Loreen Arbus House Proud

I saw a feature in the NY Times last week in a column called House Proud. That stopped me in my tracks, and then the home owner's name stopped me in my tracks too.

Alberto and I knew Loreen Arbus as a tango dancer. He always said she came from a wealthy background, but who knew? In the world of the Argentine Tango you often just know the first names of people, and it is not unusual to know nothing of their lives outside of the dance floor.

Loreen Arbus is house proud - Read the article in The NY Times by Sandy Keenan, photos by Randy Harris

So here we have Loreen's New York apartment. She is a proud renter, though according to the information in the article she is filthy rich and can afford to buy anything she wants. She sites her preference for renting with memories of The Depression (of the 1930s). This is cute, since Loreen and I are about the same age, and never experienced The Depression. Our grandparents did, and maybe our parents did as children. Loreen and I came up in the very prosperous post World War II Baby Boomer era1950s.

Loreen likes to paint her chandeliers as I have done, and she does gallery walls as I have done, but...

Is there ever too much color?

Her apartment is all about color, and entertaining. You know I love color, but somehow this is not my total cup of tea. It looks dated, kind of stuck in the 1990s. Someone once commented that my home looked like a box of crayons threw up in it. I had to laugh.

A red lacquer table in the kitchen of Loreen Arbus

Still I love Loreen's bravura and originality. And I love that she uses the place for fundraisers. I die for the custom Kagan sofas, and the sixteen Kartell dining chairs.

LOVE the custom made Vladimir Kagan sofas

Sixteen Kartell Frilly chairs in the dining room - LOVE - And I spy Trina Turk Blue Peacock fabric on the window shades

It's funny that not one word is mentioned in the article of her tango past, a lifestyle that she dedicated at least fifteen years to. We knew her in California, and often saw her in New York when we visited and danced there. Her partner Alberto Toledano was a gentle soul and a gentleman. I loved dancing with him. He died far too young. Loreen was devoted to him though it never seemed like their relationship was romantic.

Loreen Arbus master bedroom

She was always a woman of mystery. She didn't really hang out with anyone at the milongas (tango dance parties), and was never one for the social ritual of how we all greet one another with kisses and abrazos (embraces-hugs). There was no small talk or conversations. She always held herself in a regal almost unapproachable manner. A few guys asked her to dance. She never seemed to stay long at the milonga, leaving in a cloud of mystery as quickly as she seemed to materialize.

The finger-pointing piece in the library is signed by Z. Yeyati, an Argentine artist whose work Loreen collects - this is the only connection I see to Argentina and her tango past

It was great fun reading the article in the NY Times. It shed some light on her quirky personality. Loreen says, “People always wanted something, I have a lot of complexes about this.”
Times writer Sandy Keenan explains it this way: "Ms. Arbus has a long record of doing things her own way, dating back to her childhood in Mamaroneck, N.Y. Although she was given the name Loreen Joy Goldenson at birth, by the time she was 13 she had assumed her maternal grandmother’s maiden name, in hopes of avoiding some of the baggage that came with being a daughter of Leonard H. Goldenson, the man credited with building ABC into a corporation worth $3.5 billion when it was sold in 1985. Classmates were asking for favors like getting celebrity autographs or wondering whether Loreen could help secure a hot band for the next dance. It bothered her."

Loreen Arbus and Alberto Toledano back on the day when my Alberto and I knew them as tangueros

My Alberto was right. She comes from money. But to us she was an enigmatic tango dancer, always kind to us. We admired the tango show and production company she put together with Alberto Toledano. The web site is still up. I wonder if you contacted her if she is still doing her tango show, and dancing for hire at private events. You can also see a glimpse of them at one of the tango events we produced in Los Angeles many tango moons ago on one of Alberto's tango blogs, The Tango Life.

Also go check out the comments at the Times. The question of the day is, is there ever too much color?