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 TA B L E OF C ON T E N T S
W I N T E R 2020/2 1

“The soles on his boots

were melting. They
split in the hot ash.
Blisters were starting
to form on his feet.”
—“BURNT,” BY WILDLAND FIREFIGHTER
ROBERT LANGELLIER (PAGE 94)

16 EDITOR’S LETTER fined fame. Who is

behind this movement?
18 WINTER 2020/21
MOODBOARD 78 THE BALLAD OF
RON AND DORINDA
20 ESQUIRE’S RULES by David Gauvey Herbert
FOR COVID-19 In 1986, two lovebirds
Life is a little easier if busted out of prison.
you follow these. They’ve been trying to
escape ever since.
THE SHORT STORIES
86 MARLON WAYANS
23 Cocktails by the jug; ISN’T HOLLYWOOD’S
Uniqlo’s minimalist line LITTLE BROTHER
returns; what Dan Rather ANYMORE
has learned; meet the by Gabrielle Bruney
supersized Rolex; 2020’s The 48-year-old is
best books; how Jordan breaking into a dra-
and Union helped L. A.’s matic second act.
Black-owned businesses;
your winter uniform; the 94 BURNT
Our cover subjects, Jin, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, Jung Kook, and Suga—also known as BTS, the biggest
Karate Kid’s return to the by Robert Langellier band in the world—were photographed for Esquire in Seoul, South Korea, in October.
dojo; Herno Laminar’s A dispatch from the
low-key tech jacket; hik- battle against wildfires. ON THE COVER
THERE OUGHTA
ing shoes for anywhere; MEMBERS OF BTS PHOTOGRAPHED
BY HONG JANG HYUN FOR
BE A LAW
why the CROWN Act is 100 CAR(S) OF THE YEAR
ESQUIRE. CASTING BY RANDI “Creating a Respectful and Open
overdue; a charming con- by Kevin Sintumuang World for Natural Hair.” That’s what the
PECK. ON-SITE STYLING BY
versation with Paul Smith. One for the highway, HAJUNG LEE, HYESU KIM, SIL CROWN Act stands for, and Esquire
one for adventure. HONG, HEEJI SEO, BOKYUNG stands with this necessary piece of
F E AT U R E S KIM, AND CHOHEE LEE. CREATIVE legislation, which protects against race-
based hairstyle discrimination. Read
104 THE LAST SHALL DIRECTION BY NICK SULLIVAN.
PRODUCTION BY LEE KYUNG about the act, and some of the inspiring
53 THE BEST NEW BE FIRST
KIM AT BL CREATIVE HOUSE. people behind it, in our story on page
RESTAURANTS 2020 by Nick Sullivan 46. Seven states have passed it so far, as
COORDINATION BY HEEYOUG
by Jeff Gordinier and Santoni’s footwear feels has the U. S. House of Representatives.
PARK AND KANGON SEO. PROP
Kevin Sintumuang modern and luxurious. STYLING BY SEOYUN CHOI. Now it’s the Senate’s turn. Join people
The industry needs our HAIR STYLING BY MUJIN CHOI, across the country who are taking
support more than ever. 108 THE 2020 ELECTION SOHEE HAN, HYEIN LEE, AND action by signing a petition at a site set
DAEUN LEE. GROOMING up by Dove to support this important
by Mitchell S. Jackson
(SKIN) BY DAREUM KIM, YURI movement: Dove.com/crown.
68 COVER STORY:
SEO, AND SUNMIN KIM. ESQUIRE
7 MEN 112 THE ESQUIRE
KOREAN CORRESPONDENT:
by Dave Holmes EDITORIAL BOARD KYUNGMIN KIM.
BTS have transformed ENDORSES. . . FOR FEATURED CLOTHING,
pop music and rede- Euphemisms for drunk. SEE PAGE 111.

13
 MICHAEL SEBASTIAN JACK ESSIG
EDITOR IN CHIEF SVP, PUBLISHING DIRECTOR & CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER

NICK SULLIVAN_Creative Director CAMERON CONNORS_Executive Director,

BEN BOSKOVICH_Deputy Editor Head of Brand Strategy and Marketing
ROCKWELL HARWOOD_Design Director SAMANTHA IRWIN_General Manager, Hearst Men’s Group
JOHN KENNEY_Managing Editor CHRIS PEEL_Executive Director, Hearst Men’s Group
KELLY STOUT_Articles Director CARYN KESLER_Executive Director of Luxury Goods
KEVIN SINTUMUANG_Culture and Lifestyle Director JOHN WATTIKER_Executive Director of Fashion & Retail
JONATHAN EVANS_Style Director DOUG ZIMMERMAN_Senior Grooming Director
RANDI PECK_Executive Director of Talent JUSTIN HARRIS_Midwest Sales Director
JEFF GORDINIER_Food and Drinks Editor AUTUMN JENKS_Midwest Sales Director
ERIC SULLIVAN_Senior Editor SANDY ADAMSKI_Executive Director
MATT MILLER_Culture Editor KIMBERLY BUONASSISI_Account Director
JACK HOLMES_Politics Editor JOHN V. CIPOLLA_Integrated Account Director, Spirits & Travel
ADRIENNE WESTENFELD, BRADY LANGMANN_Assistant Editors KYLE B. TAYLOR_East Coast Sales Director, Hearst Autos
SARAH RENSE_Associate Lifestyle Editor MARISA STUTZ_Detroit Group Advertising Director, Hearst Autos
MADISON VAIN_Associate Editor, Social Media ANNE RETHMEYER_Western Group Advertising Director, Hearst Autos
JUSTIN KIRKLAND_Staff Writer
PACIFIC NORTHWEST
GARRETT MUNCE_Grooming Editor ANDREW KRAMER_Kramer Media, 510-508-9252
DORENNA NEWTON_Executive Video Producer
TEXAS, ARKANSAS, AND NEW MEXICO
ELYSSA AQUINO_Video Producer
DAWN BAR_Wisdom Media, 214-526-3800
DOMINICK NERO_Video Editor
LAUREN KRANC_Editorial Assistant COLORADO
PATTY RUDOLPH_PR 4.0 Media, 972-533-8665
ART
DRAGOS LEMNEI_Deputy Design Director ITALY

MIKE KIM_Senior Designer SAMANTHA DICLEMENTE, (011) 39-02-6619-3141

ELAINE CHUNG_Digital Designer
CAMERON SHERRILL_Lead Motion Designer EVERETTE A. HAMPTON_Executive Assistant
REBECCA IOVAN_Digital Imaging Specialist YVONNE VILLAREAL, ELISABETH SPIELVOGEL, TONI STARRS,
SAMANTHA WOLF, OLIVIA ZURAWIN_Integration Associates
FASHION
TED STAFFORD_Market Director MARKETING SOLUTIONS

ALFONSO FERNÁNDEZ NAVAS_Market Editor JASON GRAHAM_Executive Director, Integrated Marketing

AVIDAN GROSSMAN_Style E-commerce Editor JANA NESBITT GALE_Executive Creative Director
KAREN MENDOLIA_Executive Director, Events & Promotions
HEARST VISUAL GROUP
ALESANDRA AJLOUNI_Associate Marketing Director
ALIX CAMPBELL_Chief Visual Content Director, Hearst Magazines
MICHAEL B. SARPY_Design Director
JUSTIN O’NEILL_Visual Director
JACLYN D’ANDREA_Marketing Coordinator
SALLY BERMAN_Contributing Visual Director
PETER DAVIS_Research Manager
KELLY SHERIN_Visual Editor
GIANCARLOS KUNHARDT_Visual Assistant ADMINISTRATION AND PRODUCTION
TERRY GIELLA_Advertising Services Manager
COPY
CHRIS HERTWIG_Production Manager
ALISA COHEN BARNEY_Senior Copy Editor
AURELIA DUKE_Finance Director
CONNOR SEARS, DAVID FAIRHURST_Assistant Copy Editors
MARIANNE FAIVRE_Business Assistant
RESEARCH
DIRECT RESPONSE ADVERTISING
ROBERT SCHEFFLER_Research Editor
CHRISTINE HALL_Director
KEVIN MCDONNELL_Senior Associate Research Editor
MICHAEL ROHR_Account Manager
NICK PACHELLI_Assistant Research Editor
CIRCULATION
EDITORS AT LARGE
DAVE HOLMES, DANIEL DUMAS RICK DAY_VP, Strategy and Business Management
WILLIAM CARTER_Executive Director, Consumer Marketing
WRITERS AT LARGE
CHARLES P. PIERCE, KATE STOREY, GABRIELLE BRUNEY PUBLISHED BY HEARST
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CONTRIBUTING WRITER
WILLIAM R. HEARST III_Chairman
MITCHELL S. JACKSON
FRANK A. BENNACK, JR._Executive Vice Chairman
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS MARK E. ALDAM_Chief Operating Officer
ALEX BELTH, LUKE DITTRICH, ADAM GRANT,
HEARST MAGAZINE MEDIA, INC.
A. J. JACOBS, JOHN J. LENNON, BENJAMIN PERCY, MIKE SAGER
DEBI CHIRICHELLA_Acting President, Hearst Magazines Group,
OTHER CONTRIBUTORS
and Treasurer
HITOMI SATO_Contributing Art Director KATE LEWIS_Chief Content Officer
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Published at 300 West Fifty-seventh Street, New York, NY 10019-3797. Editorial offices: 212-649-4020. Advertising offices: 212-649-4050 ® www.esquire.com. Printed in the U. S. A.

14 W I N T E R 2020/2 1
 ®
Jim Beam Black Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 43% Alc./Vol. ©2021 James B. Beam Distilling Co., Clermont, KY.
 Be Useful to
Each Other

THE FIRST TIME MY POLITICS ALIGNED WITH MY

father’s was during the 1988 presidential election. I was eight. Michael
Dukakis had earned my support because we shared a first name, and
the world needed a Michael in the White House. Then Dad, who was a
George H. W. Bush man, looked me square in the eye and said,
“Dukakis will take away your toys”—his way of saying that Dukakis would
raise taxes, I suppose. I switched my allegiance to Bush.
That was also the last time our politics agreed. Dad and I argued
through the Clinton, Dubya, and Obama administrations. We rarely
found common ground. More often, my mother would point us to our
respective corners to cool down. Within minutes, another conversation
would pick up, no hard feelings.
Dad and I haven’t talked politics much over the past four years. The
T H I S WAY I N A L E T T E R F ROM T H E E DI TOR

atmosphere was too charged, and it only worsened as the election

approached. Republican leadership demonized its opponents as dan-
gerous radicals while strategically working to disenfranchise voters
and undermine trust in our electoral process. Democratic leadership
warned that if it lost, the very foundations of our democracy would
crumble—and not for nothing. As I write this, on the morning after the
election, Donald Trump has claimed victory in states that are too close
to call, and he’s doing all that he can to stop the counting of legally cast
ballots. The apocalyptic tone set by our leaders has trickled down to
the rest of us. I fear that if Dad and I waded into politics in this climate,
the collateral damage to our relationship would be too great.
This fall, I interviewed the musician Jeff Tweedy for Esquire.com on
the occasion of his second book, How to Write One Song, and fourth solo
record, Love Is the King. (Read more about the book on page 34.) The
Wilco founder is passionate about politics, but he approaches the topic
with a certain midwestern pragmatism. So I asked how he engages with
people whose views fall on the far side of the spectrum from his own. “I
talk to my kids about this all the time, and the best thing I can come up
with is to say, ‘Those voters might need me someday, and I might need
them,’ ” Tweedy replied. “That’s one of the ways we’ve strayed as a
nation: We stopped asking ourselves to be useful to each other.”
That advice stuck with me, in part because it’s not universal. It’s not
especially helpful, for example, to those whose fundamental rights are
under constant threat. Nor to those who can’t be sure a cop won’t mur-
der them in the street because of the color of their skin. Someone whose
life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness are at risk cannot be expected to
compromise on those. But I take Jeff’s point. We have to find a way through.
On Election Day, I called Dad. It was the first time in a while that just
the two of us talked. I asked how he’s doing. (He’s good!) I asked for his
blessing to share the story about Dukakis and my toys. (He gave it!) But
we mostly avoided politics. I don’t think either of us is ready. In a
moment defined by isolation, suspicion, and fear, our love must
prevail. I need him too much, and he needs me, and nothing will change
that, especially not Donald Trump. So we shot the shit. Caught up on
work, kids, home improvements. (I never thought I’d learn to sweep
GE T TY IMAGES (FL AG)

a chimney, but here we are.) Then Dad said, “I love you,” and I said
that I loved him, too. We reminded each other to be safe out there.
We said goodbye.
—Michael Sebastian

16
 ESQUIRE WINTER 2020/21 MOODBOARD

INSPIRATION FOR THE ISSUE AHEAD: A TASTE OF WHAT’S TO COME

C LO C K W I S E F R O M TO P R I G H T: E V E R E T T C O L L E CT I O N . PA U L S A K U M A /A P / S H U T T E R S TO C K .
M E N E L I K P U RY E A R . C O U R T E S Y R O L E X . H O N G J A N G H Y U N . B E L A B O R S O D I . H O N G J A N G H Y U N .
C O U R T E S Y C H E V R O L E T. E V E R E T T C O L L E CT I O N ( 2 ) . B E L A B O R S O D I . C O U R T E S Y R O L E X .
 RULE NO. 1_25 percent is now the minimum tip.

RULE NO. 2_COOKING MORE AT HOME DOESN’T

NECESSARILY MEAN YOU’LL GET BETTER AT IT.

RULE NO. 5_There’s no shame in faking a bad Internet connection.

RULE NO. 3_Ask the waiter
how he’s doing. At the end
of the meal, buy him a drink.
(A shot is time efficient.)

RULE NO. 6_If it’s a dis

RULE NO.
_

4
Beer from a glass makes it
happy hour. Beer from a mason
jar makes it 2012.

ciplinary
YOU CAN JUST BUY BREAD.

7
RULE NO. RULE NO. 8_ meeting, the dog should not appear in the frame.

RULE NO. 9_ IF YOU BOUGHT A PELOTON, TELL NO ONE. RULE NO. 10_ ESPECIALLY IF YOU’RE USING IT.
_
Chardonnay is considered a breakfast wine until

RULE NO. 11_You

IF YOU HAVEN’T GOT-

RULE NO.
can learn to fix
8 ) , WE’
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almost anything
TEN A DOG YET, YOU’RE
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T H I S WAY I N E S QU I R E’ S RU L E S F OR C OV I D -19

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. 17
lier than she’s
_She looks letting on.
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better than
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N

looked. under any circum-

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Remind her stances, refer to it as

_SOMETIMES: Laptop on...

R

of this. “our new normal.”

A YEA

RULE NO. 13 RULE NO. 19_ TREAT

_NEVER MASKS LIKE CONDOMS:
REFER TO HAVE ONE HANDY.
IT AS DON’T BE A DICK ABOUT
“HELPING PUTTING ONE ON. ACCEPT
R

OUT.” IT’S THAT YOU’RE JUST GOING

NEA

“PARENT- TO HAVE TO WEAR ONE

ING.” TO DO ANYTHING FUN.

20
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 THE FOREVER It’s hard to run out when you mix your
favorite BAR-QUALITY COCKTAIL

COCKTAIL by the jug at home. But you can sure try.

by KEVIN SINTUMUANG

FOR YEARS, I MADE MYSELF A MANHAT TAN rocks is what you pour yourself when you feel like
at the end of the day. Simple, classy. Then the pan- you’ve done nothing but work . . . and have nothing
demic began. I spent days playing refrigerator Tetris but work tomorrow. Vodka resets the existential
with impossible-to-acquire vegetables and the World’s dread. There’s a reason it’s the spirit of choice for
Last Pork Chops, hopelessly managing my kids’ Tolstoy characters.
remote learning and—another Zoom meeting? I was Then glimmers of hope emerged—warm summer
drained. So I switched to vodka on the rocks. It felt months, outdoor dining, basketball on TV—and
appropriate for our draconian spring. Cold and vodka didn’t feel right. Yet I didn’t have the energy
strong? Yes. Celebratory? Not exactly. Vodka on the to stir myself the kind of proper cocktail I’d enjoyed

P H OTO G R A P H B Y B E L A B O R S O D I
 in better days. Quarantine life is difficult, even when it’s not Then Mark got sick. Real
so bad. I determined that my end-of-the-day pick-me-up sick, real fast. Now it was we
deserved a cheerier upgrade but with less labor. And so I did who were taking their boy in,
something I usually reserved for parties: I prebatched my sometimes for nights at a time.
Mark died last year of
cocktails by the liter and kept them in the freezer.
multiple myeloma. A month
At 4:59 I would pour myself an ice-cold martini or manhat-
before his 50th birthday.
tan or vieux carré straight out of a frosty mason jar. That cold
A few months later,
cocktail starts a bit more viscous than usual, the taut menis- Mary stopped by and asked
cus at the top of the glass appearing if I liked bourbon.
THE FIRST SIP fuller, rounder. The first sip is delecta- Most nights, I told her.

IS DELECTABLY bly cold, almost bracingly so, as if it’s

telling you: Slow down. The flavor opens
Mark liked it too, she said.
I didn’t know this about him.
COLD, ALMOST up ever so slightly as it warms. The last She had been going through

BRACINGLY sips, still cold, are perhaps the best. As his stuff, and she handed me
a bottle.
SO, AS IF IT’S they should be. A rare treat for a home-
made drink. It was transportive in a way
BOURBON , the label said,

TELLING YOU: that I hadn’t experienced in a long time.

in embossed letters. Above

SLOW DOWN. Large-format, prebatched cocktails

that, in a black rectangle,
KIRKLAND SIGNATURE . The
have been an old trick that many fan- Last Call same Kirkland logo was
cier, higher-volume cocktail bars would implement so you Sometimes a bottle of Costco on a 40-ounce bag of tortilla
didn’t have to wait 15 minutes for your negroni should the chips currently in our pantry
bourbon is more than a
bar be particularly packed. More recently, they’ve become a and on a half case of 5W-30
staple on the to-go menus of many cocktail bars across the
bottle of Costco bourbon in the garage.
BY RYAN D’AGOSTINO Costco makes bourbon?
country as well. In Seattle you can get a deft martini from Rob
I said.
Roy. One of the all-time greatest old-fashioned riffs (see below)
It’s not like Mark and I were Mary smiled, shrugged.
from Death & Co is available in Denver. At New York’s Dante,
C U LT U R E & S T Y L E

close friends. Yeah, she said. He said it was

bottles of its sublime negronis can be delivered to your door.
We’d see each other in good. With a little ice. I dunno.
I’m sure those who have been buying these have quickly dis- the dirt parking lot at the town I thanked her, said I would
covered the pleasure of a perfectly dialed-in cocktail from field after the boys’ soccer drink it with pride, in his honor.
the freezer. It’s there when you need it—nothing wrong with practice, talking as our sons I suggested that she save
a half-ounce taste whenever—and practically limitless. This half-jogged over, laughing a couple bottles for their
can be dangerous, but the awesomeness, the joy, the ephem- like sixth graders do, before boys, for college graduation
eral escape, outweigh briefly throwing your self-control to we got in our cars. or something.
the pandemic winds. When my younger son got Two months later, supplies
sick—real sick—my wife and I running thin during a global
Maybe that’s the real reason I love prebatched cocktails so
would sometimes drop our pandemic, I pulled Mark’s
much: They’re the closest thing to a real cocktail that you
older boy at Mark and Mary’s Costco bourbon off the shelf.

C R E AT E D B Y G R E G O R C R E S N A R F R O M T H E N O U N P R O J E CT ( S H O P P I N G C A R T ) . S H U T T E R S TO C K ( N A P K I N ) .
hold in a real glass, at a real seat, in a real bar. We will get there
house in the middle of the PREMIUM SMALL BATCH BOUR -
eventually. But for now, there’s this. And this is very good. night before rushing to the BON , AGED 7 YEARS , it read.
hospital. Mark would quietly I poured some over a little
wish us luck and smile as he ice. The cube cracked. Just
put his hand on my son’s then I thought of a conver-
How to Prebatch Cocktail recipes are ratios, so you can turn any
shoulder, taking him in. Mark sation we’d had once, in his
drink into a big bottled one for the freezer by
Almost Any bumping up the volume. (A calculator helps.) was tall and strong and driveway, about what kind of
Spirit-forward sippers work best, and since you’re calm, and he always smiled. wood he was using to replace
Stirred Cocktail not stirring them over ice, add water: in gen- Once, after another his deck. Then another flash:
eral, .75 oz per serving for old-fashioned-style sleepover, our older son the time he met us at the
drinks and negronis, 1.25 to 1.5 oz per serving for came home and reported that soccer field at midnight so we
martini- and manhattan-style cocktails. Below is Mark had taken them could hand off our older son
my favorite bottled manhattan, plus the confer- on a run through the woods. before spending another tense
ence, an old-fashioned riff, from Death & Co. A run? night in the hospital with our
They’ll fit in a 750ml bottle. A serving is around 4.5 Through the woods? younger one. Mark smiled in
ounces, but at home, you make the rules. Our son hated running. that moment.
Didn’t like hiking. But he The bourbon was smooth
Manhattan Conference said he loved this day, flying and just sweet enough. Rich
11.25 oz rye 5 oz Rittenhouse rye through the trees with his in flavor. Easy. Good.
5 oz sweet vermouth 5 oz Buffalo Trace bourbon buddy and his buddy’s dad. Huh, I thought, and poured
.5 oz Angostura 5 oz Groult calvados a little more.
bitters 5 oz Hine H cognac For a few minutes, as the
7.5 ounces water 1.5 oz demerara syrup warm drink ran through
4 oz water me and I pictured Mark smiling,
.25 oz Angostura bitters I felt optimistic.
.25 oz Bittermens Xocolatl Some of that was the bour-
Mole bitters bon. True. But it was Mark, too.

24
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT
SEIKOLUXE.COM
 back in the high-low life
The return of Uniqlo’s +J line brings
again
JIL SANDER’S MASTERFUL MINIMALISM to the masses once more
by JONATHAN EVANS
T H E S HORT S TOR I E S C OM E BAC K K I D S

+J ten years ago was: ‘Luxury will be sim- array of oversized options (Sander M O D E L : A D A R S H / H E R O E S M O D E L S . G R O O M I N G : J E S S I B U T T E R F I E L D / T R A C E Y M AT T I N G LY. G E T T Y I M A G E S ( S U R F B O A R D ) .

plicity, purity in design, beauty and com- believes in “responding to the zeitgeist”),
fort for all. Quality for the people,’ ” it’s not drastically different from the old
Sander explains. “Nothing has changed +J. But man, does it hit different now.
in my vision.” The men’s-wear landscape Sure, some of the best names in luxury
has, though. Before the pandemic hit, are blending refinement and comfort at the
we thought we were on the verge of a highest levels. But nailing that balance at
properly-pulled-together renaissance an accessible price point is rare. Rarer still
after years of anything-goes fashion. Then is walking that line while making clothing
we all put on our sweats. Which is, weirdly that’s genuinely cool and covetable—the
enough, why the return of +J feels not just kind that makes you just itch for someone
welcome but necessary. to ask you about it. “Oh, this? It’s +J.”
The new iteration of the collection leans Is it still worth throwing a few elbows
into Sander’s strengths: pared-down suit to get your hands on this stuff ? Abso-
separates, sleek knits, and outerwear that lutely. The good news is, you won’t have
demands a second look. Barring a new to. Probably.

