Despite what it might look like at first glance, this isn’t some sort of archaic torture device or early attempt at mind control—it’s a perm machine used to give straight-haired women of the 1930s natural-looking wavy locks. To achieve the desired look, hair was first treated with a chemical and then wound around electrically heated clamps, sometimes resulting in perfect cascading waves. (Unlucky beauty buffs instead suffered scalp burns or hair loss.) Regardless of the risks, perm machines of the sort were all the rage, even making a mark on the 1930s zeitgeist when one was featured in the 1932 comedy The Greeks Had a Word for Them.
Saratoga, which at the time was well on its way to becoming a bona fide wellness hot spot because of its healing mineral springs, stayed right on the beauty trends of the era. The destination spa town boasted at least one such contraption (pictured here), at 344 Broadway, a salon operated by hairdresser Kathryn M. Conley. While you won’t find one of these machines at Complexions—and the perm trend has given way to textured, beachy waves—one thing hasn’t changed: Saratoga’s women still aren’t afraid to go to great lengths for the next hot hairstyle.
The silver lining to finding mold beneath the tiles in your shower? It’s the perfect excuse for a bathroom remodel! Just ask Diane Meyer, a designer at Interior Designs Atelier, a Saratoga-based firm owned by Linda Gerace. Meyer helped one Glenmont couple turn their nightmare of a primary bathroom into a modern Moroccan oasis.
The main attraction of the remodel is, unquestionably, the tilework. “I selected zellige, a hand-crafted glazed clay tile made in Morocco that’s known for its incredible dimension and imperfection,” Meyer says. “It’s made the same way as it was 600 years ago.” The process involves mixing clay from the Moroccan region of Fez with water, hand-shaping the mixture, and then drying it in large sheets. These sheets are then glazed and manually cut into tiles using a sharp hammer. The result? Geometric shapes that vary in color and thickness but create a perfectly imperfect mosaic of sorts when covering a bathroom wall. (The technique has become so popular that Kendall Jenner covered the walls of her LA bathroom with square, emerald green zellige tiles.) “I had the tile installed in a double herringbone pattern from floor to ceiling on two walls,” Meyer continues, “and kept the remaining walls and complementary materials to a minimum to showcase the color and depth of the tiles.”
Shaker-inspired cabinetry, LED backlit mirrors and staggered lighting pendants over the vanity complete the cool, clean and classic space…Now off to look for mold in the kitchen.
The Spa Park rules the winter with two outdoor ice rinks so beloved that as soon as the holidays pass, dozens of committed skaters call the park every single day asking if the ice is ready—which the park also announces with great fanfare on its Facebook page. The bigger rink, 225 by 75 feet, magically appears in front of the picture-perfect Victoria Pool (and is thus dubbed “Vic Mall”) and the other, 150 by 75 feet, is near the Roosevelt II Bath House (nicknamed “Admin Mall”). Once they get going, the rinks are open 8am to dusk; bring your own skates, as rentals aren’t available. Need a quick warm-me-up? Stop by Wired Coffee Roasters in the Roosevelt II building for coffee or hot chocolate (and restrooms), or head to the warming hut near the Route 9 entrance to the park to toast those tootsies around the indoor fire.
Fun factGeneral skating is more common on the Admin Mall, with hockey games more likely to break out on the Vic Mall—but there are no actual rules about rink usage.
2.Gavin Park
Not a resident of the Town of Wilton? No problem. Everyone is welcome to glide about on the 80-by-120 foot ice rink in Gavin Park’s new picnic pavilion, which is lit and open until 8pm nightly. If you’re bringing the little ones along, be sure to grab them one of the provided push carts to help them balance on their blades. (But make sure everyone brings their own skates!)
Fun factThe 7,000-square-foot rink’s proximity to the public pavilion brings one huge bonus: heated restrooms.
3. Moreau Lake State Park
It’s only 10 miles from Saratoga Springs, but a visit to Moreau feels like stepping into an Adirondack postcard. The lake has long been an ice skating destination—park entry is free this time of year—but last winter, for the first time, the park turned the beach section of the frozen lake into an actual skating “rink.” This winter, after the snow arrives, they are hoping to do it again (daily 10am to 3:30pm), with rental skates available. Down the road from the beach, a charming log cabin serves as a warming hut where skaters can defrost next to a wood stove, read books from a donated library or play a board game.
