The Revival of Dinner Parties

There’s been a dinner party revival in Manhattan in the past several years. 

A have half a dozen friends who regularly host, sometimes in their homes and sometimes in restaurants. And I know of many more people who organize suppers. 

I remember my parents hosting friends on a regular basis when I was young. For some reason it fell out of favor. In New York, that might be in part because people have small apartments. 

The end of Covid has been a catalyst for people to prioritize connection and to get together again. Dinner parties are perfect for that. 

Often the dinners are built around networking, particularly in the tech community. But many are collections of random people seeking community.

Some of them are more structured than others, with a theme to discuss or a prompt to speak about. Others are free-form and unpredictable. 

When done right, they spark some extraordinary conversations. 

I attended two dinners recently that were notable. The people ranged in age from 30s to 60s. Many were married with kids, though they largely came alone. 

The surprising part was that once we got talking and went around the table to ask what people were doing, most people said they were “figuring out what was next.”

They weren’t lost. More restless and ambitious and eager in a way that I wouldn’t have expected given their age and accomplishments. 

It’s the kind of insight you can only get by attending.

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BRIEF OBSERVATIONS

OLD SCHOOL: It’s sort of amazing that in the heart of the West Village, one one of the great streets - Cornelia - there are still old school gems like this laundromat. The world changes but not all at once. Everything takes time. Enjoy it while it lasts.

JEFFERSON MARKET LIBRARY: New York City’s recently renovated Jefferson Market Library is one of the great places to spend a day studying.

RECOMMENDATION LETTER: “Mr. Nash is a mathematical genius.” Imagine having someone write a recommendation letter for you that looked anything like this.

NIGHT VISION: One of the trends we keep seeing is that as new tech is created - such as night vision goggles - it at first seems unwieldly, but gradually gets incorporated into the products we already use and gets widely adopted.

THE HOTTEST RESTAURANTS: Products eventually drive to the lowest common denominator, in this case a map to show which restaurants have the hottest customers.

Please reach out if you have any thoughts about today’s newsletter. I enjoy hearing from readers. Send me a message if you want to talk or meet up if you are in NYC.

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