28 P H OTO G R A P H B Y B R A D O G B O N N A
 © 2020 Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds LLC. All Rights Reserved. WONDERFUL, THE ORIGINAL PLANT-BASED PROTEIN,
Ìi>VV«>Þ}}Ã]>`ÌÀ>`i`ÀiÃÃ>ÀiÌÀ>`i>À Ãv7`iÀvÕ*ÃÌ>VÃEč`Ã
ÀÌÃ>vw>Ìið7*Óää Ónä

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what
__ I’LL DO MY best to make
this the best interview you’ve
ever done.
I’m about to scratch the
walls here if I don’t get to do
something in the next fifteen
tory, if not the worst president
in history, before the current
president—the difference
i’ve
there’s an avalanche.
__ WE’RE AT A moment of
opportunity now.
__ SOME DAYS I feel I can be minutes. So I wind up reading between Nixon and President __ A GOOD MARRIAGE? The
as productive as ever. a little poetry. Trump is that, first of all, Nixon cliché answer is, there
And other days I’m saying, __ I WAS RAISED to fear only deep down believed in the are no secrets. But—this is
“Don’t kid yourself.” God and hurricanes, but I have institutions of government. going to sound corny—love
__ GOD REST MY mother’s soul, come to really fear making a __ MY ELDEST GRANDSON loves counts for a lot.
she insisted that I start taking mistake on social media. You politics, and he was going to __ “LIKE A TREE planted by the
music lessons when I was five might, in haste, write some- help in a campaign. I gave him river, I shall not be moved”
or six years old. We tried the thing that you didn’t mean or a copy of the book What It are the words to an old hymn.
piano. The piano teacher came can be taken more than one Takes, by Richard Ben Cramer. This is where I’m planted, I’m
to her and said, “Mrs. Rather, way, and it gets picked up. I told him there would be a test. not going to be moved—I’m
I can’t take your money.” You say to yourself, I didn’t __ TO BE IN journalism is to be not leaving. If I take that atti-
Same thing happened with intend that! But: too late. constantly humbled by how tude, and you take the attitude,
the guitar. By the time I was __ YOU REALLY HAVE to know often you’re wrong. we’re going to work it out.
eight, we were down to the your punctuation. __ HURRICANE TIME, peanut- __ MY TENURE AT CBS ended

G J O N M I L I / T H E L I F E P I CT U R E C O L L E CT I O N / G E T T Y I M A G E S
bassoon. That ended it. __ I WENT THROUGH a stage butter time. No time to eat. the way it ended; I’ve never
T H E S HORT S TOR I E S

__ IF BOB WILLS or Hank Williams in life when I argued with __ WHEN I FIRST started trav- been bitter about it. Would
didn’t sing it, I didn’t know it. almost everybody. Now I try eling long distances for CBS I have liked it to turn out
__ ONE OF THE things that’s not to argue with anybody. News, for the long flights to a different way? Of course
surprised me during the __ ONE OF THE things that South Africa or Singapore, I would have. But I know that
pandemic is that I’m reading identifies journalism is you those flights where you we reported a true story. In
more poetry. don’t stay silent. Something could get drunk twice and the process of getting to the
__I LOVE THIS work. I love chas- happens, you tell it. still get off the plane sober, truth, we didn’t do it perfectly.
ing a story. I don’t get out of bed __ I CAN’T CARRY a tune in a I carried a picture of my And our bigger mistakes were,
as quickly or as early as I once bucket with a lid on it. mother and a picture of Jean. after the piece had played, we
did, but it’s still true that when __ WE CAN’T JUST listen to __ FOR A LONG TIME, it just didn’t defend it effectively. We
my feet hit the floor, the first one voice. And for too long, seemed the movement were rolled over completely
thing I’m thinking is I wonder let’s face it, the voices were toward any progress on civil in the battle for what was then
where there’s a big story? like mine: white and male. rights was so tiny as to be the early stages of social-me-
__ DON’T MAKE THAT read as For a very long time. barely perceptible. It was dia primacy. We were routed.
if I’m deep into reading hours __ AS BAD AS Nixon was—and more like a great amount __ WILD TURKEY, straight up,
of poetry, because it isn’t
true. It’s just that I’ve had
more time, and sometimes

Interview by RYAN D’AGOSTINO

you will never hear me say he
was anything other than one
of the worst presidents in his-
of snow that moves along
so slowly you don’t even
know it’s moving. But then
no ice, no water.
__ I DON’T ALWAYS learn fast,
but I learn good.

Rather, resurgent on social media in 2020, pictured in 1974. He was the anchor of CBS Evening News from 1981 to 2005.
learned

30
 BY R I G H T S , I T S E E M S L I K E
the Rolex Oyster Perpetual should be
the beginning of a lifelong love affair
with the megabrand for a swath of
watch fans. It’s the epitome of time-
less, restrained design, with an
appeal that lies as much in what’s left

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ually—as long as it was worn. It’s

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more of a promise of performance
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because the OP is the progenitor of
most Rolexes made since the early
’50s, you’ll find the words “Oyster”
and “Perpetual” on the dials of Date-
justs, Yacht-Masters, and, yes, Subs

I C K S U L L I VA N
and Sea-Dwellers. Credit where cred-
it’s due. But because of this rarefied
status, it has remained resolutely on
the smaller side. The trend toward
dinner-plate-sized timepieces
swayed things only a little when, in

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2015, the introduction of a 39mm
version hit what is widely considered h ug
the sweet spot in watch-case design.
t’s

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ha

ther, dropping the 39 from the line

r. T

and bringing out the OP in a new,

ge

41mm case, all the better to see its

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mm
breathtaking simplicity.
Changing a watch diameter from 2
ot
39mm to 41mm may not sound like
ju st g
Th e O EX
N RO L
a very big deal to you, but in Swiss
watchmaking, it’s a seismic event.
G MODER
Whereas in the past few years many
watchmakers have experimented
with sub-40mm watches, Rolex’s
move in the opposite direction is
one that many will be monitoring
intently. Maybe, just maybe, that
sweet spot is shifting.

32 P H OTO G R A P H B Y B R A D O G B O N N A
 Will the world always
be this unpredictable?
Will my portfolio weather the storm?
How can I be sure?

For some of life’s questions, you’re not alone.

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 The Cold Caste, You Never Forget Your
THE GIFT
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34
 THE
“HOW DO YOU SOLVE 400 YEARS OF RACISM?” ASKS CHRIS
Gibbs, who co-owns the venerable men’s-wear shop Union
Los Angeles along with his wife, Elizabeth Birkett-Gibbs.

REVOLUTION “You can’t.” Yet the couple felt they needed to do some-
thing in the wake of George Floyd’s killing and the protests

WILL BE
for racial justice that then swept the nation (and the world).
“We settled in on just starting in our backyard,” Gibbs
explains. With a hotly anticipated Air Jordan IV on the way—

LOCALIZED the follow-up to a wildly popular AJ1 from 2018—they had

something to work with. The shoes became the center of
the Spread Love campaign, which took a covetable drop
How Union and and transformed it into something more potent by team-
ing up with five local Black-owned businesses. Custom-
Jordan harnessed
ers earned a raffle ticket by shopping at one of those spots,
the power giving them a better shot at the sneakers. The businesses
of THE HYPE got a much-needed boost, plus royalties from the sales of
MACHINE the collab. It’s a new way of capitalizing on hype, one that
places not only product but people at the fore.
to help Black- “These were businesses that were important and were
owned businesses part of the fabric of the community,” Gibbs says. What may
in L. A. seem like a small, noble gesture became a crucial lifeline for
some of the companies. The campaign was restorative for
by GERALD
Gorilla Life, a family-owned juice business spanning three
FLORES
generations that was struggling through the pandemic.
T H E S HORT S TOR I E S R E I N V E N T I NG T H E DROP

C O U R T E S Y J O R D A N B R A N D ( S N E A K E R ) . N I KO D E LG A D O / C O U R T E S Y J O R D A N B R A N D ( G I B B S ) . S H A N I Q WA J A R V I S / C O U R T E S Y J O R D A N B R A N D ( G O R I L L A L I F E , M Y T W O C E N T S ) .
“We got hit really bad,” says Kika Keith, Gorilla Life’s CEO.
Partnering with Union on the launch wasn’t just a boon for
sales; it also helped get the word out about the product. Jor-
dan Brand used the company to cater a local event, and the
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“I’ve never seen myself on billboards before, so that was
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rant My Two Cents, also featured in the campaign. But the
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and her crew to cater them. “It really helped expose the
restaurant to new customers,
which we really needed during
this time. It increased my busi-
ness so much.”
The campaign marks a
broader awakening inside the
culture. Jordan Brand, as well as
the company’s namesake, has
committed to donating $100 mil-
lion over the next ten years to
organizations fighting racism,
according to chief marketing
From left: Chris Gibbs;
Kika Keith, Shekinah
officer Sean Tresvant.
Shakur, and Kika Howze of “The streetwear industry is
Gorilla Life; Alisa Reynolds
of My Two Cents.
in dire need of a reset,” says
Coltrane Curtis, a longtime friend
of Gibbs and a cofounder of the
insider-favorite agency Team Epiphany. “The bygone era
of streetwear’s social-conscious deafness, narcissistic-
driven brand words, and purposeless overconsumption will
quickly shift to responsible wokeness, and the Spread Love
campaign eloquently communicates this shift.”
“Almost every week, there’s something new that we’re
doing,” Gibbs says. He recently donated 50 pairs of the
Guava colorway of the Union x Air Jordan IV to support the
New Georgia Project, which promotes voter registration,
and plans to make Spread Love part of the 30-plus collabs
celebrating Union’s 30th anniversary in 2021. “It’s really awo-
ken a bigger and better drive for us to be more community
oriented, and you’ll see that woven into the fabric of every-
AIR JORDAN IV SNEAKER ($250) BY UNION X JORDAN. thing we do.” In other words, this is only the beginning.

36
 T H E S HORT S TOR I E S D ON ’ T SW E AT T H E T EC H N IQU E

37
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USUALLY IT HAPPENS ON A SATURDAY tip Never has looking in-the-know been eas-
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ADD A
you expected, head throbbing (maybe), and over and spilling onto the street. But done
STANDOUT
moving slowly (definitely). You need some- WATCH with purpose, you can maximize your inner
thing greasy. And something caffeinated. (LIKE THE cool guy, and feel cozy doing it. Think prep
But the fridge is empty, and making a pot of ONE ON staples like country-club-friendly cable-knit
coffee sounds . . . hard. So you pull on a pair PAGE 32). sweaters and tailored overcoats paired with
of sweats, grab a hoodie and a beanie, step sweats or track pants and that pair of sneak-
into the sneakers by the door, and slide into ers you shelled out on StockX for. Layer up
that overcoat you love more than you’d care to admit as the slouchy stuff, and accessorize with intent. Add a silk
you shuffle down the stairs in search of sustenance. scarf and your pièce de résistance, the kind of statement
You didn’t know it then, but that hungover Bacon-Egg- outerwear once reserved for a Big Night Out—that
and-Cheese Fit you just hazily assembled? It’s a Whole smooth, oversize camel-hair topcoat or weighty tweed
Thing. Or, perhaps, the New Vibe. Whatever you call it— joint everyone always asks you about.
Neo-Prep, Elevated Sportswear . . . Hoodies ’n’ Goodies, The pandemic has taken plenty of things from you,
for all I care—it’s a surprisingly stylish move this winter. but friend, I’m here to tell you getting a fit off isn’t one
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and it’s tailor-made for the indoor-outdoor-but-mostly- out the right arithmetic. And right now, doing the math
indoor lifestyle we’re now accustomed to. has never been simpler.

38
WHAT TO WEAR AND HOW TO WEAR IT

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When you want to look your best anytime, anywhere,

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 karate
T H E S HORT S TOR I E S NO M E RCY

GUY D’ALEMA/SONY PICTURES TELEVISION (ZABKA; MACCHIO,

LEFT). MRJO2405/ISTOCKPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES (SNAKE).

by BRADY LANGMANN

THE THING ABOUT COBRA KAI IS THAT IT’S REALLY GOOD. THE NETFLIX SHOW PICKS UP
Karate Kid nearly 35 years after the crane kick that defined a generation. Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso
is a family man with a string of successful car dealerships in southern California; William Zabka’s Johnny
Lawrence has an estranged son, a dependence on Coors Banquet, and a life in free fall—until he meets Miguel,
a bullied teenager who inspires him to reopen Cobra Kai, the karate dojo famous for “no mercy.” When the
lives of Daniel and Johnny collide again, you’re not sure whom to root for. With season three hitting Netflix
on January 8, Esquire Zoomed with Macchio, 59, and Zabka, 55, from their homes on Long Island and in Los
Angeles, respectively. Zabka arrived in—what else—shades fit for Johnny Lawrence.

40 I L LU ST R AT I O N B Y M I C H A E L H O U T Z
 RALPH MACCHIO: I’m seeing RM: That’s one of my favorite culture. We’ve lived attached kids, and they want to put the
Zabka sideways. He comes in scenes of the trilogy, too. Any- to these characters from differ- top down and open the
glasses first. time you ground that connec- ent perspectives, and then you windows. It’s that freedom.
WILLIAM ZABKA: How come I’m tion of having that father figure come into contact over the That feeling of joy. It was
sideways? What the hell? in your life for a boy growing years. You’re adding layers a simpler time, less compart-
RM: You on your phone, or are up is so important. onto that adolescent time. Life mentalized, where we
you on your computer? ESQ: Ralph, you went to Oki- has happened for both of could all rock out together.
WZ: I’m on my phone. I don’t nawa for season three. What us, separately and together. ESQ: It’s been all Journey
have a computer. I’m not a nerd. was that like? You didn’t film ESQ: Was there a point in this apartment for the
RM: Maybe it’s from all there for Karate Kid II. since The Karate Kid that past week.
the Coors Banquet you’ve RM: That’s right. We shot part you guys felt exhausted by WZ: You know what it is today?
been drinking. two in Hawaii. The stuff that that universe? It’s Halen, dude. Every station.
WZ: I’m going to try this took place there is really going WZ: It’s been the biggest gift, RM: I was just about to text
this way. Hold on. to excite the fans. At the end of careerwise, in my life. Johnny you, man. Billy knew Eddie
RM: Hey, look at that! season two, Johnny and Dan- Lawrence’s shadow is so big Van Halen. That’s such a loss,
ESQ: There you are! How have iel have to really take a look in that it’s in front of me. It would and I’m so sorry for all of us.
you guys been holding up the mirror. be more like, “I want to WZ: I went to the Hollywood
since March? ESQ: It introduces the idea that do other things,” you know? Bowl in 2015 to see them play. I
RM: I’ve been on Long Island, these guys would be better Ralph, what do you say? went in his dressing room. He
out in the ’burbs, just being as without karate, you know? RM: Listen, 15 years ago I was handed me his guitar. His gui-
careful as I can. My whole WZ: At the end of season two, pushing to find other avenues tar! I play guitar, and I said, “I
family’s doing relatively well. I came home with a pit in my to pursue and fight the pigeon- want to show you my version of
stomach. We didn’t know we’d holing. Billy and I have that in ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love.’” And
have a third season, and I’m common from two totally dif- he’s like, “No, man! It’s much

men
like, “If it ends here, I’m going ferent perspectives. The hero simpler than that.” He gets
to be a mess for a while.” and the villain. But look what’s behind me and starts holding
Johnny feels a horrible sense happened now—the lines are my fingers.
of remorse and guilt—he feels so blurred. ESQ: What would Pat Morita
responsible for all of it. So I ESQ: The Cobra Kai writers think of Cobra Kai?
don’t know if it’s karate itself seem to have found this magic RM: He would love it. He’s shin-
that he’d be better off without. key: You can make all these ing down on us with a big
My wife is a nurse practitioner. Maybe they should all learn non-PC jokes because it’s smile. On top of everything
She’s been in the trenches. how to play badminton. roasting this guy who never else, he’s our friend, you
WZ: I have two young kids. I’ve ESQ: Is it true that you rekin- left the ’80s. know? So he’s happy for his
become more of a camp coun- dled your friendship after Pat RM: What they did so well is friends. Same thing with John
selor and schoolteacher for Morita’s death in 2005? lock this guy in the ’80s. He’s Avildsen, our director. Without
them. I’m watching my six- WZ: After the film, we were trying to find his way out. So them, we’re not doing this.
year-old daughter learn how to young, we went our different when he’s doing that, you’re WZ: He would be having a blast
read. I’m teaching my son com- ways. We bumped into each like, “Oh, he didn’t mean it.” with this. He’s the soul of Miyagi-
plicated math. But there’s been other at a screening here WZ: So many times, I read it do, the wise Yoda that’s maybe
something great about the and there. But I remember and say, “I can’t say that!” not with us, but still with us. I
home time. it being Pat’s funeral where What makes comedy work is can say just this, so let me get it
ESQ: It comes across in the we reconnected. the character’s blind obses- out, just because I have it.
show that you’re both fathers. RM: After the movie, there was a sion. He’s blind to himself, and Unless you have it, Ralph.
RM: The father figure long chunk of time. We con- that’s funny. But he’s trying to RM: No, go, go.
was always ingrained in the nected through a little bit of work himself through it, so WZ: The whole experience
original Karate Kid. And work and a little bit of fandom. that’s forgivable, you know? has been kissed, really.
Cobra Kai is that. You have a Billy would say, “Can we ever ESQ: For a whole generation of The trajectory of the show
guy who has a family that’s go back and bring these char-
together, and you have acters together?” He had ideas.

“I’M ON MY PHONE. I DON’T HAVE

another guy who is trying to And now we look really smart.
put his family together. ESQ: It really does look like you
WZ: Ralph has two adult kids haven’t missed a beat when A COMPUTER. I’M NOT A NERD.”
who are beautiful, healthy you guys are together.
young adults. And I also have WZ: When we had our first
a godson that I help raise. The scene at the dojo, it was the kids, this is probably their from the beginning to now,
paternal part of growing up first time Johnny and Daniel— introduction to the ’80s. and how the world’s respond-
and getting some years on us in our characters—faced WZ: I think the ’80s was just a ing to it. Ralph, maybe you
C O L U M B I A P I CT U R E S / G E T T Y I M A G E S

you stretches your heart. That off. It’s not really acting. It’s special time. There’s a lot to have something wiser to say.
plays into the show. existing. And as soon as that discover in there—not to learn RM [laughs]: No!
ESQ: My favorite moment in the scene was over, I think we all from it, but to know it. In the WZ: Wiser and more articulate.
trilogy is when Mr. Miyagi’s knew it. This is on. car, my kids will hear an Aero- RM: This journey has rebirthed
( M A C C H I O, R I G H T )

father dies in Karate Kid II and RM: It went beyond the expec- smith song and my son’s like, itself and had a second rebirth-
Daniel tells him the story about tation. There was a chemistry “Crank it! This is the best song ing. Then, with the pandemic,
his own father’s death. And he that we had, just by being con- ever!” I love that. we thought, There’s a shot that
says, basically, “It’s just enough nected to this movie that had RM: You play that stuff any day, this is over. Now it’s the best
that I was there with him.” become such a big part of pop whether it’s my kids or Billy’s medicine on television.
 is Herno’s I F YO U T H I N K O F I TA LY,
LAMINAR in fashion terms, as the home
of handmade suits, sprezza-
THREE-IN-
tura, and artisans beavering
ONE JACKET away at $3,000 shoes, well,
a looks low-key you’re not wrong. But you
but packs haven’t been getting the whole
picture, either. Italy is also the
a technical
spiritual home of elevated per-
punch formance clothing.
This brings me to Laminar,
made in northern Italy and
founded not all that long ago,
in 2012, but part of the long his-
tory of 72-year-old outerwear
specialist Herno, which has all
but perfected technical cloth-
ing for a global customer base.
T H E S HORT S TOR I E S T H E I N V E S T M E N T

Laminar is the even-more-high-

tech offshoot, using breathable

D E A G O S T I N I / G E T T Y I M A G E S ( M O U N TA I N ) . M I C H A E L O C H S A R C H I V E S / G E T T Y I M A G E S ( S T R E E T S I G N ) . B E T T M A N N / G E T T Y I M A G E S ( E M P I R E S TAT E B U I L D I N G ) .
fabrics like Gore-Tex Windstop-
per (plus waterproof taping) to
ensure its pieces can stand up
to perilous mountaintop con-
ditions—even if the furthest
afield you’ll be taking them is
onto the sidewalk.
Claudio Marenzi, who now
runs the company founded by
his parents in 1948, calls the
Laminar project sartorial engi-
neering, which pretty much
sums up this heavily researched
line of parkas, field jackets, and
raincoats. The thing is, a lot of
the really canny stuff is barely
visible until you get up close, like
specially researched drainage
channels to carry rainwater
away and waterproof zippers to
keep it out. The three-in-one
jacket here can be worn together
or as separate garments, so
depending on where you live,
you should be good from the
first chills of fall until the end of
spring. It’s also available to buy
through Esquire.com’s new
franchise, The Investment, in
which every other week the edi-
JACKET
($1,355) tors handpick a thoughtfully
BY HERNO designed piece of clothing with
LAMINAR
SARTORIAL a great story and unbeatable
ENGINEER-
ING, ESQUIRE
value. Considering this one’s
.COM/INVEST- lineage—and utility—is it any
MENT AND
HERNO.COM. surprise it landed on the list?
—Nick Sullivan

“ P H OTO G R A P H B Y B E N A LS O P
 Leave

the
T H E S HORT S TOR I E S T H E S E B O OT S A R E M A DE F OR .. .

G ra n o l a

at

Home
HIKING BOOTS aren’t just for the trail anymore.
It’s time to take them to the
streets—or wherever you damn well please.
by JONATHAN EVANS

44
 OPPOSITE: SWEAT-
SHIRT ($212) BY
RAEY; JEANS ($198)
BY LEVI’S AUTHO-
RIZED VINTAGE;
BOOTS ($519) BY
DIEMME; SOCKS
($18) BY LONDON
SOCK COMPANY.
THIS PAGE, CLOCK-
WISE FROM TOP
LEFT: BOOTS ($115)
BY TIMBERLAND;
BOOTS ($400) BY
AETHER APPAREL;
EYE/LOEWE/NA-
TURE BOOTS ($690)
BY LOEWE; BOOTS
($385) BY ASOLO.

THE DREAM VERSION GOES SOMETHING LIKE

this: Just as the clouds part and the sun breaks through,
you take those final few strides to the summit, gazing
upon the wonder of nature while crisp, clean air fills
your lungs. In real life, it’s more like stepping over an
M O D E L : A D A R S H / H E R O E S M O D E L S . G R O O M I N G : J E S S I B U T T E R F I E L D / T R A C E Y M AT T I N G LY.

oil-slick slush puddle onto the curb, huffing exhaust

while dodging pedestrians with big puffer coats and
even bigger umbrellas.
But the boots! The boots are the same. They’re tough,
not too tall, underpinned by heavily treaded soles, and
built to keep you sure-footed and dry-socked no mat-
ter what the world throws at you. They’re designed for
actual hiking, sure, but right now—when every trip out-
doors feels more like a full-blown excursion—they’re
just as well suited to popping out for coffee as they are
to checking another entry off your list of local trails.
Plus—and dedicated hikers, I’m sorry about this one,
but it’s true—they just plain look cool. There’s a reason
emphatically un-outdoorsy brands have embraced the
aesthetic, despite it being damn clear those boots aren’t
going farther than the door of some swanky ski chalet.
Whether it’s the rugged refinement of a classic alpine
style, the gorp-y good looks of color-blocked work-
horses, or some forward-thinking fashion-y spin, the styling tip
vibe offers an escape from the everyday—no matter how THE PERFECT COMPLEMENT TO YOUR NEW
far you are from the mountains. BOOTS? SOME EASYGOING RAGG SOCKS.