Fun fact The lake is maintained by two homemade Zamboni machines pulled by hand by staff members who also provide an oft-checked Daily Ice Report that kicks off the day the ice on the lake is deemed safe to skate on.
4.Crandall Park
Every winter for more than a century, kids in Glens Falls have waited for Crandall Pond to freeze so they could lug their skates over for a glorious day of free skating. The natural water feature is one of the most scenic spots in the park and is visible as one drives up Glen Street. Ice skaters are welcome at the lighted rink from dawn to dusk.
Fun fact Don’t worry if the weather isn’t cooperating, Crandall Park has a Plan B: Visit cityofglensfalls.com for the skating schedule at the nearby (and indoor!) Glens Falls Recreation Center.
Last Thursday, Saratoga Living once again teamed up with Deep Eddy Vodka to host a one-of-a-kind singles event at Bailey’s. Singles and wingmen and women of all ages showed up for the mixer, which featured Valentine’s Day–themed games and activities, a raffle and, of course, Deep Eddy cocktails. Scroll through the gallery below to see scenes from the evening by photographer Konrad Odhiambo, or check out our Vibe Check recap of the festivities on Saratoga Living After Hours.
If there’s one person who could claim responsibility for the collective productivity of Saratoga Springs as a whole, it’s Josh Clark. If you don’t know him by name, you’d probably recognize him: He’s the affable musician who spends some 30 hours a week manning the massive Probat coffee roaster smack dab in the middle of Saratoga’s town square: Uncommon Grounds. In other words, he’s the guy keeping Saratogians caffeinated.
“I roast around 1,500 pounds a week,” he told Saratoga Livingover a cup of fair trade Nicaraguan Alta De Jinotega coffee, black—and a mango smoothie. “My blood sugar’s low, OK?”
Clark, a Greenfield native, grew up coming to Uncommon Grounds and began working for the Broadway coffee shop as a barista in, he estimates, 2012. He was drawn to the job for the culture surrounding it. “I like to be surrounded by fellow musicians and artists and struggling writers,” he says. “In most industries you tend to be the only one. So I definitely dug this as a day job.” He eventually graduated to head roaster after the previous one left and now manages, operates and runs the coffee-roasting operations throughout Uncommon’s four Capital Region shops.
While Clark still writes and makes music in his free time, roasting coffee actually requires quite a bit of left-brain power to heat the beans—which come to Uncommon as pale, rock-hard seeds from the highlands of countries around the world—to the right temperature at the right time. A friend of his recently commented that the calculations Clark does on the daily are actually derivative calculus (after all, he’s monitoring the rate of temperature change over time). “Is that what I’m doing?!” Clark, who’s never so much as taken a pre-calc class, responded in disbelief.
And though he enjoys the thoughtful, analytical part of his job, Clark is clearly comfortable in a consumer-facing role; coffee drinkers come up to him with questions about what he’s doing regularly. “I’m glad to share,” he says. “That’s why we have the roaster in the public square, so to speak. It’s great.”
Lake George–loving brides have a new reason to say “I do” on the shores of our Queen of American Lakes: Weddings are now being booked at the historic Fort William Henry’s stunning Carriage House, which will open following renovations this spring. The $3 million project is part of a $9 million overhaul of the beautiful 18-acre resort that’s the oldest in Lake George.
Fort William Henry, on the lake’s southern basin, already does weddings in its White Lion space—which opens as a year-round restaurant in May—and a conference center that can hold a 200-person wedding. The Carriage House not only can hold a wedding for up to 400 guests, but it can also do lake-view ceremonies year-round thanks to two sets of enormous windows that were put into once-opaque walls on the north and east sides. The post-pandemic project came about after executives learned that larger weddings were back in style after Covid lockdowns.
“When we realized we wanted to have a larger place for weddings we knew that this was the place to do it,” says Fort William Henry Chairwoman and CEO Kathryn Flacke Muncil. “It’s really taking this gorgeous old building that’s four stories and open to the rafters, and opening it up to look at the lake. I nearly cried when they cut the walls to put in the windows and I could see that view.”
