Departures on Alec Baldwn

The actor’s favorite spots in New York, L.A., and beyond.
By Andrew Sessa

It’s been a big six months for Alec Baldwin. First there was that Emmy for his role as swaggering TV exec Jack Donaghy on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (sample perfect one-liner: “She needs to lose thirty pounds or gain sixty. Anything in between has no place on television.” ) The same month, A Promise to Ourselves, his memoir-cum-guide for fathers negotiating divorces, came out. Then in January he grabbed a Golden Globe for 30 Rock, and the next day the New York Philharmonic announced that he’d be the new host of its national radio broadcast. Next month Baldwin, who splits his time between Los Angeles, Manhattan, and Long Island, turns 51, and his new movie, Lymelife, debuts. Here, he tells us what it’s like to be the man of the moment.


First place you take guests?
In L.A., Malibu. In New York, Carnegie Hall.

Must-have carry-on items?
The New Yorker and my iPod.

First-choice hotel?
The Ritz-Carlton on Central Park. Paris’s Plaza Athénée. The Brewster Inn in Cazenovia, New York.

Favorite city in the world?
New York.

Section of The New York Times you read first?
The obituaries.

First film you recall seeing?
How the West Was Won.

Favorite movie theater?
The Angelika in Manhattan.

What TV do you watch?
MSNBC and any shows about Palm Beach murder trials.

Boat of choice?
I own a 25-foot Chris-Craft Launch. I want a 36-foot Hinckley Picnic.

Best place to shop?
Mount Street in London.

Pen or pencil?
A Paper Mate DynaGrip with black ink.

Who makes your clothes?
Suits are Zegna. Shirts, Hugo Boss and Brooks Brothers.

And who cuts your hair?
The one and only Richard Esposito at the Silvercup Studios salon.

Where do you stop for food on the way home from JFK?
Brother’s Pizzeria in Fresh Meadows, Queens, exit 25 on the Long Island Expressway.

The watch you wear?
A Cartier Ballon Bleu.

Where could you eat dinner for the rest of your life?
And what would you order? Nobu Fifty-Seven in Midtown. I’d get the edamame.

What are you reading?
A biography of David Lean.

Where do you get coffee?
Mary’s Marvelous in East Hampton and 71 Irving Place in New York.

Charity of choice?
The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp.

Who makes you laugh the hardest?
It’s a three-way tie. My brother Stephen; Tracy Morgan; and my daughter, Ireland.

Where do you go to get away?
To bed