December 2008

December 30th 2008
Nolita, NYC

My Dearest HOLLYWOULD Girls,

After nine years of lots of work and loads of fun, HOLLYWOULD and I are taking a nice long vacation.  In 2009 you may find us surfing off the beaches of Brazil, skiing in the mountains of Switzerland, sailing near the shores of Italy, and sunning on the sands of Palm Beach, and wherever we are, we’ll be thinking of you.

When will we be back?  Maybe very soon, but hopefully not until we’ve had time to master our surf & snowboard skills, write at least one book, learn at least one new language, visit at least 3 exotic places, and learn how to dance the tango.

As far as fabulous shoes, handbags, and dresses are concerned, your vintage HOLLYWOULD will have to suffice for a while, and in the meantime we would love to have you join our facebook group “I LOVE HOLLYWOULD”.

Much Love & Happy 2009,

xoxo Holly

PS – Huge, Mega, Insane, Super-Big, Uber, Ultra Gigantic Awesome THANK YOU to everyone who has ever worked at HOLLYWOULD (we have a special facebook group for you too, called “I WORKED AT HOLLYWOULD”) and to The Original HOLLYWOULD Gang who made it all happen:

Leslie Ternes Smith

Isa Moneypenny

Erin Mullaney

Ashley Auchenbach Bartolotta

Derrick Miller

You guys rock.

xoxo

Hol

December 17th 2008
Manhattan

xoxo Big Shout-Out to everyone who came out to HOLLYWOULD’s Christmas Kegger on Sunday!  Thanks for coming out to help us tap it in style.

My Sunday began at my church in Brooklyn, which is conveniently located just next to the only keg distributor in NYC who is open on Sunday.  I’m not sure how often this comes in handy for other church members, but it certainly made life easy for me.  I had enlisted my friend Hannah to help me pick up the kegs after church, where we had planned to meet a “Man With A Van” I had hired to help us transport our lager back into Manhattan. 

I am no stranger to the whole “Man With A Van” system, so I was prepared for the usual beat up white van to arrive with an older-than-you’d-expect man who, despite his apparent age of nearly 75, is able to lift 250 lbs barbells over his head with one hand.  As you can imagine, Hannah and I were quite dismayed when instead of one strong 75 year old Popeye, three high-as-kites 35 year old Rastafarians arrived in a graffiti-covered U-Haul truck and told us to get in the windowless back, or let them transport the kegs without us.  Call me what you will, but there was no way in Hades I was getting into the back of a windowless U-Haul with 3 Rastafarians at the helm, and certainly not a chance in Heaven I was going to let them take my beer without me.

Desperate for a solution, we spotted two handsome young lads returning empty kegs to the store, and despite the fact that they looked severely & brutally hung over, begged them for a ride back into Manhattan.  Before we knew it we had crammed 2 kegs, 2 body bags of ice, and 5 grown adults into a small black Jetta, cranked up some Biggie Smalls, and were headed towards freedom over the Brooklyn Bridge.  Big Ups to Eduardo and the boys for saving the day.  Next time CNN has their “CNN Heroes” special, I am going to nominate you. 

From there the rest is history, and hopefully the party photos suffice to let you know an excellent time was had by all.

My next adventure is a wild boar hunt in Tuscany, so stay tuned for updates from Italia….

December 16th 2008
NYC

I’ve had far too many Christmas cookies and drank way too many Christmas cocktails, but alas, Christmas only happens once a year.

My weekend began with a lovely holiday party hosted by star New York designer Erin Featherston in her gorgeous TriBeCa apartment.  It’s a bit rare to get invited to house parties in NYC because most New Yorkers can’t fit more than three people in their living rooms, so Erin’s shin-dig was a real treat.  If you don’t know about Erin you must not be paying attention to your Vogue, because she makes to-die-for frocks that are absolutely heavenly.  Her apartment was no less heavenly itself, and we all had a marvelous time drinking champagne in fabulous company.  