The building has a long history. First it was, as the name suggests, where carriages and horses were sheltered for guests of the original hotel that opened in 1865 (the carriage house opened about 10 years later). Over the years, it was used for staff housing, a dinner theater and even a Jamaican dance bar. And now it is helping Fort William Henry become one of the largest meeting spaces in the Capital Region.
Weddings have already been booked for the Carriage House for this year and next—beginning in May, which puts extra-pressure on BBL Construction Services to finish the renovations on time in April. Muncil says they’ve had bookings “sight unseen,” thanks to the soaring ceilings, post-and-beam construction and wraparound patio and deck overlooking Lake George. Part of the renovation includes bringing in wooden doors that were in style when the building was used as an actual carriage house.
“It’s a barn concept without any barn problems,” Muncil says. “You can see the 1865 shiplap ceiling, so you can dress it up or dress it down. We give brides the shell and they bring in whatever they want.”
Nearby on the property, the hotel has 195 rooms and plenty of parking for a big wedding. The Carriage House has its own liquor license (one of the oldest in the state of New York!), and earlier renovations ensured that Fort William Henry has enough kitchen space to put on a large wedding while its restaurant stays open, too. “The Carriage House incorporates the lake and the mountains, which is what we are,” Muncil says. “It’s absolutely gorgeous.”
There’s no at better way to warm up one’s belly than by bellying up to the bar—so get out of the house and hit up one of these hot spots for a drool-worthy concoction or two. Downtown’s most creative mixologists have outdone themselves this year, with each boozy confection more delectable than the last.
“Patrons want that magical kind of feeling in the winter, like they’re ordering a present—something special—for themselves when they order a drink,” says cocktail curator Jess Contompasis of Henry Street Taproom. Her liquid treats include a Brutella (cold brew, Bruno Mars’ SelvaRey chocolate rum, biscotti liquor and hazelnut whipped cream topping) and It’s Tradition (eggnog, St. George apple brandy, vanilla vodka and grated nutmeg).
Other downtown hotspots splashed out fancy new winter cocktail menus—stop in for a visit at Lucy’s (the bar’s vodka-soaked Sweater Weather will speak to the staunchest s’mores fans) or The Bourbon Room, for starters. But don’t miss The Misfit, their newest Caroline Street neighbor. Owner Michael Mills started his enviable winter cocktail list with a base of seasonal flavors such as rosemary, chocolate and cinnamon. “Every member of the bar staff works together to build recipes that are unique and unexpected,” he says. “We finish by making sure we’re offering a mix of spirits, colors, glassware and interesting garnishes to complete the job.”
The outcome? An impressive list that includes a spiced rum cocktail made with apple cider, orange and cinnamon and served warm—plus an over-the-top s’mores treat, peanut butter espresso martini, and tequila/mezcal masterpiece topped with egg white and called We Didn’t Start the Fire. If that doesn’t warm you up, we don’t know what will.
If you missed your chance to channel your inner Elsa at last year’s Lake George Ice Castles, you don’t have to let it go: The fantastical, frozen installation is returning to the shores of the Queen of American Lakes for the second time this winter. And even if you experienced the inaugural year of the upstate Ice Castles, there are plenty of reasons to return for more cold-weather fun.
“The overall aesthetic is the same, with cascading ice that is glacial blue by day and illuminated with color-changing lights at night,” says Melissa Smuzynski, who handles marketing for the company that also creates castles in Utah, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Wisconsin. “The layout of the experience, however, changes from year to year, and we continue to add new, fun features each season to make the experience even more magical for guests.” This year? Castle-goers will be able to explore snow igloos and then cozy up to an ice bar (!) that will serve a variety of alcoholic beverages.
Tickets are on sale now, but dates and hours are weather dependent; go to icecastles.com for updated information.
Saratoga still has a bit of a reputation for having a certain resistance and reluctance to change, although two years of forced pivots during the pandemic shook that up a great deal. Leading the pack: Carly Connors, executive director of the Saratoga Automobile Museum, and Cate Masterson, director of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Both are straight-talking businesswomen breaking new ground to keep museums flourishing in Saratoga for the next generation, while at the same time walking the walk as female leaders in male-dominated worlds. So what does it take to bring new ideas to a historically older Board of Directors with the goal of attracting younger generations into the museum, all while sparking interest in children, who will one day work in horse racing and the auto industry? Their answers during these two toughest months of the year for Saratoga museums are more layered than you might think. —Abby Tegnelia
Let’s start with the elephant in the room. Horse racing and the auto industry are both male-dominated, and you’re both female directors of museums that celebrate those industries. Behind the scenes, how gender-diverse are your worlds?
