Breakfast Clubbing #36

Week of December 16th. BC is ON in PDX, Miami, Williamsburg, The Hamptons, Cincinnati, Vegas, SoMA (Jersey) and Los Angeles (East Side). PLUS: Breakfast Club happy hour cocktails - NYC 12/19. Read on.

Dec 16, 2024

Hi all,

Penultimate Breakfast Clubbing of the year - I’m going to take next week off from the newsletter, returning on Monday the 30th, since only one BC chapter will convene next week (the indomitable PDX, on Tuesday 12/24).

That said, we’re still on in eight locations this week AND we’re doing the first-ever Breakfast Club Happy Hour on Thursday (19th). More on that below, but suffice it to say 2024 has been a great year for BC and it’s definitely worth a toast. Please join if you can make it- everyone’s invited, especially you (and your friends/colleagues).

Before we say cheers, I want to offer a HUGE thanks to all of you who’ve joined a Breakfast Club event this year, and an even bigger thank you to the intrepid folks who’ve hosted, where ever you are in the world.

It takes a bold worldview and, conversely, a willingness to be vulnerable, to show up and be ready to welcome all comers, listen, and to rally like minds.

Being a part of Breakfast Club you’ve proven you can hold two truths at the same time - and I think that’s worth noting. Here’s to more breakfast in 2025.

Matter of fact, I’ll drink to it….

Breakfast Club Year End Happy Hour this Thursday 6pm at 53AD.

It’s hosted by Empirical Spirits, the Copenhagen-born craft spirits distiller which came out of the kitchen at NOMA and is set on carving a new, “uncategorized” niche into the category.

Breakfast Club guests who arrive in the 6-7p window can join me in a special Shot of cilantro + chaser shot of house-made verdita + can of Monopolio Lager combo (redolent of the classic “three Amigos”) and at 7ish we’ll get a ‘tour’ of Empirical and maybe a preview of some flavors in development. I’ve done this previously and it’s pretty great - all arranged by BC stalwarts who’ve joined the team at Empirical.

So, come hang on Thurs. Will be fun.

Breakfast Club Year End Happy Hour
6pm @ 53AD 53 Scott Ave, Bushwick (Next door to Elsewhere, and near by the Jefferson L Train Stop.

And in the meantime, a reminder of …

`The Breakfast Club Esprit de Corps`

* Everyone’s invited - especially you.

* Feel free to share, bring friends, colleagues, family, anyone.

* No agenda, no required buy-in, no RSVP. And no pitches.

* Everyone pays their own way.

* Everyone is welcome to subscribe. Join the Linkedin group here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14449223/

Breakfast Club Events This Week:

Tuesday, December 17th

Portland, OR

Co-hosted by Scott Crane and Nina Sers
9a @ Proud Mary

Wednesday, December 18th

Miami

Co-Hosted by Jeff Carvalho and Jesse Kirshbaum
8:30a @ Novella Cafe Social

Brooklyn (Williamsburg)

Hosted by me and a gang of regulars
8:30a @ Le Crocodile at The Wythe Hotel

The Hamptons

Co-hosted by Mike Kilcoyne
8:30a @ Tutto Cafe

Thurssday, December 18th

Cincinnati

Co-Hosted by Theo Erasmus and Emmit Jones
8:30am @ Mom and Em Coffee

Las Vegas

Co-Hosted by Steph Balzer
8a @PublicUs

Los Angeles (East Side)

Co-Hosted by Isaac Bess & Michael J. Miraflor
9a @ Friends & Family

Friday, December 20th

New Jersey (SOMa)

Co-Hosted by Evie Bear and James Friedman
9:15a @ Arties

Upcoming Breakfast Club Events

* 12.24: Portland OR

* 1.16: Vienna

Breakfast Club Events Last Week

Breakfast Club PDX – 12.10.2024

This morning we were happily joined by newcomer Marjorie Skinner and enjoyed the company of returning friends Lena Fridman, Kara Place, jeff weithman (who somehow got cut out of the picture), shannon holt, Brian Mark, and welcomed back my co-host Nina Sers from a week in Australia. (Note: none of us were ready for that photo.)

In true BC form, we covered a wide range of topics...

• The exhausting travel marathon of the return trip from Australia and the long recovery time.

• Kara gave us some fascinating background on The Wizard of Oz and its political subtext. How old were you when you first saw it? How does Wicked hold up to it?

