This year’s TV Guide Emmy after-party called for a grand gesture, coming as it did on the eve of the magazine warhorse's growth from an itty-bitty book into a mighty contender for newsstand shelf space. The bash was planned for Hollywood's club du jour, the Tropicana Bar at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (which has already racked up its share of parties that wow). So Tony Schubert of Event Eleven took a counter-intuitive approach to setting his party apart: Working with TV Guide special projects consultant Deborah Barrow, he accentuated the retro glam decor by Dodd Mitchell by making the outdoor venue even more Tropicanesque—and less.
Schubert researched the origins of the venue's inspiration—the 66-year-old Tropicana Club of Havana. The Cuban club has a serpentine bar 40 feet long, so Schubert constructed his own 48-foot-long version using a steel frame, which he covered with oak veneer stained mahogany. Two bars stood back to back over the Hollywood Roosevelt pool, which was covered with a lush expanse of orange carpeting.
"Everyone is so used to seeing the pool, I wanted to do something different and to really change the outdoor look and vibe," Schubert said in an interview after the party. "We were the first to cover the pool. I'm getting calls from production companies and clients asking how much it costs to cover the pool. I'm saying, 'Wait, do you want us to do the party, or are you just asking questions?’”
Schubert's Tropicana was a nifty blend of 60’s cool and 21st-century technology, with bubble machines tossing light-flecked circles over the two seating sections—one with gray and orange ottomans and couches, the other with clubby furniture of black tufted vinyl. Scattered among the seating were fire pits and tables topped with white, orange, and blood-red dahlias, roses, and orchids. A spray of LED screens surrounded a stage built at one end of the bar, flashing covers of TV Guide and its new female-oriented spin-off, Inside TV. Along the venue's perimeter were 35 42-inch plasma screens, which alternated shots of the party's red carpet, a rebroadcast of the Emmys, Joan and Melissa Rivers' fashion wrap-up, and Missy Elliott's hourlong performance. The lady hip-hopper had injured her knee in dance rehearsals the week before, but she took the stage undaunted in a handicapped scooter and buzzed around to thunderous cheers from the 1,900 revelers.
Guests could take a break from the main action at a private smoking area sponsored by Camel; at Lip Fusion’s mezzanine beauty bar, where makeup artists did retouching and gave out plumping lip glosses; and at the hotel lobby-turned-Cuban lounge, where guests plucked goodies from barrels of Dove chocolate while DJs AM, Samantha Ronson, and Tendaji spun hip-hop and rock.
—Irene Lacher
Photos: Nadine Froger Photography
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Schubert researched the origins of the venue's inspiration—the 66-year-old Tropicana Club of Havana. The Cuban club has a serpentine bar 40 feet long, so Schubert constructed his own 48-foot-long version using a steel frame, which he covered with oak veneer stained mahogany. Two bars stood back to back over the Hollywood Roosevelt pool, which was covered with a lush expanse of orange carpeting.
"Everyone is so used to seeing the pool, I wanted to do something different and to really change the outdoor look and vibe," Schubert said in an interview after the party. "We were the first to cover the pool. I'm getting calls from production companies and clients asking how much it costs to cover the pool. I'm saying, 'Wait, do you want us to do the party, or are you just asking questions?’”
Schubert's Tropicana was a nifty blend of 60’s cool and 21st-century technology, with bubble machines tossing light-flecked circles over the two seating sections—one with gray and orange ottomans and couches, the other with clubby furniture of black tufted vinyl. Scattered among the seating were fire pits and tables topped with white, orange, and blood-red dahlias, roses, and orchids. A spray of LED screens surrounded a stage built at one end of the bar, flashing covers of TV Guide and its new female-oriented spin-off, Inside TV. Along the venue's perimeter were 35 42-inch plasma screens, which alternated shots of the party's red carpet, a rebroadcast of the Emmys, Joan and Melissa Rivers' fashion wrap-up, and Missy Elliott's hourlong performance. The lady hip-hopper had injured her knee in dance rehearsals the week before, but she took the stage undaunted in a handicapped scooter and buzzed around to thunderous cheers from the 1,900 revelers.
Guests could take a break from the main action at a private smoking area sponsored by Camel; at Lip Fusion’s mezzanine beauty bar, where makeup artists did retouching and gave out plumping lip glosses; and at the hotel lobby-turned-Cuban lounge, where guests plucked goodies from barrels of Dove chocolate while DJs AM, Samantha Ronson, and Tendaji spun hip-hop and rock.
—Irene Lacher
Photos: Nadine Froger Photography
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E! Makes a Splash With Hollywood Pool Party
L.A. Trend: Welcome to the Hotels, California
TV Guide and Inside TV’s Emmy party took over the popular Tropicana Bar at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel—with some changes from the usual.
Event Eleven covered the hotel’s pool.
A 48-foot-long curving bar recalled the bar at the Tropicana Club in Cuba.
Rapper Missy Elliott performed from a motorized chair, after injuring herself at a dance rehearsal earlier in the week.