P H OTO G R A P H S B Y B R A D O G B O N N A
 Black people
are still
denied jobs
in America
because
of THEIR
HAIR. And
it’s still legal.
For now.
by GARRETT
MUNCE
T H E S HORT S TOR I E S F I X I NG W H AT ’ S B ROK E N

the

crown

act is
ZOE ADLERSBERG/ TRUNK ARCHIVE

overdue
long
46
 “HAIR DISCRIMINATION IS RACIAL DISCRIMINATION.”
THE JOB INTERVIEW STARTED LIKE ANY OTHER, fessional. And even now, this specific form of bias
but as soon as the interviewer asked about the “hair is, by and large, legal. “Schools, companies, and
situation,” Chase Moore knew he wasn’t going to get other organizations can actually deny access through
hired at In-N-Out. Moore, a graduate student at the Uni- their grooming policies,” explains Esi Eggleston
versity of Texas at Austin who is Black, wears his hair Bracey, EVP and COO of beauty and personal care
in locs long enough to tie back. The manager, who is at Unilever, who helped envision the CROWN Act.
white, told him the grooming policy of In-N-Out pro-
hibits men from having long hair. “She let me know AC C OR DI N G T O A S U RV E Y BY U N I L E V E R -
that although there had been cases where male employ- owned Dove, Black women’s hair is 3.4 times as likely
ees had been allowed to tie their hair up, that option as their white counterparts’ to be seen as unprofes-
would not be available to me because I didn’t meet the sional, and 80 percent of Black women say they have

—HOLLY MITCHELL, CALIFORNIA STATE SENATOR

specific aesthetic standards they are trying to present,” to change their hair from its natural state to fit in at
he says. When asked if he would be willing to cut it, he the office. But “this is not a women’s issue; it’s an
said no. The next day, lo and behold, he received a text everyone issue,” insists Mitchell. In addition to
telling him he didn’t get the job. Moore, other men have become de facto faces of the
He posted a video about his experience on Twitter. anti-hair-discrimination movement. In 2018, New
Men and women of color responded that they had Jersey high school student Andrew Johnson’s locs
encountered similar situations with In-N-Out—which, were forcibly cut before he was allowed to compete
months later, has still not commented on Moore’s alle- in a wrestling match. In 2020, DeAndre Arnold was
T H E S HORT S TOR I E S F I X I NG W H AT ’ S B ROK E N

gation—and other businesses. By speaking up, Moore suspended and told he would be barred from walk-
joined an ever-growing list of those publicly calling out ing in his high school graduation unless he cut his
hair discrimination, a centuries-old puzzle of coded locs. (He sued, and a court later blocked the school
language and practices that targets people of color. from enforcing its policy.)
“It’s much more common than people realize,” says Still, Moore says he faced pushback on social
New Jersey senator Cory Booker. “As African- media from other men, even some men of color.
Americans, we all have our stories [about hair discrim- “They would say things like, ‘Is this clown for real?
ination].” That’s why Booker, along with Louisiana Cut your effing hair. You’re a man. Stop crying. Get
representative Cedric Richmond, introduced the over it,’ ” he remembers. The reason, he thinks, is
CROWN Act—which stands for Creating a Respectful that even though hair discrimination affects all gen-
and Open World for Natural Hair—at the federal level ders, discussions among men around beauty and
in 2019. The act would make it illegal to discriminate aesthetics do not happen in the open and are often
against someone based on their hair texture or style. wrapped up with toxic masculinity. It’s not that big
“Black women and men are the only group whose a deal, the thinking seems to go. Just change
personal choice about how we wear our hair at work is your hair.
limited,” says California state senator Holly Mitchell, Assuming this is about only hair, however, misses
who in 2019 introduced the CROWN Act in the state, the point. When Nebraska governor Pete Ricketts
the first of seven—the others are Colorado, Maryland, vetoed his own state’s CROWN Act bill in August, he
New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and Washington—to said, “Hairstyles can easily be changed.” But why
pass the act into law to date. Because hair texture is a should they? When aesthetic standards are set by
race-based trait, she says, “hair discrimination is racial one group and superimposed onto another, it takes
discrimination.” It can prevent people of color from away choice that is essential to identity. Legislation
getting hired, staying employed, or being promoted. like the CROWN Act is not just about protecting a
For younger people, it can also affect access to educa- specific group. “It helps people expand their under-
tion. And it’s something that’s been deeply embedded standing of what others have to endure and experi-
in American culture from the very beginning. ence,” says Booker.
“The stigma around Afro hair starts with the neces- “As we look at Black Lives Matter and all that we’re
sity to dehumanize Africans [as] part of the justifica- experiencing now, this is part of it,” says Mitchell.
tion of slavery,” says Emma Dabiri, author of Twisted: “This isn’t about cosmetics. This is about showing
The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture. That grew up as I am in society and not being prejudged by law
into the pressure on people of color to attempt to alter enforcement because my hair is in locs.” But even
their hair to meet the “demands of assimilation set by though the CROWN Act has gained steam and passed
European standards.” These days, it translates into the in the House of Representatives, Booker is skeptical
idea that wearing textured hair in its natural form or that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will
in protective styles like braids, twists, and locs is unpro- let it come to the floor anytime soon. The battle goes
on state by state, which is just as important as get-
ting it passed at the federal level, says Bracey. And
while progress is slow, for Chase Moore and the thou-
IN NUMBERS: ACCORDING TO A RECENT SURVEY,
sands of others who shouldn’t have to choose
18 PERCENT OF BLACK MEN HAVE BEEN TOLD
TO CHANGE THEIR HAIR IN ORDER TO FIT IN. between cutting their hair and getting a job, it’s
(THAT’S 63 PERCENT HIGHER THAN WHITE MEN.) worth the fight.

48
CROWN
COALITION
 WANT TO KNOW THE FUTURE?

“Hello? It’s Paul!”

IT’S 7:30 ON A BRISK MONDAY MORNING IN
New York, and Sir Paul Smith is calling me an hour
earlier than I expected. Sorry, who? In the time it
takes me to figure out what’s going on, the genial Brit-
ish designer has already grasped the nature of the
_1

confusion. Apologies are exchanged. Plans are made

to reconvene later in the day. The whole interaction
takes only a few moments, but they’re pleasant, like
a well-scripted meet-cute at the beginning of a buddy-
cop film. (Maybe I’m projecting here.) At the end of
it all I feel . . . delightfully discombobulated.
Since opening his first store in Nottingham in 1970,
Sir Paul has made that signature pleasantness a hall-
mark of the brand that bears his name. His brightly
colored, candy-striped wares have become as identi-
T H E S HORT S TOR I E S G O OD KN IG H T, SW E E T P R I N T S

fiably “Paul Smith” as the man himself. But behind all

that cheer lies a ferocious drive to innovate. Graphic
tees? He was one of the first to make ’em. Out-of-left-
field collaborations? One of the first to do ’em. “Retail
as an experience”? His stores—well over 150 of them
worldwide—are quite literally the archetype for to-
day’s most beloved shopping destinations. Chances
are, if a hotshot young designer is doing something
interesting today, Paul Smith did it first, and did it years
_13 _12
ago. So if you want to figure out fashion’s future—a
tough prospect even before the onset of a global pan-
demic—you need only look to Sir Paul’s past.
There’s a lot to explore there. For the past 50 years,
he’s established himself as fashion’s unfailingly sunny
prophet. And the fashion industry has showered Sir
Paul with virtually every industry accolade imagin-
able. When I ask him how he’s doing later in the day,
after that frazzled Monday-morning phone call, he
tells me that on Saturday he was formally welcomed
to the Order of the Companions of Honour, a royal
designation awarded to a maximum of 65 people at
a time. “So,” he says cheerfully, “it was a bit of a week-
end!” Well, okay then. The lack of ego is almost ar-
_11
resting. It’s also, as he tells it, a defining factor in the
success he’s experienced as an independent designer
working in an increasingly consolidated industry.
While other big-name labels have either been
snapped up by luxury conglomerates or found them-
selves saddled with crushing debt after accepting
cash infusions—and almost hilariously unrealistic
expectations for growth—from outside investors,
Paul Smith, the brand, has remained a self-financed
endeavor since its founding. That the company has
achieved this is no small testament to the savvy and
spirit of Paul Smith, the man. To build a business
now on the scale and in the manner that Smith has
seems largely impossible. So, you might rightly ask,
how on earth did he do it?
It’s not about being an exceptional designer or an
_10
exceptional businessman but “being okay at quite a
few things,” he says. Strip ego out of the equation
entirely and you’re left with the chance to grow a
C O U RT E S Y A N D C O P Y R I G H T © PAU L S M I T H (1 - 4 , 1 3 ) . S H I N J I KO N O / C O U R -
T E S Y PAU L S M I T H ( 5 ) . M AT T H E W D O N A L D S O N / C O U RT E S Y PAU L S M I T H
50 ( 6, 8 -1 2 ) . M AT T H E W D O N A L D S O N , © DAC S 20 20 / C O U RT E S Y PAU L S M I T H ( 7 ) .
LOOK TO PAUL SMITH’S PAST. by AVIDAN GROSSMAN

business organically, surrounded, if you’re lucky,

by people who care about the product as much as
you do. Having the right attitude also helps. “I’ve al-
_4 ways been such a positive guy,” Sir Paul says in a tone
that, to my ears, sounds a bit like listening to the BBC
at a playback speed slightly above normal. He’s been
working in retail in one way or another since he was
_2
15. He knows things change constantly, which is part
of what drives him and Pauline, his longtime part-
ner, to stay ahead of the curve.
_5
The brand was early to the
_3 e-commerce game, setting up vir-
tual shop more than a decade
ago, though physical stores re-
main integral to the Paul Smith
perspective. The one on Melrose
in L. A. offers one of the city’s
most photogenic backdrops, cat-
nip for visitors looking to capture
a perfectly framed shot for the
_6 ’Gram. His approach—give cus-
tomers something to shop for,
sure, but also somewhere to as-
pire to visit—has now become an
industry norm. (The founders of
the beloved concept shops 10
Corso Como, in Milan, and the
sadly shuttered Colette, in Paris,
have both cited Paul Smith stores
as a direct inspiration.) And this
year, with the launch of Paul
Smith’s Foundation, an online ini-
tiative intended to help equip cre-
atives with the tools they need to
succeed, he’s sharing his knack
for fashion soothsaying with the
next generation of designers.
He is doing all of this, by the way, while wearing
a suit, something he’s been putting on more or less
every day recently. (Designers: They’re . . . not quite
like us?) It’s fitting, then, that some of the suit’s most
promising revivalists—Grace Wales Bonner, Martine
Rose, and Nicholas Daley, among others—are the ris-
ing stars Sir Paul has been chatting with, hinting at
an intuitive appreciation for the silhouette that’s ba-
sically a birthright for British designers of any gen-
_7 eration. And it’s handy that sales of the Paul Smith
suit, a mainstay of the brand’s collections since the
beginning, have hardly declined at all, even as the
_9
demand for tailoring has waned in our work-from-
home reality. The king is dead. Long live the king.
So, after five decades in the game, is Paul Smith
Paul Smith’s world: Clothing, photos, and
the objects that have inspired him. 1) A happy to kick back, relax, and rest on his well-
Paul Smith label. 2) A navy jacket lined
_8
with the Union Jack. 3) A menu of British
deserved laurels? Hardly. In fashion, Sir Paul says,
classics on a skirt from 2002. 4) Smith as in life, “you should always be brave enough to
as a boy leaning on his bicycle. 5) Smith
in 2015 doing the same. 6) The 50th- reassess, reevaluate, and see whether you’re still
anniversary velvet devoré blazer. 7) A relevant.” It’s a message worth waking up early—
Bauhaus book. 8) A Paul Smith striped
Mini figurine. 9) A wax plate of spaghetti. and withstanding a few moments of sheer,
10) A Filofax organizer. 11) A crashed scheduling-related panic—to hear, any day of the
bicycle. 12) A Kodak Retinette camera.
13) Smith at his first shop in 1970. week. Trust me.

51
TIME INSTRUMENTS
FOR URBAN EXPLORERS
 The Best New

R E S

T A U

R A N

T S 2020
YES, WE DID IT. ¶ WE PUT TOGETHER AN ESQUIRE BEST NEW
Restaurants list in the middle of a global pandemic. This may lead you to ask
C O U R T E S Y R E S TA U R A N T S

a couple of questions. For instance: How? And why? ¶ As for the how part,
suffice it to say that, yes, we had to make a few adjustments to our annual pro-
cess. In normal years, I travel around the country for months hunting for the
restaurants that I want to send all of my friends to, the restaurants that are
telling stories that I can’t seem to shake, the restaurants where the cooking is
so good that I make loud, embarrassing sounds while I’m eating it. I did that

53
 1.
from November 2019 to early March 2020, and during those
months I managed to visit serious gems in cities like Cleveland
and St. Louis and Indianapolis and Philadelphia.
Then the quarantines started, and we weren’t sure what we
were going to do.
KALAYA
Kalaya is the restaurant
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
butterfly-pea flowers;
So we decided to improvise. Our culture-and-lifestyle direc-
that every food writer—hell, khao yum kamin (rice
tor, Kevin Sintumuang, got behind the wheel and drove with his
every food lover—dreams salad) crowned with a
wife and two daughters from Brooklyn to the West Coast and all of walking into someday. bronze-dark gush of
the way back, logging thousands of miles and hitting cities like It’s a place that absolutely caramelized palm sugar;
Denver, Billings, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Kansas purrs with spirit. Presided roaring, glorious curries
over by grande dame of beef and lamb and
City, and Chicago along the way. Meanwhile, I rented a car and
Chutatip “Nok” Suntara- crabmeat that make
bolted south twice, checking out Baltimore and Washington, non, whose knife work in you forget all the other
D. C., as well as Richmond and Charlotte and points in between, the kitchen is matched curries you’ve ever
dutifully quarantining at home upon my return. only by the cutting speed met. Even in a city with
No, we didn’t manage to get everywhere. (Our apologies to of her quips in the dining arguably the most
room, Kalaya delivers Thai exciting food scene in
the great state of Texas. We promise we’ll come back.) Circum-
dishes with such depth the United States, Kalaya
stances were weird, to say the least. We didn’t catch any planes— of soul and flavor that leaves the competition
frankly, Kevin and I were freaked out by the idea of flying. But you’re left dreaming about in the dust. Drive a
we covered a hell of a lot of asphalt, and we experienced, again them for days: tapioca thousand miles if you
dumplings, blue-hued from have to. Just go. —J. G.
and again, the creative resilience that makes the American
restaurant scene a source of delight.
Which brings us to the why. Why, with tens of thousands of
American restaurants going under during the shutdowns or
T H E B E S T N EW R E S TAU RA N T S 2020

struggling to survive on meager revenue trickles of takeout and

delivery, would we choose to hand out . . . awards? Well, we’re
doing it as an expression of support—love, really—for the chefs
and bartenders and servers and dishwashers and maître d’s who
are fighting that fight every day. We have decided to celebrate
them, and we’ve done that by meeting them where they are in
the midst of this crisis. You won’t find any fancy tasting menus
on this list. We never came to the table expecting fussy, twee-
zered perfection. We wore our masks. We ate outside at rickety
tables in the rain; we got sublime hoagies and took them to the
beach; in some cases, we just ordered boxes of food and carted
them home. Our chef of the year doesn’t even have a brick-and-
mortar restaurant per se, but through his cooking—and his
vision—he is telling a story of urgency and beauty.
We spent these months looking for the people and places
that restored us. If there’s a unifying theme, something that
all of our picks have in common, it would be the stubborn

RYA N C O L L E R D / T H E N E W Y O R K T I M E S / R E D U X ( TAT E ) . M I C H A E L P E R S I C O / K A L AYA ( K A L AYA ) .

survival of community in the face of what can only be called
an existential threat. It’s an understatement to say that 2020
was different. But if we learned one thing this year, while
trapped at home for weeks with tins of tuna and bags of dried
beans, slowly being driven nuts by the monotonous, Ground-
hog Day–like grind, it’s this: We need restaurants more than
ever. —JEFF GORDINIER, FOOD & DRINKS EDITOR

Omar Tate of
CHEF POP-UP
OF THE Who needs a restaurant when OF THE An ode to Blackness
YEAR you’ve got this much vision? YEAR conveyed through
Omar Tate, who’s now in the delicious, history-drenched
midst of crowdfunding for a community dishes—from a glass of handmade
center in Philadelphia, is a poet, an Kool-Aid to a perfectly roasted
essayist, a historian—he’s an artist and seasoned slab of sweet potato.
at heart who just happens to express A dinner as spirit-nourishing
himself through the medium of cooking. as a listening session with John
Itinerant and unsinkable, improvisatory Coltrane’s A Love Supreme.
and bold, Tate captured the radical shifts
of 2020 with everything he undertook. Honeysuckle
Pop-up, anywhere
54
© 2020 Reynolds Consumer Products, LLC.

Let’s
make it
together.
 3.

MOKYO
New York, New York
I’m not sure what a jewel dle East, and the Iberian
like Mokyo is doing in the Peninsula, for starters.)
middle of the thump- No risk, no reward: On a
ing, tattoo-parlored Saturday night at Mokyo,
bacchanal that is St. I had dishes like pork
Marks Place, especially jowl with a kalamata aioli
with a culinary premise and corn dumplings in
that is already difficult to a truffle salsa verde that
explain to someone who were head-spinningly
just wants to get ham- delicious in ways that I
mered. (Chef Kay Hyun have never experienced
delivers tapas that merge before. Clearly the revel-
the vantage point of her ers roaming around the
native Korea with the East Village were missing
flavors of Peru, the Mid- the real party. —J. G.

2.

LEAH &

J O N AT H A N C O O P E R / C O O P E R N I C U S P H OTO G R A P H Y ( L E A H & LO U I S E ) . M E L I S S A H O M ( N I H A O ) . C O U R T E S Y M O K YO ( M O K YO ) . C A R T E R H I YA M A ( B E L L ' S ) . J E N N I F E R C H A S E ( V E L E Z ) .

Charlotte, North Carolina

LOUISE
T H E B E S T N EW R E S TAU RA N T S 2020

The top story in Amer- inspiration from the soil

ican cooking over the (his okra dish, called Baltimore, Maryland
past decade has been Mama Earth, looks and
the rise of Black chefs
such as Mashama Bailey,
tastes like a supernova
of texture and flavor)
4.
NIHAO
Edouardo Jordan, and and from the dollar store NiHao is the brainchild of a power quartet: Peter
Kwame Onwuachi—and (the cream inside his Chang, the elusive mid-Atlantic legend of Szech-
a long-overdue cele- oatmeal-cookie sand- uan cuisine; his wife, Lisa; their daughter, Lydia;
bration of the foodways wich is suffused with and the pastry wizard Pichet Ong (with Lydia at
of the African diaspora. Tang). And don’t ignore left). The result is a categorization-defying Chinese
At Leah & Louise, the Collier’s cabbage: Slow- restaurant that pays loving, absurdly delicious
Memphis-born chef roasted and sauteed tribute to the ways that Chinese cooking is inter-
Gregory Collier moves with smoked sausage preted around the world. That may sound like a lot
that conversation into and flooded with rich to undertake—hopscotching gleefully, as it does,
its next phase, with a pork-neck bisque, from crab rangoon to Peking duck to cold tofu with
vision of Black southern it is like a cruciferous century egg to (hey, why not?) a Basque-style
cuisine that’s as innova- amplification of biscuits cheesecake. But remember, this is a family band,
tive as it is fun. He takes and gravy. —J. G. not a solo act. And rules are for amateurs. —J. G.

5.
Paola Velez
of Compass
Los Alamos, California Rose and
While this tiny town familiar, yet every bite Maydan
has been a SoCal brings excitement, as if Washington, D. C.;
wine-country escape you were trying steak au
Bakers Against Racism/
for a while, the two poivre, or uni and caviar,
Bake the Vote
new epicenters of the or even salad and fries
area’s coolness are now and ice cream, for the
the midcentury-chic first time. (Don’t skip the
Skyview Motel and a BLT at lunch.) Ryan’s PASTRY Paola Velez is not just
bistro on the town’s food finds that farm- CHEF OF one of the most skilled
main drag, Bell’s. New fresh, leisurely thread THE YEAR young bakers and dessert
French in the Old West? between California and
Somehow it works. Chef France that makes you
creators in the country;
Daisy Ryan and her want to order another she’s a leader when it comes to
husband, Gregory, have bottle of wine and con- innovating new modes of activism,
created a place that sider slowing life down a from registering voters to raising
feels so welcoming and bit. —Kevin Sintumuang money for social justice.

56
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 6.

INDO St. Louis, Missouri

You wonder, as you sit at the counter at Indo and watch
chef Nick Bognar at work: Can this guy do anything?
Indo is not a sushi restaurant per se, yet electrifying
bites of nigiri land in front of you during the course of a
meal like random emoji lightning bolts of flavor. (Look-
ing back now, I can’t help but think of Eddie Van Halen
onstage unleashing a Mozartian flourish of arpeggios
Blue Hill
just for the virtuosic fuck of it.) Meanwhile, much of
the menu at Indo is rooted in the complexities of Thai
at Stone Barns
cuisine that the chef grew up with. Bognar, goateed Pocantico Hills, New York
and headbanded, toggles between cutting boards and
cultures with the sprezzatura of a shredder. —J. G.

RESTAURANT
REINVENTION Restaurants
OF THE YEAR were forced to
change—fast—as
the pandemic
hurt their business. Dan Barber
and his Michelin-starred team
innovated in part by using

S P E N C E R P E R N I KO F F ( I N D O ) . C O U R T E S Y B L U E H I L L AT S TO N E B A R N S ( B L U E H I L L ) . G E T T Y I M A G E S ( PA S J O L I ) . N I C O L E S T E F F E N & J O R D A N O C O S TA N Z O / E AT LO C A LO H I O .C O M ( Z H U G ) .
beauty to inspire us: museum-
worthy boxes of berries and
flowers, picnics that gave people
a moment to relish food and
T H E B E S T N EW R E S TAU RA N T S 2020

serenity in fresh air. Now Barber

is taking the realignments a
step further, surrendering his
role in the kitchen in 2021 so
that a diverse lineup of chefs
from around the world can have
access to the resources of Stone
Barns and connect with a wider
audience. This is how you do it.

8.

PASJOLI
Santa Monica, California
I dream of Pasjoli’s pressed duck. It’s
why I return. An ornate cart arrives at
the table with a roasted duck. Its breast
is carved and whisked back to the open
kitchen for an additional sear. Mean-
while, the rest of the canard is placed
into a gleaming press, hand-turned
by a cook, juices pouring into a deli-
cate teacup. That is then transformed
into a sauce, mounted with cognac,
and poured atop the sliced breast, just

ZHUG
as it returns. The dish is a decadent
throwback, but like everything else
at chef Dave Beran’s ode to Old World
7. French cooking, it is surprisingly
Cleveland Heights, Ohio light and joyful and makes you feel
special, sans snootiness. —K. S.
You’re going to have Okay, that too. Smoked
a problem if you go to pastrami short rib? Yeah,
Zhug, because you’re throw that in as well.
going to want to eat Skip lunch that day,
everything. The menu gather friends, and clear
seems to have been space on the tabletop,
written by a hypnotist. because chef Douglas
Hummus with curried Katz’s vision of the food
lamb and apricots? Yes. of the Middle East is the
Hummus with nigella stuff that delirious feasts
seeds and burnt onions? are made of. —J. G.

