The Academy's New York chapter hosted a party for 100 at the St. Regis Hotel. Patrick Harrison, the chapter's events director, purposely avoided a sexy, glam look that might appeal to young Hollywood types. (His guests didn't exactly fall into that category, after all.) Instead he designed the event as a throwback to the simpler, original 1929 awards ceremony, which was also held at an elaborate hotel—the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood.

The viewing party featured giant Oscar statues, flower arrangements from Surroundings Flowers & Events, and a menu from the hotel's executive chef, Richard Brown, which included lobster risotto, rack of lamb with potatoes, oven-dried tomatoes, and spinach. The hotel's pastry chef, Morgan Larsson, created a dessert plate that included a faux strip of film made out of chocolate painted with icons inspired by the Best Picture nominees, including a cowboy hat for Brokeback Mountain, the Olympic rings for Munich, and a pair of glasses for Capote.

Uptown at Elaine's, more than 200 guests—including past Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden and other locals Bebe Neuwirth, Billy Baldwin, and Alan Cumming—walked the red carpet for Entertainment Weekly's annual party, now in its twelfth year and the evening's local standard bearer. Sheila Kelly, the magazine's director of special events, worked with David Stark Design and Production to produce the party, which had a red and yellow look. Red tablecloths covered tables, and each place was set with a bundle of rosemary and eucalyptus berries—key ingredients in two of lead sponsor Biolage's hair care lines.

The sweets were the story here, too: Red and yellow M&M's imprinted with "EW" and the date were handy for snacking, and the stars got star-shaped cookies from Eleni's. The film-oriented touches came in the form of cocktails, like the Blue Cowboy, the Good Night and Good Luck gimlet, Capote's Choice (straight bourbon), the Olympic, and the Crash Cosmo. Also, Kodak gave its new Dual Lens cameras to four guests (Chris Meloni, Stephanie March, SuChin Pak, and Joey Pantoliano) to take photographs to be used in an upcoming issue of the magazine.

The evening's upstart was New York magazine's very first Oscar viewing party, purposely held downtown at the Spotted Pig as an even lower-key alternative to the media mash on the Upper East Side. Sans red carpet, the party was designed to be a casual cross-section of New York, with actors, media types, politicians, and writers in attendance, and served as a party to welcome the magazine's new film critic, David Edelstein. Betsy Burton, New York's deputy director of communications, planned the party, relying on the built-in charm of the restaurant's tavernlike setting, and its much-fussed-over gastropub menu: Guests dined on hors d'oeuvres like chicken liver parfait with onion marmalade, smoked haddock chowder, and beignets with Gruyere cheese, while the West Coast's huzzahs played on monitors lent by JVC.

—Mark Mavrigian & Anna Sekula

Posted 03.08.06

Photos: Theo Wargo/WireImage (EW), Star Traks Photo (Academy)

Related Stories

EW Party Offers Sweet Sponsorship Deals

Entertainment Weekly's Oscar Party Goes On

Celebs Watch Celebs at EW Oscar Party

Oscar's Big New York Bash

Related Stories From Los Angeles

The Biggest Oscar Party Is All About Vanity

Big Academy Ball Has Dramatic Tube Lighting

Elton Hosts Massive, Tented Feast

Big Oscar Parties Mean Big Money

Us Weekly Offers Oscar Night Alternative

Oscar Governors Ball Has Opulent Look