve been invited for an extravagant Caribbean feast at your eccentric aunt’s sprawling house. That’s what you can expect from Miss June Mestier, a former Trinidadian beauty queen, who plays host to the Caribbean’s most unforgettable dining experience. The meal commences with cocktails and canapés in Miss June’s antique filled living room, followed by a five course meal in the formal dining room, which includes a buffet of over 30 dishes like the signature plantains baked in coconut rum. Nights here tend to last for hours, accompanied by endless glasses of wine and fascinating stories of Miss June’s colourful life. Reservations essential.
Jones Bay
00869.469.5330

Hotel
Montpelier Plantation Inn
A haven of romance ever since Admiral Lord Nelson married local girl Fanny Nisbet there in 1787, this quintessential British outpost is the island’s most romantic lodging option. Upon arrival at the property, the first thing you’ll notice is the enormous fig tree, which gives way to the hotel’s grand public spaces. The great house, together with the 17 guest suites, were given a chic de-chintz overhaul by the Hoffman family who purchased the property in 2002. Life here is about doing very little at all, but doing it in grand style, whether its swimming in the hotel’s beautiful pool, having dinner in the soigné candle lit sugar mill, or playing a spirit game of croquet on the hotel’s green with its stunning views of the ocean 750 feet below.
St John Figtree
www.montpeliernevis.com
00869.469.3462

Beach
Pinney’s Beach
Protected by a gorgeous coral reef, this 3-mile strip of powdery sand, just half a mile from Nevis’ sleepy capital, is the island’s best beach. While all you need is a lounger and a cold Carib beer for a perfect afternoon, there are plenty of breezy beach bars in which to kick back and enjoy irresistible sunset views of neighbouring St Kitts.

While she’s often the subject of tabloid headlines (usually portrayed as a man-eating femme fatale), there’s a whole other side to Angelina Jolie. Sizzling star one minute, the next she’s a doting mother, UN ambassador, philanthropist and, just lately, pilot.

Angelina Jolie is surprisingly chatty for someone who was up till five this morning shooting pick-up shots for her latest film, the action comedy Mr and Mrs Smith. Wearing little, if any, makeup and dressed casually in a black knit top, low-slung jeans and high heels, Jolie in person is thinner and smaller than expected, but the superlatives used endlessly to describe her beauty are definitely justified. The actress’s lips form that famous pout as she begins talking about love and how she has never been truly in love. “I’ve cared about people, I’ve loved people,” she says. “But what I’ve come to understand is that being in love is something I’ve never had. Now that I have an idea of what it is, I might find it, not I’m not counting on it. What I look for now are people who I can have an adventure with. I get excited when I meet a man I have no sexual attraction to, a man who is doing an amazing project in the middle of another country.”

Jolie probably wished she was on a desert island with said man when speculation broke about an on-set romance with her Mr and Mrs Smith co-star, Brad Pitt. You could say it was a tabloid certainty that rumours of a romantic relationship between two of Hollywood’s sexiest stars would surface during filming, with the paparazzi even taking photographs of the co-stars being “intimate” on set. However, what was not expected was the official announcement during shooting that Pitt and his wife of four-and-a-half years, Jennifer Aniston, had separated. “I get rumoured to be with everyone I work with,” says Jolie wryly, most likely referring to her Taking Lives co-star, Olivier Martinez (according to the tabloids, Kylie Minogue made an emergency dash to the Canadian set to wrench him from Jolie’s clutches.)

For Jolie, the timing of the Pitt-Aniston announcement was unfortunate. What began as standard gossip fodder became a media frenzy, in which each party in the alleged love triangle took on a public persona worthy of a Shakespearean tragedy. After the Kidman-Cruise split, Pitt and Aniston’s marriage was, after all, Tinseltown’s matrimonial great white hope in an industry notorious for failed marriages. Jolie was cast as the black widow – a man-eating femme fatale with a repertoire of wiles irresistible to any red-blooded man – the antithesis of Aniston’s girl-next-door sorority-sister persona. And Pitt, of course, escaped scrutiny. Jolie became the woman most likely to steal your husband.

Surely, it must sadden her that she was implicated in a marital break-up, high-profile or otherwise. “I’ve been dragged into a whole bunch of bulls**t, but it doesn’t really hurt me,” she says. “I think that stuff is sad for anybody involved but I have absolutely no involvement in the situation… and there are people who are going through something really heavy – I feel sadness for them. It’s a time for everyone to be sensitive.” It seems Jolie and Pitt were being sensitive to the situation when they were photographed at a safe distance apart just days before this interview. Jolie says it wasn’t a conscious decision and that they “are friends”, before adding that she would “rather not answer these questions.”
Mr and Mrs Smith was always going to be one hot ticket. Starring two of Hollywood’s biggest stars and directed by Doug Liman (Swingers, The Bourne Identity), the film’s plot follows Jane and John Smith, a suburban couple, whose six-year marriage has become passionless and isolating in its humdrum familiarity. The years have made them strangers to each other and both become domestic control freaks to distract themselves from the real problem – that, despite being married, they simply don’t know each other. The parody emerges as we discover both husband and wife are deadly assassins working for rival agencies, ultimately ending up on each others hit list.