58
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 9.

DA
TOSCANO
New York, New York
When I look back at the anxieties and
sorrows of this pandemic year, I will always
be grateful for the sweet relief of a dinner
with my daughter at da Toscano, where
we sat under an umbrella on the sidewalk
and listened to a young jazz trio. Every
pour of wine from beverage director
Madeline Maldonado and every dish that
emerged from chef Michael Toscano’s
kitchen felt like a gift. Deviled eggs with an
undercurrent of vitello tonnato, a plate of
super-fresh cantaloupe with feathery sliv-
E VA N S U N G ( D A TO S C A N O ) . P I L S E N P H OTO C O - O P ( F O X A N D P E A R L ) . S C OT T S U C H M A N ( P I C C O L I N A ) . S C OT T S U C H M A N /A L B I ( A L B I ) . V I N A S A N A N I KO N E / F O R E I G N N AT I O N A L ( J O H N S O N ) .

ers of prosciutto, a tender tangle of cacio

e pepe. You don’t go to da Toscano just to
eat; you go to be healed. —J. G.

10.

T H E B E S T N EW R E S TAU RA N T S 2020
Kansas City, Missouri
Meat and potatoes. The words are often used as a pejorative to describe
the food of the Midwest. But with the finesse and creativity that chef
Vaughn Good employs, give me meat and potatoes all day. The menu at
Fox and Pearl changes frequently. As a general rule: Be brave. Should these
dishes make an appearance, order them: rabbit potpie, the beef-heart tar-
tare, the pork terrine with fried duck liver, and, of course, the now-famous
foie gras sausage—emulsified pork and bits of foie poached in duck fat.
Fox and Pearl melds live-fire cooking, nose-to-tail butchery, house-made
charcuterie, superb hand-cut pastas, and natural wines (chosen by wine
director Ben Nuñez) in a handsome space (designed by co-owner Kristine
Hull) that will make you rethink what midwestern cuisine can be. —K. S.

12.
Washington, D. C.
Piccolina, the little sister that gets you fantasizing ALBI Washington, D. C.
to chef Amy Brandwein’s
Centrolina, hums with a
that this alley you’re
in is actually in Naples),
(AND YELLOW)
laid-back spirit of spon- but it’s Brandwein’s Albi and its adjoining all-
taneity, specializing vegetables that haunt day café, Yellow, use chef
in the à la minute char me: mushrooms that Michael Rafidi’s Palestinian
of a wood-fired oven. float to the table with roots as a starting point,
I’ll probably drive back an audible sizzle and a but tedious adherence to
down to our nation’s perfume of garlic, and tradition is not his thing.
capital on a whim for a bowl of smoky black He folds Maryland crab
the mushroom pizza and chickpeas that taste the into his labne as a nod to
the porchetta panuzzo way standing next to the mid-Atlantic region
(a melty pork sandwich a campfire feels. —J. G. (creating one hell of a chip
dip in the process); there
are foraged chanterelles
in his hummus; there are
pears and huckleberries
RISING in his fattoush. Meanwhile,
STAR OF Armani Johnson excels
THE YEAR at cooking after-school Armani Brent Kroll’s confident,
majestic wine list has
snacks for grown-ups:
PB&J doughnuts, crispy fried lumpia
Johnson categories like “Unicorn
Wines,” “The Outsiders,”
stuffed with burrata and meatballs, of ABC and “Donnie Darko Reds.”
Order everything on the
a creamy crab dip with a biscuit baked
right on top so that the crust and Pony menu for dinner and then
come back to Yellow for
the dip manage to fuse. His cooking is, Washington, D. C. a breakfast pita with kefta
in all senses of the word, playful. the next morning. —J. G.

63
 13.

LE CROCODILE Brooklyn, New York

The airy industrial is the primary draw.

space, high ceilings, The duo, dipping into a
exposed brick, steel, grab bag of influences,
well-worn wood, and reboot old Gallic
golden light, set in the warhorses with West
Wythe Hotel, a kind Coast sunshine and 14.
of HQ for grown-up Quebecois funk. There’s
Williamsburg hipness, a playfulness to the San Francisco, California
meant that Le Crocodile menu: Skate frites make
was destined to be an appearance in lieu You might be unfamiliar with
a beautiful scene with of steak frites, pickled the cuisine of Guam, but
beautiful people mussels instead of Prubechu will turn you into a
no matter what. But the herring. It’s an entirely fan. Chef Shawn Naputi and
food from chefs Aidan new perspective on the general manager Shawn
O’Neal and Jake Leiber brasserie. —K. S. Camacho present the food
of their native island with
love and care—the food
ultimately tells the story of
The Filet the colonization of the
Chamarro people by the
o’ Fish Spanish, Japanese, and
Americans over centuries.
Sandwich The atmosphere, especially
at the picnic tables in the
T H E B E S T N EW R E S TAU RA N T S 2020

at the parking lot, is festive and

familial, however: a big,
Jones hearty invitation to enjoy
sweet rolls with a butter
New York, New York
made from tuba (coconut
sap), dry-fried chicken
wings served with a tangy
FAST
Yeah, we all needed fina’denne’ sauce, and
15. FOOD tinaktak, tender coconut-
a little comfort
REDUX
GOOSEFEATHER
Tarrytown, New York
OF THE
YEAR
this year. We
happened to find
braised beef and green
beans served atop
handmade egg noodles.
it on quiet, sunlit
The flavors are bold,
Does chef Dale Talde’s party. Talde’s menu afternoons at the Jones comforting. You will want

C O U R T E S Y L E C R O C O D I L E ( L E C R O C O D I L E ) . E R I C M E D S K E R / T H E J O N E S ( F I L E T O ' F I S H ) . E D N A Z H O U / @ E X PAT E D N A
shift from Brooklyn to takes its core inspiration (formerly the Great Jones to become a regular,
Westchester County from the cuisine of Hong Cafe, now gently spruced and many have. —K. S.
represent a kind of Kong, but he shakes up up by restaurateur Gabe
suburban cash-in? the canon with all kinds Stulman), where chef

( P R U B E C H U ) . A L L G O O D P H OTO G R A P H Y ( G O O S E F E AT H E R ) . S P E N C E R P E R N I KO F F ( B A L K A N T R E AT B O X ) .
Curtail your skepticism. of farm-to-tabley and
Jack Harris served up
Goosefeather occupies pub-grubish twists: ribs
his own deeply satisfying
several rooms of the of sweet summer corn
white-columned King dusted with Chinese homemade interpretation
Mansion, high on a hill five-spice powder, kung of a certain seafood
above the Hudson River, pao chicken wings that sandwich associated with
and during the warmer you dunk in a tub of the Golden Arches. We’ll
months of the pandemic buttermilk ranch, crab have the nostalgia with
it spilled out onto a vast rice that’s got more lay- extra tartar sauce, please.
grassy expanse like a ers than a Christopher
socially distanced lawn Nolan movie. —J. G.

16.

BALKAN
TREAT BOX
Webster Groves, Missouri

We’ll admit that we didn’t have “Bosnian flatbreads” on our 2020 bingo card,
either, but chef Loryn Nalic (whose husband, Edo, above, grew up in Bosnia)
is doing some astonishing things with dough in the Show-Me State—things
that (oh, the blasphemy) made us forget about pizza for a moment. I mean,
the piping-hot boat of bread that is pide, with its duet of ajvar (a red-pepper
spread) and kajmak (a creamy fresh cheese)! At first we didn’t understand
why there was a line down the block at 11:00 in the morning. Then we took a
bite. Let’s just say you’d better watch your back, pizza. —J. G.

64
 An East Coast seafood
shack in East Hollywood?
Madeline Count us in. But Found Oys-
ter is more than that. Chef
Maldonado Ari Kolender shucks pristine

of da bivalves, yes, but pay atten-

tion to the plates pouring out

Toscano of his tiny kitchen. Chicken-

fried oysters crunch like
New York, New York Popeyes, yielding to briny
goodness. Kolender
performs a meant-to-be
marriage by dressing up a
BEVERAGE lobster roll with bisque. His
DIRECTOR It’s never just 17. scallop tostada is a modern
OF THE YEAR about the wine classic adorned with yuzu
list. It’s about kosho and opal basil. You’ll
the good fortune of falling into want to pair everything with
a conversation with a sommelier,

OYSTER
Coors, at first. You’ll switch
like Madeline Maldonado, who to champagne before the
can describe a beverage in ways night is over. —K. S.
that make you crave it in that Los Angeles, California
exact moment and deepen your
experience of tasting it as you
drink. Maldonado has a gift for
using wine to open your mind.
E VA N S U N G ( M A L D O N A D O ) . A L L I S O N Z A U C H A ( F O U N D OY S T E R ) . N E I L B U R G E R ( P O R TO ) . C O U R T E S Y PA L M C I T Y ( PA L M C I T Y ) . G H I A C O U R T E S Y N A C H O A L E G R E ( G H I A ) .

T H E B E S T N EW R E S TAU RA N T S 2020
18.
PALM
CITY
San Francisco, California
An ideal S. F. afternoon:
Order hoagies and a
bottle (or two) of fun,
esoteric wine from Palm
City, then walk to Ocean
Beach. Sit among the
dunes, pop open that
pét nat, and savor some
of the most nuanced
classic sandwiches
in the country. The
Italian-American has a
zing from arugula and
a ’nduja aioli; the au 19.
poivre makes other

PORTO with fire. The place is an Galicia as noodles,

roast-beef sandwiches
homage to the seafood the cardinal-red cara-
seem bland. Owners
of Portugal and Galicia, bineros shrimp are
Monica Wong and
Spain. You’ll find some delicately cured and
Dennis Cantwell and
chef Melissa McGrath Chicago, Illinois familiar items on the served with plankton
menu—like conservas olive oil, and there is
planned to open a
The distinct smell of fire- served on toast—but it’s even a nori ice cream
small-plate restaurant.
wood hits you when you the cheeky, more cere- complete with candied
The hoagies were a
walk into the luscious, bral dishes where chef sea lettuce. It’s a side-
pandemic pivot. Will they
maximalist space that Marcos Campos excels. ways approach to the
remain on the menu?
is Porto. Everything that The “pasta do mar” uses coastal region, but that’s
Perhaps. As the ocean
requires heat is cooked actual seaweed from the fun of it. —K. S.
winds remind us, all is
temporary. Order another
on the way back. —K. S.

NEW
DRINK That’s right, it’s nonalcoholic, and
OF THE therefore very much part of the “sober
YEAR curious” wave that has been changing
beverage lists at restaurants around
the country. But Ghia is not some soda pop
in disguise. It teases your palate with herbal
bitterness—enough so that teetotalers can allow
themselves to pretend they’re sipping an amaro.
Ghia
65
 21.

NAMI
NORINew York, New York
Have you been longing for really good sushi during the
months stuck at home? Join the club. But with money
tight and elbow-to-elbow dining feeling dicey, omakase-
counter splurges might be a distant memory for a while.
Here’s Nami Nori to save the day and feed your need: The
trio of Jihan Lee, Lisa Limb, and Taka Sakaeda, all graduates
of the sushi temple known as Masa, have created a no-frills
hangout where a row of five handrolls will set you back
G.
20.

FIELDTRIP
New York, New York
I love the central thesis the way Fieldtrip has
T H E B E S T N EW R E S TAU RA N T S 2020

behind chef JJ John- evolved, thanks to

son’s Fieldtrip—let rice Johnson’s heart and
unite us!—and I love drive, into a hub of
the rice bowls them- influence and enterprise
selves, with their crave- on Harlem’s Malcolm X
inducing combinations Boulevard: Just look at
of sauces and toppings. how thousands of those
(By the way, don’t sleep bowls were delivered
on the seafood gumbo, to hospitals this year
the most delicious as Fieldtrip fed medical
interpretation that I have workers trying to save
encountered outside people’s lives. Let rice
Louisiana.) I also love unite us, indeed. —J. G.
23.

B R I A N A B A L D U C C I P H OTO G R A P H Y ( F I E L DT R I P ) . S E B A S T I A N L U C R E C I O ( N A M I N O R I ) . N I C K H A N C O C K ( A D A R R A ) .
jamón ibérico and exper-
iment with Louis-Antoine

FRIED Chicago, Illinois

Luyt’s indie whites from
Chile all night long. —J. G.

COURTESY TROUTBECK (TROUTBECK). COURTESY PIZZA , FRIED CHICKEN, ICE CREAM (PFCIC).
Troutbeck
Amenia, New York CHICKEN,
ICE
BEST NEW
RESTAURANT
ON AN ESTATE
It has a noble
literary lineage,
CREAM
If PFCIC feels like eating at a friend’s
THAT OPENED yes—Emerson and
place where the party has spilled into
IN 1765 Thoreau used to the (socially distanced) backyard, that’s
hang out there, for because it sort of is. The pizza comes
starters—but Troutbeck, a stately from Eat Free Pizza, which started as
refuge in the Hudson Valley, hasn’t a secret pop-up where Billy Federighi,
really been known as a destination his wife, Cecily Rodriguez, and their
for culinary seekers . . . until now. friend Brad Shorten would bake pies in
Chef Gabe McMackin, formerly of the their apartment and serve them on their
stoop. The Korean-style fried chicken
Finch in Brooklyn, has taken over the
is done by Kimski chef Won Kim. And
kitchen and brought an impressively
local brand Pretty Cool Ice Cream
experienced crew along with him, provides dessert. Grab a six-pack
and they’re winging it each night with at Maria’s next door (both spots are
I-wanna-eat-that dishes that celebrate owned by Ed Marszewski) and you’ve
the bounty of surrounding farms. got a real neighborhood hang. —K. S.

66
 The members of BTS
have ascended to the peak of
pop, redefined fame, and
challenged traditional masculinity.
Who are the twenty-somethings
behind this movement,
and what do they want now?

BY DAVE HOLMES_PHOTOGRAPHS BY HONG JANG HYUN

 From left: On Jung Kook:
Coat, shirt, jeans, loafers,
and belt by Gucci. On Jin:
Coat, shirt, trousers, and
sneakers by Gucci. On Suga:
Coat, sweater, jeans, loaf-
ers, and necklace by Gucci.
On V: Coat, shirt, trou-
sers, shoes, and earring by
Gucci. On RM: Coat, shirt,
jeans, loafers, earring, and
ring by Gucci. On Jimin:
Coat, T-shirt, jeans, boots,
belt, and necklace, Saint
Laurent by Anthony Vacca-
rello. On J-Hope: Jacket,
turtleneck, trousers, boots,
and ring by Bottega Veneta.
IT IS THE MORNING OF CHUSEOK, A KOREAN HARVEST FESTIVAL Some days you’re in a good state; sometimes you’re not. Many pretend to
akin to Thanksgiving, and the members of BTS would normally be spend- be okay, saying that they’re not ‘weak,’ as if that would make you a weak
ing it with their families, eating tteokguk, a traditional rice-cake soup. person. I don’t think that’s right. People won’t say you’re a weak person if
Instead, Jin, 28; Suga, 27; J-Hope, 26; RM, 26; Jimin, 25; V, 24; and Jung Kook, your physical condition is not that good. It should be the same for the men-
23, are working. Practicing. Honing their choreography. In a few days, the tal condition as well. Society should be more understanding.”
biggest musical act in the world will perform in the live-stream concert that, When I hear these words in October 2020, from my house in a country
for now, will have to stand in for the massive tour they spent the first part whose leader is actively trying to make the case that only the weak die of
of this year rehearsing. At this moment, they’re seated inside Big Hit Enter- COVID-19, well, it sounds like the future, too.
tainment headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, the house they built, dressed
mostly in black and white, ready to answer my questions. They’re gracious I F YOU A R E J UST N OW C ON S I DE R I N G G E T T I N G I N T O B T S, I T I S
about it. And groggy. natural to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff. It’s a bit like say-
Before I’m done speaking with them for this story, BTS will have the ing, right this second, “Let’s see what Marvel Comics is all about.” In the
number-one and number-two songs on the Billboard Hot 100, a feat that’s streaming age, BTS have sold more than twenty million physical units across
been achieved only a handful of times in the sixty-odd years the chart has fourteen albums. Their multi-album concept cycles, The Most Beautiful
existed. Their next studio album, Be, is weeks away from being released, Moment in Life, Love Yourself, and Map of the Soul, have unfolded over mul-
and speculation about the record, the tracklist, the statement, is rampant tiple records and EPs. There are collaborations with brands, including a
across the Internet. BTS are, to put it mildly, huge. BTS smartphone with Samsung. There is a series of short films and music
There is something about complete world domination that can really videos, called BU, or Bangtan Universe, and an animated universe called
cement a friendship. What jumps out at me as I connect with the members BT21, in which they’re all represented by gender-neutral avatars. Their fan
of BTS is their level of comfort with one another. Tension has a way of base, known as ARMY, is a global cultural movement unto itself.
making itself evident—even over Zoom, even through a translator. There’s “Dynamite,” their first English-language single and their first American
none to be found here. They are relaxed in the manner of family. Lounging number one, is pure, ecstatic pop. Shiny and joyful. What sets them apart
with their arms around each other’s shoulders, tugging on each other’s from many of their peers, and many of the pop acts who achieved world-
sleeves, fixing each other’s collars. When they speak about one another, wide fame before them, is what came earlier. Beneath the sheen and the
it is with kindness. beats has always been an unflinching examination of human emotion. Their
“Jimin has a particular passion for the stage and really thinks about per- lyrics seek to challenge the conventions of society—to question and even
formance, and in that sense, there are many things to learn from him,” denounce them. BTS’s first single, “No More Dream,” unveiled at their debut
J-Hope says. “Despite all the things he has accomplished, he still tries showcase in June 2013, concerns the intense pressure South Korean school-
his best and brings something new to the table, and I really want to applaud children face to conform and to succeed. According to Suga, lyrics about
him for that.” the mental health of young people were mostly absent in Korean pop music.
“Thank you for saying all these things about me,” Jimin responds. “The reason I started making music is because I grew up listening for lyr-
Jimin turns his attention to V, explaining that he is “loved by so many” ics that speak about dreams, hopes, and social issues,” he tells me. “It just
and describing him as one of his best friends. Suga jumps in, sharing that came naturally to me when making music.”
Jimin and V fight the most among the group. V replies, “We haven’t fought Suga’s early ambition of making music didn’t involve him being in a group
in three years!” They tell me this distinction now belongs to Jin and Jung at all. About a decade ago, in his hometown of Daegu, the fourth-largest
Kook, the oldest and youngest members. “It all starts as a joke, but then it city in South Korea, he started recording underground rap tracks under
gets serious,” Jimin says. the name Gloss, listening to and learning from the early works of songwriter
Jin agrees and recounts what their arguments sound like. “Why did you and producer Bang Si-hyuk, known as Hitman Bang. Bang is the founder
hit me so hard?” he says, before mimicking Jung Kook’s response: “I didn’t and CEO of Big Hit Entertainment. In 2010, Suga, a junior in high school,
hit you that hard.” And then they start hitting each other. But not that hard. moved to Seoul to join Big Hit as a producer and rapper. Then Bang asked
Since the start of their careers, BTS have shown a certain confidence in him to become part of a group, envisioning a hip-hop act with fellow
their aesthetic, their performances, and their music videos. It’s right there new Big Hit recruits RM and J-Hope. The guys call this “season one” of
in the name: BTS stands for “Bangtan Sonyeondan,” which translates their development.
to “Bulletproof Boy Scouts,” but as their popularity grew in English- “At that time, I don’t think our label exactly knew what to do with us,”
speaking markets, the acronym was retrofitted to mean “Beyond the RM says. “They just basically let us be and we had some lessons, but we also
Scene,” which Big Hit has described as “symbolizing youth who don’t just chilled and made music sometimes.”
settle for their current reality and instead open the door and go forward It got more intense. The family grew, occasionally by accident.
to achieve growth.” And their affection with one another, their vulnera- V accompanied a friend to a Big Hit casting call in Daegu for moral sup-
bility and emotional openness in their lives and in their lyrics, strikes me port and ended up being the person chosen from those sessions.
as more grown-up and masculine than all the frantic and perpetual Jung Kook was signed in a feeding frenzy after being dropped from
box-checking and tone-policing that American boys force themselves and
their peers to do. It looks like the future. Opposite: On V: Jacket and turtleneck by Berluti.
“There is this culture where masculinity is defined by certain emotions, On Suga: Jacket, shirt, and turtleneck by Berluti.
characteristics. I’m not fond of these expressions,” Suga tells me. “What On J-Hope: Jacket and shirt by Givenchy. On Jung Kook:
Coat, sweater, and turtleneck by Berluti. On Jimin:
does being masculine mean? People’s conditions vary day by day. Some- Coat, shirt, and earring by Bottega Veneta. On Jin:
times you’re in a good condition; sometimes you aren’t. Based on that, you Coat and turtleneck by Berluti. On RM: Jacket and
get an idea of your physical health. And that same thing applies mentally. turtleneck by Berluti.

“There is this culture where masculinity is defined by certain emotions,

characteristics. I’m not fond of these expressions.” —Suga

70 W I N T E R 2020/21
 SUGA
V

J-HOPE
RM

JUNG KOOK
JIMIN

JIN
 Opposite, from left: On Jin: Coat, shirt, and trousers by Valentino; shoes by Valentino
Garavani. On Jung Kook: Jacket, sweater, and trousers by Valentino; shoes by Valentino
Garavani. On Suga: Coat, shirt, turtleneck, trousers, and boots by Bottega Veneta.
On Jimin: Jacket, shirt, trousers, and boots, Celine by Hedi Slimane. This page, from left:
On V: Coat, cardigan sweater, trousers, boots, and earring by Bottega Veneta. On J-Hope: Coat,
shirt, trousers, and boots, Celine by Hedi Slimane. On RM: Jacket, sweater, and trousers by
Valentino; shoes and brooch by Valentino Garavani.

