Nobrow New York

Today is a great day to be me! It is one of my favorite times in New York City. It is NASCAR championship week! My redneck brethren are descending upon the Waldorn Astoria Hotel. There is a parade of cars through Times Square. Drivers are popping up everywhere (though not on letterman this year, due to the strike). One year I went and sat in the bar at the Waldorf Astoria the night of the banquet and watched the crowds. It was great. It wasn't the NASCAR suits inside that were amusing so much as the crowds of fans outside in their NASCAR gear and the few (admittedly like me) who managed to get inside. Having the marketing monster that is NASCAR take over the world's most elegant hotel is the height of nobrow. I mean, it's the Waldorf: it was the residence of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. No other place in America can claim to have been the home of a former king of England. (of course it was nobrow without NASCAR: it is also the New York residence of the Hilton Sisters. They own it now. Why not?)