McLarens and members' clubs: the new Catskills.
We'll have to discuss the local off-the-record gossip IRL.
Hi everyone. Substack fucked up my newsletter this morning, so you’re getting this two hours later from when I originally sent it.
This is a problem! And I’m very upset about it. Hopefully we can figure out together why this happened, so I don’t remain silenced in cyberspace. I’m genuinely curious how bugs like this work (letters getting stuck while queuing in mass mailers).
Good morning everyone. Last week I ran into my neighbor Gabriella Paiella on a walk, and when I told her I was going to Accord for the weekend, she joked, “They keep inventing new towns upstate.” And it really does feel like that sometimes. (By the week, have you read Gabriella’s cover story on Paul Mescal that dropped this morning?)
I spent my weekend in the Catskills checking out all of the new hotels I keep reading about, and making friends with strangers in hotel bars. This letter is about the changing area of upstate New York, plus I texted Derek Blasberg about his new Harper’s Bazaar column, a podcaster just closed a $400mm VC fund, and more media titans are joining Substack.
INNESS
I really like hotels. I don’t buy bags or get my nails done or pay extra for good seats on airplanes, but I really like hotels. Spending money in exchange for spending time in another constructed world and using as many towels as I want is a very reasonable thing for me to do from time to time. And it’s good for my writing and my spirit. And my sleep.
On Saturday I stayed at a hotel called Inness. Seeing the changing colors of the leaves this time of year upstate (or on Long Island or in Vermont or Maine or whatever) is one of the most magnificent human experiences to me. A few weeks ago I texted some friends asking about Inness, and Wildflower, and Troutbeck and Piaule. I ended up booking Inness.
There are two options for rooms: individual cabins which are massive, with high ceilings and your own fireplaces (where I stayed) or rooms within the 12-room farmhouse (where I did not stay but we frequented this well-stocked bar based on the honor system, and made friends in the common areas). Everything was extremely cozy and detail oriented. Kind of like a very tasteful, rich person’s living room in Connecticut who subscribes to Arch Digest.
The restaurant was pretty good. The wine list was awesome. The spa was really special, we were there on a very rainy day and didn’t end up using the facilities because we decided to go on an off-road adventure instead. But I can tell you right now, everyone in that spa looked blissed out. I’d imagine it feeling close to heaven during the winter months while watching the snow outside. Everyone walking out of the spa’s yoga studio looked happy.
Other guests included young families with dogs and babies, groups of women my age buying bottles of wine and taking photos of the sunset, and young couples who probably identify as engaged, trying out beds and Inness’s restaurant before inquiring about wedding costs (I heard they start at $150k) for 2025. I saw one very intense tripod and rig just to shoot marshmallow and wine content by the fire pit. Like you’d think it was a music video or small film with all the Manfrotto gear.
Something else going on at Inness is that they have a members’ club. A lot of people with money from the city are moving up to Accord, and for $2,200 a year they can use Inness’s amenities and co-work in the shared hotel areas. If you think that’s crazy, you should talk to a local about the new $200k membership fee at Windham Mountain — local shredder gossip about this was sadly, off-the-record.