73 W I N T E R 2020/21
 “What you see is just pure star power. Pure talent. Immediately, I thought,
Oh, this is everything. It transcends language.” —Jimmy Fallon

the talent show Superstar K, fielding offers from numerous entertainment the boat was going down. According to some reports, the South Korean gov-
companies before settling on Big Hit because he was impressed by ernment actively tried to silence entertainers who spoke out against it, with
RM’s rapping. the Korean Ministry of Education fully banning the tragedy’s commemora-
Jimin was a dance student and class president for nine years running at tive yellow ribbons in schools. I ask whether it was about a specific sad
Busan High School of Arts; he auditioned at the behest of his teacher. event, and Jin tells me, “It is about a sad event, as you said, but it is also
And then, to hear him tell it, Jin got picked up off the street. “I was just about longing.” The song kept the disaster front of mind for young Koreans
going to school,” he says. “Someone from the company approached me, and for the media, indirectly leading to the impeachment and removal of
like, ‘Oh, this is my first time seeing anyone that looked like this.’ He sug- then president Park Geun-hye.
gested having a meeting with me.” If an overburdened, undermaintained, slow-moving vessel capsizing
“Season two is when we officially underwent hard training,” J-Hope says. because of a reckless rightward turn strikes you as somehow symbolic of the
“We started dancing, and that’s how I would say our team building started.” country in which BTS are about to explode even further, you won’t hear it
School in the daytime, training at night. “We slept during classes,” V says. from them. “We’re outsiders—we can’t really express what we feel about the
“I slept in the practice studio,” J-Hope counters. United States,” says V. But their actions speak volumes; in the wake of the
Hitman Bang kept the pressure comparatively low. And he encouraged the George Floyd murder and subsequent protests in America, the group made
guys to write and produce their own music, to be honest about their emo- a $1 million donation through Big Hit Entertainment to Black Lives Matter,
tions in their lyrics. Suga is on record saying that no BTS album would be one that was matched by BTS ARMY.
complete without a track that scrutinizes society. The fans offer a fascinating inversion of stan culture: Rather than bully-
And yet for their new album, Be, they’re putting that aside. Even this has ing rivals like many other ardent online fan bases do, ARMY have put the
a greater purpose that relates to mental wellness: RM, the group’s main rap- positive message of the music into action. Their activism goes deep. Through
per, says, “I don’t think this album will have any songs that criticize social micro-donations, they’ve regrown rain forests, adopted whales, funded
issues. Everybody is going through very trying times right now. So I don’t hundreds of hours of dance classes for Rwandan youth, and raised money
think there will be any songs that will be that aggressive.” to feed LGBTQ refugees around the world. Where pop fans a generation
Though the new rules of COVID-19 mean they can’t come here and pro- ago might have sent teddy bears or cards to their idols for their birthdays,
mote Be, its first single might not have happened in the first place but for where five years ago they might have promoted a hashtag to get a video’s
the pandemic. “ ‘Dynamite’ wouldn’t be here if there was no COVID-19,” YouTube viewer count up, for RM’s twenty-sixth birthday in September,
says RM. “For this song, we wanted to go easy and simple and positive. Not international fan collective One in an Army raised more than $20,000 for
some, like, deep vibes or shadows. We just wanted to go easy.” digital night schools to improve rural children’s access to education during
Jin agrees. “We were trying to convey the message of healing and com- the COVID-19 crisis. ARMY may have even entered the conversation around
fort to our fans.” He pauses. “World domination wasn’t actually our plan the 2020 presidential election when hundreds of thousands of Tulsa Trump
when we were releasing ‘Dynamite.’ ” World domination just happens some- rally tickets got snapped up online in June. The event’s actual attendance
times. You get it. was pathetically low. No particular person or entity claimed credit for this
top-notch trolling, but a video urging BTS fans to RSVP to that rally did get
MAP OF THE SOUL ONE AIRED VIA THEIR ONLINE FAN PLATFORM hundreds of thousands of views. We have no choice but to stan this fan base.
and attracted almost a million viewers across 191 countries. The guys say The relationship is intense. “We and our ARMY are always charging each
they tried not to think about the enormousness. J-Hope adds, “I felt a little other’s batteries,” RM says. “When we feel exhausted, when we hear the
bit more nervous knowing that this was being broadcast live. I actually feel news all over the world, the tutoring programs, and donations, and every
less nervous performing live at a stadium.” Jin replies with a smile, “J-Hope, good thing, we feel responsible for all of this.” The music may have inspired
born to perform at a stadium.” the good works, but the good works inspire the music. “We’ve got to be
The graphic layout of the title throws a colon between the final N and E, greater; we’ve got to be better,” RM continues. “All those behaviors always
which makes it look like Map of the Soul On: E, and as I watch it live, as I do influence us to be better people, before all this music and artist stuff.”
in my office at 3:00 A.M. with noise-canceling headphones and a steaming Yet for every devoted member of BTS ARMY, there is someone who’s looked
pot of coffee, it feels a lot like I’m watching Map of the Soul on E. It is an explo- right past BTS. Jimmy Fallon, whose Tonight Show hosted the group for a full
sion of color and fashion and passion, over four gigantic stages, from the week this past fall, was one of those people. “Usually if an artist is on the rise,
boozy swagger of “Dionysus” to the emo-trap introspection of “Black Swan.” I hear about them ahead of time. With BTS, I knew they had crazy momen-
Not a step, not a gesture, not a hair is out of place. If there were nerves, they tum, and I’d never heard of them.”
didn’t come through. Here’s a thought that used to be funny to me: There were members of the
There is also, at the end of Map of the Soul One, an intimate version of live audience of The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, who weren’t there
their 2017 track “Spring Day,” which encapsulates what’s really made BTS to see the Beatles. Elvis was in the Army, Buddy Holly was gone, and the three
stand out. On the surface, it’s about nonspecific love and loss, about yearn- number-one albums in the months before Meet the Beatles! were an Allan
ing for the past. “I think that song really represents me,” says Jin. “I like to Sherman comedy record, the West Side Story original cast recording, and
look to the past and be lost in it.” Soeur Sourire: The Singing Nun. America had left rock ’n’ roll behind for the
Fair enough, but there is an undeniable allusion, in both the song’s video moment, and with the culture aimless and fragmented, it wasn’t quite sure
and its cover concept, to a specific incident in recent South Korean history. what to pick up in its place. It is possible to imagine that a youngish, reason-
“Spring Day” was released just a few years after the sinking of the Sewol ably hip, and culturally aware human being might cop a ticket to that week’s
ferry, one of the country’s biggest maritime disasters, in which a poorly show, settle into his seat, and say, “Bring on a medley of numbers from the
inspected, overloaded ferry toppled in a sharp right turn. Hundreds of high Broadway musical Oliver! and banjo sensation Tessie O’Shea.”
school students drowned, having obeyed orders to stay in their cabins as The instinct is to laugh at that guy, and it’s a good instinct, because what a dope.

74 W I N T E R 2020/2 1
75 W I N T E R 2020/2 1
 And then you become that guy. be responsible for, to safeguard.” He consid-
Sometimes there is a whole universe alongside your own, bursting with ers it for a moment. “I think that’s what an
color you’re too stubborn to see, bouncing with joy you think is for some- adult is.”
one else, with a beat you thought you were finished dancing to. BTS are the “Our love life—twenty-four hours, seven
biggest thing on the planet right now, yet the job of introducing them to days a week—is with all the ARMYs all over
someone new, particularly in America, seems like it’s never done. Maybe the world,” RM adds.
it’s because they are adored by screaming teenagers and we live in a soci- In a world that is determined to sand
ety patriarchal enough to forget that screaming teenagers are nearly always down anything that isn’t immediately recog-
right. Maybe it’s the cultural divide, in a moment when our country is nizable to the average pop-music fan, when
unashamed enough of its own xenophobia to get openly bent out of shape it comes to acquainting you with Korean cul-
when it has to press 1 for English. Maybe it’s the language barrier, as though ture, BTS very much do not wanna hold your
we understood a single word Michael Stipe sang before 1989. hand. While the first song on night one of
Whatever the reason, the result is that you might be missing out on a par- their Tonight Show week was a joyous but
adigm shift and a historic moment of pop greatness. expected take on “Dynamite” with Fallon
and the Roots, they took some chances
IF BTS SEEM A BIT CAUTIOUS WITH THEIR WORDS PUBLICLY, IT’S during their second performance.
because—perhaps more than any other massive pop act in history—they As a friend of mine, a thirty-three-year-old
have to be. Shortly after our second meeting, BTS were given the General BTS fan in Los Angeles, told me, “The second
James A. Van Fleet Award by the U. S.–based Korea Society for their out- song they performed was ‘IDOL,’ ” from
standing contributions to advancing relations between the United States 2018’s Love Yourself: Answer, “and it cele-
and Korea. In his acceptance speech, RM said, “We will always remember brated their Korean identity. They performed
the history of pain that our two nations shared together, and the sacrifices it in Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul. They
of countless men and women,” as seemingly diplomatic and innocuous a wore clothes inspired by traditional dresses
statement as he could have made. But because he didn’t mention the Chi- called hanboks; it was almost entirely in
nese soldiers who died in the Korean War, it didn’t go over well. The Sam- Korean, so it felt super subversive. As a fan,
sung BTS smartphone disappeared from Chinese e-commerce platforms, I read it as: ‘Dynamite’ was an invitation, and
Fila and Hyundai pulled ads in China that featured the group, the national- this is who we are and this is our home.”
istic newspaper Global Times accused them of hurting Chinese citizens’ feel- “I was a little concerned that people
ings and negating history, and the hashtags “BTS humiliated China” and might not understand,” Fallon says. “I was
“there are no idols that come before my country” began trending on the like, ‘There’s nothing in English here.’ But
social-media site Weibo. The pressure is not small. what you see is just pure star power. Pure
Even as the number-one pop group in the world, even with their hard talent. Immediately, I thought, Oh, this is
work day in and day out, even with tens of millions of adoring fans redefin- everything. If you’re that powerful, it tran-
ing the concept of “adoring fans” by literally healing the planet in their scends language.”
name, these guys still suffer from impostor syndrome. RM explains, “I’ve American popular music in the twenty-
heard that there’s this mask complex. Seventy percent of so-called success- first century is more fragmented than it has
ful people have this, mentally. It’s basically this: There’s this mask on my face. been since . . . well, since Allan Sherman,
And these people are afraid that someone is going to take off this mask. We Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim,
have those fears as well. But I said 70 percent, so I think it’s very natural. and the Singing Nun battled for that
Sometimes it’s a condition to be successful. Humans are imperfect, and we number-one spot. The monoculture that
have these flaws and defects. And one way to deal with all this pressure and the Beatles helped bring on has breathed
weight is to admit the shadows.” its last breath. Each of us is the program
The music helps. “When we write the songs and lyrics, we study these director for our own private radio station,
emotions, we are aware of that situation, and we relate to that emotionally,” letting our own past habits and streaming-
J-Hope says. “And that’s why when the song is released, we listen to it and service algorithms serve up something
get consolation from those songs as well. I think our fans also feel those close to what we want. Which is great,
emotions, maybe even more than us. And I think we are a positive influence except that huge moments can whiz right
on each other.” past our ears. Each of us, even if we’re more
If there’s one thing they’re sacrificing, besides free time and the ability to clued in than our parents were when they
speak freely without the Chinese foreign ministry releasing an official state- were our age, can miss some era-defining,
ment, it’s a love life. I ask about dating, broad questions like “Are you?” and excellent shit. Particularly if the radio is our
“Is there time?” and “Can you?” and the answer to all of them is pretty clear: Spotify Discover Weekly, or the Pandora
“No.” “The most important thing for us now is to sleep,” Jung Kook insists. channel based on the band whose T-shirts
Suga follows right up with “Can you see my dark circles?” I cannot, because we wore in college. We can let a moment
there are none, because flawless skin translates even over Zoom when there’s pass us by if prime time is a Netflix binge,
an ocean between us. and the Tonight Show hour is spent on one
So they’re not, at least publicly, having romantic relationships with any- more episode before bed. But we shouldn’t.
one. If there is a strong relationship that’s guided their journey into adult- “Honestly, I think it’s history that we’re liv-
hood, it’s with Big Hit. “Our company started with twenty to thirty people, ing through with BTS,” Fallon says. “It’s the
but now we have a company with so many employees,” RM says. “We have biggest band I’ve seen since I’ve started late
our fans, and we have our music. So we have a lot of things that we have to night, definitely.”

76 W I N T E R 2020/21
THERE IS ALSO THE SMALL DETAIL THAT, UNLIKE THE BEATLES AND States or other parts of the world, as we do more and more.”
literally every other worldwide sensation to break in America, BTS don’t There is, without a doubt, one colossal, unmistakable sign of respect for
particularly need to go to the trouble. They are massive all over the world. a musician: a Grammy. They’ve been nominated only once, and even then
Thanks to the recent IPO of Big Hit Entertainment, of which each member it was for best recording package. But their sights are set on a big one next
is a partner, they are all now incredibly wealthy. (Hitman Bang is the first year. RM puts it out there: “We would like to be nominated and possibly get
South Korean entertainment mogul to become a billionaire.) What good an award.” Dragging the hoary, backward-looking, and Western-focused
is a culture in decline to a pop act this much on the ascent? “When I dreamed Grammys into the gorgeous, global world of the present through sheer force
of becoming an artist, I listened to pop and watched all the awards shows of will, talent, and hard work? Stranger things have happened. “I think the
in the United States. Being successful and being a hit in the U. S. is, of course, Grammys are the last part, like the final part of the whole American jour-
such an honor as an artist,” says Suga. “I feel very proud of that.” ney,” he says with a smile. “So yeah, we’ll see.”
They’re breaking out in a country that either worships them or fails to notice The Recording Academy’s seal of approval is one thing. But BTS have
them. So do they feel like they’re getting enough respect in America? “How can already conquered the world, clowned tyrants, inspired individual fans to
we win everyone’s respect?” Jin asks. “I think it’s enough to get respect from perform the small and achievable acts of activism that have collectively
people who support us. It’s similar everywhere else in the world. You can’t like begun to save the planet, challenged toxic masculinity by leading with vul-
everyone, and I think it’s enough to be respected by people who really love you.” nerability, and, along the way, become bajillionaires and international idols.
Suga agrees. “You can’t always be comfortable, and I think it’s all part Whether the Grammys are paying attention matters about as much as
of life. Honestly, we are not used to getting a ton of respect from when we what an Ed Sullivan audience member expected to see that night in 1964.
first started out. But I think that gradually changes, whether it be in the BTS have already won.

Opposite, from top: On V: Coat, jacket, and turtleneck by Berluti. On RM: Jacket, turtleneck, and trousers by
Berluti. On J-Hope: Jacket, shirt, trousers, and bag by Givenchy. On Jung Kook: Coat, sweater, turtleneck, and
trousers by Berluti. On Jimin: Coat, trousers, boots, and earring by Bottega Veneta. On Jin: Coat by Berluti.
On Suga: Jacket, shirt, turtleneck, and trousers by Berluti. This page, from left: On Jung Kook: Coat, trousers,
and sneakers by Berluti. On Jin: Coat, trousers, and sneakers by Berluti. On V: Coat, jacket, trousers, and shoes
by Berluti. On Jimin: Coat, trousers, boots, and earring by Bottega Veneta. On RM: Jacket, trousers, and shoes by
Berluti. On Suga: Jacket, trousers, and shoes by Berluti. On J-Hope: Jacket, trousers, and boots by Givenchy.
The
Ballad of
Ron

In 1986, two

busted out of a
coed prison
Dorinda in a hijacked
helicopter.
They’ve been
trying to escape
ever since.
Photograph by Bela Borsodi
 In 1970, Dorinda repeatedly persuaded a store manager not to prosecute
her for shoplifting, and when the five-and-dime decided enough was enough,
she beat the charges—and then sued for malicious prosecution, winning a
$2,500 settlement. Dorinda moved on to forgery, writing bad checks. She

around
had an affair with her married attorney, and he got her released early from
state prison. On parole, Dorinda wrote more bad checks, and when police
began looking for her, she disappeared. She sometimes called the Cobb County
sheriff’s office to taunt them.
In 1981, she convinced her husband, Carl Lopez, and three other young
men to rob banks with her. The joints were nasty affairs: Posing as an IRS
employee, she’d call a small-town bank and obtain the manager’s home
address. Her confederates would then burst into the house early in the morn-
ing and hold his family hostage while he emptied the vault.
Such was the sway Dorinda held over the men that Tony Wade, one of her
accomplices, couldn’t help but express his affection for her at trial.
the nursing home where she lives, in Phoenix, Dorinda Lopez, seventy-one, mostly “Yes, I love her, too, very much,” Wade said.
keeps to herself. People can tell she’s from somewhere else, on account of her “Would you lie for Mrs. Lopez?” asked prosecu-
southern accent. When she gets angry, as she sometimes does when she talks tor Bill Adams.
about the past, it gets thick. The word “aggravate gets like ten syllables.” “If it came to it, yes.”
Only Lisa, who lives across the hall, has heard the whole story. But Lisa is Was she manipulative? “I think that would be
forgetful. She recently complimented Dorinda on her pretty nightgown. an understatement,” Adams told me. “Her life
“Lisa, you gave it to me!” story is that’s what she does. She talks people into
“Oh, I did?” doing things.”
Lisa is not a risk to spread gossip. And so at thirty-two years old, with three kids
Abby knows the story, too. Dorinda tells it to her in fragments, before bed- back in Georgia and an estranged husband now in
time. But Abby is a cat. She’s not talking, either. Abby is a lot like Dorinda in prison himself, Dorinda bounced in her seat as the
that she likes to escape; when the door is open, Abby slips out and Dorinda bus entered the prison gates. There was a full moon.
calls for her kitty to come back, the best she can do from her wheelchair. Buildings loomed ahead. The grass was so green
“The only people who know me now,” Dorinda told me, “are people who that in the moonlight it turned blue.
know me now.” In the morning, Dorinda climbed out of her bunk
Dorinda was one half of the most romantic jailbreak in American history, bed, looked out the window, and rubbed her eyes.
and for a long time no one in her life but Lisa and Abby knew it. But then, this “You have got to be kidding,” she muttered.
spring, Dorinda’s telephone rang, and she answered it. The man who broke Inmates carried boom boxes playing soul and
her out, Ronald J. McIntosh, looked increasingly likely to get out of prison rock music. Buildings were covered in fresh red-
himself. Now that the story might finally have an ending, she was ready to wood. She heard the hollow pop of tennis balls and
tell it from the beginning. the clatter of Nautilus weights. There were racquet-
“I bet you’re gonna ask me a lot of questions no one’s ever asked me before,” ball courts, soda machines, pool tables, regular
she said to me before launching into her tall tale. Dorinda knew one thing for china in the dining hall, air-conditioned private
sure: “Being with Ron was the best ten days of my life.” rooms, a TV and stereo in each unit, and copies of
Time and Life, Pleasanton’s prisoner-edited news-
Samantha Dorinda Malone Fiegler McPherson Lopez was an only child from paper. Inmates wore their own clothing: blue jeans,
Cobb County, Georgia. Her many names marked the winding path that dresses, skirts. The thirty-foot fence was lined with
led her to a bus seat in shackles, riding through the California night in long rows of pansies and snapdragons, and the
1982. She had done six months at a state penitentiary in Georgia. Now she golden hills beyond turned emerald green when
was headed for a fifty-year sentence in federal prison, which she assumed the rains came.
meant black-and-white uniforms, watchtowers, guards with machine The biggest shock was the people. A perk of
guns. She had hoped to go to West Virginia, but her lawyer told her that Pleasanton in 1982 was that it was coed. Men and
Pleasanton, just east of Oakland, was where women with a rap sheet like women walked around holding hands. “It was like
hers ended up. Shangri-la,” Dorinda said. “If you were gonna be
By the time she was twenty-one, Dorinda had three children and had been in prison in the eighties, Pleasanton was the place
married for five years to “the biggest jerk that ever walked the planet.” The to be.”
marriage failed, and she wed another man, divorced him after a few months, Dorinda had wandered into the middle of a
and then married a third, collecting new surnames along the way. national experiment in coed prisons. Pleasanton
Dorinda was attractive, though prosecutors would later insist that she had opened a decade earlier with a $6.5 million price
wasn’t as irresistible to prisoners and guards as she boasted. She resembled tag and had high operating costs, but prison psy-
a southern Angela Lansbury with curves, and she had a talent for attracting chologists crowed about the near-total elimination
J I M G E R B E R I C H /A P /

men—and for bending them to her will. of gangs, rape, and “homosexual pressure.” By the
S H U T T E R S TO C K

“The only people who know me now,” Dorinda told me, “are people who know me now.”
80 W I N T E R 2020/2 1
early 1980s, there were three federal and at least thirteen state prisons emu- closets and crawl spaces. Inmates cut holes in the crotches of their jeans,
lating the concept. stood at the far end of the jogging track, and talked very close. Other times,
Sex wasn’t initially on Dorinda’s mind. “I was missing my children and couples openly rutted against walls while friends “pinned” for them, prison
thinking about how stupid I had been,” she said. She took a job in the kitchen slang for watching out for guards.
because she wanted to work so hard and get so tired that she could sleep at Dorinda had a few “walkies,” slang for boyfriends, since walking around
night. She washed dishes for twenty-one cents an hour. holding hands was the only sanctioned physical contact. But they were always
During one of her first shifts, Dorinda was working in the kitchen when a casual. “It wasn’t ‘go up on the roof’ serious,” she said.
naked couple, mid-thrust, fell through the ceiling and landed on the food Dorinda also took younger women under her wing. They called her Mama,
manager’s desk. The pair had finally worn out a soft section of the kitchen’s including Shelley Bosch, an eighteen-year-old from Alaska who was serving
popular roof. a 104-year sentence for her role in a murder. She’d fallen in with two boys
America’s prison population was soaring, thanks to rising crime rates and and helped distract a sixty-three-year-old widow before the younger boy
harsh drug laws. At some prisons, overcrowding meant gymnasiums filled clubbed her to death. Dorinda met Bosch in the choir room. “She had these
with triple bunk beds, gangs, and violence. Pleasanton, with its hormonal, huge brown eyes,” Dorinda said. “My heart just stopped beating. I said this
college-campus atmosphere, had earned the nickname Club Fed. Sex was in little prayer in my heart. She looked about thirteen.”
the air—and everywhere else. Guards found prisoners making love in broom After eighteen months, Dorinda took a job in the business office doing

Ron had the steady, reliable face of a mailman. He told Dorinda he had some financial experience. In fact, Ron McIntosh had plenty.

81 W I N T E R 2020/21
 the yard, inmates cheered. Ron pushed open the door. “Do you want to get out of here?” he

shouted over the rotors. “You’re driving!” she shouted back.

She walked, then ran toward the helicopter. All around

F R O M TO P : PA U L S A K U M A /A P / S H U T T E R S TO C K ; WA LT Z E B O S K I /A P / S H U T T E R S TO C K ; S A L V E D E R /A P / S H U T T E R S TO C K

Top: The helicopter Ron

hijacked.

Above: Ron, Dorinda, and U. S.

Marshals, November 1986.

Right: Dorinda with a U. S.

Marshal before the May 1987
trial, with Ron looking on.

