Another Alice connection leaves us and reminds me of how vast and colorful her circle of friends was….

I have posted about about William (Billy) and Chessy Rayner in the past but was reminded of how wonderfully attractive, interesting and yet forgotten (?) some of Alice’s friends have become. I share a small montage of Chessy here and am especially fond of the pic of her on the beach at Alice’s place at 1425 S. Ocean, circa 1958.

It’s not Chessy who died this week (that sad day was in 1988) but her business partner Mica Ertegun whose obit is a captivating read in today’s New York Times – here’s a little morsel but do read the entire obit….

“Mica Ertegun, the New York doyenne of interior design who fled from Communism in postwar Romania, ran a chicken farm in Canada, married a legend of American pop music, and for 50 years dazzled her patrons with stylish décor, died on Saturday at her home in Southampton, N.Y. She was 97. Mrs. Ertegun and the socialite Chessy Rayner founded the interior design firm MAC II in 1967 (the initials stood for “Mica and Chessy”) and presided over the décor of sumptuous apartments and grand homes in North and South America, Europe and the Middle East. Her husband, meanwhile, helped shape the careers of megastars like Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Bobby Darin, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones.“

(https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/02/style/mica-ertegun-dead.html