Aoki Family FeudHere’s our not-quite-automated guide to New York’s feature stories. In “Rocky’s Family Horror Show,” Logan Hill looks at “Rocky” Aoki, the Benihana entrepreneur, and his kaleidoscopic mess of a family.
Keywords: Money; mistresses; Hawaii Five-O; saketini; money; insider trading; Japanese food; money.
The details: Rocky Aoki, a man whose over-the-top gaudiness makes Donald Trump look like Martha Stewart, built an empire out of cheesy eateries that peddle Japanese cuisine as a knife-twirling minstrel show. Now four of his six kids are trying to wrest control of the business from him, he’s suing them, and all of it unfolds among some of the kitschiest furnishings you’ll ever see.
Crucial quote: “Before his accident, Rocky boasts, he had ‘three kids from three different women at exactly the same time’ — though he only found out about the third via a paternity suit.”
Takeaway: When you raise your spawn like Rocky did — encouraging greed and competition and openly picking favorites — do not be surprised when the kiddies start feuding with each other. Or even sharpening knives for you.
Read the full article here — and the full issue here.
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Finding an Immediate FamilyHere’s our not-quite-automated guide to New York’s feature stories. In “Meet. Mate. Multiply,” Rachel Lehmann-Haupt examines an interesting wrinkle in yuppie dating patterns: people who choose to rocket through that dating part, going from meeting to family in just a year or two.
Keywords: Singles; dating; marriage; kids; fertility specialist; JDate; Connecticut.
The details: As middle age looms, some single New Yorkers decide to take care of the whole settling-down thing in one fell swoop. We meet several of the resultant families — Scott and Erica, for example, who turned into Scott and Erica and Coco and Rubyrose within a mere year and four months — in their homes: “a one-bedroom apartment on Upper West Side,” “a bright Tribeca loft,” “an East Village walk-up,” “the house they are living in temporarily in Connecticut.”
Crucial quote: “‘Yeah, meeting Lars, getting married, having a kid,’ says Sophie. ‘The pace of it all. I was an overachiever in college, and I’ve achieved all this in fifteen months.’”
Takeaway: When the family-obsessed national culture meets the career-focused New York lifestyle, a weird vortex is created wherein people both postpone and rush through settling down. Which is not to say those people are any crazier than the rest of us.
Read the full article here — and the full issue here.