tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521847710874444875.post4610724842859636078..comments2024-01-04T11:29:50.296-08:00Comments on THE WULFSHEAD: The Petit TrianonNausicaahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10316597236758211957noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521847710874444875.post-60244238543713302862010-06-01T00:47:03.764-07:002010-06-01T00:47:03.764-07:00The Taft spirit of rich and poor still prevails in...The Taft spirit of rich and poor still prevails in Ohio.jazzologhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16647170784964378640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521847710874444875.post-77163071026616230152010-05-31T16:01:54.420-07:002010-05-31T16:01:54.420-07:00Louis XIV would have made a bigger bathtub, just n...Louis XIV would have made a bigger bathtub, just not to be outdone.<br /><br />In Indianapolis there's a place called the Columbia Club, on Monument Circle, the heart of town. (I wouldn't recommend Indianapolis to anybody.) This used to be an exclusive Republican club, for rich Hoosiers. Hoagy Carmichael once led the band there before going on to bigger things.<br /><br />A rich uncle of mine (by marriage) once took me inside expecting to impress me. I was in high school at the time and unimpressed. In fact I was a little puzzled by his lack of ease considering his millions were as good as anyone else's. What’s more, any kid growing up in Greenwich Village isn’t impressed by seeing famous persons, especially a Republican.<br /><br />But the Columbia Club appears to have fallen on hard times, since they accept overnight lodgers now. I stayed there one night some time ago and would recommend it if, for some reason, you ever stay in Indianapolis. For it has all the opulent swank a rich Republican social club from the nineteen twenties can offer. In fact, that atmosphere is much of what makes the place fascinating.<br /><br />These rich folk knew how to restrain themselves. They created a great deal of emphatic luxury without ever really overdoing it. Though some of their decorative baubles reach out to the limits, including a piece of furniture President Howard Taft donated to the club. Nothing folksy about that gift, decently reflecting back upon the overall modesty of the American people in his time. This was an expression of pure unadulterated wealth, even creating a large sense of a royal presidency back in Washington. Blatantly combining power and money as if they naturally belong together, even in a wide ranging democracy. The overall message of this luxurious object being that the president was just reassuring the boys back in Indianapolis that he knew what was truly worthy, and not to worry.Quintyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04353505559085634434noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6521847710874444875.post-90655052753332833972010-05-31T02:29:48.843-07:002010-05-31T02:29:48.843-07:00While you toured the palace, we drove over to Cinc...While you toured the palace, we drove over to Cincinnati and found ourselves in something called the Taft Museum: another royal residence converted for public consumption: assuredly a tax break---and a way to store sumptuous art collected by a family that obviously had WAY too much money. <br /><br />The Rembrandt is a revelation.<br /><br />The big bathtub is not here.jazzologhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16647170784964378640noreply@blogger.com