One guest glibly described the crowd at the right official unveiling of the expanded and refreshed Eiseman Jewels as, “It’s a St. Mark’s/Hockaday gathering.” Well, sorta, maybe, perhaps.
Actually the Wednesday, September 17th cocktail reception was benefiting the Crystal Charity Ball. To accommodate the 500 guests that included a full court press of CCB gals (Pat McEvoy, Patty Leyendecker, Vinnie Reuben and Tiffany Divis), the party spilled out as planned into the courtyard outside of Eiseman. To make it a private affair, the area was black curtained off. Within the draping, Todd Events and Cassandra Fine Catering turned the center’s courtyard into an elegant feast of vision and food — a longer-than-long white bar, leather chairs, cocktail tables and never-ending trays of food. Course, the jewels on the models and in the display cases didn’t hurt the sparkle factor.
The whole occasion made a couple of older types laugh at the memories back in the 50’s when a grand opening resulted in orchid corsages or plastic drink glasses being handed out.
Eiseman matriarch Louise “Queen Mum” Eiseman initially welcomed guests within the entrance. But that ended when she spied Sistie Stollenwerck and the two decided to peruse the wall of Eiseman memories that lined towering display walls along the walkway leading to NorthPark. Among the clippings and photos on the boards were such familiar faces as Mimi Lay, the Browning ladies (Jane, Fallon, Katherine and Allison), Sistie, Juanita Miller, Sis Carr and Dick Eiseman.
Richard Eiseman, like his mother, was greeting each guests with a kiss on the cheek like an old friend and rightly so. He knew each and every one of the 500 including Margot and Ross Perot (he was giving a thumbs up to guests as he passed by), Carol and Don Glendening, new homeowners Melanie and Eugene Jabbour, Joe Haggar III and his mom Isabell Haggar, former CCB chairs (Cynthia Mitchell in elegant black slacks and Caren Kline in flawless white), Stanford grad Mary McDermott Cook on her way to Boston for Dan Patterson’s Harvard reunion.
CCB Chair Robyn Conlon in dazzling blue cocktail dress took dazzle up a notch or a hundred with a diamond necklace that husband Don had bought at Eiseman… Neiman’s NorthPark GM/VP Malcolm Reuben was teased about his store’s signage just above the black curtain…Jane Pierce reported that daughter/Communities Foundation of Texas’ Carol Goglia was preparing for the next day’s North Texas Giving Day…As models on platforms displayed jewels, the ducks in the court’s ponds didn’t seem the least bit impressed by the boldfacers or expensive accessories. Talk about blasé wildlife.
As Nancy Nasher and husband David Haemisegger were leaving the party, she recalled how her folks used to take her to the Eiseman counter, when it was located in Titche.
Now, Titche is part of NorthPark’s history and Eiseman is part of its future as they prepare to celebrate NP’s 50th anniversary.