Miss Manhattan Hangs Out...with Leo Tolstoy Frank

Lev Nikolayevich “Leo” Tolstoy Frank is practically squirming when I arrive at his door. He lives in Harlem with his dads, Steven and Lane, and his Aunt Gillian. He previously lived in Los Angeles, where he was rescued by an organization called Social Tees, a no-kill New York-based animal rescue. Leo was adopted by Steven and Lane last October. His original name was Rodeo, so Steven and Lane named him something similar in sound that still related to them, and the naming themes became Russian literature (Steven) and theatre (Lane--Leo Frank is the name of the lead character in the musical Parade). Leo is a mix of breeds, including Pomeranian, Chihuahua, and perhaps many different terriers. His demeanor is not unlike that of a frazzled yet mild-mannered physics professor nervously shuffling about campus wide-eyed with a giant stack of papers.

Since living in New York, Leo has become acquainted with the intricacies of city life. For example, we often have to put our coats on over our other coats before we go outside, we ride in a loud hole in the ground to get to places we cannot walk to, and we have to cross big, loud streets or sidewalks with grates on them (Leo does not like grates) to get where we are going. Some of these are harder to learn than others, but this is the transition most transplants go through when they get here. It just takes time, I want to tell him. Soon you won’t care about the loudness of the hole in the ground at all.

Today Leo is going for a walk with Steven and I have been invited along. First, because it’s cold outside, Leo is zipped into his winter vest. Once dressed, he waits patiently by the door for Steven, then makes his way quickly, quicker than one might expect for a little dog, down the stairs. We’ll cross the courtyard where Leo will chase after squirrels (Leo is very interested in squirrels), leave the courtyard where he will refuse to cross a particular street and Steven will carry him, and head to the park. Leo sniffs the trees and treks across the fallen leaves, into which he also blends. Leo is still learning how to interact with other dogs on the street (he will soon begin taking a class called “Sidewalk Psychos” to learn how to do this better), so when a teeny Chihuahua approaches Steven distracts Leo by turning him away from the dog with bits of cooked chicken thigh. Leo does a good job of being distracted and is given more chicken.

Soon it is time to return home, and Leo sniffs all across the courtyard as we make our way back. Inside, Leo is unzipped from his vest and patted down with dog wipes. In praise of his patience, Leo is given a bacon treat from Barklyn Bagels. Relaxing post-walk, he sits on his favorite rug and nibbles on his favorite chew toy, a stick made of deer.

Leo regularly makes appearances on the Instagrams of his dads, Steven and Lane.

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Miss Manhattan Hangs Out...with Shana Goodman

Shana Goodman has told me on more than one occasion that her natural state is sitting on the couch in our living room watching Mad Men with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon. But as her roommate, I know she is constantly running around from auditions to her job as a rowing instructor to her waitressing gig. Mad Men and peanut butter is her way of relaxing after throwing herself around New York making her dream happen (and also a way for her to watch good acting on a regular basis, she tells me). So this week it was lovely to sit across from her as we had brunch in the middle of a Tuesday because we are ladies with flexible schedules so why not?

Shana is an actress--in fact, after we hang out, she will get another voiceover audition--and has been acting since she was eight years old. Not because she was a stage diva from a young age, but rather the opposite--she wouldn’t talk, so to draw her out of her shell her mother sent her to acting classes. She has stuck with it ever since, and hopes to work in independent film. Being an actor is not easy, and I always admire her resolve to keep going. I don’t know if I could do it myself.

The first week Shana and I lived together was a huge blizzard in New York. We had barely known each other a week when we trenched out in the snow together and she let me take pictures of her. Even then she had a sparkle, something that was so much fun to photograph, that I was looking forward to taking her picture again.

For brunch, Shana chose Poco, a restaurant in Alphabet City where she used to work. You can add lobster to almost any dish, which I do to avocado toast like a true millennial, and she orders a quinoa and kale salad with steak. The restaurant is empty save for us and the waiter, who has a Grateful Dead tattoo on his arm, flirts with her shamelessly. So much, perhaps, that he forgets to bring the steak she ordered. “This is a picture of me looking annoyed that the steak hasn’t come yet,” she says, and makes a face. It’s hilarious--she’s not actually that upset, but the girl can act.

Acting feels weird sometimes, Shana says, because even though it’s something she’s been doing most of her life she feels like she’s starting from scratch. We talk about Jon Hamm, how Mad Men was maybe his first big break, besides a bunch of smaller television shows, in 2007 at the age of 36. Shana wants to keep hustling even if it takes that long, or longer. She just wants to be happy and do what she loves. I don’t think that’s a lot to ask of this life. She looks great in front of the camera, even when she’s accidentally standing next to a pile of trash.

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Miss Manhattan Hangs Out...with Claire Beaudreault

The best part of Fashion Week this year was meeting Claire Beaudreault backstage. She wore a beanie detailed with big, sparkly Tina Louise-esque eyes and grey furry coat. In a sea of fake people, I immediately admired her positive energy and openness.

Claire had been working in customer service at what’s now a major retail site but, inspired by The Artist’s Way, has in the last few years branched out into being a full-time freelance nail artist, writer, actress, and rapper. You may recognize her as Clara Bizna$$ from the rap group Hand Job Academy, though she’s now recording in the studio on her own. Claire has also written for HelloGiggles, Bust, Salon, and others. Her nail work has appeared in places like i-D, Free People and Carven lookbooks, PeopleStyle, and DKNY ads. She has also been the key nail artist for designers like Titania Inglis and Maki Oh’s runway shows. Last year, she appeared in the off-Broadway play The Sex Myth and in a non-sex role as a queen in the musical porn parody Hamiltoe.

It’s a sunny but cold day when I meet up with Claire at her apartment. She takes Freenie, her dog daughter who she adoringly calls “Dingus,” for a walk after zipping Freenie into a teenie black hoodie and herself into a bright pink one. She tops her own hoodie with a motorcycle jacket adorned with both Betty Boop and Hand Job Academy buttons. “Let’s walk to the cemetery like goth kids,” she says, and off we go. She carries Freenie most of the way as we talk about dating, sexuality, and murders in Ridgewood.

Back at her apartment, Claire shows me her stack of Sassy magazines from the ‘90s, her article clips, her treasure trove of makeup from being a beauty writer, her neverending cases of colorful nail polish that look like bags of candy after trick-or-treating. She tells me what it was like doing nails for Marina Abramović, Karlie Kloss, Cara Delevigne (they were all really nice, she says). She shows me an article written about her in her hometown newspaper when she was a teenager, about being a finalist in Seventeen magazine’s “Color of the Year” contest. She had always been interested in nails, she says. It’s serendipitous how her life came back to it.

We head to the Lower East Side for a slice or two at Champion Pizza (Claire is a dollar slice connoisseur, she tells me) before we go to Chillhouse, a sleek white, marble space with eco-friendly nail polish and matcha lattes where she does nails usually on Saturdays. But she practices on me with a polish change, her own nails printed with a galaxy of nail art while I choose a pink that makes me feel like Barbie’s older sister. While she files and then paints, Claire makes me think about New York, how people have a never-ending diversity of experiences not just in a single day but in a lifetime, and just how beautiful it is.

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Listen to Clara Bizna$$ on Spotify and SoundCloud.

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