CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ ON NEW YEAR’S EVE

The trip to LA for New Year’s proved to be very eventful and was a great way to start off 2010! We stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel for the first time and all of the accolades you’ve heard about it are true. It was truly a throwback to old world Hollywood glamour. We’d been to the famous Polo Lounge before but this was our first time actually staying in the hotel. The lobby was as gorgeous as a stage set with fireplaces burning in every corner, at least eight Christmas trees and a beautiful six-foot table holding all manner of Christmas greenery and décor. The first day there, we lunched in the Polo Lounge and it was loaded with familiar faces. Actor Jack Black was there lunching with a friend as well as Nancy Reagan (surrounded by her security crew) who was there with long-time pal, Betsy Bloomingdale. Also lunching this day was 1982 Playmate of the Year, Shannon Tweed, with her sister, Tracy. (If you’re not familiar with Shannon from her Playboy days, she also had her own reality show with boyfriend rocker Gene Simmons called “Family Jewels.”)  Just another typical day in L.A., I suppose!

The first night we had dinner at a terrific restaurant called The Little Door (8164 W. 3rd St.) which offered rustic Mediterranean cuisine in a romantic setting. As a matter of fact, it won an award as the “Best Romantic Restaurant in L.A.” The next evening, we dined at a restaurant in the SLS Hotel, Bazaar, located at 465 S. La Cienega Blvd. Chosen by Esquire magazine as the year’s “Restaurant of the Year,” it had a modern and traditional Spanish menu with creative specialty cocktails in a chic Philippe Starck-designed space. It was also given a 4-star review by the L.A. Times. The Moss shop inside the restaurant carried very unique gift items at every price level, too.   
 
Our invite for Hef’s New Year’s Eve party this year came in the form of a phone call from the Mansion. In year’s past, we’ve always received a beautiful invite with artwork a la Vargas by Olivia de Berardinis but I guess everyone has to face cutbacks of some sort this year! We had also heard a rumor about the party being much smaller this year and as we came to find out, only 300 people had been invited. This made me a little worried but the moment we pulled up in front of the Mansion and saw it decorated and dramatically lit up in deep shades of pink and purple, I knew we were going to have a great time. The buzz started as soon as we walked through the front door and when we stepped into the tented backyard and saw all of the décor – it took our breath away! The tables all held fabulous floral arrangements and the backdrop was eye-popping as were the endless displays of food. It was Playboy at its finest…

There were so many “vintage” Playmates….even the 25th Anniversary Playmate, Candy Loving, was there! She looked terrific and it was great catching up with her. We sat next to another Playmate from 1968, Nancy Harwood (Miss February), and in Hef’s Twitter after the party, he said, “It was a perfect New Year’s Eve party—new friends and old. And now to bed.” He looked great—better than the last time I saw him—in a wine-colored velvet tuxedo jacket happily ensconced between the Shannon Twins (Karissa and Kristina) and Crystal Harris. He welcomed guests in his designated area in front of the stage…I had brought a photo of us from 1976 taken at a party he had thrown at the Mansion for the ABC special featuring the Bunny of the Year Pageant. He got a big kick out of it and showed it around to the girls…all the while the video cameras and still cameras were rolling and flashing. (Hef is a stickler for documentation. He has at least 1,000 books in him for sure!) After paying my respects to our host, we mingled.

There were lots of familiar faces….it seemed like everyone was a good friend of Hef’s and not just partygoers in general like in some year’s past. I saw long-time Hef friend, Hugh O’Brien, in the room—looking much older and using a cane but still dressed like Wyatt Earp. Seen in the crowd were astronaut Buzz Aldrin and his wife Lois (just back from a skiing weekend in Deer Valley), Julie Newmar (who was slamming down jello shots—not a pretty look for Catwoman!), Lou Ferrigno (the “Incredible Hulk”), Kato Kaelin (who was proud to point out he had the same girlfriend, Amber, as he had at the last New Year’s Eve party!), Jane Russell (who’s now 85 with dark black hair), former Bears wide receiver Willie Gault, Jerry Buss (owner of the L.A. Lakers), Terry Moore (ex-paramour of Howard Hughes), former “Girls Next Door Star” and Hef’s ex, Bridget Marquardt (looking very happy with boyfriend Nick Carpenter), Corey Feldman, Jose Canseco, Serria Tawan (Miss November 2002), Dolores Del Monte (Miss March 1954), Peggy McIntaggart (Miss Jan. 1990), 1976 Playmate of the Year Lillian Muller with her photographer boyfriend Maurice Rinaldi, Cynthia Myers (Miss December 1968), Julie McCullough (Miss February 1986) and Victoria Valentino (Miss September 1963) among many others. Even Hef’s high school sweetheart, Betty, was there! 
 

The beautiful young servers and dancers were all body-painted and, if you recall, this is how Hef met Kendra. I think many of these young girls have similar dreams and when I asked one of them about the process, she said master body-painter, Mark Frazier, sends out a casting call to various agencies around town and then the girls audition but the final selections are made by Hef himself. We met a gorgeous, sexy girl, Kristy Ann Keppel Spillane (no relation to the writer), who has been body painted four times for Playboy parties…you can certainly see why! She told me the girls make $400 for the event and this was her comment about the party: “I think this New Year’s Eve party was fantastic! More low key than most of the parties I’ve attended but that made it more intimate and exclusive.” Dolores Del Monte (who attends many Playboy parties) had this to say, “It was completely different from any I’ve been to in 12 years. It had a homey, family feel to it.” I agree on all counts…
 
We also got a chance to talk to the Shannon Twins and they couldn’t have been nicer. They asked me about my Playboy experience and are clearly enthralled with Hef and the whole Playboy world. They never tired of taking pics with guests (even though personal cameras were strictly prohibited) and were a delight to be around. The cute bartenders were particularly happy to see them! Crystal Harris never left Hef’s side. She kept him busy taking pics with her family, including her sister who had flown in from England for the party.
 
Nearer to midnight, everyone took to the dance floor and a rap group took over the mikes. The Twins and several other beautiful ladies took to the stage and then the balloons dropped….Hef’s brother Keith was seen kissing a beautiful woman and all around there were tears and hugs….another year had passed at the Playboy Mansion and all was right in Hef’s world! Welcome to 2010! Hope yours was great too and I look forward to sharing more fun with you in the year ahead!! As always, click here for more photos!