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June 27, 2026
The Best
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No. 363
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In This Week’s Issue
VINTAGE PROPAGANDA

The discovery of Stalin’s “lost” wine cellar was meant to reveal a never-before-seen treasure trove of the Soviet Union tyrant’s vintage Bordeaux. But a trip to Georgia uncovered a far murkier story …

THE SOUND OF SILENCE

Once the nation’s most exclusive concert venue—hosting Duke Ellington and Prince—the White House East Room has become virtually devoid of music. The culprit? Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti … Don!

GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER?

As Harry and Meghan prepare to return to Britain with their children for the first time in four years, the House of Windsor is bracing for an especially awkward family reunion …

A HOT COMMODITY!

Lionel Messi may be the world’s greatest footballer, but in this year’s World Cup it is David Beckham who dominates the commercial breaks—and has turned himself into a $1.6 billion brand …

HOMER IS WHERE THE HEART IS

For generations, the Greek diner was woven into the fabric of New York City. (Think: those emblematic blue-and-white coffee cups.) Why, then, are these beloved institutions vanishing?

NEWT AND IMPROVED

Already one of Somerset’s most coveted rural escapes, the Newt has embarked on a new venture, Yarlington Lodge, offering a more intimate take on the English-country-house dream …

KISS AND TELL

Fresh from a breakup, a bender, and a few ill-advised makeouts, Caroline Calloway unleashes herself on New York City as AIR MAIL’s newest, naughtiest party correspondent …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

The trio making English pubs fashionable … Hokusai vs. Hiroshige: a battle of the Japanese masters … our favorite whodunits … and news of the world you’ll actually want to read, in our latest AIR MAIL Diary—including an Oxford study saying people don’t read the news, but you read us, right? Right?!

But First …
Issue No. 363

The View from Here The East Room of the White House was once the country’s most exclusive music venue, hosting everyone from Duke Ellington to Johnny Cash to Prince. Under Trump, it has fallen silent

By David Browne
Read On
Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook
The Grape Dictator

The Curious Case of Stalin’s Wine Cellar Georgia’s government flew in collectors, auction-house executives, and the president of Château d’Yquem to unveil the “lost” bottles. It didn’t take long for the official story to unravel

By Jay Cheshes
Photographs by Frankie Mills
Read On
Games

The Weekly Waffle

A positively addictive word game to go with your morning coffee
Small Talk
Royal Follies

The Harry and Meghan Comeback Tour Peace may be breaking out between Harry and Charles, but the Sussexes’ return to Britain—with children and unresolved grievances in tow—could make the royal family’s quiet summer feel like D-day

By Shane Watson
Read On
financial goals

Brand It Like Beckham David Beckham was once a very good footballer. Now he is something even rarer: a non-threatening, six-packed, billion-dollar advertising machine, trusted by anxious brands to make Americans buy almost anything

By Sam Wallace and Tom Morgan
Read On
Air Supply

Smoke, Mirrors, and Paper Plates

Everything required for a well-appointed summer gathering, from the first round of drinks to the moment someone suggests opening another bottle
Shop
Photo: Orion Pictures/Cinematic Collection/Alamy (Williams and Crouse in Prince of the City)
Guest Edit

Alexander Vreeland’s Favorite Things The grandson of Diana Vreeland, and the man keeping her legacy very much alive, shares his taste for Bottega Veneta, Frédéric Malle, Manolo Blahnik loafers, and the art of a perfectly packed bag

Shop
Photo: © Bruce Weber (Vreelands)
News of the World

The AIR MAIL Diary The British aren’t knocking! The Dutch aren’t braking! The Japanese are getting stranded! And other strange stories from around the globe …

