NYC's Santa and Mrs. Claus Tell All!
Plus! Ms. Sherman gets a lunch date!! Pigeon and rat tattoos!!!
Hello everyone,
Welcome to Issue #146 of CAFÉ ANNE!
A lot of you wrote to say you loved Daryl Sherman, the jazz pianist I profiled last week. And some were dismayed to learn that her current gig—playing cocktail music in the public atrium of a giant Midtown office building—hasn’t done much for her dating life.
"Nobody asks me out, nobody!" said Ms. Sherman, who has been performing in Manhattan for 50 years. "No one's even asked me out for lunch!”
“That’s such a lovely and interesting profile,” was the top comment on the story, from reader Toni B. in San Francisco. “She’s happy. It comes through. Someone take this amazing lady to lunch!!!”
“A SHANda she hasn’t been asked out—a shanda!!!!!!” agreed reader Zoe S., also in California.
Well! The day after the issue dropped, I got an email from Ms. Sherman with the subject line, “OH MY GOODNESS !! YOU are the FORCE OF NATURE!”
That very afternoon, Ms. Sherman wrote, a nice-looking if slightly scruffy fellow stopped to watch her play. And then after enquiring if she could teach, he told her she was very attractive. And then he asked her to lunch!
“I broke out in unstoppable laughter, thinking of the blog piece!” Ms. Sherman wrote.
Ms. Sherman said she declined the invitation. BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT.
In other news, you may recall that Issue #145 included some truly terrible tattoo art along with a look at the new 16-foot pigeon statue on The High Line. This got readers engaged in some deep intellectual synthesis.
“I’d be impressed with a solid tattoo of a pigeon,” wrote reader Bill S.
“How many people might have a pigeon tattoo?” wondered Jules T. in Canada.
They had, apparently, not seen an earlier comment from Eden S. in Brooklyn. “As a New Yorker with a (good) pigeon tattoo, this issue spoke to me on many levels,” Eden wrote.
So of course I had to request pics and the back story from Eden. Boy, did she come through!
Eden writes a Substack newsletter, Big City, Little Friend, about her NYC adventures, and she’s about as die-hard as they come, as evidenced by her tattoos: she has a NYC pigeon on one arm, a NYC rat on the other.
As for the back story, here it is, in her own words:
“A few years ago I began a tradition of getting a tattoo as a souvenir when I travel. And I didn't want just any tattoo—I wanted a tattoo of my travel destination's garbage animal. And by that I mean I wanted to memorialize the animal that was the local nuisance and might be found digging through trash for a snack.
I have a bear from Denver, a raccoon from Toronto, a panda (and a dumpling cat) from China, a seagull from Vancouver, and probably more that I'm forgetting.
But the pigeon! A couple years ago I was itching for a new tattoo and realized that I didn't have any tattoos celebrating NYC's garbage animals—the pigeon and the rat, of course. So I dreamt up a tattoo design fitting of NY's noblest animals and had Zoe Bean create a fancy bagel pigeon and pizza rat for me. They're probably the tattoos I get the most compliments on, and I'm so happy that I get to carry my love for NY and my respect for our garbage animals with me wherever I go!”
Thanks Eden!
In other news, NYC-Garbage-Animal shoutouts to our newest paid subscribers Beth E. and Anita R., plus a special triple thank you to Scott in Florida who bought gift subscriptions for his sister Wendy and his nephews Drew and Sean. Altogether, that’s enough $$$ to get a tattoo of my own! Which I never will!!
I am very excited for this week’s issue, of course. We’ve got a Q&A with Glen Heroy and Ann Votaw, NYC’s very own Santa and Mrs. Claus!
Regards!
Anne
PS: This is the last issue of the year. CAFÉ ANNE will return Monday, January 13. I hope you enjoy the rest of the holidays and a wonderful start to your 2025. Thank you for making 2024 so much fun!
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CONVERSATION
NYC’s Santa and Mrs. Claus Tell All!
I first met Glen Heroy—an actor and NYC Santa who lives on the Upper West Side—when I interviewed him for the WSJ back in 2011. And I met Ann Votaw, who lives in Inwood, when I wrote about her debut as a professional Mrs. Claus in 2019.
They're both delightful characters, and I was tickled when Ann told me recently that’d she'd struck up a friendship with Glen this year after they started working together at the Nordstrom on 57th Street.
They've been hanging out at the Columbus Circle Le Pain Quotidian after their shift. So of course I asked if I could join them some evening to hear what it’s like to be a professional NYC Claus in 2024.
I enjoyed our 90-minute chat, which I've condensed like crazy, of course, and edited for clarity. Please enjoy!