82 W I N T E R 2020/21
clerical work and was soon promoted to accounting clerk. She wore a three- mentioned another case that was pending against him, and he’d make occa-
piece suit to work. She became head of the Inmate Council, taking minor sional phone calls, but he mostly gave the impression of wanting to leave the
prisoner grievances to the warden. Life settled into a comfortable-enough past in the past. Besides, his current stay would be a short one: He was sched-
routine. “If you have to be in prison, Dorinda,” she told herself, “this is the uled for release in February 1988.
place to be.” Ron was porky and lovable, and Dorinda called him “Teddy Bear.” He nick-
named her “My Lady Bear” and “Mrs. Bear.” Ron was protective, too. One
In December 1985, a new inmate arrived in the office looking for a job. He was time, a male friend patted Dorinda’s butt. Ron picked him up and threw him
forty-one, from Seattle, and big, weighing more than two hundred pounds. against a wall. “They’re gonna need to find a way to say hello without tappin’
He had the steady, reliable face of a mailman. He told Dorinda he had some your ass,” he told her later.
financial experience. In fact, Ron had plenty. Ron would do anything for her, Dorinda realized.
It was the 1980s, and white-collar criminals like Ron were filling up
minimum-security prisons. They served short stints for securities fraud, In April 1986, Shelley Bosch, Dorinda’s friend from choir, appealed her sentence
embezzlement, and tax evasion. (Michael Milken, the so-called junk-bond and was denied. She was twenty-one, with another 101 years in prison stretch-
king, would serve time at Pleasanton a few years after Ron and Dorinda.) ing before her. Unable to imagine staying there for the rest of her life, Bosch
At the office, Ron sat beside her. He tracked accounts receivable, and she and two other inmates cut holes in two fences and slipped out.
maintained the institutional records. He was at Dorinda’s desk all day, ask- The community surrounding Club Fed was shocked, and it pressured the
ing endless questions, sometimes the most obvious stuff. “We just had the warden, Rob Roberts, to increase security. A few weeks later, Dorinda watched
dumbest man on earth working here,” she told him finally. “You’re either workmen ring the prison with barbed wire and install a new alarm system.
coming in second or you’re trying to know me. If that’s the case, we can talk They also planted trees to try to prevent an airborne escape.
after work.” Other things were changing at Pleasanton. There had been roughly three
Their first date was a movie. Dorinda had seen it before, and she began to hundred inmates when Dorinda arrived, four years earlier. Now there were
nod off. “I put my head on his shoulder and my leg on his leg,” she said. “I more than six hundred. Overcrowding meant fewer perks. Cosmetics ship-
was embarrassed that I had done that, but Ron said later that it showed I ments were banned. There weren’t enough laundry machines. The Inmate

Dorinda knew one thing for sure: “Being with Ron was the best ten days of my life.”
trusted him.” Two weeks later, friends pinned for Ron and Dorinda while Council disbanded itself in frustration. Prison was starting to feel more
they kissed for the first time. like prison.
All winter and early spring, their relationship blossomed. They saw mov- In spite of later denials that any of this occurred, here’s what Dorinda
ies together. At church, they prayed together. They went to dances together. claimed—insisted—happened next: She began to notice discrepancies in the
Ron didn’t say much about his background, but it was clear that if Dorinda office ledgers. Money seemed to be missing. She suspected prison officials
had moved the world according to her whims, Ron’s life had been a series of were embezzling it. Dorinda asked for a meeting with Roberts, a stern Army
failed attempts to get what he wanted. veteran turned prison warden.
In the late 1960s, Ron married a woman he’d known for two weeks to “I’ve been keeping the books,” she said. “I know where all the kickbacks
avoid the Vietnam War, but he was drafted anyway. He trained in helicop- went.”
ters, hoping the war would end before his schooling was complete. He was Roberts studied her, then asked, “How much longer do you have?”
shipped to Vietnam. He trained as a mechanic, calculating that their sur- “I’m up for parole in 1991.”
vival rate was higher than that of pilots. Ron flew in dangerous sorties any- “Do you expect to be alive then?”
way, landed on the corpses of fellow soldiers, heard their bones crunch “I do.”
under his helicopter’s skids. The warden smiled. “Accidents happen every day.”
Ron was awarded a Bronze Star, was promoted to warrant officer, That night, Dorinda returned to her room after dinner and found it trashed,
and commanded eighty-six mechanics and thirteen helicopters. He’d found she later testified. Her clothes were in a pile and doused with shampoo, baby
purpose in the military. But when he returned home, he didn’t have enough powder, and coffee grounds.
college credits to get a commission. He bounced around: minimum-wage A few weeks later, she claimed, a guard knocked her down while she was
work in a JCPenney warehouse, a stint at a friend’s carpet-cleaning com- in her room. “If you don’t stop making waves, you’re going to drown,” she
pany. He was angry at the men who had avoided the war and were further said he told her. She claimed another guard gave her a box of razor blades
ahead in their careers. He had a wife and two kids, but his marriage began and intimated that she should kill herself, and that a third left a can of Coke
to falter. in her room with shards of glass in it. In September, he threatened her with
Ron was a quick study of financial markets and found work in commod- a switchblade, waving it in her face and pushing her to the ground.
ities. In a panic to make up for lost time, he embezzled $130,000 from cli- “You see how accidents happen?” he said. “We’ll have to try harder
ents at his Seattle brokerage. He was sentenced to eighteen months. In next time.”
prison, he met another broker, Michael Anthony, and when they got out, Dorinda confided in some inmates, but no one heard more details than
they created First International Trading Co., a precious-metals futures busi- Ron. Throughout the summer of 1986, she shared her fears with him in the
ness. The pair swindled twenty-five hundred investors out of $18 million. rec yard, at the dining hall, at movie night, and in the office. They were both
In 1985, he was sent back to prison for a parole violation, then pleaded guilty in danger, she warned him, because of the malfeasance she had uncovered.
to the metals scam. It all seemed to burden Ron profoundly. His mood changed; he became
Whenever Ron shared these details with Dorinda, it was obliquely. He once emotional and withdrawn. If someone dropped a Coke can or bounced a bas-

83 W I N T E R 2020/2 1
ketball too close, he’d jump. He had nightmares. In late August 1986, Ron Szabo landed on a remote hillside. Ron waved him out of the helicopter
went to the prison dispensary and got a prescription for Ativan. and demanded his shoes. Szabo nervously smoked a cigarette in his socks as
In September, the Bureau of Prisons informed Ron that they would soon Ron kept the gun trained on him. Ron checked his watch. After ten minutes,
transfer him to Lompoc, an unfenced work camp near Santa Barbara, some- the hijacker closed the cockpit door and lifted off. As his helicopter whirred
thing he’d requested in advance of parole. Dorinda was distraught. She told above him, Szabo took a few steps toward the road and felt a sting in his foot.
Ron about new threats. As his transfer approached, he broke out in sweats. The ground was covered in white bull thistle, and Ron had taken his shoes.
His hands shook. It took Szabo forty minutes to mince his way to the nearest house. When the
Dorinda told me she was beside herself with worry about what awaited homeowner opened the door and saw a shoeless man jabbering about a sto-
her when Ron was gone and he could no longer protect her. The night before len helicopter, he slammed the door in his face.
he left, he pulled her aside.
“Be out on that field every day,” he said. “In my mind, I’ll know that you’re With Ron no longer at Pleasanton, Dorinda withdrew into herself. “I probably
safe.” He was adamant about the timing—10:45 to 11:30 A.M.—and exact about didn’t say twenty words outside of work while he was gone,” she said. “I’d
the location. It confused her, but she promised him she’d be there. find me a very quiet place on the compound and just cry.” She stopped wear-
On the morning of October 28, 1986, Ron came into the business office. ing blouses and pants, a style she was known for, and started showing up for
Dorinda hid in the bathroom—she was too emotional to see him—while he work in sweatpants. Dorinda kept her lunchtime vigil for a week. She sat in
collected his eleven dollars in pocket money and a Greyhound bus ticket. He the grass crying and praying.
was a white-collar criminal, rated a one out of seven on the flight-risk scale, On the morning of Wednesday, November 5, Dorinda trekked out to the
with no history of violence and only a year left on his sentence. He would be field, just as Ron had requested.
allowed to take the bus by himself to Santa Barbara and report to Camp Lom- She saw a helicopter on the horizon. That was normal enough—there were
poc for the remainder of his time. small airports all around the East Bay. But this one was coming in low. It cir-
That morning, Dorinda sat in the grassy field for forty-five minutes, just as cled the prison once. Inmates began shouting as it descended and then hov-
Ron had requested. She looked out at the thirty-foot fence and the barbed ered inches from the ground. Dorinda squinted.
wire beyond it. That night, she cried listening to “The Last Farewell” by Roger “It’s Ron,” she said aloud.
Whittaker and “The Sweetest Thing (I’ve Ever Known)” by Juice Newton. She She walked, then ran toward the helicopter. All around the yard, inmates
turned the radio off. The songs reminded her too much of Ron. cheered. Ron pushed open the door. “Do you want to get out of here?” he
The next morning, Dorinda reported for work at the business office. Marty shouted over the rotors.
Feipel, a supervisor she was friendly with, pulled her aside. “Dorinda,” he “You’re driving!” she shouted back.
said, “guess who didn’t go to Lompoc?” The escape was an immediate media sensation. DARING HELICOPTER PRISON
BREAKOUT, read the front-page story in the San Francisco Examiner. Szabo
A week later, Fred Holbrick, a real-estate developer, arrived at San Jose Interna- flew with an ABC News crew along the route he’d flown with Ron before being
tional Airport for a morning helicopter tour. He told Pete Szabo, the young hijacked, his feet still sore from the thistles. At federal prisons around Amer-
Australian helicopter pilot, that he was developing a tract of land in the East ica, wardens strung up quarter-inch steel wires—so-called chopper-stoppers—
Bay. He did not tell Szabo that the aircraft was the same type that he had flown to thwart copycat escapes.

That’s the promise of love: Someone spots you, trapped, alone, and in danger. He scoops you up, carries you from

in Vietnam. Nor did he tell him his real name: Ron McIntosh. A manhunt was on, but within a few days, the trail had grown cold. With
Most escapees are caught because they go home, or because they run out no investigative leads, the press feasted on tips and rumors. Ron had wired
of money, or both. But before going into prison, Ron had purchased a house money to Panama and buried gold coins. He had broken Dorinda out because
on five acres in Oregon. He owned a forty-nine-foot oceangoing yacht named she spoke Spanish—she didn’t—and could help him escape to South Amer-
the Wanda docked north of Seattle, and that spring he had arranged, from ica. Ron had a connection in the British West Indies and might flee there.
prison, for it to be repaired. The summer before his escape, he’d made sixty- Ron’s attorney, L. Stephen Turer, speculated that his client might have bro-
eight phone calls to a friend who had rented him an apartment outside Sac- ken out because he was worried about future criminal charges, which he left
ramento. He had a Chevy Blazer. He had three phony IDs. vague. When a reporter asked if Ron might contact him, Turer replied: “In a
Most important, Ron may have had money—a lot of it. The government had foreign language, maybe.”
never recovered more than $1.7 million that had gone missing. If he indeed
had access to that cash, he could run forever. Dorinda was sure they were going to clip a tree branch. She looked out the
Ron was on the U. S. Marshals’ wanted list, but he was a low priority. In window as Ron descended into a meadow surrounded by trees and bushes.
1985, twenty-five prisoners had made similar escapes on furlough. There was They landed with a gentle bump. There was a truck waiting.
no nationwide manhunt for this white-collar fraudster. With the cash, the “Where are we going?” she asked as they got on the highway.
yacht, the IDs, and the car, he could go anywhere. “Sacramento,” he said. “What do you want to eat?”
Ron and Szabo lifted off from San Jose International Airport and headed “Kentucky Fried Chicken.”
north. The pilot flew along I-680 toward Las Trampas. Ron asked if they could They bought a fifteen-piece bucket of the Colonel’s Original Recipe and
get closer to the ridgeline. Szabo worked the pedals and joystick to maneu- then arrived at the apartment outside Sacramento, full of adrenaline. They
ver closer. Then he saw a flash in the corner of his eye. were already peeling off their clothes as they entered the apartment.
“Set it down,” Ron said. He pointed a handgun at him. “When did you plan all this?” Dorinda wanted to know.

84 W I N T E R 2020/2 1
 “I’ve got you here, by myself, in an apartment, with a bedroom, and you and there. But I longed to believe her every word.
wanna talk about that?” Unsure if I could, I called up Mark Zanides, the man who prosecuted her
They made love for the first time—on the bed, the couch, the floor. They case back in 1987, and recounted everything she’d told me. I asked about the
didn’t have to listen for a guard’s key or kiss with their eyes open. They ate corruption she alleged at Pleasanton, the threats she claimed to have endured,
the fried chicken, then he gave her a bubble bath. “When he kissed me,” and Ron’s scheme to break her out. Zanides listened patiently but then asked
Dorinda said, “it was thoroughly, from the top of my head to the bottom of me, “Why?” He repeated it slowly, as if speaking to a child. “Why do you think
my toes.” this was his idea?
The magnitude of their escape hit the next morning when Dorinda turned “She’s obviously touched you, David,” he said. “She’s reached out and
on the TV. The morning news shows were covering the jailbreak. “Good God,” touched you. Your heartstrings are throbbing. She’s soft-spoken. She’s got
she cried. “Ron, we’re national!” that Georgia accent.”
They played house in the modest one-bedroom apartment. They ate out. It was true. As weeks had turned into months, Dorinda had been asking
They took drives, just because they could. They made love. In the morn- me for small favors without my really noticing. I found her daughter’s Face-
ing, they read The Sacramento Bee with coffee, her legs draped over his. The book page for her. I tracked down her grandson’s phone number. We dis-
newspaper had dug up their past misdeeds. They shot each other skepti- cussed ways to convince her children to speak to her again.
cal glances over the pages. “Really?” they took turns asking. “Did you do When I did favors for her, she was effusive. “Oh, I think I’m in love,” she
that?” texted once. She called to compliment my interview style. I repeated her
Dorinda tried to figure Ron out. “He was always there but not there,” she compliments to friends over dinner. But doubts crept in. Zanides’s words
said. “There were things going on in his mind that I couldn’t get to.” She won- echoed in my head: “Remember, she’s a con man,” he’d warned me. “That’s
dered, years later, with tears in her eyes, “What kind of man goes and throws what they do. She wouldn’t be playing you, would she, Dave?”
away his life to help someone escape?”
On Monday night, five days after the helicopter ride, Dorinda put on a wig, The couple’s joint trial began in May 1987. Ron’s lawyer, Judd Iversen, drew a por-
and together she and Ron went to the jewelry store at a nearby mall. Two trait of him as a haunted Vietnam veteran, a man susceptible to being played.
platinum wedding rings in the case caught Dorinda’s eye. Two psychiatrists recounted Ron’s wartime heroics and diagnosed him with
“I want you to have that,” Ron said. post-traumatic stress disorder. Ron had failed ninth-grade math. He read
“We don’t need that.” eighty words a minute. He had a 101 IQ. He was overweight. Ron had been
“I want you to have that.” used by his country and now used by this woman.
Ron put down a $1,000 cash deposit. He told the clerk it was their twenti- The press helped Iversen’s case. The Sacramento Bee played up class dif-
eth wedding anniversary. He had them engraved with T.B. LOVE M.L.B. and ferences between them in side-by-side profiles. Ron was middle-class, a vet-
M.L.B. LOVE T.B.—for their nicknames Teddy Bear and My Lady Bear. eran, “Mr. Suburbanite,” and finally “a lovestruck puppy” under Dorinda’s
Ron suggested sailing away on his yacht and escaping to South America. spell. She was a twice-divorced southern jezebel. Even Ron himself wasn’t
Dorinda refused, still hoping to somehow reunite with her three children. so sure. “It is possible that I was misled by her,” he conceded to a psychiatrist
“In retrospect, we should’ve,” she told me. before the trial. “But I don’t believe that’s the case.” (Ron, through his cur-
When Ron and Dorinda went back to the mall to pick up their wedding rent lawyer, David Shapiro, declined to talk to me for this story.)

one life to another. “That’s what I want people to understand,” she said. “It was a rescue.”

rings, Dorinda immediately sensed something was amiss. “All these young, A necessity defense—that Ron was forced to break Dorinda out in order to
earnest men in blue suits,” she suddenly realized. “I could spot an FBI agent save her from corrupt guards—was their only hope. “Now, this isn’t exactly
from five hundred yards.” the story of Camelot,” Iversen told a courtroom packed with reporters. “But
She considered running but instead stood there and held her breath. “Put it is the story of a cavalryman who rescued his lady.” In court, Dorinda sat
your hands in the air,” a voice said from behind. It was a U. S. Marshal. with her foot hooked around Ron’s leg.
Ron had paid the balance on the rings with a check—with the same alias Iversen refused to let Ron on the stand. He’d been Ron’s criminal-defense
he had used to brush up on his flying skills before the escape. Plainclothes lawyer for years, and there was another looming charge related to his days
police officers and U. S. Marshals had been staking out the store since the selling gold coins. Dorinda was confused and ticked off when she learned he
day before. wouldn’t testify and corroborate her story.
The federal agents, some toting shotguns, arrested Ron and Dorinda and She could have used it as her case fell apart. At trial, Dorinda insisted that
seized Ron’s briefcase. Inside, they found a loaded .357 Magnum handgun she had no advance warning of the helicopter escape. And yet there were
with hollow-point bullets and $1,180 in cash. In the car, they found another signs she’d known he was coming all along. From the day Ron jumped fur-
handgun, a CB radio, a police scanner, and binoculars. lough until 6:02 on the morning Dorinda flew away, someone from her hous-
Outside the mall, Marshals pushed them into separate cruisers. As he pulled ing unit had made nine telephone calls to the same number Ron had been
away, Ron leaned out his window and shouted, “I love you!” phoning all summer as he prepped the escape. A guard testified that she
sprinted to the helicopter and took off in no more than fifteen seconds. She
It was the greatest romance and the greatest rescue I’d ever heard of, had started wearing sweats the week Ron was on the lam—better than jeans
told to me over the phone by Dorinda on successive Wednesdays in the spring and a blouse for jumping into a hovering helicopter.
and summer of 2020. I became intrigued and then obsessed. She salted her Dorinda implicated the warden and a slew of guards and prison employees
retelling of the escape with small confidences, admitting previous lies here in embezzlement, cover-ups, and threats. All of (continued on page 110)

85 W I N T E R 2020/21
 Coat ($6,900), sweatshirt ($1,260),
and trousers ($1,350) by Prada;
sunglasses ($300) by Moscot.

M A R L ON WAYA NS I S N ’ T H O L LY WO O D ’ S
L I T T L E B ROT H E R A N Y M O R E

With roles in Sofia Coppola’s On the Rocks and

an Aretha Franklin biopic, the forty-eight-year-old is
breaking into a dramatic second act

BY GABRIELLE BRUNEY // PHOTOGRAPHS BY MENELIK PURYEAR

STYLING BY NICK SULLIVAN
8 8 W I N T E R 2020/2 1
Coat ($4,110), sweater ($650), and trousers ($450) by Canali.
Sweatshirt ($995) and trousers ($495) by Brunello Cucinelli; sunglasses ($750) by Dita Eyewear; Rolex watch, Wayans’s own.
I T ’ S T H E L AT E E I G H T I E S , A N D A T E E N AG E M A R L O N WAYA N S Coat ($3,795), sweater
is chatting up a pretty woman at a movie premiere. She’s way too old for him. ($1,295), and trousers
He knows that. But as the youngest member of a family that’s about to become ($825) by Giorgio Armani;
comedy royalty, he’s feeling confident. Then Chris Rock walks over. “Hand boots ($328) by Frye.
this over to the proper authorities,” Rock says. Just like that, they disappear
into the party together.
“In Hollywood, I’m everyone’s little brother,” Wayans tells me. Sometimes
that meant Chris Rock busting his chops at a movie premiere. But more impor-
tantly, it meant writing and producing multiple hit movies with his older broth-
ers at a time when opportunities for Black filmmakers were even harder-won
than they are today. And it gave him the freedom to demonstrate his skills as a
dramatic actor, as he did in Darren Aronofsky’s 2000 classic Requiem for a Dream.
Today, at forty-eight, Hollywood’s little brother is all grown up. With three
decades of show business under his belt, Wayans is considering the legacy of
the trailblazing comedy empire he and his family built from the ground up. He’s
also embarking on the next phase of his career, appearing in Sofia Coppola’s
ode to upper-crust malaise On the Rocks (streaming now on Apple TV+), as well
as the upcoming Aretha Franklin biopic, Respect. Given his extensive comedy
career, Wayans has had to fight to be seen as a dramatic actor. “I don’t think I’ll
have to fight as much after On the Rocks and Respect,” he says.
Audiences were introduced to Wayans in the early nineties, after In Living
Color debuted on the nascent Fox network, delivering an edgier, multicultural
alternative to SNL. It ushered in a slew of new talent, including five of the Way-
ans siblings—Keenen, Damon, Kim, Shawn, and Marlon—as well as Jim Carrey
and Jamie Foxx. In 1995, Marlon and Shawn set off on their own, creating The
Wayans Bros. for The WB. Its opening, in which they’re wearing J. Crew–worthy
sweaters and crooning, “We’re brothers; we’re happy and we’re singing and
we’re colored,” took aim at more decorous Black sitcoms and their dance-filled
opening credits. The NAACP and self-appointed Black respectability arbiter Bill
Cosby criticized the show for its humorous portrayal of Black characters.
“Every artist deserves to have their own particular voice,” Wayans says.
“I’m not Cosby. We were raised in the projects in New York City. I was col-
lecting bottles and cans at seven and eight years old. I had my first job at
eleven and I never stopped working.”
Despite being a ratings hit, The Wayans Bros. was canceled without a true
series finale. But with the current vogue for Black nineties nostalgia, fueled
in part by Netflix’s acquisition of shows like Sister, Sister and Moesha,
Wayans is mulling a Wayans Bros. movie so the show can have a proper end-
ing, perhaps in conjunction with a streaming debut.
Wayans also starred in and cowrote the horror parodies Scary Movie (2000)
and Scary Movie 2 (2001), directed by one of his older brothers, Keenen Ivory
Wayans. The films, which depict characters succumbing to bouts of violent diar-
rhea, remain among the highest-grossing movies ever created by Black filmmak-
ers. Yet the studio, run by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, dropped the Wayanses
from the Scary Movie films and continued the franchise without them. “What
they did was filthy business,” Wayans says. “All they did was bad business and
bad behavior, and it came back to bite them in the ass. You can take our fran-
chise; they took your company. We can still make movies.”
Comedy is a genre that’s subject to evolving standards and tastes. Black
humor created under the auspices of white Hollywood networks and studios,
for instance, can be seen now as a discomfiting time capsule of racial stereo-
types. Wayans is aware that future audiences could deride his comedic con-
tributions. “One day, people are going to look back on all the things that we
did and go, ‘Oh, that’s degrading,’ and that’s not fair,” he says. “We should
embrace all of our history, and we get better over time.”
He’s also aware that critics prefer his dramatic turns, and Wayans, an alum
of New York’s prestigious LaGuardia performing-arts school, is eager to show
his range. “I played everything from a junkie to an abusive husband to a lov-
ing husband to a white woman,” he says. “At this point, I’ve done so much
that I hope I don’t have to prove myself anymore.”

90 W I N T E R 2020/21
This page: Shearling sweatshirt ($9,950) by Hermès.
Opposite: Coat ($4,950), jacket ($2,695),
and jeans ($495) by Ermenegildo Zegna; knit shirt
($1,400) by Bottega Veneta; sneakers ($550) by
Fear of God; sunglasses ($750) by Dita Eyewear.
 F O R S TO R E I N F O R M AT I O N S E E PA G E 1 1 1 .

