‘Twas the weeks before Christmas, and all through L.A.
All the stars hit the holiday bashes, ready to party and play
And just like I had throughout the whole year
I joined the party circuit and shared the celebs’ Yuletide cheer
If You’ve Got It, Flaunt It
The first stop was the hot fling flung by edgy, avant garde Flaunt Magazine, which filled a Bel-Air mansion with photos from its sexy shoot with Charlize Theron and packed it to the gills with a bevy of LA’s beautiful people, including Jessica Alba, Eva Mendes, Jenny McCarthy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Sofia Vergara, House’s Lisa Edelstein, hip-hop impresario Pharrell Williams and nearby neighbor Hugh Hefner, who brought his Girls Next Door Bridget, Holly and Kendra (plus one extra blonde!), each wrapped up like a shiny holiday present. Each of the celebs dropped off a toy for a deserving child under the Christmas tree outside, and Jessica, who arrived with beau Cash Warren looking holiday glam in a billowy black cocktail dress, dropped off her gift, spotted a Bratz doll someone else had left, picked it up and said, “This is what I want to get!”
The Future’s So Bright, They Gotta Wear Shades
So the stars wouldn’t go snowblind on their upcoming ski trips or squint from the sandy beach of some exotic holiday getaway, Solstice Sunglasses threw a late-night bash at Privilege, the swanky new Sunset Strip hot spot, and the stars turned out to stuff shades in their stockings.
Lindsay Lohan and her crew took over the private booth above the dance floor next to DJ Samantha Ronson’s booth around 11:30 pm, and Lindsay was definitely in a mood to be nice and naughty. She danced provocatively by herself to each new song, frequently leaning over to the DJ to suggest the next tune. And her curves were back in time for Christmas: the briefly waifish teen was showing off her again-abundant cleavage in a revealing little black top that matched her currently raven locks as she shook her thang. The naughtiest moment of the night came when Lindsay posed for a photo taken by a friend, and she flipped up a very specific finger and grinned cheekily just as the flash popped.
While Frankie Muniz and Andy Dick shared one private VIP booth, Nip/Tuck’s Julian McMahon partied up next door, joined by celeb couple Jennifer Finnegan (Close to Home) and Jonathan Silverman—just about everything Julian said had the two of them doubled over with laughter. Julian was playing host, and he poured drinks from Solstice’s private stash for Hollywood.com’s Margi Blash and I, and he and I conspired to figure out a creative way to take one of the giant chandeliers hanging in the area home as a Christmas ornament (Hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time). Julian was definitely in the mood to play Santa with a very available lap for every available female that made her way into the booth and found a reason to bump into him.
The party was packed to the gills with Hollywood’s hottest, their noses quickly as aglow as Rudolph’s thanks to the abundance of free-flowing alcohol, but when I left the fete in full swing some time after 2 am, I missed my main mistletoe target, Paris Hilton, by just a few minutes after she and her posse arrived to give the party some holiday ho-ho-hos.
Sting, Styler and Snowflakes
The next stop was the celebrated Pretty Woman hotel itself, the Regent Beverly Wilshire, nestled squarely at the foot of Beverly Hills’ tony Rodeo Drive, the favorite gift-purchasing stop of the privileged and pampered. The Beverly Wilshire was looking as radiant as Julia Roberts’ megawatt smile, bathed in seasonally sparkly white twinkle lights and topped by a massive crystalline snowflake specially crafted by Baccarat, which had also lined Rodeo with rows of chandeliers to festive effect.
As Alyssa Milano hit the plunger that illuminated 90210’s shopping streets and set the massive snowflake aglow to officially kick off the holiday season, even more stars—including Dustin Hoffman, Jenna Elfman, Jane Kaczmarek, Ed McMahon, Grey’s Anatomy’s Isaiah Washington and Prime’s Bryan Greenberg—arrived inside the hotel for UNICEF’s swanky Snowflake Ball.
The famous faces turned out to see the ever-stylish Trudie Styler receive the Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award for her tireless efforts on behalf of UNICEF. Trudie’s pal Robert Downey Jr., appeared on stage in red-tinted sunglasses to introduce her, adding a little spice to the proceedings. “This is actually an intervention,” he explained “Trudie, you’ve been doing way too much philanthropy for UNICEF, and we are deeply concerned that this behavior is indicative of a deeper problem. And I thought I should be the one to do this intervention because I know about addiction. I’ve lived it and I understand diseased behavior.”
Downey got even saucier, explaining that while doing Internet research on Trudie he discovered some risqué photos of her on Mr. Skin.com, only to be discovered in mid-leer by Styler’s rock star husband, Sting. “I found out that as well as being one of the most philanthropic rock stars, he also has a heck of a left jab,” explained Downey, removing his shades to reveal a big, bruised black eye (Yes, it was real—but not Sting-induced; we later learned Downey got clocked at a kung fu class).
CBS head honcho Les Moonves was also honored, brought to the stage by his old acting buddy Mark Harmon, while Hoffman brought singer Natalie Cole to the stage with a fabulous fantasy about their lengthy affair in the ‘80s (at least I think it was a fantasy). Then Sting took the stage to sing for his wife’s supper, accompanied by trumpet sensation Chris Botti and his band on winter-cool jazz renditions of several of Sting’s signature songs, including “Every Breath You Take” and the Trudie-inspired “Fields of Gold.” They weren’t exactly traditional Christmas carols, but the crowd was filled with the holiday spirit. After all, when Sting gives you a song, you’re thrilled to receive it. And we did our best to give back, though all we had was applause.
And I had to exclaim, as I bid goodbye to both you and all the stars who work it
“Happy Holidays to all! See you in 2006 back on the red carpet circuit!”
