It’s convention time, and that means L.A.’s rich and famous are hopping between parties like never before. From Beverly Hills mansions to studio back lots, in posh downtown hotel rooms and in many of L.A.’s hottest clubs, the champagne is flowing and millions of dollars are being poured into Democratic coffers.
“There are so many great parties going on in this town this week,” said Barbara Brass, who heads up Wolfgang Puck Food Co.’s special events division. “People are comparing it to four Oscar nights in a row, but it’s actually so much more because so many parties are taking place at the same time.”
These parties are not just for the 5,000 delegates in town for the convention. In fact, most delegates just ordinary middle-class Joes in normal life aren’t even invited to the really hot parties, the ones that will attract Hollywood celebrities, national politicians and L.A.’s corporate elite. Those are reserved for big-time donors to the Democratic Party, and anyone who’s not on the invitation list by the time this article appears can most likely forget about getting in. Nonetheless, there will be no shortage of bashes for lesser luminaries all across L.A. this week. “Every political or industry group in the country is coming here to put on a party,” said prominent L.A. Democrat Bill Wardlaw, a partner in the investment firm Freeman Spogli & Co. and co-chair of the L.A. Convention 2000 private-sector host committee. One of the biggest events is to take place Aug. 14: Gov. Gray Davis’ Taste of California reception at the back lot of Paramount Studios. As the host governor and leader of the largest state delegation, Davis is expected to attract hundreds of national political figures, as well as Hollywood executives and even a smattering of celebrities. “The word around town is, this is going to be one hot event,” said Richard Lichtenstein, an L.A.-based lobbyist. The Davis event is one of several at the Paramount back lot. Sen. John Breaux, D-Louisiana, is hosting another one; he plans to turn the studio into a small-scale version of Bourbon Street. Davis is also expected to be one of the headline politicians at perhaps the most prodigious fund-raising party during convention week: a huge bash at supermarket magnate Ron Burkle’s Beverly Hills mansion, the former Harold Lloyd estate. Besides fellow billionaire (and L.A. Convention 2000 Co-Chair) Eli Broad and L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan, others expected to attend are many of the biggest donors to the California Democratic Party.
Probably the highest-profile and most controversial soiree is slated for tomorrow night at the Playboy Mansion, where the Hispanic Unity USA Foundation, headed by Orange County Democratic Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, is holding a fund-raising and get-out-the-vote event. Republicans have roundly criticized the event’s setting at the Playboy Mansion as an affront to family values. Many high-profile Democrats, including Al Gore, are steering clear; nonetheless, organizers expect the event to sell out. Celebrity-gawkers may try to make their way on the night of Wednesday, Aug. 16 to the home of producer Lawrence Bender. The Creative Coalition an entertainment-industry political advocacy group and George magazine are putting on a shindig to benefit the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation. That event, which is expected to draw up to 2,000, is being co-hosted by Bender, George Clooney and Ted Field. Another celeb fest will likely be the post-Convention party at the Pacific Palisades home of Maria Shriver and her Republican husband Arnold Schwarzenegger. Attendees will include Ben Affleck, Matt Stars are also expected to shine at the convention’s unofficial closing ceremony: a huge benefit concert at the Shrine Auditorium immediately following Gore’s acceptance speech on the evening of Thursday, Aug. 17. Barbra Streisand and Whoopie Goldberg are the headline performers. Streisand is also hosting a fund-raiser at her estate to raise money for the Bill Clinton Presidential Library. “That will probably have the most selective invite list in town,” Wardlaw said. An equally star-studded event was scheduled for last Saturday night, Aug. 12, at the Mandeville Canyon home of former KROQ-FM 106.7 radio station owner Ken Roberts. Several hundred stars and politicians were expected at the Wolfgang Puck-catered event, dubbed the “Hollywood Salute to the Clintons.” “Of the 11 parties we’re catering, this is by far the hottest ticket,” said Brass of Puck’s special events division. By coincidence or maybe on purpose, to avoid unwanted media intruders this Hollywood fund-raiser was scheduled for the same time as the official media party for the 15,000 journalists covering the convention. That event was to be held across town at the L.A. Department of Water & Power plaza and was to be catered by Patina. And on the night of Sunday, Aug. 13, what started out as a fairly typical L.A. fund-raiser for the Democratic Party garnered national attention, thanks to Gore’s selection last week of Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his running mate. The American Israel Political Action Committee rented out the back lot of Sony Pictures Entertainment in Culver City. Late last week, President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton confirmed they would attend.
