New York's Playboy Club Is Back and More Boring Than Ever

[ view in [browser](. add esquire@newsletter.esquire.com to your address book ] [Esquire]( [Sunday Reads] FOLLOW US [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Pinterest]( [Instagram]( [You Tube]( [Google Plus]( [New York's Playboy Club Is Back and More Boring Than Ever]( A safe space for men to ogle women’s bodies (consensually, of course) is not necessarily what we need most in these politically-electric days. But at the opening party on a September Wednesday for the new and improved Playboy Club, now located in Midtown West near the dingey Port Authority bus terminal, it’s what we got. Two and a half avenues over, young influencer types with fresh faces mingled with older face-lift-and-artificial-tan types. Photos were snapped along a short red carpet while a light rain fell. The security presence was strong. It could have been the opening of any darkly-lit club in any New York neighborhood but for the young women in black leotards with stiff ribbing and glitter down the sides who greeted guests with wide smiles, false eyelashes, and glasses of bubbly. [READ MORE]( [MORE FROM ESQUIRE] [Esquire]( [When Did Parties Become So Boring?]( Adults are not always so fun. Sometimes I go to parties filled with mature people who know things and act their age and I’m quickly filled with despair. I walk in the door and greet the host and mill about, but in the pit of my stomach I know that leaving home was a huge mistake. I will not be surprised and delighted. I will not learn something new. I will not even enjoy the sound of my own voice. I will be lulled into a state of excruciating paralysis and self-hatred and other-people hatred. [Read On]( [Esquire]( [It's Time for America to Fall Back in Love With MSG]( Last week, chef and television personality Andrew Zimmern MC’d the first annual World Umami Forum, a conference hosted by MSG manufacturer Ajinomoto as a kind of American re-introduction to the needlessly-controversial product. And it’s still worth saying again, because after decades of junk science, and then good science disproving the junk science, and chefs and food writers promoting the good science, plus the reality that most of the world uses MSG every day without incident, most of us still can’t get over the idea that even a taste of the additive will somehow blind you, or make you tingle, or faint, or get super cranky. [Read On]( [Esquire]( [The Hair. The Voice. The Stache: A Star Is Born's Sam Elliott Abides]( Sam Elliott has the best deep drawl in Hollywood. It sounds like America, like oak and rye and the Fourth of July, and it's because of that voice, and that mustache, and that shock of thick white hair, that Elliott has long been associated with a sort of cowboy persona. This, along with his soulfulness, his air of moral clarity has inspired filmmakers to think of him above all others across the years. And so it was that Bradley Cooper invited Elliott to his home to lay out the character he'd envisioned for him in Cooper's directorial debut, A Star Is Born, which he also cowrote and produced. That meeting was the beginning of an extraordinary experience. "I don't know that I've ever been on a set where I've felt more positive that something incredible was happening," says Elliott. [Read On]( [Esquire]( [10 Easy (and Cool!) Halloween Costumes Any Guy Can Nail]( For a lot of guys, the very notion of dressing up for Halloween often inspires waves of anxiety. Costumes, after all, are for kids and theater folk, and makeup and masks are more cumbersome than enjoyable. Nevertheless, Halloween is still a big night for childless adults, and you don’t want to be the buzzkill who refuses to join in. The trick, then, is to find a costume that requires minimal effort, and keeps you from feeling awkward and vulnerable should you have to walk a distance further than the 20 feet between the front door and the car in the driveway. Here are ten great costume ideas—many of which you can probably find in your closet—that fit the bill. [Read On]( [Esquire]( [The Stylish Swiss-Made Watch That Stands Out in a Crowd]( The right watch is an investment. You've probably heard that countless times before, but the fact remains that it's not just a truism—it's true. High-end craftsmanship costs money, great style is timeless, and the best watches take those two basic facts and turn them into a physical object that'll stay with you for years, decades...even generations to come. Which brings me to the Swiss-made Zodiac Olympos. For under a grand, you'll be hard pressed to find a timepiece that beats it on quality and style. Here's why. [Read On]( [Unsubscribe]( • [Privacy Notice]( [esquire.com]( ©2018 Hearst Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Email Privacy, 300 W 57th St., Fl. 19 (sta 1-1), New York, NY 10019