• How much of our childhood entertainment is/was age inappropriate? (As a child of the 70’s/80’s, personally, it was a whole lot.)

• The role of Sesame Street and The Muppets in modern culture, the exhaustive list of celebrities and legacy artists that appeared on both, appearances that didn't age well, and the noticeable absence of some in particular who never made the cut.

• Hero, villain, or patsy? Hot conversation around the death of an insurance executive.

• Can Portland ever regain its standing as a great music city? I humbly offer that it is quietly doing so right now (with Esperanza Spalding, Be Present Art Group, Yawa, Brown Calculus, WRK, Jacque Hammond, Haley Heynderickx, Ural Thomas, Aan, Sun Atoms, Human Touch, Fresh Selects, Mama Bird...). Is the dream of the 90's still alive?

• The slow rise of PDX Jazz to become one of the best Jazz festivals going today.

• The sad death of long-standing independent arts and entertainment papers, here in Portland and in so many other cities.

• How do you find out about cultural happenings? Is there any one reliable genre-agnostic source, or do you have to cobble it together yourself? (We are mostly struggling with the latter.)

• The tragedy of ruining classic properties with ugly dated upgrades and the slippery ways developers remove protected properties from the national register.

• Hidden gems of small towns in Oregon (we see you Lostine and Joseph).

• The haunted beauty of Astoria, home to the Goonies, robber barons and, perhaps, actual pirates.

• And general chat on what we're all doing for the holidays...

What did everyone else talk about?

And we decided that we are in fact meeting on Christmas Eve for those who can join us. We’re keeping it going in some iteration every Tuesday that Proud Mary is open to host us. Follow Ben Dietz for the latest on ours and weekly Breakfast Club happenings around the globe. Everyone’s invited, especially you. Hope you can make one soon!

Breakfast Club MIlano Report 12.11.24

Per Charla’s post: That's All Folks.

And like that, we wrapped up 2024 with a great group of humans at our 5th and extra special holiday edition of 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐥𝐮𝐛 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐨! A heartfelt thank you goes out to all you Breakfast Clubbers who joined us over the months, sharing coffee, brioche, and conversations with new faces and old friends.

The Brand Partners Group, Alessandro Carnicella, and his team truly outdid themselves in creating a full breakfast spread at their chic Milan space—a special shoutout to Francesco Fanizza, whose camera work captured the event's vibe.

Many conversations and connections were made—too many to recount here. My apologies for the oversight!

But fear not, for we’ll be jumping back into the excitement of Breakfast Club in 2025! Watch this space for the date of our January BCM.

Remember 📨 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧, 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐥𝐮𝐛 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐈𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩: https://lnkd.in/eJZpdZDp

Moritz Gaudlitz Giorgio Bartoli Ben Dietz Amal Avramides Sarah Baccenetti Max Bosio Simone Polga Lullu Brandt Giorgia Crepaldi Elizabeth De Filippo-Jones Camilla F. Alessandro Innocenti Elettra Fiumi Marco Milioli Giulia Moretti Anna Maroncelli Diana Tessarolo Sofija Nikolic Laura Pianazza Maurizio Ribotti Kristina Svensson Antonella testi Flora Coluccia Alessandro Ernesto Silvia Angeli Simone Baudo Maddalena Bertoli Tedeschi Caterina Cadeo Francesco Francavilla Silvia Fregolent Luca Genova Inès Makula Susanna Nicoletti Sarah Garcia Delporte and the many more whom I might not have captured.

Breakfast Club Report 12.11.24:

Per my Post: At my end we talked salary slashing, headhunters and their incentives, incorporating small businesses, Americano wrangling, head to toe Japanese Denim, ambient lighting schemes, exciting new wine regions, the upcoming Breakfast Club Happy Hour on Dec 19th at Empirical's bar 53 AD, the mystery of brand film tactics today, Spike Jonze and Margaret Qualley's KENZO Mode film, the film "Emilia Perez," whether the measure of success is on YouTube or TikTok, whether TikTok gets banned, Luigi in rhe monoculture, what if Trump pardons him, the real life "Anora" story (Hunter Biden), achieving a place in the American tapestry, the current crypto zeitgeist, where the utility deviates from the use case, the value of regulation, the CEO of Ripple on 60 MINUTES, shitcoins as the American dream, how we balance individual outcomes vs collective benefit, the dogecoin millionaire stuck in Brazil, reconciling what you believe with how you live, and lots more.