Carly Connors, executive director of the Saratoga Automobile Museum:I was asked to join the Board six years ago because they wanted to diversify, and I was a younger woman who liked cars. I wasn’t the first, but at the time I was the only woman. Since then, there have been very few women on the Board, the majority of our visitors are men, and the majority of our members are men.
Cate Masterson, director of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame: Women have represented the Board since the beginning. The executive director when the museum opened in 1950 was a woman, Elaine Mann. There has always been a heavy presence of women on our Board. And our staff is 75 percent women.
Connors: That’s impressive.
(Dori Fitzpatrick)
What’s the difference? Why do so many women run to support the racing museum?
Masterson: It’s a different kind of horsepower. There’s a natural connection with a living animal, an emotional draw, tie and feel that you don’t get with an engine.
Connors: That’s the perfect answer.
Carly, do you think that will ever change in the automotive world?
Connors: I do. You definitely see more women in racing and the hobby of collecting. Danica Patrick was a big one—I thought she would have made a much bigger splash with women. But you’re definitely seeing more women collecting.
What role do you play locally, just by being a woman who loves cars yourself?
Connors: It’s great when we have students come in, and they see there’s a woman executive director. Some are pretty surprised by that—and surprised by my knowledge of cars. We just hired an education director [Rachel Chase] to shore up even more student programs. She’s dynamite.
Masterson: She is awesome. And our educator [Matt Reichel], who’s new too, has already worked with her on three events. They hit it off and are doing all sorts of things.
I love the synergy when it comes to local kids. Worldwide, people are talking about how we can get more young girls and underrepresented groups into STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] classes, and into other fields they might not be exposed to, in order to increase all kinds of diversity. You two are shouldering a lot of that work here, locally.
Connors: Our education director is working on bringing more students in, especially with STEM and showing how it can relate to vehicles, engines and cars. And how it can be fun! You can also look at the design aspect.
Masterson: BOCES has an equine program for 11th- and 12th-graders, and it’s predominantly female. It’s interesting, because I’m guessing the automotive program at BOCES is predominantly male…
Connors: We just had BOCES here last Tuesday, and it was
95 percent male.
Masterson: We’re doing a five-part series with them, which we hope will include an Oklahoma [training track] tour and a hot walking training program. We’re trying to get the youth access to the backstretch. Carly, do we have any mechanical shops that you’re affiliated with?
Connors: We’re hoping to start a restoration program where we’ll have high school kids come in and learn from the older generation. We’re partnering with the local Model A Club, which is similar to the Model Ts. We’re really excited about it. But it’s not seeing interest from females.
(Dori Fitzpatrick)
Really? I think that sounds fun, like a puzzle to figure out—something that I might have enjoyed when I was younger.
Connors: When they talk about women in STEM, it’s the higher-paying jobs, the doctors and engineers. They never talk to them about mechanics.
Masterson: My boyfriend’s niece just turned 21 and wants to be a welder. I thought it was the coolest thing ever and asked her about it. She said she grew up doing this stuff with her dad.
Connors: That’s where I got my love of cars: My dad was really into cars, so we would talk about cars. That’s how a lot of kids get into it—a dad, an uncle, a grandfather.
That speaks volumes about the generations—the generation before might not have taught their daughters any of that.
Connors: Definitely not.
Do you two ever get sick of being asked about being female? I know that every time I’m referred to as a “female CEO” I’m thinking to myself, “I’m also good at my job.”
[Everyone laughs.]
Connors: Yes! Yes! I think, “Aren’t we over that?”
When I first moved here, I didn’t think so. In fact, I felt pushed into what I call a “little lady lane” more than I ever had in California. But maybe during Covid there simply wasn’t time for that, because I have seen vast improvement.