The highlight of the evening was a tipsy photo session with the girls, where everyone shared their secrets for getting a great shot.  Sarah Sophie Flicker claimed that convincing the camera you’re having “The Best Time Ever” always produces a winner, while Kate Schelter said that the “Hair Flip” just before click is the only way to go.  Much to the annoyance of the men in attendance we practiced both methods at least 20 times, and while Kate’s “Hair Flip” certainly does produce a certain Charlie’s Angels je ne sais quoi, Sarah Sophie’s “Best Time Ever” theory proved to be the real winner.  File it in your brain girls: channeling your “Best Time Ever” equals the prize shots.

After Erin’s we headed to the birthday party of Alberta Ferretti’s oh-so-fabulous PR star Cena Jackson at The Eldridge, where we ordered a round of shots within 5 minutes of darkening the door.  I ended up leaving in a haze of Stevie Nicks, which might explain why I was an absolute disaster in my dance class the following morning.  Oh the dance class…

I had bribed my friend Jennifer Bell into joining me as a guest at my gym, which is the Reebok Sports Club on the Upper West Side and happens to be NYC’s Mecca for professional athletes and fitness junkies.  Being the jock that I am, I spend most of my time sitting in their sauna and eating at their café. There’s no better workout than drinking a peanut butter milkshake while eating a grilled cheese sandwich after a long sit in the sauna.  I get tired just thinking about it.

Needless to say, when I asked Jen to join me she wasn’t exactly afraid of working up a sweat, but was at least looking forward to a healthy morning activity.  Not so much.  Three minutes into our dance class, realizing I was far too uncoordinated to participate in any of these “Fame! I’m Gonna Live Forever!” shenanigans, I nodded to Jen that we should slip out, which we promptly did.  From there we spent a total of 4 minutes on the elliptical machines before deciding it was definitely time for a mimosa brunch.  ‘Tis the season.

The following day was the HOLLYWOULD Christmas Kegger, which deserves its very own diary entry, so stay tuned…

December 15th 2008
NYC

Kegger update coming soon...

December 12th 2008
New York City, Botanical Gardens

There’s no place more beautiful than the New York Botanical Gardens for an evening event, which is why their annual Winter Wonderland Ball is always on my Christmas Party wish-list.  Year after year the gala is increasingly more fun, and this year’s Chanel sponsored soiree was an absolute blast.

The party planning began weeks ago when my favorite girl-about-town (and Christie’s Auction House PR Goddess) Lydia Fenet called to see if I would like to join her “posse” in a car to the Bronx for the party.  My answer of course was yes, and as soon as all of us had piled into the Escalade, prom style, I knew I had made the right decision.  Before the engine even started the girls were drinking champagne out of orange plastic jack-o-lantern cups leftover from Halloween, while the boys guzzled 24oz cans of Bud Light.  In a word:  klassy.

We pulled up to the gardens 40 minutes and 3 champagne bottles later, and as I surveyed the crowd of guests dressed in glamorous black & white gowns, a tiny and distant memory of the invitation saying something about the dress code being “black & white only” came to mind.  Ooops.  I had chosen instead to wear one of my grandmother’s brightly colored vintage flowery Leonard dresses with a flower wreath on my head, which was about as far from the black & white dress code as one could imagine.  C’est la vie.

If you haven’t been to the New York Botanical Gardens it really is worth a trip, and especially at this time of year when the tropical plants are in full bloom inside a huge glass Orangerie-style greenhouse, even with feet of snow on the ground outside.  It truly is heaven on earth.

Drinks and more drinks were served to everyone as they arrived, which meant that by the time Chanel supermodel Coco Rocha pulled me aside for this style.com “coco trivia” video interview, I had sampled my fill of the bubbly:

http://www.style.com/video/fashion-moments/fashion-moments/1896809784/know-your-cocos/4537924001

Coco Rocha is adorable, and in addition has a dog named “Peek-a-boo”, which is very important information I will store in a file in my brain, right next to “Party Dress Codes”.

When the dinner bell was finally sounded the revelry was already in full swing, and despite a surprisingly delicious dinner being served to all 300 guests, none of us managed to stay off the dancefloor long enough to eat.  Of course, while it may be hard to eat while dancing it is certainly not impossible to drink, which meant that 10 songs into dinner our crew was literally trying to dance on the ceiling.  I’m sure it wasn’t pretty, but am certain it was fun. 

