The Top 10 Toys of Summer

Few entertainments can match the pomp that Thoroughbred racing affords its spectators, as Jack Smith observes in this month’s article on the Maker’s Mark Mile (see “Spirit of 46,” page 141). Yet the sport of kings has not always been a pastime in which monarchs could indulge with impunity. As Prince of Wales, Edward VII […]

Most of Europe’s elite golf courses are clustered in the British Isles and, to a lesser extent, the Iberian Peninsula. Like its joie-de-vivre-centric counterpart Italy, France has always been an underachiever when it comes to this particular leisure pursuit. But the Gallic golfing landscape is not without its gems, most notably the forested and mysterious […]

When Randy Barnett wanted to replicate the long-discontinued plastic tortoiseshell eyeglass frames that he had been wearing for three decades, he could not find a source capable of creating an acceptable reproduction. He discovered that many eyewear stores would build semicustom frames from metal components, but he was surprised to learn that nobody was making […]

During a trip to London in 1992, John Levitties wandered into a stall at one of the city’s antiques markets and came across an early-20th-century silver tea service by the late Archibald Knox. Unfamiliar with the Englishman’s work, Levitties, then a graduate student of American cultural history at the University of Pennsylvania, borrowed a book […]

For most of the 20th century, Switzerland’s Hôtel du Parc was an exclusive retreat for European nobles and other distinguished guests. The Belle Epoque property—set high above Lake Geneva in the Alpine village of Mont Pèlerin—closed as a hotel in 2000, but the landmark is readying to reemerge as a more permanent refuge for an […]

Every year, Gail Nissly and her husband, Everett, take an adventurous journey far from their Cincinnati home. The couple—ages 60 and 70, respectively—have white-water rafted from Alaska into the Arctic Ocean, hiked the Mont Blanc circuit, dogsledded above the Arctic Circle, and scaled Kilimanjaro. But it was in Antarctica, on a trip last November with […]

In 1911, Crans-Montana distinguished itself as a ski destination by hosting the first major downhill racing event in the sport’s history. But it was sun, rather than snow, that first attracted visitors to this resort town in the Swiss Alps. At the turn of the 20th century, health-conscious tourists and tuberculosis patients began flocking to […]

‘‘The room is like a museum,’’ says 28-year-old Christopher Hache of the recently revamped dining salon at Hôtel de Crillon’s Les Ambassadeurs, the century-old Parisian temple of gastronomy where, in April, he took charge of the kitchen. Once the ballroom of an 18th-century private palace and now a historic monument, the majestic space is filled […]

With any investment, timing is everything. Well-honed instincts have played a crucial role in the professional life of Frank Husic, founder and managing partner of Husic Capital Management. But the deal that transformed his life and that of his wife, Julie, was more a matter of accident than acumen. While looking for a home outside […]

‘‘It’s something of an experiment,” says Stefan Ihnen of the latest tourbillon movement released by IWC. The Tourbillon Hand-Wound, which was recently added to the company’s Portuguese watch line, combines high-quality watchmaking with the clean lines collectors desire. But more importantly for the 36-year-old Ihnen, who has served as head of IWC’s movement research and […]

Arcadia Yachts arrived at the Düsseldorf International Boat Show in January hoping to draw attention to the new Arcadia 85′. It didn’t take long for the shipyard’s presence to pay off: The second hull from the nascent builder’s 85-foot line sold within 12 minutes of the show’s opening. A subsidiary of the Italian industrial group […]

The name Superleggera (Italian for “superlight”) is nothing new to Lamborghini’s baby bull. Only three years have passed since weight-shedding was applied to the Superleggera Gallardo, which—despite its overly responsive carbon-ceramic brakes—was the first modern-day Lamborghini to challenge the handling capabilities of Ferrari’s road cars. More than 600 Superleggera models were sold in its only […]

During the formative decades of the luxury motorcar, oversize was a virtue. Girth was good, and bigger was even better. One of the outward signs of a driver’s financial success was automotive excess. A Bugatti Royale weighed more and stretched farther than today’s Hummers and dually trucks. Vehicles bearing the badges of Cadillac, Delahaye, Lincoln, […]

The stunning, sparsely populated Big Sur coast attracts those seeking the most leisurely of California lifestyles—no exception the retired business executive and his wife who four years ago acquired this two-and-a-half-acre stretch 1,000 feet above the Pacific. “My husband and I had been visiting [Big Sur’s] Ventana Inn every year for 18 years and had […]

Since the launch of the original XJ6 in 1968, Jaguar fanciers have regarded the XJ as one of the world’s sexiest sedans. For more than four decades, Sir William Lyons’ formal four-door aged gracefully, showing improvements through each subsequent generation of the model. Every XJ combined the traditional accoutrements of British luxury with the aesthetic […]

As the daughter of a sculptor and the granddaughter of an architect, jewelry designer Cindy Chao developed an awareness of the arts at a young age. As she grew older, Chao knew she would pursue an artistic career, but she was uncertain about the medium she would employ to express her creativity. She ultimately chose […]

The 14th running of the Maker’s Mark Mile is just minutes away, and the moment here at Keeneland—the fabled horse track in Lexington, Ky.—is magic. Pink and white blossoms veil the dogwoods; tents striped in green and cream billow like sails over the lawn; and brass-buttoned blazers attire the male onlookers, while broad-brimmed hats and […]

In April, financial services entrepreneur Peter Mullin opened the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, Calif., to showcase his collection of more than 100 pre–World War II Bugattis, Delahayes, Talbot-Lagos, and other fine and rare vehicles. For Mullin, cofounder and chairman of M Financial and M Life, sharing his automobiles with the public is a natural […]