Thanks for making time tonight—I know this is a crazy time of year. How many appearances are you making this season?
Ann: I'm making eleven total. I feel like I can do a little bit more, but at the end of the weekend, like this weekend, I feel like, 'No, I think this is perfect.'
Glen: This is a little nutsy—I think 42. I'm doing at least two a day. Usually four or five hours at Nordstrom and then I'll go to Hudson Yards and do three hours there.
How much do you make total during a Christmas season?
Ann: I could make more. This is the first year where I started turning stuff down. I wanted to run around less and make more money, and just work at higher-quality places where people weren't going to be awful. So I'm making $4000, $5000.
Glen: $25,000. Some gigs pay more than others. Sometimes I say, 'Am I going to stop doing the country clubs?’ They pay a lot of money, but I have to run out of town. I can do three states in one day, and it's just exhausting.
Don’t you have a sleigh?
Glen: I have a very patient wife and a Honda Civic. It gets a little crazy. I'll drive out to do a $1,000, 15-minute visit on Christmas Eve in bumfuck New Jersey. And then Christmas Day at Sloan Kettering, in pediatrics—which pays a lot less. It's hard to ask for money from a cancer hospital.
What do you two talk about when you meet up?
Ann: The people we work with, agents we've worked with.
Glen: Peacocking Santas.
Peacocking Santas! Tell me more about that.
Ann: They are people who are really into their outfit. They're annoyed that there's a Mrs. Claus with them. I don't know if they know that they're doing it, but they push you out of the way when there's a photographer taking a picture.
Glen: Oh they know. They do! This is their moment to shine. And you're taking away from the focus on Santa, and they're very threatened by it.
Ann: Obviously I like working with Santas. But you know, sometimes they're just insufferable.
Glen: They are for other Santas too. They think they're so masculine and male-focused, and yet all they talk about is, 'Look at the bleach on my beard. I use Trionics 50!' Seriously. And, 'Look at my brooch on my hat this year!' And then they get a more grand brooch. And they're really serious about it. 'Do you have a key, a Santa key, to hang from your belt?'
Ann: I thought I needed to do a lot of that. But then I started hanging out with you and other people and I'm like, 'Oh, people can just be themselves.' You're playing a part, but it's a kooky part of yourself. I do think that's the healthier way. Some of the Santas think that they really are Santa.
Glen: It's nice, as a performer, to have a character, yeah? And people kind of know the back story, so I don't have to provide it. They're like, 'You're Santa, you live at the North Pole.' I get all the love from them, and I can generate it back, because I'm having a really good time doing it. And as I've gotten older, I've gotten more comfortable just being present, so I don't need all the props and accouterments. I feel like I don't have to do the 'Reindeer Macarena.'
The Reindeer Macarena?
Ann: We know how to do that. They teach it at Santa school.
What is the holiday vibe in New York City this year?
Ann: There's sort of something in the atmosphere—an aura as the days get closer. It's very different than last year. It's getting a little bit more intense. We've had a shooting and a man hunt. And also the election. I think there's a little bit of an edginess.
Glen: The second I put on the suit, people are just like, 'Santa!' They're so relieved to see some kind of normal touchstone. They've been through a weird year, and then all of a sudden, 'Oh, it's Santa.' It happens every year, but this year it seems to be more palpable.
What do people want for Christmas in 2024?
Ann: Princess spas are really big. And LEGOs.
Glen: Kids are primarily asking for LEGOs and Barbies. The Nintendo Switch. There's an uprising in little girls asking for makeup.
Adults are asking for things that are almost non-Christmasy. 'We want a baby, Santa.' For years you'd get, 'Where's my Bentley? Where's my Lamborghini?' But this year people want something solid, and I'm their permission to say it.
I have a note that this little girl gave me at Hudson Yards. And it wasn't the fact that she handed me a note, because all kids do their letters, but the way she did it. It was this big Hispanic family, they all took their pictures. And when they left, she kind of doubled back when no one was looking and handed me a folded note just like this [pulls the note from his wallet.] When I got back to the dressing room it said, 'Dear Santa, for Christmas I want mom and dad to get back together, and my dad will live with us. And toys.'
The idea that she trusted me as a confidant, and made it our special moment. It meant so much to me.
Ann: I've also gotten notes like that: 'My mom and dad are fighting.' And it is a big responsibility. I've never had kids. It makes you think how hard it is to be a parent.
I have some questions from readers. One is whether your suit is pee-proof.
Glen: Not at all. No. At certain stores, not where I am now, but if a kid peed and there's a line, they just wipe you off and spray you with Lysol. It's a rite of passage: 'I've been peed on—I'm Santa now.'
I love this next reader question so much, and it's just for Santa: 'Is there a reason he delivers disappointment on the grandest scale every year without fail?'
