About Carl

“Engaging and charismatic”
– Time Out New York

Carl Raymond, writer, lecturer, social and culinary historian is your host and guide for The Gilded Gentleman History Podcast.  He lectures regularly for organizations such as The Royal Oak Foundation, The Metropolitan Opera Guild, Edith Wharton’s home The Mount and Historic Royal Palaces on subjects from food to the literary history of this fascinating period.

Carl‘s professional career includes extensive experience in publishing, the art auction world and in performing arts management.  He spent many years as a marketing director in the publishing houses of New York, Boston and London.  He was a contributing writer on SAVORING GOTHAM: A Food Lover’s Companion to New York City (Oxford University Press).

Carl began with a dream of conquering the opera world and sang in the chorus of the Opera Company of Boston and the Boston Concert Opera.  He fulfilled a dream and made it to New York’s Metropolitan Opera for five seasons as an actor playing a wide range of guards, peasants, and priests.

In addition to his musical training, Carl holds a diploma in culinary arts from the Institute of Culinary Education with further studies at New York’s French Culinary Institute and taught recreational cooking for eight years at New York’s acclaimed Astor Center.

A licensed New York City tour guide since 2014, Carl can often be found on the streets of New York giving one of his popular tours, notably EDITH WHARTON’S NEW YORK, offered by Bowery Boys Walks.

Carl holds a double BA in English and French from Colby College with studies at the Université de Caen, Caen, France.  He is fluent in French and speaks respectable Italian on a good day.

Called “engaging and charismatic” by TIME OUT NEW YORK, Carl brings his extensive and intimate experience in the historical, literary, musical, theatrical, and culinary worlds together in the creation of The Gilded Gentleman.

After all, what’s life without just a little glint of gold?

The Gilded Gentleman Team