So, Peter, Tell Us What You Really Think

It seems Peter Stringfellow was a bit disappointed by his brush with glamour. At least that’s what the British club owner, who built his eponymously named, financially fatal club in Beverly Hills’ Two Rodeo complex in 1991, told England’s Independent newspaper last Sunday.

Here’s the answer Stringfellow gave to the question, “What was your biggest disappointment?”

“Los Angeles--after I spent $3.5 million opening the most glamorous club there. I lived in Beverly Hills and that was a disappointment, my club’s success was a disappointment, the people of Los Angeles were a disappointment, the coastline of L.A. down by Santa Monica was a disappointment. I found the whole experience disappointing and closed the club after a year and a half.”

Perhaps this is nit-picking with a seriously disappointed man, but when he opened the club he said he had spent $4 million on it. And although he did close the club, it was in bankruptcy at the time.

Stringfellow recovered from his disappointment by returning to his club in London, whose clientele was once described by London’s Sunday Times as “traditionally a mixture of micro-celebrities (aging DJs are popular), Page Three girls, bewildered foreigners and folks from the suburbs.”

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From America, With Love: As part of America’s cultural push abroad, Cosmopolitan has begun publishing in Russia. We got a copy of the mag’s first cover and asked the Russian immigrant women who work in Cantor’s bakery to translate the headlines.

At first there were some difficulties with this translation technique. This was because the women were laughing so much they could barely say the words. There was something about the picture of a model in a low-cut dress, the words sex and chocolate, and the idea that Cosmopolitan was being sold in Russia that made them laugh hysterically.

After much effort and drying of eyes with their apron corners, they said these are a few of the stories the former Soviets will be reading.

* “Sex or Chocolate: There’s time for everything.”

* “Test: How well do you know each other?”

* “Thirty years old, independent, sure of herself--Does she need a husband?”

To that last story, one of the older women said, “Of course not! If I had all that, why would I get married?”