[The group starts to list female leaders in Saratoga, and then shares stories of—in recent memory—being treated differently than male counterparts. Connors and Masterson asked for details to be off the record, but topics the three of us discussed included salary disparity, being talked over by males in group meetings and watching a male be approached for something first at an event. But overall, both women proudly deemed Saratoga gender-neutral.]
(Dori Fitzpatrick)
What I think I’m hearing is that while gender equality is an important topic right now, the other elephant in the room is getting the next generation in the door.
Masterson: It’s education. It really is. We have a very good relationship with NYRA, where we can have a space at the track that we can promote the museum as an educational program across the street. We just had our first-ever bilingual exhibit. We went from “Women in Racing” to “Betting on America: The Immigrant Experience.” It was amazing and so well received. We’ve done events to get the backstretch workers in, but this really brought them in.
Connors: For us, getting the younger generation meant really looking at our exhibits and thinking outside the box. The RADwood exhibit, about the cars from the ’80s and ’90s, brought in a whole new demographic for us. And then James Bond [Bond in Motion, the current exhibit] did the same. We needed to rethink what we were showing at the museum. And now we’re getting younger volunteers and new, younger members.
Masterson: And you have to change more than before. You used to be able to have an exhibit for two years. Now? No way. Six months. We’re constantly changing because we can’t be a place you visit once every 10 years. We need people to come back every season or at least once a year.
Connors: And you have to keep up with social media to get younger people in the door.
Masterson: Do you Tik Tok?
Connors: We don’t Tik Tok. Do you Tik Tok?
Masterson: We don’t Tik Tok.
Connors: I really want our Board to do a Tik Tok dance. We’re so lucky we have Zach [Skowronek, communications director] to do our social media. He gets it. Well, he
doesn’t get Facebook, but I help with that. He’s like, “It just doesn’t make sense.”
Masterson: Yeah that’s too old for him.
Connors: During a RADwood meeting, no one on staff knew what CliffsNotes were; they were too young. But on the [older] Board, very few knew what [’80s and ’90s lifestyle brand] RADwood was. Some still don’t get it. The Bond exhibit they got. But they embraced all of it.
Masterson: We’re planning Secretariat’s 50th anniversary. That goes back to 1973, so we have to make it relevant to today’s youth. It’s tough.
(Dori Fitzpatrick)
It’s interesting to hear about the generational layers that exist within your organizations and how serious these discussions are.
Connors: We have to.
Masterson: Otherwise, we’re not going to be here.
What else are you thinking about right now?
Masterson: January and February are tough for places that are open year-round in Saratoga.
Connors: Winter is our most difficult time because numbers are down, and we can’t have our outdoor events like we do in the summer. We go down to five days a week.
Masterson: Same.
What does the immediate future look like?
Masterson: We’re doing a February fundraiser. We’ve never done one before! On February 4, our Countdown to the Triple Crown will be exactly three months to the day before the Derby. It will be low-key to get people excited about the spring.
Connors: We have an auction in Florida that same weekend. This will be our second year down in Naples. We split the proceeds with an amazing organization called St. Matthew’s House.
And long-term?
Masterson: We’re always thinking, “How can we change the mindset that museums are a thing of the past?”
Saratoga’s Bread Basket Bakery has been much in the news in recent years: First, in 2020, it was purchased by Ed and Lisa Mitzen and turned from a for-profit business into one whose profits go to charity, as one of the couple’s Business for Good family of companies. The following year, a second location of the beloved bakery was opened across town in The Springs apartment complex at 3 Hampstead Place. And now, this past fall, that second location has been transformed to meet Bread Basket’s rising demand for one thing: cakes.
Heading up the cake-making operation is cake designer and manager Angelina Tallman. She first worked at the bakery starting in the 1990s, then she ran her own operation, Cakes By Angelina, for five years before coming back to Bread Basket full-time in 2016. “What sets us apart is the length of time we’ve been operating,” she says. “I’ve made cakes for families for decades. I make cakes for kids now, when once I made their parents’ wedding cake.”
While the Hampstead Place location no longer serves food (you can still get all your Bread Basket favorites at the original location on Spring Street), the shop still offers coffee and tea, as well as some breakfast pastries and, if you just need a little something to satisfy your sweet tooth? Cupcakes.