93 W I N T E R 2020/2 1
B
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B A dispatch from the front lines of the battle against the worst wildfire
B UU
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B U R R TN T
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B U RR N
B U RR
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season on record in California BY ROBERT L ANGELLIER

95 W I N T E R 2020/2 1
 SEPTEMBER 8, AFTERNOON SEPTEMBER 9, MORNING

In less than a day, the Nor th Complex crossed twent y-

EIGHT MILES TO THE SOUTHWEST, A PLUME OF SMOKE STRETCHED INTO “ T H E R E ’ S N O T A R E A L PL A N,” S U PE R I N -
the clean western sky, rising like bread. It looked like a cloud creating itself. A calm set- tendent Scott Burghardt, the head of the Truckee
tled in among the Truckee Hotshots as we watched from a hilltop at the northern edge Hotshots, told us the next morning. Our twenty-
of the North Complex Fire. This was my first season and seventh fire on a U. S. Forest person crew—Burghardt, captains, squad bosses,
Service hotshot crew, a unit trained to fight the hottest and most remote parts of wild- senior firefighters, and an assemblage of appren-
fires. We thought we were witnessing a typical blowout, when a fire crosses contain- tices and seasonals, myself included—had moved
ment lines. “Well,” one of my crewmates said, “tomorrow’s going to suck.” south to a staging area just outside the fire’s twenty-
Then the column collapsed. five-mile run. We were huddled behind our two
That day, dry winds blew across California and beyond, wrenching fires loose and buggies, the tricked-out, green ten-seater buses
sending them ripping across the forest. The entire West seemed to be going up in flames that transported the crew. A steel-headed man with
at once, from the August Complex in the Mendocino National Forest, where thirty-seven a considered disposition, Burghardt understood
fires were coalescing into the largest fire in state history, to the catastrophic fires in Ore- as well as anyone when to advance and when to
gon and Washington. fall back from a fire. “I don’t know how else to say
Two hundred miles northeast of San Francisco, the North Complex started tearing it: Get your minds right to prepare for fucked-up
through the Sierra Nevada at devastating speeds, launching flaming bits of pine cones shit,” he said. “We’ll try to come up with a plan,
and needles like scouts, igniting spot fires up to four miles ahead of the fire’s advance. pick up the pieces wherever we can.” He left to
In less than a day, the North Complex crossed twenty-five miles of the Plumas National assess the area—to see what was on fire and what
Forest to the outskirts of Oroville, a town of nineteen thousand, baffling experts with wasn’t, and to start figuring out how to stop it.
its rate of spread. The communities of Berry Creek, Brush Creek, and Feather Falls The staging area lay outside La Porte, popula-
were overrun. Unable to evacuate, fifteen people died in the flames, mostly in Berry tion twenty-six. If the east flank of the North Com-
Creek. If it weren’t for the other simultaneous 2020 record holders, the North Com- plex, by then a 250,000-acre fire, kept moving
plex would be the second-largest fire on record in California; instead, it’s the sixth. east, the community faced destruction. But with
On September 8, the day the North Complex intensified, a finite number of crews, enough time, we could save it.
including the Truckee Hotshots, were there to take it on, with no backup on the way. One Firefighting involves less fire than you might
air-attack firefighter flying overhead, who from his vantage could see for dozens of miles expect. The hotter the flames, the farther away we
in all directions, radioed that what he was observing looked like “multiple intergalac- position ourselves. When a wildfire pushes flames
tic plumes across California.” Instantly, intergalactic, a word possibly never before spo- one hundred feet in the air and cinematically
ken over the apoetic lanes of air-traffic radio, became the catchphrase all over the fire. reaches the forest canopy, there’s only so much a

P R E V I O U S PA G E S , T H I S PA G E , A N D O P P O S I T E :   R O B E R T L A N G E L L I E R

R
RN
R N TT
N
NT T
RN N
Pages 94 and 95: A portion of a back-burn—a fire intentionally set by the hotshots in the direction of the oncoming wildfire—on the North Complex. When the two fires meet, with nothing left
around them to burn, they’ll extinguish each other. That’s the idea, anyway. Opposite: The Truckee Hotshots hike into work on a cool morning. This page, left: Wildland firefighter Allister Ford
helps battle a series of spot fires on the North Complex that jumped the fire line. Right: Sawyer Jordan Gearey patrols the woods behind the back-burn, making sure embers don’t cross the
fire line and start new fires.

crew of flammable human beings can do until it loses momentum. Instead, we’d light five miles of forest, baffling exper ts with its rate of spread. he could cross and return to the crew. Then the
our own fire, known as a back-burn, in the direction of the advancing wildfire. When winds picked up.
the two met, with nothing left around them to burn, they’d extinguish each other. If you’ve ever blown gently on a newborn camp-
There were two reservoirs between La Porte and the fire’s edge, connected by a fire, you know what oxygen does to flames. Imag-
ridgetop known as Mooreville Ridge. A narrow dirt road ran along the ridge; we’d ine one breath amplified to landscape scale. Its
start the back-burn there. But first, with the help of a few other hotshot crews and influence on fire cannot be overstated. Three fac-
wildland fire engines, we needed to clear the understory to make sure our fire didn’t tors determine a wildfire’s power: wind, fuel, and
get out of control. terrain. On the North Complex, it was the wind more
Around 11:00 A.M., we pulled the cords on our chain saws and started cutting out so than the woody debris or the steep slopes that
young firs, manzanitas, and mountain whitethorn. Dustin Friedman, detailing as one was responsible for the deaths of fifteen people.
of our captains, left to scout the wildfire’s advancing edge. As we cut and cleared When the wind shifted on Friedman, the fire sud-
branches, he descended a drainage toward the south fork of the Feather River known denly went from calm to burning forward, heating
as Devils Gap. up, belching out smoke by the ton. Within minutes,
he couldn’t see more than fifty feet in front of him.
SEPTEMBER 9, 2:00 P.M. It wasn’t dire; he’d been in dicier situations. But
AFTER NINE YEARS AS A FIREFIGHTER, SEVEN OF THEM ON HOTSHOT when it gets hot, you revert to what you were
crews, Friedman knew that a fire can change behavior at any moment. But the speed trained to do, find a safe place and go to it. Until
of yesterday’s twenty-five-mile advance had tweaked his understanding of its power. the fire’s edge cooled enough to cross, the safest
He made his way to the North Complex’s burning edge, crossed over the two-foot place for Friedman to go was where he already
flames, and entered the “black,” the already-burned area behind the front. was: in the black.
Friedman has always wanted to fly. When he left the Navy, he started flight school
but quit to join his wife in northern California. On the fire line, he never stops talking, SEPTEMBER 9, 3:00 P.M.
his eyes twinkling, about his dream to land helicopters full of money-heavy tourists WHILE DRAGGING BRUSH FROM THE ROAD, I
on a barge in the middle of Lake Tahoe. His laugh is a trademark hyuk-hyuk. Even his noticed that the light coming in through the trees
face is birdlike, his nose sloping downward like a Feather River ridgeline, steepening was particularly beautiful, a soft, crepuscular
as it reaches the bottom. Few hotshots understand aircraft better than he does. He is orange tint that painted the sparse understory a
always looking up. gentle gold. It was an evening light, the light of a
So when a helicopter arrived with water to release bucket drops, Friedman was the coming darkness, the light that creeps in through
man to direct it. From his position on the edge, he’d show the pilot exactly where to a closing door. That’s pretty, I thought to myself.
dump, not to extinguish the flames but to stall their advance long enough for our crew One thing wildfires are rarely described as is beau-
to prepare our own burn. The winds were favorable, helping to keep the fire in check. tiful. In truth, whether in daytime or at night, on a
He flashed a strobe light to catch the pilot’s attention and managed to direct a few mountain or on a plain, in a forest or on grasslands,
drops. But soon the fire front intensified, and the division group supervisor oversee- crowning or smoldering, a wildfire is awe-inspiring.
ing operations on this part of the North Complex pulled all firefighters off the line. Just It is one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen. But
inside the black, Friedman started to follow the fire’s edge, looking for a spot where in nature, beauty is not often correlated with safety.

97 W I N T E R 2020/2 1
 A loud whistle pierced my reverie. We killed our SEPTEMBER 9, 4:00 P.M.

Friedman was dancing in the black. The fire’s edge was too hot to cross.
chain saws. The voice of Derek Kramer, our crew’s F R I E D M A N WA S D A N C I N G I N T H E B L A C K . T H E F I R E ’ S E D G E WA S
other captain, came from fifty yards up the road: too hot to cross. The ground was too hot to stand in one place. Although the forest of
“Let’s go!” A pause. “Now!” white fir, Jeffrey pine, and shrubs had already burned, timber takes a long time to cool.
A common theme on the lower rungs of fire- He was stuck.
fighting crews is not knowing exactly what’s going This wasn’t natural. Forest wildfires, typically caused by lightning strikes, burn off
on. In moments of confusion, you measure dan- the debris, serving as a sort of cleanser for the whole ecosystem. Hundreds of years
ger by the urgency of your superiors. Kramer did ago, Europeans hijacked an unfamiliar land, and for the past century, we’ve put out
not sound relaxed. We dropped whatever every fire we can, leading to the buildup of matted, impenetrably thick underbrush.
branches we were holding and all but ran the The result has been climate-changed forests begging to burn. Now the North Complex
uphill road toward him and our buggy. Fire is fierce was burning with Friedman in it.
when you can see it; it is fiercer when you can’t. Burghardt’s voice crackled over the radio. “I need you to get in the black,” he said.
Eating smoke from the fire, which was now close “I’m in the black,” Friedman said. “It’s not nuked out, but it’s good. It’s just hot. It’s
by, we speed-walked, me breathing blood through just going to be a while.”
my nose from having accidentally punched myself “I’ll wait here as long as I have to,” Burghardt said. “I’ll be here all night.”
in the face while trying to move brush just before. The canopy above Friedman was still green. It’s possible for the understory to burn
Dust, blood, and smoke filled my lungs. Finally, while the canopy remains intact, leaving a forest susceptible to another round of fire.
we reached the buggy. Burghardt stayed behind Although Friedman could see where he was with his phone’s topographic map, the
to help get Friedman out. thick haze of the smoke left him unable to see the fire. He saw single trees torching
“Load up!” a crewmate shouted. We chucked here and there, but he had no indication of what might be coming down the valley.
our tools into the buggy’s exterior compartments So he kept moving, adjusting his gait with each step so that no one part of his foot bore
and climbed inside. Kramer gassed it, thumping all of his weight. Like a child trying not to step in imaginary lava, he jumped from place
over holes and bumps. Overhead to the southeast, to place, stood on top of logs that hadn’t burned. He scraped away ash with his
we saw a plume rising between us and La Porte. chingadera—an oversize garden hoe, our crew’s digging tool of choice—to reach cooler
We raced toward town, but the narrow forest road soil to stand in. But even that was untenable.
was soon bottlenecked with engines and trucks. Burghardt’s voice came over the radio, asking if he’d begun making his way out of
Slowly we made our way out to the highway and Devils Gap. “Not yet,” Friedman replied. Never one to miss a joke, he asked if he could
back to La Porte. get a cold drink. But in the confusion of the radio traffic, someone had suggested that
The community was safe. In the coming hours the fire was coming up the valley that led toward Devils Gap. Even with Burghardt
and weeks, the fire never would reach it. But at that nearby to keep him calm, Friedman couldn’t help but ask himself: Am I good?
moment, I didn’t know a thing. As we passed the The soles on his boots were melting. They split in the hot ash. Blisters were starting
local hotel and saloon, all I could think was These to form on his feet. He poured water from his pack onto his boots to try to cool them.
people are fucked.
Back in our staging area, we parked and waited. SEPTEMBER 9, 5:00 P.M.
Over the radio, we heard about Friedman—that he A Q UA R T E R M I L E AWAY, O N T H E R I D G E T O P, B U R G H A R D T B L A S T E D
was still in the black, waiting out the fire’s run. his car horn repeatedly, hoping the honking would reach Friedman and serve as a

This page, left: The crew loads into the back of a pickup for a truck drive. Captain Dustin Friedman stands at back left. Right: A smoke column rises from a very active fire, an unwelcome sight
to firefighters. Opposite: Squad boss Christopher Burns lights a back-burn through chamise, a highly flammable chaparral plant that can send up massive flames.

JORDAN GEAREY (CREW). PE TER ROS S (SMOKE). OPPOSITE: ROBERT L ANGELLIER.

98 W I N T E R 2020/21
 BU
B
B UU
BBUU
U
BU

BU
U
BU
B

The ground was too hot to stand in one place. He was stuck.

beacon, but the sound was lost in the noise of the burn. He’d need to take more twenty-five-mile run just hours earlier. Fir trees
drastic measures. towered overhead, blotting out the waning moon.
Burghardt radioed for air attack, the fleet of aircraft dedicated to dropping water While the rest of the crew bustled around, prep-
buckets and chemical retardant on fires, and asked for a water drop on the area near ping and eating dinner, Friedman stood by a camp-
Friedman. But the shifting wind had sent smoke billowing up so thick and so high that fire someone had lit, smoking a hand-rolled
aircraft couldn’t fly through it. Burghardt knew it was time to get his stranded captain cigarette, talking to squad boss Christopher Burns.
out. “Dustin, I’m going to come get you,” he said. “There’s not enough firefighters in the country for
Burghardt grabbed his pack and chingadera and began to descend into Devils Gap. what’s going on now,” Burns said.
He was looking for a green finger, a place the fire had not fully overtaken and thus wasn’t “No,” Friedman said. “The Plumas is going to
as hot. He found one. Just as he was about to cross into the black, his radio battery ran look like the Mendocino,” the 2018 fire that deci-
out. Cursing, he backtracked to his truck to replace it. By the time he returned, that mated the Mendocino National Forest.
finger had heated up and was no longer viable. “Soon they’re going to stop measuring these fires
Eventually he found another route into the black. As he worked his way through the in acres and just do it in miles,” Burns said.
smoldering landscape, he hooted as loud as he could. After a few minutes, he heard a “In miles now, oh yeah. It’s crazy, dude,” Fried-
hoot in return. He moved in the direction from where it came. The men called back man said.
and forth, inching closer, until they found each other at last. “There’s not much we can do,” Burns said. “Fight
Friedman was spent. He’d been running back and forth in the smoke and the heat fire with hopes and prayers.”
for two hours. Burghardt led him out of Devils Gap and up to the ridge. They stopped “Hopes and prayers. I guess we’ll keep digging
often, scraping down to the cool earth, standing there to rest for a moment. Finally, line until we see God,” Friedman said. He paused.
they made it back to Burghardt’s truck and out to La Porte. From there, Friedman was He was exhausted from a season unlike any other.
taken to a nearby hospital and treated for second-degree burns and smoke inhalation. “Me, I’m looking forward to two days off,” he
His life had not been at risk; it turned out that the reports of the fire’s run up the valley joked, trying to lighten the mood. He gazed up at
to Devils Gap had been overstated. Still, it would be six weeks before he could walk the black nothing above the campfire. “At this
well enough to return to the fire line. point, just tell me when I’m going home,” he said,
something firefighters rarely know.
SEPTEMBER 8, EVENING Burns looked over at his captain. “Tomorrow’s
T H E N I G H T B E F O R E , W E B E D D E D D OW N AT A C A M P G R O U N D I N gonna suck, yes. But it’s one day closer . . .”
the Plumas National Forest. It was dark. The quiet at the end of a day on the fire line “To two days off!” they said together. They burst
always feels premonitory. At the time, we had no idea of the human cost of the fire’s out laughing.

9 9 W I N T E R 2020/2 1
head out on the
TWO VEHICLES.

TWO PHILOSOPHIES.

C
A
R
(S)

O
F

T
H
E

Y
E
A
R

2
0
2
0
ONE GOAL:

lo
PART I: THE 2020 CORVETTE STINGRAY
YOU MAY FIND YOURSELF WONDERING: IS IT TIME FOR A SPORTS CAR? AND YOU
may tell yourself: Wait, that’s a bit of a cliché. And you may ask yourself: Oh, no. Am I having an
existential crisis? ¶ We’ve been huffing dread into our masks almost all year, and the car sales prove
it. While purchases of most new automobiles are down, faster ones like the Porsche 911, the Mazda
Miata, and the Toyota Supra (Esquire’s 2019 Car of the Year) have seen double-digit upticks. Why
has the sports car become a homeopathic cure for the grim epoch in which we now find ourselves?

BY KEVIN SINTUMUANG PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRISTOPHER GRIFFITH

 looking
ing, and the ability to feel special at the turn of a key. But for
those who wanted to feel extra special, well, a Corvette was
never in the running. PART II: THE 2020 LAND ROVER DEFENDER
For the past sixty-seven years, Corvette has been the under- THE TALLEST MOUNTAIN IN VERMONT, MOUNT MAN-
dog, a fairly priced performance car from ’Merica, more than sfield, is shaped like a human face and sits some 4,400 feet
good enough for multiple generations of gearheads, but that’s above sea level. It’s a beautiful, desolate place where alpine
also why many could never see themselves as a “Vette Guy.” tundra left over from the last ice age endures. I’m getting
The affordable sticker made it a bit too accessible to carry the close to the summit in the new Land Rover Defender, attempt-
rarefied dignity many longed for in a sports car. And with inte- ing to make my way up a narrow, quarry-like trail, when the
riors that were often lackluster and an overcompensating, right front tire lifts three feet off the ground while the oth-
football-field-length hood, the Vette announced Midlife Crisis ers balance precariously on boulders. Only a mountain goat
at an Arizona Timeshare just a little too loudly. would consider this appealing. Suddenly, I think: Do real
But if you love cars, there is no way, no matter your opinion people ever find themselves in these circumstances?
of previous Vettes or the people who drive them, that you can Probably not very often. But the desire to hit eject from the
deny the moon-shot achievement of the new Corvette Sting- world you know during such Times of Unhinged Insanity™ and
ray, also known colloquially as the C8. It is one of the most spec- get out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the things
tacular performance cars on the road today. And it starts at most important to you has never been stronger. The Land Rover
$60K, the cost of options on some rides in this speed class. Defender is the ticket to that fantasy, yet unlike many other SUVs
This Vette is still loud—heads will turn, cameras will appear, and crossovers, it’s backed by some legitimate bona fides.
people will scream, “What is that?” The engine has migrated Here’s a little history. This SUV can trace its DNA back to
to the mid-rear, as in many a Ferrari or Lamborghini, and rum- 1948, with the groundbreaking Series 1, which evolved into
bles behind your head through a small windshield. It’s a beau- the Defender, then ceased production in 2016. It was revered
tiful sensation. Because of the more balanced layout, the hood as a rugged yet adorable box on wheels that could scramble
is shorter. You no longer stare over a long expanse of alumi- over the roughest environment—a more purpose-driven vehi-
num. All you see through the windshield is asphalt ready to be cle than the royal-feeling Range Rover. It has not officially been
pummeled by massive traction at triple-digit speeds. (Keep available in the U. S. since 1997, spawning a fervent resell and
your lawyer on speed dial.) Pop it into “tour mode” and things import market.
calm down just enough to make long-range cruising comfort- Like Defenders of old, this new version can handle any adven-
able, but the three-second-or-under 0-to-60 time virtually guar- tures you want to throw at it. The hill-descent feature (think of
antees no one will pass you en route to the golf course. Yes, it as cruise control for steep terrain) can be optioned with a snor-
even with the mid-rear engine, the C8 still has a trunk big kel for wading through deep water, and it has the biggest off-road
enough for a bag of clubs, long a Corvette trademark. clearances of any car in its class. But it’s balanced with the right
Inside, you’re cocooned in a cockpit with hand-wrapped amount of luxury. The interior is just utilitarian enough yet proves
leather bits, a squared-off steering wheel, a dashboard of can- to be a comfortable space where you don’t feel as if you’re con-
tilevered surfaces, and a distinctive slash of buttons that stantly rubbing shoulders with your escape-mates (a fairly com-
ensconces you from the passenger. Is this thoroughly modern mon issue with OG Defenders). There’s even an option for a huge
and practically bespoke car really made by GM? panoramic roof to accentuate the interior’s spaciousness. And
That’s the thing with the C8—it’s a car that, on paper, can it is speedy: Highway travel is relaxing, capable. You’re not deal-
compete with fancier, more expensive European models. C ing with sluggishness for the sake of off-road style.
And the more time you spend with it, the more you get the A Some will say that the new Defender isn’t quite boxy enough,
sense that the product planners held back a bit so that they R that it doesn’t resemble the previous models. That would be true.
(S)
could sell faster, more insane variants in the future. (We’re It’s a different kind of car. More modern, more usable. Could you
scared, but we can’t wait.) But now a Corvette actually feels O ride out the apocalypse in an old Defender? Absolutely. But if the
and looks like a car that costs three times as much. F past few months have taught us anything, it’s that being prepared
The Stingray is more than just a cure for existential dread. T isn’t enough. When you’re running from whatever calamity fate
It’s hope, wrapped in American ingenuity, that proves change H has in store for us next, you have to think of your comfort, too.
is possible and that anyone can cross the aisle and fully unite E Treat yourself. If the bunker is going to be packed with canned
behind America’s Greatest Performance Car. tuna, it might as well be the fancy conservas from Spain, right?
Y
E (And don’t forget the Rioja, too.)
A Eventually, that right tire came down and I made it to the
R peak of Mount Mansfield. Surveying the vast Vermont land-
scape before me, I felt as if I had been through a special kind
2
0 of hell, but I was also kind of relaxed. The new Defender had
2 somehow pulled off a magic trick and made finding the ends
0 of the earth feel joyful.

102 W I N T E R 2020/2 1
for
When it comes to your feet, do you need to
get reacquainted with a more classic form of
luxury but still keep things clean and modern?
Start with the buttery footwear from Santoni,
where they’ve been doing things by hand for
nearly half a century.

BY NICK SULLIVAN
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANDREA PUGIOTTO
 IF I EVER GET ON A PLANE AGAIN, IT WILL BE IN MY PRISTINE,
butter-soft, white calfskin sneakers from the Italian shoe
brand Santoni, a forty-five-year-old family company famed
for its beautiful old-school shoes and contemporary luxury.
They are probably the purest expression of the new fashion
imperative to “buy less, buy better.”
Marche, the region where Santoni is based, hugs the east-
ern coast of Italy roughly halfway down to the heel. This is
Italy’s shoe country. If you stand on the doorstep of Giuseppe
Santoni’s factory and lob an alligator loafer in no particular
direction, you will probably hit a shoemaker.
“I was basically born in the factory,” says Santoni. “I grew
up there. At the time, the factory was literally the down-
stairs floor of our home. So I learned hands-on how to do
the whole process.”
The process in shoemaking at Santoni’s level means hand-
work and increasingly rare skilled labor. In other setups,
that equals sky-high prices and smaller companies serving
ever-smaller groups of customers. Survival is not a given.
Since taking over the company from his father, Andrea, in
1990, Giuseppe Santoni has carved out a unique niche by

“When I was like twenty-five or thirty, I brought new ideas to the factory, and my father let
tradition of quality, the culture of making, but introduced a younger and fresher energy in

10 6 W I N T E R 2020/2 1
 modernizing production in every possible way. Liberating about how the shoe was made, about the materials, even
the process from the millstone of old-school methods, in advice about how to clean and look after them,” he says.
which the shoemaker did everything for a single pair of Although Santoni flirted briefly with a (much-liked) cap-
shoes—carved wooden lasts, cut leather, stitched uppers, sule clothing collection for a few seasons in the late teens and
lasted them, and attached the sole—has led to increased continues to supply all the leather used by IWC Schaffhausen
capacity. But as Santoni puts it, the “essence of a small lab- watches, the company is first and foremost about shoes. “San-
oratory remains.” toni is not a fashion brand,” its namesake says. “Sure, it’s a
“When I was like twenty-five or thirty, I brought new ideas contemporary brand and a luxury brand. Luxury doesn’t
to the factory, and my father let me do it,” he says. “We pre- have an expiry date.”
served the tradition of quality, the culture of making, but intro- One of Santoni’s standout areas is its finishing. Almost all
duced a younger and fresher energy in terms of design, in shoes in the factory are made on the last in undyed vegetable-
terms of ideas, in terms of product.” Youthfulness is palpable tan leather, only receiving their color—including a bright-
in the company’s bright and modern headquarters. Many of orange trademark sole—at the end. It is applied entirely by
the staff are barely into their thirties. The company runs a hand. It means no shoe, even in a large production run, is
shoemaking academy for new employees, as much to unlearn the same as another.
the habits of established craftsmen as to create new ones. “We come to work not to make more shoes but to make
Santoni’s goal, in addition to making timeless yet relevant better shoes,” Santoni says. “There’s a great Japanese prin-
goods, is to create memorable experiences. In service of that ciple called kaizen, meaning continuous improvement.
goal, the company plans to build near-field-communication Every day is a new challenge to make it better. Our people
chips into many of its shoes starting in 2021. “You put your really follow this philosophy and, every day, they try to make
phone near your shoes and you can read all the information it better.”

me do it,” Giuseppe Santoni says. “We preserved the

terms of design, in terms of ideas, in terms of product.”