If the tabloid press is to be believed, neither of Jolie’s previous marriages, first to British actor Jonny Lee Miller and then to actor Billy Bob Thornton (you know, they wore phials of each other’s blood), bear any similarity to the Smiths’ mundane celluloid marriage. Jolie says that is not the case. “If anything, [the film] was uncomfortable because I had too much to relate to,” she laughs. “I have two failed marriages in my life – how to work out a relationship and be a partner is something that I just don’t know how to do.” Has she ever seen a therapist, as her character does? “I should have, but no, never.” She says that when her marriage to Thornton was crumbling, “they tried to make us go, but we didn’t.”

As in most areas of her life, Jolie also applies her trademark no-regrets approach to fashion. She has always marched to the beat of her own drum and is perhaps the only A-lister whose fashion choices are genuinely hers. “I have fun with all that stuff… I can go from one side of my personality to the other. If I am going to get dressed up for something, I can enjoy it and have fun with it, maybe because I am doing so many different characters, it becomes almost like a costume, and I love that.”
In Oscar fashion annals, Jolie would certainly warrant two entries: the first for her black Versace Morticia Addams gown, in which she accepted the 2000 best supporting actress Oscar for Girl, Interrupted. “That night, I was just thinking, ‘My hair is black, so I’ll get a black dress that fits.’” Jolie has said of the memorable night when she also kissed her brother, James Haven, quite, um, passionately. The second would be the white Dolce & Gabanna pantsuit she wore the following year – the polar opposite of the black dress.

Red-carpet outings are now less of a priority for Jolie since she adopted her son, Maddox Chivan Jolie, from a Cambodian orphanage in 2002. Mad – as Jolie calls him – was on set for last night’s filming. “We were shooting up a 99-cent store and he just sat at the monitors with his headphones on and watched Mommy blow things up,” she says, as if this is a perfectly normal evening for a toddler. But then, not many three-year-olds have mohawks either. When Jolie talks about her son, her eyes flicker. She says he’s had a profound effect on her. “Mad has made me soft. He made me understand something about myself, someone who is capable of singing a lullaby, and able to make him stop crying. Tenderness that I never had a place for suddenly came out. He has also made me fiercer – I would kill somebody to protect him. I didn’t know that kind of love before.”

Asked where home is, Jolie seems genuinely flummoxed. “I don’t know,” she ponders, her lips again forming that pout. “I don’t consider anywhere home really. We go to England, where Mad is in school, and we have a place in Cambodia, which is kind of Mad’s home – I consider that his place.” It was recently reported that Jolie had adopted another child, a Russian orphan named Gleb, and while she says this is untrue, she adds that she does hope to adopt more children. “I’d love to in the next year, I think. We’ll see how we balance, and then we’ll take it from there. Though I could go to an orphanage tomorrow and see triplets, so who knows?”

So how does a young, potentially expanding family move between such disparate worlds: a late-night, shoot-‘em-up film set, to domestic down time in Buckinghamshire, to the Cambodian jungle? “Sometimes, I am hanging upside down from something or running around, sliding across a floor and I do think, ‘This is so bizarre, I am someone’s mother!’” Jolie laughs. “And it does feel a bit extreme when you live in these different worlds, but I’m just glad I understand the balance now. It’s not hard because I feel like I am always a mom now and I just do a job that I like and I am very grateful for.”
Jolie says her sense of perspective came in 2001, when she travelled to war-torn Africa. “Seeing the situation in Sierra Leone completely changed me as a person. I never wanted to forget the profound understanding of human needs and the suffering and quest for survival. I knew then that it was more of what I should be connecting with. Years ago, when I was just an actress, I felt really imbalanced. I felt like I had no purpose. Why do I matter? Why the focus on me? Why am I on the cover of magazines?” Since that watershed year, Jolie has become a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and has travelled to more than 15 of the world’s poorest and grimmest countries, often at her own expense. She recently confirmed reports that she has donated one third of her income to humanitarian causes (she commands US $12 million per picture).

Earlier this year, Jolie went to US congress on a mission to highlight refugee issues and raise money. Here, she confronted a relatively unfamiliar emotion: fear. “I was scared to death. I had to wear a suit and take all my briefing notes. I was just thinking, ‘I’m the only person with a tattoo here. I’m just a punk kid at heart – what am I doing here?’” she recalls. “But I have found that if you care about something and if you are genuine about it, and have invested the time, then you have a place, even if it’s in the middle of Washington!”

Jolie’s adroit efforts in diplomacy and advocacy have led to speculation that she could eventually pursue a political career. While she recently dismissed it by casually saying, “I have too many skeletons in my closet for that”, she is now less sure. “I keep saying no, but then I keep getting more involved. I’m still trying to understand politics – it’s more complicated than Hollywood!” Given the choice between her humanitarian efforts and her film career, she nominates the former, without hesitation. “I just feel like it’s the more important thing to do with my life.”