The gang this morning was Randy Paul, Nick Bodor, Michael “Zimmie” Szymkiewicz, Gray Broderick, Peter Gaston, Leonardo Olafsson, Anthony Demby, Eric Korsh, Julie Stein, Brianna Hawkins, Jared Ray Johnson, Ian Edgar, James Wohl, Zachary Mallard, Zaira Stefani Vallejo, Kalil Greenberg, Ariel Abramov, Theophilus Wells IV and me.

We do this every Wednesday at 8:30 at Le Crocodile Restaurant - come hang sometime. Join the Linkedin Group (xx) or subscribe to the Monday "Breakfast Clubbing" newsletter for all the info - in NYC and around the world [https://lnkd.in/eyvtRq7Z]. Everyone's invited, especially you.

Breakfast Club Hudson Report 12.11.24

Per Peter’s post: A solid crew braved ugly rain for the second Breakfast Club Hudson.

We're having so much fun, we will be doing this once a month.

We weren't able to get everyone in the shot, but lots of love to:

Mark DePace, Tim Pugh, Ivy Dane, Jonathan Bush, Debra Trebitz, Robin Fischman, Chad Smith, Christina Dittmar, Phil Pinto, Kennedy Davey, Patrick Brodeur, Cat Tyc, Daron Hollowell, Morgan Turner, and Jill Cozza-Turner.

Thank you Ben Dietz

See you all in the New Year.

Breakfast Club Miami 12.11.24

Per Jeff’s Post: Breakfast Club Miami celebrated art week w SCOPE Art Show and @art last Wednesday. A huge thanks for hosting our crew!

Our regular Wednesday resumed yesterday at Oasis Wynwood. A big hello to Walshy of Major Lazer, Barbara Torasso, Gary Reisman and Ishan Bhaumik for joining us this week alongside Rachelle Elbaz, Sarween Salih, Simone Berry 🇯🇲, Justin Elliott, Daniel Feldstein, Dan Bettan, Bill Spector, and Alina Sushchenko.

Breakfast Club CDMX Report 12.11.24

Per Steve’s Post: Resigning from a fully remote job (isolating!) in favor of a job in-office (isolating in a different way!) // How the most popular tours in CDMX are Teotihuacan, Centro, and Lucha Libre // A brief sidebar on the pandemic as the mother of all recent things // Christmas traditions in Mexico // Posadas // A recommendation to try romeritos of boiled seaweed served in mole sauce with dried shrimp and fish // The levels of learning Spanish // How it’s possible to be fluent when talking to one person, conversational when talking to two, and an absolute pendejo when three or more Latinos are trying to speak at the same time // How Americans don’t always celebrate Christmas Eve but Latinos very much do // How your Latina girlfriend will burst into tears if you didn’t make plans for that evening, compelling you to find martinis and cake at the nearest bar — that most American of mangers, one where the wisest men are the ones who refill your glass //

Today we were a merry four, including Maru M. Iglesias, Rodrigo y Flawer!

That's a wrap for Breakfast Club CDMX this year, and we'll see y'all again in January!

As always, if you're traveling to CDMX or call it your home, I hope you'll join us on a Wednesday AM in 2025! 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

Breakfast Club San Francisco Report 12.11.24

per Eve’s Post: Breakfast Club did it again!

What a welcome reminder of the power of open conversation among creative and curious people. The aperture of my mind is expanded on Wednesday mornings, join us to open yours.

At the table and overheard: Artisan’s unattractive and gimmicky AI ads. The zero-sum work fallacy (do we just make more work for ourselves?). Time-capsule this convo. (in 10 years will we laugh at our present perspectives?). At one point computers made people print more. Peter Speer. Business of Meaning. Australia banned social media. What is wisdom? and making it a priority again. What is new is old. Familial wisdom. Your gift to other generations? Presence is a present. Independent eight hours a day outside during summers. The value of being responsible for something. IRL spaces to be heard and practice hard conversations. Student government. Search and rescue. Power dynamics. Asking junior contributors to share their voices and ideas. Throw your log on the fire. People come to a panel wanting to be heard. The Art of Gathering. The inherent need to be useful. Soft White Underbelly.

