MAGIC TOUCH

Robert Isabell's Bright Legacy

'King of Parties' left a colorful gift under the High Line.

It's the mystery of New York's Meatpacking District: who planted the awning of an old building under the High Line with beautiful pink and white begonias? The mysterious planter, it turns out, was Robert Isabell, famous party planner and floral designer who was found dead in his Greenwich Village home on July 8th at the age of 57. According to The New York Times, Isabell had purchased the five-story building a year ago with the intention of developing it into retail and office space. Now that he's gone, however, the people who crowd the High Line this summer will look down at those begonias and, in some small way, experience the bright legacy of Robert Isabell.