Glen: As a man, I would say I was not aware! Truly, I didn't realize I did that.
Another reader asks, 'What do you two want for Christmas?'
Ann: A really big, chunky ring. And maybe I want earbuds, AirPods. I mean, everyone's got them.
Glen: I'd love my knees to be looked at because they hurt all of a sudden. New knees!
Ann: Oh, and I would love for my cat to live forever. He's 16. Sometimes the passage of time, in particular at Christmas—it makes you wish that things could last a little longer.
And a final reader question: How is it playing your roles at different venues around the city? Is there a big difference?
Glen: Here at Nordstrom, it's Broadway-caliber dancing elves around you. They dance down the escalator, doing choreography, and it snows in the store. I play Santa in a costume that's not as traditional. There's stripes on my red shirt, my beard is tighter.
When I'm at Hudson Yards, it's a traditional-looking Santa with a flowing beard. The environment is unreal because every shift is three hours and there's not a break, and I can go hours without talking to anyone American. It's a destination place. The other day was Portugal, Germany, Spain. One lady came from Kazakhstan and started to cry. She said this is a dream of hers, to come here and meet Santa in New York City.
Last year there were too many people the last day. They went to cut off the line and the people were like, 'No, we've been waiting, and we're gonna stay here until we see Santa!’ Security had to come and help, and a man was yelling at me in a language I didn't know. And then this Indian family was waiting for me by the dressing room, saying, 'My daughter is crying!' It just became a real scene.
We also had marches coming through, past the H&M, shouting, "Bombs were dropping while you were shopping!' while children are on my lap.
And then you get the YouTubers come up, and they're gonna embarrass Santa. Some 20-year-old with a camera dressed like Buddy the Elf. 'Why you're dissing me, Santa? Why didn't get me my whatever as a kid?'
Ann: I've worked at Bloomingdales as an elf, and those are really long hours—twelve-hour days. And when you start getting crabby and there's not anything going on, you start talking to each other and the producer is glaring. Like I'm this misfit elf.
I did Winter Wonderland upstate. Very rinky-dink. I made $15 an hour as Mrs. Claus while Santa made $100 an hour. We didn't get a break and Santa was on medication and the bathroom was a port-a-john in the freezing cold.
Here's a question from me: where are the naughty New Yorkers and where are the nice New Yorkers?
Glen: The only place I've been jumped as Santa is Brooklyn. The only place I've had to fight, as Santa, was Brooklyn. The only time I've ever gotten out of a car walking to a gig and had a drunk woman walk up to me and pull off my beard is Brooklyn. I want to love everybody and say that all the boroughs are the same. But for some reason, when I step into Brooklyn, I'm attacked. It's true!
Where do the nice New Yorkers live?
Glen: New Paltz.
Ann: I not comfortable with the naughty-or-nice list, but I'll play along with it.
Is that going out of style? Because everyone knows you're not supposed to judge anyone anymore, right?
Ann: But I think people love to tell you they've been naughty. They're proud of it—the adults.
Glen: Oh yeah, 'I've been naughty, Santa!'
Do they want to tell you about it?
Ann: Sometimes they do, but it's a department store setting. It's not really the place to have a confessional, and I don't really want to know. I really don't!
Glen: Oh, yeah, the whole confession thing is really serious for a lot of people. It's a thing.
Has playing your role made you like people more or less?
Ann: More! I love watching people, and there's something about putting on the costume—it's the social experiment of seeing how they interact with you.
Glen: Playing the role has made me like me more. I'm a nicer person. All the best parts of me are Santa. I'm the most patient I can be.
Final question: how can we make it a really great holiday season?
Ann: I would say to pause and watch things around you. In all of the bustle, there's always a moment where you can pause and be the observer of all the whizzing. People actually have whiz marks. I was sitting here earlier and I'm like, 'I'm actually seeing streaks!' People are moving so fast. If you can take that moment to watch and be like, 'Wow. There is magic!’ I would say you're gonna be okay.
Glen: I like that. The whizzing. You can't stop it, so open your eyes to it and look at what's free around us right now. The lights all around us. You can just walk around and see the gift that is free. So do yourself that favor. Just open your eyes.
CAFÉ ANNE is a free weekly newsletter created by Brooklyn journalist Anne Kadet. Subscribe to get the latest issue every Monday.
I am trying to get my character “Hanukkah Herschel” approved for a spot at Macy’s this holidays season. Complain to me and I’ll give you a jelly donut!
Thanks for showcasing my NYC tattoos this week! If anyone else has a pigeon tattoo, I propose we all meet up at the giant pigeon on the High Line. We fly at dawn!