Today’s voiceofsandiego.org has a story by Rob Davis about more layoffs at the Union-Tribune. As Davis (no relation that I’m aware of) reports, it’s not known just how much Copley Press (the U-T’s parent company) is in the hole—reportedly it has a lot to do with the huge estate-tax bill that David Copley was stuck with upon his mother’s death in August 2004.
But you’d never guess there was a cash shortage based on this piece by U-T society columnist Burl Stiff on April 2, 2006. Stiff, it seems, got to tag along with Copley on a trip to Paris and Zurich (either that, or someone took good notes and passed them on to Stiff later). And damn if Dave Copley doesn’t know how to do Europe in style. Check it out:
According to Stiff, Copley dined on duck at Paris’ La Tour D’Argent restaurant (translates to “The Tower of Money”) where, according to Frommers, a main course (the duck is said to be “succulent”) will run you around $80.
On a different night, Copley and his traveling companions, one of whom was the wife of a La Jolla plastic surgeon (I’d bet my 1989 Volvo station wagon that D-Cop’s had some work done), also dined at Le Jules Verne, located on the second level of the Eiffel Tower. Owned by celebrated French chef Alain Ducasse, the restaurant’s eight-course meal costs 120 euros ($175). C’est bargain!
The feasting doesn’t end there. The Copley trio also ate at the Espadon, the restaurant located at The Ritz, where they were staying. Rooms at the Paris Ritz (see photo above) start at 710 euros (for “The Superior” room). Personally, I’d pay 800 euros ($1,200) to stay in the “Marcel Proust” room—simply because I’d be hoping there’d be a free copy of Remembrance of Things Past. I’ve always wanted to read that book; never have. I’m going to guess that Le Copley opted for a suite (I’m just guessin’). Those start at 910 euros for a “Junior Executive” and top out at 2,800 euros for a “Deluxe.”
Since all this checking travel websites and calculating conversion rates has me worn out, I’ll leave it to Stiff to recount the remainder of the trip:
They stayed at Hotel Baur au Lac in Zurich, and had a late supper in Rive Gauche there after the Christo show. (Singer Tina Turner was another patron of the restaurant that night.)
From Switzerland the party flew back to Nice and traveled by car to the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo. There, Copley had conferences dealing with the operation of Happy Days, a yacht that’s nearing completion in Seattle.
Dominating the domed lobby of the Hotel de Paris was a spectacular bouquet lit by a huge crystal chandelier. Glass bottles – tiny, bulbous and filled with pink-tinted water – were wired at intervals to blossoming fruit branches. Each bottle held a full-blown, hot-pink tulip on a short stem. The deep-pink tulips and the pale-pink fruit blossoms, touched with the glitter of all the bottles, created a dazzling effect. Magic.
The Copley party had dinner one night at Le Louis XV, Alain Ducasse’s restaurant in the Hotel de Paris, and the next night joined Alice and Richard Cramer for dinner at Le Grill on the top floor of the hotel. The Cramers, who used to live in La Jolla, are now at home in Monaco.
Lunch in St. Paul de Vence at La Colombe D’Or – hung with a famous collection of paintings – and dinner at the Hotel Metropole in Monte Carlo brought the fleeting European visit to a finish.
Magic, indeed. Funny that amid all the cuts to newsrooms—in nearly every U.S. city—wealthy men are always helming those newspapers. But I doubt few are as piggy as the publisher of San Diego’s biggest daily paper.
January 16, 2008 - 2:13 pm at 2:13 pm
Isn’t it amazing that someone who makes a living transferring cocktail napkin notes into a society column keeps their job while a quality critic is bounced? Truth be told, Burl rakes in upwards of $150,000 a year for basically writing 3 one-sentence paragraphs and a guest list interspersed with “Also in attendance” and “More were.”
Estate taxes my eye. If that pig Copley really cared about his mother’s papers he’d be at his office in La Jolla, not floating his worthless ass around the Mediterranean on a boat that’s larger than most people’s homes. How stands the Union now, Mr. Copley?
January 16, 2008 - 6:19 pm at 6:19 pm
Ah, hem! The Richard Cramer David Copley dined with is formerly of La Jolla and the Copley Press board. He is an expatriate because of a tax lien from the Internal Revenue Service. In other words, he’s a fugitive from justice! So reported by the Reader about a year ago.
February 4, 2008 - 10:35 pm at 10:35 pm
J’mapelle “speechless.” I’d love to see continued coverage of these layoffs and the circumstances surrounding and afterward… Does it really make sense to get rid of your most experienced and well-known writers in order to save money? I’m imagining it has the opposite effect (less reason to keep your sub when the quality retreats even further). Blech!
February 21, 2008 - 9:35 am at 9:35 am
I had just sent an email to the Union Tribune asking where David Elliot was when I came upon an article on the internet by Scott Marks saying that Elliott was terminated by the newspaper. His column was one of the few things that the paper had going for itself. I trusted his reviews…what clinched it for me was that he was not taken in by Pan’s Labyrinth…all the glowing reviews it got from other critics….he didn’t give it the 4 stars everyone else gave it. I saw the movie and agreed with him…..very depressing…good graphics. I am a fan of his. The paper doesn’t have any substance to it anyway….now there is no reason to subscribe to it.
May 22, 2008 - 8:05 am at 8:05 am
Amen… hopefully that blob Copley will grow several more chins & suffocate.
July 18, 2008 - 8:41 pm at 8:41 pm
I’ve been missing David Elliott tremendously but hadn’t had time to check on his whereabouts other than to painfully notice his absence in the Union Tribune. How very sad to learn he’d been let go – he was one of the best film critics ever – akin to beloved Gene Siskel in my estimation. What a loss to our local San Diego film culture……
August 5, 2008 - 9:17 am at 9:17 am
My wife and I are lifelong film buffs. We always valued David Elliot’s reviews, even when we disagreed with them.
Film criticism gains value to readers if they know the critic so they can compare that critic’s taste and criteria for judgment with their own. To illustrate, David Elliot doesn’t care for comedy or Sci-fi fantasy as much as we do, so we could factor that into his panning of those films. On a more positive note, like us, David doesn’t mind a film taking the better part of two hours carefully developing plot and character, and he and we value cinematography. For serious dramatic and action films, we found his criticism and recommendations right on.
Quality and value sell newspapers. If the U-T continues its general decline in both, I’ll switch to the LA Times (also declining in quality), or the NY times, or wean myself off of a lifetime morning newspaper habit.
May 8, 2009 - 2:46 pm at 2:46 pm
Scrutiny needed
Mayor must take hard look at contracting chief
2:00 a.m. May 8, 2009
Here the UT goes again! The UT needs a diversion from the truth that it can not manage a newspaper; so it creates a non story about something that a black man did not do in a place long ago and far away. UT how about writing an editorial apologizing for failing as a newspaper and an employer? Maybe if the Owner had spent more time watching the newspaper store and less time yachting in the Mediterranean the newspaper would be worth more Scrutiny.
All the best
John Stump