TOP LEFT:
Shoes from the Fall
2020 collection.
BOTTOM, FROM
LEFT: Hand-
painting undyed
leather double
monk straps; the
exotic-leather-
sampling room;
lasted shoes await
hand-coloring; the
author tries—and
fails—to hand-sew
the welt onto a
lasted shoe.
RIGHT, FROM TOP:
Giuseppe Santoni;
the factory’s
showroom; hand-
painting alligator
watch straps for
IWC Schaffhausen.
 O
On Election Night, American racism was quantified, and it’s worse than we thought. But at least we know
what we’re dealing with, and I’m starting now. BY MITCHELL S. JACKSON
LEST SOMEONE DEEM ME A PESSIMIST OR, WORSE, A FATALIST, I SHALL BEGIN ON A States had somehow become something other than what they were in 1619, in 1916, in
note of optimism: My mother, a Black woman who was born in Alabama near the incep- 2016—a country committed to the dynamic oppression of my people, a republic divided
tion of the civil-rights movement, voted for the first time in more than three damn decades. by and large by racism and the telos of white supremacy.
Three! Not to mention a place that without my vigilance could regress me into somebody
Be that as it may, the vote tally in the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr. confirmed for me I’d rather not be.
that we do not have, nor have we ever had, anything resembling a United States of Every vote for Trump summoned my old anxieties, reaffirmed the ethos of a national
America, affirmed for me that for a multitude of people who believe they are white, the superminority, one that clarifies the America that exists in real life, not theory, a vision

P
Civil War is not some bygone lost cause but a perennial imperative to secure their codified many times over.
supremacy—a calling they heed even if it harms large numbers of them, even, goddamn- If not for COVID, I’d be zipping around Chicago, engaging with white folks—by which
youme, if the ultimate expense is their (and our) assured extinction. I mean people whose identity is grounded in belonging to the white race—and no doubt
To understand what I feel about 2020, I must recollect the election of 2016, back wondering, somewhere on the scale between every-single-time and more-often-than-

R
when I was a professor at NYU, slugged the morning after into my favorite diner on cam- not, if the white person I encountered was some grade of a racist.
pus, ordered my waffles, and sat crestfallen in a booth. The servers, most of them Turk- It’s a calculus with the potential to drive you kissing close to insane.
ish immigrants, were not only not dejected by the results, they were bopping around You could examine the exit-poll data until your head explodes, but nothing is more
the restaurant with wide-ass grins. The source of their levity was confirmed when one indicative of the will of white people than the fact that Trump—Mr. What-do-Black-peo-
of them nudged the banker type in the booth ahead of me. “Heey, Trump. You vote for ple-have-to-lose; Mr. Very-fine-people-on-both-sides; Mr. Black-Lives-Matter-ac-
Trumpp? he said and flashed a thumbs-up. The man smirked and nodded yes. tivists-are-terrorists; Mr. Proud-Boys-stand-back-and-stand-by; Mr. I’ve-done-more-for-
Nooo. It took everything in me not to shoot out of my seat, stomp out of the diner, and Blacks-than-any-president-since-Lincoln—pretty much won the Confederacy.
swear off patronizing it ever again in my life. That whole day, the next day, and several Add to that national litmus test on racism that even in the so-called blue states, in the
days thereafter, I was keenly, acutely aware of white people’s joy. Anyone who so much domain of the so-called blue walls, the so-called bulwarks of liberalness: 943,000 peo-
as intimated happiness was an instant suspect, was someone who voted for a white man ple voted for him in my home state of Oregon; 4.7 million in the liberal western paragon
who, far as I could tell—he’d shown many telltale signs over the years—had rode into the of California; 2.8 million in the Diversity Inc. known as New York; 113,000 in Vermont! Of
White House on the winds of white supremacy. Every white person who appeared pleas- the record 150 million votes tallied, a racist, misogynistic, xenophobic sociopath who’s

O
ant, who looked me square in the eye, who avoided my gaze, shit, every white person dishonored soldiers, invited election interference, and mishandled a pandemic that has
who breathed, all of them were possible racists. Or else were whites willing to look the killed more than a quarter million people, that same malevolent white man received a
other way while the country elected a racist. (Is there a difference?) vote of confidence from at least 71 million Americans. Not all white voters were for Trump.
It mattered little to me that I then lived in a blue state. New York was also home to my Turk- But according to a CNN exit poll, 57 percent of them were.
ish servers and too many people looking smug on the subways. The visages I witnessed The apologists love to counter that not all white Trump voters are racists or white
brought into hella sharp relief a truth that hovers over my life—the life of every Black person supremacists. But that’s semantics. Whether someone identifies as a white suprema-
no matter how rich or famous or educated or rapper-foolish—that a great number of the peo- cist or calls themselves something else but justifies support of white supremacists, they
ple who believe themselves white would rather me dead or enslaved. Enslaved until I’m dead. still belong to a group who, if they had it their way, would rather see me and my peoples
Call it hyperbolic if you want, but if you recall that this was the ethos of the antebel- shackled, stooped in servitude, or buried.
lum South, if you believe the wisdom of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that the ultimate aim Back in 2016, people could claim they didn’t know the depths of his supremacist
of racism is genocide, well, then it’s an irrefutable truth. feelings. But now? Those 71 million fellow Americans are now registered racists.
And let me tell you, deciphering the intention of every white person one meets is drain- To which I say, better to know than not.
ing, degradative work; and let me confirm that the wariness born of that work soon trans- To which I say, Trump was not an aberration but the expression of the long, deep

O
muted me into a worse version of myself. For a time, it burnt some of the good out of me, longing of those bigoted millions. Nevertheless, add to those disheartening truths the
tamped down my hope, tempered my forbearance, generosity, grace. If I’m honest, for proof that Black people, my people, are in the main a resilient sort, that we continue to
weeks, months, maybe longer, I failed at hating white people as a collective, had let their vote for hope, continue to fight for the right to be full humans.
illogical ill will toward me and mines corrupt me into the kind of human I loathed. And here’s what that looks like in practice:
And all that happened in 2016. Never losing track of the insidious ways white supremacy works to injure the peo-
In the intervening years, I worked hard to recover myself out of that kind of pathol- ple about which I care. It means having tough conversations with my kids; persuading
ogy, did it despite the plenitude of proof that this kakistocratic president and his sup- them to read the works of people keen on the history of race and class and justice here
porters were right who the hell I thought they were. It was a hard task, to say the least. and elsewhere; encouraging them to sacrifice their time and privilege when the moment
But alas, here I am in 2020. insists, which it will. It demands modeling what I ask of them. It involves nudging my
And here’s what we got in the 2020 election: mother, with whom I’ve never talked politics, into meaningful conversations about them.
You can bet, if they championed one at all, Donald J. Trump was the presidential choice It involves fostering discourse about race and privilege in my classrooms, assigning
of all the white supremacists, white nationalists, racists. How can he own the commit- texts by Black writers and other people of color. It involves correcting or challenging
ted support of white supremacists and claim to support Black people, or any group other friends or colleagues when they say something I recognize as racially biased. It means
than whites for that matter? He can’t. Those are diametrically opposed constituencies. continuing to write about my people, trying to make sense of where we are and where
And I ain’t buying talk of his stance on “issues” being anything more than a minor fac- we go. It involves a lifetime embargo on arguing with fools—forever. It means the next
tor in their backing. That white people sanctioned him despite his manifold failures tes- time I hear a server cheer a racist, I stomp out the restaurant for good. It requires stay-
F

tifies that their support wasn’t, at heart, political but was, in fact, ideological. ing abreast of important issues beyond election years. It means refusing to let the hate
But at least now we know how many racists there are in the U. S. of A. And that’s of a racist transmute me into a lesser self, not because I love my enemy but rather, I shall
unprecedented: the data. not become them. It means knowing that all the above is required of me for all of my
How many, you ask? Try Trump’s final vote count. livelong days, no matter who lives in the White House.
And for sure, for sure, it includes acknowledging progress when I see it.
FOR TRUTH, I NEVER FULLY RECOVERED MY FAITH IN WHITE PEOPLE (FAITH BECAUSE Progress like: my daughter who at nineteen voted in her first election, and who has
much of it is belief in things unseen). Still, with something approaching it, I tuned in on ahead of her a lifetime of elections to register her resistance to hate. Again, and again.
November 3 to watch election coverage, watched half-hedging that these Disunited Go, Justice.

109 W I N T E R 2020/21
Statement of Ownership, THE BALLAD OF RON been serving an eighteen-month sentence for wire
Management, and Circulation fraud. He and his new prison buddy, Michael
AND DORINDA
1. Publication title: Esquire.
(continued from page 85)
Anthony, needed capital for a precious-metals
2. Publication number: 0561-9100.
3. Filing date: October 1, 2020. scheme they had cooked up, and they borrowed
4. Issue frequency: Bi-monthly, with combined issues
in April/May, Summer, October/November, and Winter. them denied it. Logbooks showed many were off some from a fellow con man, Ronald Ewing. When
5. Number of issues published annually: 6.
6. Annual subscription price: $7.97. duty on the days she claimed they’d threatened her. they didn’t pay him back, Ewing threatened to
7. Complete mailing address of known office of publica-
tion: 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019. Then there was Joyce Bailey Mattox, another expose their scam, and Ron and Anthony paid an
8. Complete mailing address of headquarters or general
business office of publisher: 300 West 57th Street, inmate at Pleasanton with an interesting rap sheet. ex-con $50,000 to murder him. The hit was sup-
New York, NY 10019.
9. Full names and complete mailing addresses of “Do you know Joyce Mattox?” asked Zanides. posed to be a “Houdini”—with Ewing decapitated
publisher, editor, and managing editor. Publisher:
Jack Essig, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019. “Yes, I do,” Dorinda said. and his body burned beyond recognition. The hit-
Editor: Michael Sebastian, 300 West 57th Street,
New York, NY 10019. Managing editor: John Kenney, 300 “She used to call you Mom, didn’t she?” man shot him, but then he panicked and fled.
West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019.
10. Owner: Hearst Magazine Media, Inc., registered office: “A lot of people call me Mom.” Ewing’s partially disrobed body was found in the
300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019.
Stockholders of Hearst Communications, Inc., are: Mattox was serving a forty-year sentence—for surf at Montara Beach a day later.
Hearst Magazine Media, Inc., registered office: 300 West
57th Street, New York, NY 10019.
hijacking a helicopter and breaking her boyfriend Homicide detectives questioned Ron in connec-
11. None. tion with the killing. But they didn’t have enough
12. Not applicable.
and two other men out of a South Carolina state
13. Publication title: Esquire. prison in 1985. Although I tried to talk to her for evidence to press charges. In November 1985, Ron
14. Issue date for circulation data below: September 2020.
15. Extent and nature of circulation: this story, I was never able to find her. arrived at Pleasanton to serve time for a parole vio-
Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months
A. Total number of copies: 670,637
“She used to hold court and show off her press lation and then the metals fraud.
B. Paid circulation (by mail and outside the mail)
1. Mailed outside-county paid
clippings,” Dorinda testified. “And yes, I was there In the summer of 1986, when he was making all
subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541: 542,421 when she did that.” those calls from Pleasanton, he was still being
2. Mailed in-county paid subscriptions stated
on PS Form 3541: not applicable In prison, Dorinda was overheard boasting, investigated for the murder, and he knew it. In
3. Paid distribution outside the mails
including sales through dealers and carriers, “Well, it would be really easy to do it here at June, he put in for a transfer, perhaps hoping for
street vendors, counter sales, and other
paid distribution outside USPS: 12,511 Pleasanton.” a furlough and a chance to escape before the inves-
4. Paid distribution by other classes
of mail through the USPS: not applicable On May 19, 1987, the jury retired for delibera- tigation advanced further. His anxiety, the sweats,
C. Total paid distribution: 554,932
D. Free or nominal rate distribution (by mail tions. Geoffrey Hansen, her defense attorney, the Ativan prescription—were those about Dorin-
and outside the mail)
1. Free or nominal rate outside-county barely had time to get a cup of coffee. “I went down da’s fears or his?
copies included on PS Form 3541: 63,636
2. Free or nominal rate in-county copies as the guy with the fastest guilty verdict in the his- Perhaps a little of both. When Dorinda began
included on PS Form 3541: not applicable
3. Free or nominal rate copies mailed tory of our office,” he said. complaining about threats, it complicated Ron’s
at other classes through the USPS: not applicable
4. Free or nominal rate distribution Before the sentencing hearing, Ron, Dorinda, plans. After jumping furlough, he might have got-
outside the mail: 8,712
E. Total free or nominal rate distribution: 72,348 and their attorneys descended to the basement ten away—if not for his going back with a
F. Total distribution: 627,280
G. Copies not distributed: 43,357 of the federal courthouse in San Francisco. “Judd helicopter.
H. Total: 670,637
I. Percent paid: 88.47% was a Universal Life minister, or whatever you After Ron was charged with murder, Dorinda
16. A. Requested and paid electronic copies: 72,679 could get through the mail,” said Hansen. “I was stayed loyal to him. “I didn’t think he was guilty
B. Total requested and paid print copies
and requested/paid electronic copies: 627,611 the witness.” then, and I don’t think he’s guilty now,” she told
C. Total requested copy distribution and
requested/paid electronic copies: 699,960 The bride wore a gray jumpsuit, as did me. “Ron wouldn’t do that. I would do that.” She
D. Percent paid and/or requested circulation
(both print and electronic copies): 89.66% the groom. felt somehow responsible. “I wish I’d walked away
No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date A few minutes later, the judge sentenced Dorinda and stayed away from him.”
A. Total number of copies: 603,400
B. Paid circulation (by mail and outside the mail) to five years in prison for the escape. Ron got five Dorinda began signing legal letters with the
1. Mailed outside-county paid
subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541: 492,458 years as well, plus twenty years for air piracy. The name “Mrs. Dorinda Lopez-McIntosh.” Because
2. Mailed in-county paid subscriptions stated
on PS Form 3541: not applicable man who’d had fifteen months left on his sentence, they had married, they were allowed to write each
3. Paid distribution outside the mails
including sales through dealers and carriers, the man who could have disappeared into the Cal- other letters and work on a book. (It never hap-
street vendors, counter sales, and other
paid distribution outside USPS: 13,000 ifornia countryside after jumping furlough, had pened.) They also made illegal phone calls to each
4. Paid distribution by other classes
of mail through the USPS: not applicable earned a quarter century in prison for going back other. Dorinda would call Ron’s mother in Seattle,
C. Total paid distribution: 505,458
D. Free or nominal rate distribution for his lover. and then she would set up a three-way party line.
1. Free or nominal rate outside-county
copies included on PS Form 3541: 57,966 And then, four days after their wedding, a jar- He proposed another escape plan—a comman-
2. Free or nominal rate in-county copies
included on PS Form 3541: not applicable
ring headline appeared on the front page of The deered deputy sheriff ’s car, a kidnapped state
3. Free or nominal rate copies mailed
at other classes through the USPS: not applicable
Sacramento Bee. Detectives were ready to file a new judge—but she was done running.
4. Free or nominal rate distribution criminal charge. She alternated between pitying him and lashing
outside the mail: 6,500
E. Total free or nominal rate distribution: 64,466 A teddy bear and dependable dope Ronald J. out. “Ron McIntosh is stupid,” she told a friend,
F. Total distribution: 569,924
G. Copies not distributed:
H. Total:
33,476
603,400
McIntosh was not. He’d been fooling Dorinda, pros- struggling to entertain the possibility that the man
I. Percent paid: 88.69% ecutors, jurors, and the press all along. If she had she married was capable of such violent acts.
16. A. Requested and paid electronic copies: 86,200 conned Ron, it now appeared that Ron had conned “Prison made him lose his mind.”
B. Total requested and paid print copies and
requested/paid electronic copies: 591,658 her right back. In December 1990, Ron was convicted of mur-
C. Total requested copy distribution and
requested/paid electronic copies: 656,124 der and given a life sentence. Ron and Dorinda
D. Percent paid and/or requested circulation
(both print and electronic copies): 90.17% LOVEBIRD TARGET OF SLAYING PROBE, the Bee never spoke again.
17. Publication of statement of ownership: If the publica- headline read, MCINTOSH SUSPECT IN 1984
tion is a general publication, publication of this state-
ment is required. Will be printed in the Winter 2020–21 KILLING. Dorinda set about doing her time. There were
issue of this publication.
18. Signature and title of editor, publisher, business From the maximum-security unit at Marianna, joys along the way. She busied herself with choir
manager, or owner: Jack Essig, Publisher
in Florida, Dorinda followed along as best she practice, religious services, and work in UNICOR,
I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and
complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or could. She was stunned by the allegations. the federal prison-labor program. Bosch, her
misleading information on this form or who omits material or
information requested on the form may be subject to crimi- In 1983, Ron had been walked out of Lompoc, “daughter” who escaped from Pleasanton, was
nal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civ-
il sanctions (including civil penalties). the minimum-security work camp, where he’d recaptured, and they were reunited in Florida.

110 W I N T E R 2020/2 1
They became even closer. Dorinda pushed her spent three decades in prison, minus ten days. Cut I thought it had meant something to Dorinda
around in a wheelchair when she was diagnosed off by her estranged children and with few friends, that I believe her version of events: that the escape
with rheumatoid arthritis. When Dorinda had back Dorinda moved to an assisted-living facility in Ari- was necessary to save her from threatening guards,
problems, Bosch pushed her around. zona. She liked the dry heat. The desert was a good that she had never manipulated Ron. Above all
“We were quite a pair,” Bosch said. spot for disappearing. From her apartment win- that, “it was a rescue,” she said. “That’s what I want
Dorinda converted to Catholicism and dow, Dorinda could see mountains. She hung up people to understand. It was a rescue.”
befriended Sister Anne Marie Raftery, a cheery two photos: her grandmother and Bosch, who was I came to realize that the prosecutor Mark
Irish-born nun. Raftery relished hearing Dorinda’s released in 2016. Dorinda adopted Abby and told Zanides wasn’t quite right about my relationship
story, even as she cast some doubt on Dorinda’s her stories about Ron at night before bed. with Dorinda. She wasn’t trying to con me. She
version of events. “She claims she didn’t know he On a Friday morning in March 2020, Dorinda wasn’t even trying to convince me. She was trying
was coming,” Raftery told me, and laughed. “Went found herself in a new kind of lockdown, this one to convince herself. She and Ron had destroyed
to see what was going on with the helicopter. All I imposed by COVID-19, and she decided to answer their lives for ten days in a Sacramento bedroom.
can say is ‘Hmm, what a coincidence.’ ” my telephone call. It was a rescue—it had to be.
Ron, meanwhile, was moving deeper into the I didn’t know it at first, but she was in touch with That’s the promise of love: a rescue. Someone
federal system. In 1999, he tipped off prison offi- someone else, too: Ron. They had returned to their spots you, trapped, alone, and in danger. He scoops
cials that a fellow inmate had bragged about sev- habit of passing each other messages through Gary you up, carries you from one life to another. Once
eral unsolved murders. Ron testified, but he was McDaniel, the private eye. Ron was advancing a you’re in the cockpit, only some are brave enough
not rewarded with a reduced sentence, as he’d new appeal, one that his lawyer was confident had to ask the question “Who are you?”
hoped. In 2001, he entered the Witness Security a real chance of success. The prospect of his free- Ron had failed her. He’d hidden the truth of
Program and was moved to a special prison unit. dom created a mess of emotions. himself: his pending murder charge. He’d care-
Dorinda flirted with guards and had new boy- Sometimes Dorinda was adamant that she lessly used a checking account to buy wedding
friends. But she couldn’t help thinking about didn’t want to see him. “I know he’s gotten older, rings. He’d screwed up, and she’d lost good years.
Ron. She asked Gary McDaniel, a private inves- too, but I don’t want him to see me in a wheel- “You see, my problem was I trusted Ron, and I
tigator in West Palm Beach who had taken up chair,” she said. “Men get older. Women look think that trust was misplaced,” she said. “I had
Ron’s appeal, to pass along love notes. McDan- older.” Other times she insisted she just wanted a right not to get caught. I had a right to stay free,
iel told her that Ron had lost his wedding ring in closure. Perhaps a phone call to reminisce and but I couldn’t.”
prison. Dorinda was furious. She threw hers out say a proper goodbye. Dorinda doesn’t live in a wheelchair in the Ari-
a window. But by May, they were getting chippy. “We are zona desert. Not really. She’s still up in the air. The
Dorinda’s health began to fail. She was moved having words,” she said. “He told me to move on engine roars. Her heart races. The prison gets flat
to a medical unit in Texas, and then in 2010, she with my life. ‘We had good memories. And we in the distance. And a stranger flies her in circles
was paroled on compassionate release. She had need to move on.’ ” to nowhere.

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111 W I N T E R 2020/2 1
 euphemisms for...
T H E E S Q U I R E E D I T O R I A L B O A R D E N D O R S E S _______________________________________________

ONCE, A BOY, NOWHERE NEAR A MAN, WAS TERRIFIED OF GETTING DRUNK.

D.A.R.E.’s finest graduate. Officer Rannigan told the boy never to get drunk, that alco-
hol will kill him, visions of a lifetime of strangers offering brown-bagged sips of the
devil’s juice swirling in the boy’s head. Nary a naughty sip of wine, save for Sunday
mass, until one shining, sinful day. The boy overheard a group of college kids dis-
cussing plans for getting . . . flambasted.
The boy longed to be flambasted more than he ever desired anything in this
world. Flambasted promised a healthy, rollicking time, sunshine and windows
down, friends being friends, a swig or four from this bottle right here, nothing
scary. The inaugural flambasting came when Mom was on a business trip, thirty
Dixie cups scattered across the dinner table. A splash of gin in each cup, all gone
in an hour. Everyone had fun but one, a kid who, overnight, would barf dinner
T H I S WAY OU T DEC LA RAT IONS

(meat loaf ), impressively, not on the cushions of his couch but between them.
The next morning: Head high, virginity lost, at long last, we were drunk, yes,
but more importantly, we’d been flambasted.
We weren’t drunk, that ghostly word that summons the spirits of your worst
college benders, the time you pissed on the dinosaur outside the natural-
history museum, the fateful night the fire department showed up after you
microwaved your roommate’s security system, or when you yacked meat
loaf in the couch cushions. Consider, before your next drink, and the
one after, and the third, how much is in the mind. You’re not drunk.
You’re flambasted. You’re feeling toasty, zooted, crunk, lit, fizzucked?
We endorse these dictive diversions. You’re really saying that you’re
having a good time, winking at life’s great ritual, not getting, you know,
drunk drunk, cause for lost keys and an Uber home.
You’re merry and oiled, well off your nut by now, loaded to the Plim-
soll mark. My God, you’re glowing! You’re tight, you’re feeling full to
the bung, comboozelated, woozy, and woofled. Quànjiŭ. Ganbei!
You’re legless, you’re a little red in the nose. You may be well on your
way to being goobered, pantsed, Chad Kroegered, or even as toasted
as an Olive Garden breadstick, and like history’s greatest scribes,
you can call it when you see it: The stranger is initiated into the mys-
teries of Gin-sling, Cocktail, Sangaree, Mint Julep, Sherry-cobbler,
Timber Doodle, and other rare drinks (Charles Dickens, American
Notes for General Circulation). Everybody in the club gettin’ tipsy
( J-Kwon, “Tipsy”). Tell us what you want, what you really, really
want: to get Scary Spiced? Would you like to get buttered? How
much: a light coat or a lathering? Officer Rannigan, would you
like to get flambasted?

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