By George Kalogerakis
Read On
Best
read Contrapposto In his latest novel, Dave Eggers, founder of the literary journal McSweeney’s and author of the 2000 memoir A Heartbreaking Work… see “An American Beauty” If, like me, you have the Grateful Dead as the soundtrack to your summer—and every other season—this exhibition might be a welcome… stay Hôtel du Palais My heart sank when my cab stopped under the fanned glass porte cochère over the front door of the five-star Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz… watch Gidget Gidget is not your ordinary coming-of-age flick. First in the Gidget canon, the 1959 film was adapted from Frederick Kohner’s book… decorate Victoria Hagan x High Camp Supply Interior designer Victoria Hagan, of restrained East Coast elegance, has teamed up with High Camp Supply… read Leaning Seaward The Wall Street Journal recently announced the “dad book”—serious slabs of history, geopolitics, and biography—is dying… read Contrapposto In his latest novel, Dave Eggers, founder of the literary journal McSweeney’s and author of the 2000 memoir A Heartbreaking Work… see “An American Beauty” If, like me, you have the Grateful Dead as the soundtrack to your summer—and every other season—this exhibition might be a welcome… stay Hôtel du Palais My heart sank when my cab stopped under the fanned glass porte cochère over the front door of the five-star Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz… watch Gidget Gidget is not your ordinary coming-of-age flick. First in the Gidget canon, the 1959 film was adapted from Frederick Kohner’s book… decorate Victoria Hagan x High Camp Supply Interior designer Victoria Hagan, of restrained East Coast elegance, has teamed up with High Camp Supply… read Leaning Seaward The Wall Street Journal recently announced the “dad book”—serious slabs of history, geopolitics, and biography—is dying…
what a kalamata!

Where Have All the Greek Diners Gone? A once common sight in New York City, they have become an endangered species

By John Brodie
Read On
After Hours

Letters from Scamelot In her inaugural AIR MAIL party report, Caroline Calloway kisses a stranger at Le Bain, accidentally robs a gallery, and brings her cat to an Eve Babitz reading

By Caroline Calloway
Read On
Close-up

The Public-House Boys Phil Winser, James Gummer, and Olivier van Themsche—the trio behind the Pelican, the Hero, and the Fat Badger—have done the seemingly impossible: making English pubs fashionable

By Vassi Chamberlain
Read On
Around the World in Culture
On HBO
Fresh off Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David takes on American history in a series starring Jon Hamm, Jerry Seinfeld, and many more… In New York
An exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art brings 17 sculptures by Alberto Giacometti into dialogue with the Temple of Dendur… In Theaters
Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Penélope Cruz star in a new film about a double date that takes an unexpected turn… In London
An exhibition explores how Frida Kahlo’s legacy has only grown since her death, cementing her as one of surrealism’s most enduring figures… In New York
The Morgan Library traces five centuries of tarot, pairing its Renaissance roots with its evolution through the 20th and 21st centuries… On Netflix
Oscar Isaac, Gal Gadot, Al Pacino, and Martin Scorsese star in Julian Schnabel’s latest film, based on the 2002 novel by Nick Tosches…
Highlight
A Mild Breeze on a Fine Day, a woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai from the series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji,” 1930s.

When Hokusai Met Hiroshige

The exhibition “Turner and Constable: Rivals and Originals” garnered worldwide attention when it opened at London’s Tate Gallery in 2025. On the same walls, the two undisputed English landscape masters went mano a mano, revealing vastly different visions and sensibilities even as they moved through the same era, even the same drawing rooms. This summer in Tokyo, at the Sumida Hokusai Museum—a small, silvery modern building, strikingly designed by the Pritzker Prize–winning architect Kazuyo Sejima—two legends of Japanese landscape have been paired in a similarly themed sumo match. READ ON

Read On
Books

Murder, They Wrote Three psychological thrillers show how a life in the arts can get more brutal than a U.F.C. match—especially when a love triangle is involved

By Lisa Henricksson
Read On
Small Talk
“How long after you read an incredibly heavy book can you go into the water?”
“How long after you read an incredibly heavy book can you go into the water?”
View With a Room

Your Own Private England The Newt, in Somerset, has unveiled Yarlington Lodge, a private-use country house with Jane Austen–inspired bedrooms, a village pub on the doorstep, and the run of one of Britain’s great estates

By Issy von Simson
Read On
Klaus Kremmerz’s Sketchbook
Wave hello to summer.
Was Founded By

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In Memoriam

Peter Bogdanovich Milton Esterow Duncan Hannah Jane Larkworthy Douglas McGrath Richard David Story André Leon Talley David Yaffe

Issue No. 363
June 27, 2026
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Issue No. 363
June 27, 2026
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