One thing about the Golden Globes: even if the show was bad or boring, the after parties in the Beverly Hilton were spectacular.
First stop was right downstairs at the pool, where HBO threw a lavish spread that started in Cafe 55, the hotel restaurant, and spilled out onto the enormous plaza. That’s where I found Ricky Gervais, a couple of times after he hosted the show and caused merry mayhem. It’s also where all the HBO stars from shows like “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City,” “Hacks,” “Game of Thrones,” etc would be chowing down. There was nothing livelier or more fun.
This year: HBO has opted out. In its place. Billboard magazine — owned by Eldrige Industries and Todd Boehy, also the owner of the Globes and Dick Clark Productions — will throw the one big shindig of the night.
This means no Warner Bros/In Style party in the big side ballroom of the hotel. It was always a crowd pleaser. One year, Prince played there. Over many years, Miramax, then the Weinstein Company, took over Trader Vic’s downstairs and on the opposite plaza from the HBO party. That’s obviously gone. Netflix took over the space, and then moved it to the lot across the drive way.. Not this year.
On upper floors of the hotel, the partying was just as good. Long lines used to form for the elevators to Universal Pictures and Sony Pictures soirees. They were packed with stars of their shows mingling and swingling. Again, they are just a memory. Also long gone are the 20th Century Fox parties. They were always a presence at the long ago demolished site of the Robinson’s department store.
Even more recently, there were also options of parties just down the way at the Hilton’s swanky new sister hotel, the very expensive Waldorf.
But now again, it’s just the Billboard party. There are a few things on the schedule around town, but quite small and mostly private. The days of wine and roses are over. The most fun was picking up a group of people you know and snaking around in a conga line from event to event. “Were you downstairs? Were you upstairs? Who was there?” And so on. Now we’ll watch from the East Coast, getting over some kind of snowstorm, glad to have the memories.