Thank you to the 12/11 crew: Graeme Lindsay, Magali Charmot, Arno Hesse, Chris M. Gillespie, and me.

P.s. We will take a pause for the holidays, to be continued Jan. 8th. See you in the new year!

Breakfast Club x London 12.12.24 Report

Per Amy’s Post: Thank you to my lovely co-host, Charlotte Williams, and this merry mix of first and keep-coming favourites.

Mara Dettmann, Aziza O'Beirne, Angela Balakrishnan, James Walters,, Eva Jasiecka, Ramona Daniel, Sarah Hyndman, Natalia Talkowska, Tim Sparke, Marie-Theres Riegler, Mary Barrington-Ward and Nick Griffiths

And, always the, BC OG Ben Dietz

And we'd be remiss not to mention our London space, Foyles (W&G Foyle Ltd); they've always made us feel welcome, and their cafe is truly a beating heart in this part of town.

Buy books, read books, and support those authors [and high street sellers] who light up our minds.

Breakfast Club DTBK Report 12.11.24

Per Kat’s Post: Today was our final Breakfast Club of 2024 at The Ace Hotel / Atelier Ace Brooklyn! We’ve been gathering every week for the best part of the past year for breakfast and great conversation.

Thank you to Lynn Juang for hosting today and for every single host who made time to gather in community these past few months:

Marina Garcia-Vasquez Jill Meisner

Kimberly Aguilera Ebenezer Bond Cooper Cheatham (He/Him) Sherlen Archibald Nadia Nascimento Jasmine Takanikos Joe Fucigna Hardeep Gill Kim Mackenzie Amanda Dell Amy Daroukakis Arielle Nissenblatt Adam Katz Jade Akintola Piers Fawkes ari levine Christine Huang Alia Aljunied Jane Kate Wong Asmeret Berhe-Lumax Yukari Pass Martha M. Garcia Joyce de Lemos Dilys Ng

It still surprises people that we do this every week and its “just breakfast”. That there’s no agenda, or pitching or ice breaker. It’s a testament to what Ben Dietz started after the pandemic and a poignant reminder that no matter the newsletters and summits and conferences and meetings and zooms and all the infinite ways we can meet in this modern world, nothing beats the classic way of meeting up over of food.

To everyone who came today, and our regulars who show up every week, thank you for bringing the energy - we’ll be back in 2025. Look out for updates & host announcements!

Breakfast Club Melbourne Report 13.12.24

Per Celeste’s post: What a great way to close out Melbourne Breakfast Club for 2024. A great end to the week, with much discussion on the holiday period ahead, the impending heatwaves of Melbourne and much more.

It's been such a brilliant start to Melbourne BC, looking forward to continuing in 2025. The idea of taking a moment to meet IRL and talk all the hot topics of the day, that was started by Ben Dietz in NYC and continues to grow swiftly, is an excellent opportunity to connect and discuss.

This week hosted by Josh Gardiner and myself at The StandardX, Melbourne we had Thihan C., Steph Clarke, Edel Madden, Catherine Baldwin and more (apologies to those untagged - too many intriguing conversations).

Keep an eye out for February 2025 Melbourne BC.

Breakfast Club Portland [Maine] Report 12.13.24

Per Michele’s Post: On this chilly winter early morning, Breakfast Club Portland, ME edition gathered to catch up just before the holidays. We even had someone come up from Boston to join us - Brian Hurst.

Attendees today: Colleen Quint Michael Krishnan Matthew Carle Gillian Britt David Goldberg Amy Tessendorf

Topics covered (to name a few): Playlists for stacking wood, making predictions with the help of ChatGPT, year-end review season, our love of the comfy bus to NYC, mergers and acquisitions, real estate prices, the evolution of the company holiday party, the many connections to Quincy, MA, climbing all the tallest peaks in New England.

🗓️See you Thursday, Jan. 30th for the next one. 8am, Salt Yard.

cc: co-host Lydia Wagner

Breakfast Club LA West 12.13.24

Per Kirsten’s post: Filled with gratitude for this amazing Breakfast Club community.

Thank you to each and every one of you who have shown up - as you are truly the ones who have brought this thing to life.

And to my amazing breakfast besties, Anita Schillhorn van Veen, Scott Donaton, and Ben Dietz from afar.

Thank you for showing us all the power of community.

See you next year!