Serendipity 3 - New York City, 2009

You know when you go back to a place that was special to you as a child and it’s just not quite the same as you remembered it? Not horrible, but not the same? Well, it pains Mlle Bagatelle to admit this, but that was the feeling she got when she visited the legendary Serendipity 3 on a recent visit home to New York. It was here that MB had lunch on her 8^th birthday just before having her ears pierced, so you can imagine how it must pain her to say that what once seemed a whimsical, magical place, now just seems, well, kind of zoo-y. More DMV than ice cream parlor, but she’s hoping that’s just a question of age. 

While she knew there had been some, uh, issues at one point, Mlle B. still wanted to have a look at the old place and see what the gift shop had in the way of a shopping bag. After making her way through the crowd of annoyed tourists and even more annoyed New Yorkers, all of whom had just been told of the almost two-hour wait ahead of them, she approached a staff member behind the counter. Now, MB could be wrong, but she’s guessing that this particular staff member did not go to charm school, or at the very least, wasn’t exactly in the top of his or her class.

Sales associate and unexpected health inspections aside, this is one fabulous bag. Part Aubrey Beardsley, part Andy Warhol (who used to frequent the place), and part Al Hirschfeld, MB LOVES this other worldly character who seems to be a tribute to the Queen of Sweets herself, Marie Antoinette. This is true genius on someone’s part and it made our curator glad she stopped by. Now if they would just teach the staff to smile.