The ride back to Manhattan was highly enjoyable for all of us, but most definitely torture for our driver, as we cranked Hot 97 and took far too many arm’s length party pics, many of which will be used for blackmail down the road.

Big shout out to Lydia and my party posse, and stay tuned for more Christmas themed antics in the days to come…

December 10th 2008
Scottsdale via NYC

As you might be able to tell from the photos to the right, this Thanksgiving we hit the town hard, and I am still paying for it.  It’s always fun to go home when it’s freezing in NYC and 85 degrees in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona, the town from whence I came.

Our evening began when my sister Molly (Yes, her name is Molly - don’t get me started) and friend Christy decided to meet my cousin Charlie at Scottsdale’s hottest, trendiest, chicest bar, The Coach House.  By “hot”, “trendy”, and “chic”, I mean that Coach House is the kind of place with a horse tie-up in the front, bullet holes in the ceiling, Christmas decorations year round, and ZZ Top on the juke box.  Anna Wintour would not approve, but alas… 

From Coach House we headed to another favorite spot that might actually give Anna W. a nervous breakdown, the TT Roadhouse.  TT Roadhouse is more biker, less cowboy, with a genius jukebox that includes vintage punk rock favorites like T.S.O.L., a very serious pool table, and patrons who sport more tattoos than Guns ‘n’ Roses.  Welcome to the jungle.

Once we had thrown back some brewskis we headed on to the Dunlap Family classic favorite, The Grapevine.  Some of my earliest memories include riding bikes as a family to the Grapevine for dinner and then riding back home.  It never occurred to me that my parents’ motivation riding bikes instead of driving was probably based on the amount of piña coladas consumed.  Needless to say, it’s an umbrella drink kind of place with a 1970’s roof deck, patrons who look like they just walked off the set of Three’s Company, and a downstairs karaoke club where the song “Brandy” gets requested at least 6 times a night.  In other words, it’s paradise.

From The Grapevine we headed to a place that people may actually call “chic”, the roof deck at the new W Hotel.  It seems that wherever I go, be it St. Tropez, NYC, Capri, or Scottsdale, nightclubs or bars that are deemed to be “chic” never quite are.  They tend to attract patrons who take themselves a bit too seriously, creating an ambiance that may as well be fun-repellant.

As we entered past the velvet ropes and the sounds of uhnst uhnst unhst music filled the air, I realized this place was no different, and made a bee line back for the exit.  Unable to find my friends to leave, I found myself trapped by the DJ booth with no escape.  Finally, breaking the most basic rule of nightclubbing, I asked the DJ to please, just change the music.  This is usually a good way to make a quick enemy, but this DJ gave me a look that said, “Trust me, I know”, and immediately switched to the best band in the entire world… New Edition.  Aw Yeah.  Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky & Mike know how to turn up the HEAT.

Before long my robot dance skills had helped me make new friends with an extremely affable group of Mexican drug cartel kingpins, who offered me swigs of Dom Perignon straight from the bottle.  I’ve never drunk champagne from the bottle, and certainly never Dom Perignon, and certainly never with Mexican drug cartel kingpins, but there is a first time for everything.  It was like Miami Vice, but Scottsdale Vice, and by the time Christy came to find me by the DJ booth, I was speaking Spanglish.

Needless to say, Christy and I did the wise thing and took a taxi home, and I vaguely remember hugging my cab driver Mohammed goodbye after the heart-to-heart talk we had shared in the 5 minute ride.  Have you hugged your cabbie today?  You really should.

I wish I could say the wild nights ended there, but they didn’t.  The breakdown of the Botanical Garden Winter Wonderland Ball is coming up next, so stay tuned…

December 3rd 2008
NYC

It's SALE MANIA at HOLLYWOULD!

Weds-Friday = huge discounts online

Sat & Sunday = huge discounts in the store  

Prices drop each day, and new merchandise will be added

You don't want to miss this sale!!!

(All sales are final.  No exchanges or returns.)