I attended the annual “American University Club Cocktail Party” at the pimped-out Parisian mansion of the US Ambassador’s house. Eager for a romantic prospect to pop up in the form of a dashing young diplomat with a British accent, Italian sartorial sense, Parisian address, and American education, I ended up surrounded by a lot of priggish lawyers [...]

Five masterpieces by Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Modigliani, and Léger were stolen from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris last week, estimated at a value of 123 million dollars. The culprit was caught on tape, masked, dangerous, and sneaking through a window. He or she took the time to remove the paintings out of their [...]

In the dead of night on the streets of Rome there is a shop open that is full of junk (gold 1980s fanny packs, pink corsets, ancient basketball posters, styrofoam mannequin heads, American political pins, odd designer handbags, etc. etc.). It’s called “Miss France,” because Maryse Fabre, the 74-year-old French woman who runs it, was [...]

Park Avenue has never seen so much dirty clothing: a new art installation at the Armory involves a five-story crane randomly picking up and releasing garments from a 25-foot-high tower of used clothes. “No Man’s Land” is the work of the famous French artist, Christian Boltanski. I saw the Parisian version, “Personnes,” at the Grand Palais [...]

On a recent girl’s night out on the town, I found myself in a palatial hôtel particulier off Paris’ fashionable Avenue Montaigne. The place was swarming with well-dressed older men just jonesing for their next Russian girlfriend. I was happy because the bar flowed with pink champagne and there were pimped out neon lights making [...]

After an evening of cocktails with another starving writer in Paris’ Montmartre, I walked home past the charmingly outdated strip clubs of Place Pigalle. A large fellow approached me and whispered in my ear, “You’re not looking for a job, are you?” I followed this mysterious strip-club manager into the dingy velveteen interior of PUSSY’S [...]

The Parc Monceau is a jewel of Paris’ elegant 8th arrondissement, surrounded by fabulous townhouses and peppered with follies (an Egyptian pyramid in miniature, an Italian rotunda, and Greek columns around a duck pond) that lend it a romantic atmosphere. Teenage couples have drunken picnics, dapper old men make their afternoon rounds, and silly American [...]

An adorable American girlfriend of mine has been dating a Frenchie who is, as most Frenchmen are, a little bit effeminate (and a lot mimbo). But this guy wears his silk scarves in such a fashion that makes me think he is quite a closeted homosexual.
Unfortunately, instead of being a sweet boyfriend to this girl–teaching [...]

I had the mixed fortune of being invited to the garret apartment of a middle-aged Parisian fashion photographer. He lives at the site of the famous Lolita-esque Marlon Brando film, Last Tango In Paris.
He offered me fresh strawberries and told me that he had had a rich life, peppered with exciting encounters with Carla Bruni (before [...]

I met a girlfriend for lunch in the Marché des Enfants Rouges, the most charming covered market in all of Paris. Hidden at the corner amidst the sumptuous Moroccan food vendors and freshly picked strawberries, Au Coin Bio was the perfect place to commiserate over our failed love lives and enjoy a scrumptious salad and vegetarian [...]