Mickey Rosmarin’s Magic Friendship and PaperCity’s Major Change: Letters From the Owners

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR:
As we were going to press with this issue, I was consumed with the past 22 years of PaperCity, flipping  through 264 of our very large broadsheet issues, searching for the best, funniest, the zeitgeist moments in print. This is the last issue in this format; September begins our journey as a perfect-bound magazine.

As I was scrutinizing these issues, I received the phone call that beloved friend and brilliant merchant Mickey Rosmarin had died unexpectedly of a heart attack. I had just relived 22 years of parties at Tootsies, fashion pages, a story on Mickey’s beautiful Southampton home, an “Inside the Head of Mickey” feature when he moved into his glorious new store in West Ave. And I had just laughed with Becca Cason Thrash about how, when we started the magazine, we had to borrow Tootsies’ loading dock for the 18-wheeler to deliver the first issue. Who knew you needed a loading dock. Mickey to the rescue.

Mickey has been a rescuer, champion, believer and friend to so many people, charities and businesses. Tootsies will continue in glorious fashion, but the loss of Mickey the man leaves a hole in this magazine, and in our hearts. Holly Moore, Editor in Chief, holly@papercitymag.com

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT:
I fell in love in June of 1994. She was tall and slender, beautiful to gaze upon and easy to hold. I saw her for the first time at Café Express. It was a Sunday afternoon. I could not resist; her beauty was captivating — I picked her up. There’s something to be said about the first time in a new relationship, it was … sexy. It was the first issue of PaperCity. So began my love affair from the outside looking in.

My friends and I could not believe this new publication, and we would anxiously wait the four months until the next one hit the stands. Somewhere in the second year of my crush on the “publication” (I mean, what did you call it? A newspaper? Magazine?), I found myself at a party gazing upon the editor and co-founder, and found her as captivating as her print counterpart. A year later, we were married, and the amazing journey to create a meaningful publishing business began.

I was now on the inside, as an owner, running the publishing side. There were the photo shoots in Venice, London, Los Angeles, New York, Palm Springs, San Miguel and more. (I had to come along to drive the SUV, carry the clothes and equipment, and pay the bills.)

There was the perfection of the charity sponsorship, the innovative circulation methods, the introduction of world-class writers and photographers. The website. Somewhere along the way, the editor and I parted ways, matrimonially speaking, but as better friends and partners, we sought new ways to push our
publishing baby to higher levels.

Our first mock-up of a bound magazine was back in 2003. We could not do it. Holly Moore and I were too steeped in our own Kool-Aid — “Readers love the oversized format. We can’t take that away from them.”

A year ago, the idea percolated again, with the encouragement of bound-magazine veterans on staff. We realized the time was right. A bound publication has myriad benefits: longer shelf life, more total readers, greater ease of reading, and more opportunities for advertisers. In short, there’s a reason why great publications are bound: Decades ago, W Magazine started out as a broadsheet and switched more than 20 years ago, to great success.

The July/August 2016 issue — out now — is the final broadsheet issue of PaperCity. Keep it and cherish it. If you are passionate about the format and lament the switch, find solace in the fact that our great editorial will not change; the only thing that will change is the way that editorial is presented — and it will be beautiful.

PaperCity will be here for decades to come. Relationships change, but the love doesn’t die. Jim Kastleman, President, jim@papercitymag.com