It seems funny now, but on July 20, 2019, we were so excited—and nervous—about the first issue of Air Mail that a group of us gathered at the office on West Ninth Street at five a.m. to watch the first batch of Saturday e-mails go out, holding our breath like NASA engineers launching the maiden voyage of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1981. Only chief technology officer John Tornow, who pressed Send from mission control, was serenely confident.
Now we all are. Six years later, Air Mail has survived inflation, recession, a pandemic, one and a quarter Trump presidencies, the January 6 insurrection, foreign wars, coups (abroad and at home), wildfires, Kardashians, ICE raids, and many other disasters. And it has thrived, producing 329 Saturday editions; umpteen daily newsletters and broadsheets; as well as our spirited beauty vertical, Look; an e-commerce shopping site; two newsstands; a brick-and-mortar shop on Hudson Street; our culture and travel vertical, Arts Intel; a knock-their-socks-off black-tie party at Cannes in 2023; and, most recently, a joyous dinner to celebrate the winners of our first annual Tom Wolfe literary prizes. All that, and we also brought into the world two Air Mail babies (with medical help).