There’s no doubt that Jolie’s life has become one great big juggling act. Being a single mother with a prolific workload, does it concern her that Maddox doesn’t have a father? “I never had a father,” says Jolie, whose tempestuous relationship with her Oscar-winning dad, Jon Voight (her mother is French actress Marcheline Bertrand), has been widely documented. “That’s not to say that he doesn’t need one. I think for a boy to have a man who is committed to him, who loves him, and supports him, would be wonderful. But it’s better to have nobody than to have someone who pretends to be a father or disappears on him.”

While having a child has changed Jolie’s approach to a lot of things, it hasn’t inspired her to bury the hatchet with Voight (who infamously questioned Jolie’s fitness for motherhood and accused her of having “serious mental problems”). “Having a child has made me make damn sure that I don’t have people in my life who are damaging to me, because I want to be strong for my kid. I want him to only be around people who love him and support him and his mother.”

So, besides the politicians on Capitol Hill, is there anything Angelina Jolie is afraid of? “My only fear is that something is going to happen to my son, or something is going to happen to me and take me away from him… but I don’t feel fear very often,” she says. “I should have more fear. It would probably make me a better pilot.” Yes, between her film commitments, UN work and being a mother, Jolie has found time to become a certified pilot; she shares her passion for flying with her son. “I am still at the beginning stages. There are moments when I go through my checks and I forget to adjust a few things because I’m not focused, I think, ‘I’ll just get up there,’” she laughs. “I love flying, it’s freedom.”
So maybe Jolie really is Lara Croft? Asked if men are intimidated when they meet the action hero in the flesh, the actress begins to laugh. “Maybe I’d like to think that is why I am single but once anyone gets to know me they realise that I’m not like that. I can be a bit distant because I am protective as a person and it takes a little while to get to know me emotionally.”

Turning 30 in June, it would seem that Jolie is in a good place. While she maintains that her life is still “insane”, you get the feeling she’s finally in the captain’s seat and content to be flying solo.
As one of Hollywood’s busiest women, she has also discovered the ability to remain both inside and outside the Hollywood machine, though sometimes those worlds do intersect. Jolie recalls a time she was in the middle of the Congo on a UN trip when some young boys recognised her from Tomb Raider and asked her to do some of her stunts. “I couldn’t,” she laughs. “I’d disappoint them. I’m just a skinny odd little mum.”

If there was ever a place obsessed with reinvention, it’s New York City. A decade ago residents of Manhattan wouldn’t have dreamed that the blighted high line, a disused railway track, would be destined for a glamorous future as the city’s most exhilarating public space.

The high line, a 2.33 kilometre railway line that spans 22 city blocks and connects three neighbourhoods, was built in the 1930s to service the warehouses along Manhattan’s Hudson River. The railway tracks originally ran down the middle of Tenth Avenue, but that route proved to be so dangerous – earning it the grisly moniker of ‘death avenue’ – that the line was raised, allowing trains to cut through buildings and easily offload their freight.

They needn’t have bothered: the high line wasn’t productive for long. Supplanted by the arrival of automobile transportation, the railroad fell into disrepair and was abandoned by the early 80s. The high line would have ended up in a scrap metal graveyard, were it not for a group of residents who saw the decrepit structure as a potential public park in a part of the city critically lacking in green space.
The community-based group Friends of the High Line was founded by residents Robert Hammond and Joshua David, and together with a group of celebrities, designers and downtown tastemakers, they paved the way for the high line’s conversion into a spectacular public park. In 2004, the New York City government committed $77 million towards the proposal.

The development was initially opposed by many of the neighbouring businesses, particularly in the revamped Meatpacking district, but the high line‘s comeback has proven to be very good for business. Residential real estate prices have risen dramatically and there are countless development projects in the works, including splashy architectural showpieces designed by the likes of Jean Nouvel and A.M. Stern, who, together with Frank Gehry and his IAC headquarters, are redrawing Manhattan’s western profile. The high line, flanked by hotels, galleries, restaurants and bars will also become a key part of downtown’s social fabric.

The winning design for the site, by Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, was chosen in 2004 and is bound to set a new standard for adaptive reuse. The first section of the line, running from Gansevoort Street to West 20th Street, has been unveiled. The result is a 2.7-hectare grand aerial promenade, filled with lawns, trees and flowerbeds. To maintain a conduit to the past, many of the original elements, like sections of railway track, will remain as they’ve been for decades. Visitors will ascend by stairs or escalators (the first section will have four entry points) and follow a concrete path, which will form the backbone of the high line experience.
Eventually, the southern end of the high line will be book-ended by the new annex of the Whitney Museum, a fitting addition to an already booming arts precinct. The six-floor, 17,000 square metre building will be designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano and is expected to open in 2012.

To call the high line a park wouldn’t come close to capturing the one of a kind experience that awaits visitors. Stepping onto grass three stories above the ground, the platform offers a completely new perspective of New York; not just expansive views across the Hudson River, but glimpses into secret corners of the city one wouldn’t notice at street level. The high line, like a magic carpet, feels anchored to the past, whilst being undeniably futuristic. To quote the American writer O Henry “it couldn’t have happened anywhere but in little old New York.”