New York Diary

Peter's friends; Paul Simon and the poet; Pinch forgoes punch; Liz ankles the Island

Bankruptcy means never having to say you're broke. Peter Kalikow filed for Chapter 11 almost two years ago, and he's still paying maintenance of $11,912 a month for his Fifth Avenue penthouse. The court allowed him to spend $25,000 in one month to keep up his antique-car collection and $115,600 over five months for yacht care. So the recent Bar Mitzvah of Kalikow's son, Nicholas, wasn't totally lacking in amenities. There was a black-tie dinner for 350 at Club 101, which is in Kalikow's flagship building, 101 Park Avenue. The downstairs restaurant was turned into a disco called "Nick's," while upstairs the younger kids played video games. Stalwarts of the New York Post such as editorial-page editor Eric Breindel and columnist Cindy Adams met their former executive editor, Lou Colasuonno, for the first time since his defection to the Daily News a month earlier. Andy Stein and A1 D' Amato were also there, mingling with Nicholas's classmates and their parents. The Bar Mitzvah had been a private ceremony at Temple Emanu-El, and Kalikow got one price break: starting next year, the temple plans to charge extra for members who choose the private late-afternoon service.

A PARTY WITHOUT PINCH

At the "49 Forever" birthday party that newly appointed deputy secretary of the Treasury (and former Blackstone Group financier) Roger Altman threw for his wife, Jurate Kazickas, ex-American Express boss James Robinson and his wife, Linda, found themselves unable to circulate due to the vigorous cocktailing all around them. As a throng of Wall Streeters and journalists sipped and made merry at Sam's Restaurant, the deposed baron of commerce and his P.R.-executive wife kept a low profile by the stairs—a big contrast to their old, more aggressive room-working tactics. Henry and Carolyne Kravis and Michael Kramer and Kimba Wood were there, along with Lesley Stahl, Pete Peterson, and Tom Brokaw.New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. missed out on the evening: he was home baby-sitting. His wife, Gail Gregg, had joined the other Sulzberger women on a family spa vacation organized by Arthur senior.

LIZ'S ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK

In this age of illogical positivism, no one wants to sound negative. So let's not say that Elizabeth Taylor didn't like the Hamptons. Last year, she flew back to California before her threeweek rental on East Hampton's Georgica Road was up. But that was just a scheduling problem, according to a spokeswoman, who claims that "something did crop up" to cut Taylor's vacation short. "Let's say that I rented, and Elizabeth was my guest," says Waldo Fernandez, Taylor's decorator and close friend, who denies that Taylor cut her vacation short. Evidently, Fernandez likes the Eastern Seaboard more than his polite friend, who is also godmother to his baby boy. He has just shelled out $145,000 in cash to buy a small place on Route 27. "I've never seen the inside of the house," says Fernandez. "I just fell in love with the area."

TOTALLY PAUL

"Is Paul here?'' asked a harried Derek Walcott at intermission, quickly surveying the audience at the 92nd Street Y. Walcott was directing Seamus Heaney'sThe Cure at Troy, and he was looking for his friend musician Paul Simon. Stephen Rea was there, and Courtney Kennedy arrived later. But no Paul. "I didn't have time to invite him myself," said Walcott. But Simon has made a point of dropping in on Walcott's poetry readings and his Boston University classes. Simon met the Caribbean-born Walcott while working on The Rhythm of the Saints in the West Indies. Recently, Simon announced that they are collaborating on a Broadway musical. Simon is composing the music, and Walcott is writing the book for the play, which is based on a newspaper story about a murder. "We haven't even begun to work," Walcott said. He has two other plays to finish up first. And is the Nobel Prize winner still composing poetry? "Oh, that only takes about two and a half minutes," he said breezily. "I'm kidding, of course."

AND...

.. .Joy Silverman, the Republican fund-raiser who got tangled up in the public fall of New York's chief judge, Sol Wachtler, has found a new counselor. When she decided to divorce Jeffrey Silverman, her then lover, Wachtler, introduced her to divorce attorney Nor-

man Sheresky. Then Wachtler was arrested after harassing Silverman, and checked into the Payne Whitney Clinic. While he was hospitalized, sources say, Sheresky paid a visit to his old friend. That seems to have angered Ms. Silverman, who has now retained power attorney Eleanor Alter to handle her divorce. Alter's roster of clients is formidable—she is representing Mia Farrow against Woody Allen—and her father, the late Charles Breitel, is a former chief judge of New York State.

... Ballerina Heather Watts likes to garden. Which might explain why her boyfriend, CBS producer Peter Schweitzer, just bought Roy Scheider's place on the Upper West Side. It's a big onebedroom and there's a huge terrace, perfect for a girlfriend with pink slippers and a green thumb.

. . .At the Municipal Art Society's salute to "New Yorkers from Somewhere Else," Missouri native Calvin Trillin recounted his favorite New York story: Mother Teresa is visiting Mayor Ed Koch after his stroke, and he asks if he can do anything for her. She mentions that her new hospice in Manhattan could use a reserved-parking sign. "So imagine this scene," said Trillin. "Here is Mother Teresa, possibly a saint, paying a sick call on a man who's just had a stroke, and she's hustling him for a parking space! You've got to say it's a tough town."

DEBORAH MITCHELL