ROAD WARRIORS
Even though the rash of holiday parties left Hollywood a little down at the heels in the real first week of the new millennium, a legion of diehard Angelenos threw on their denim and fur and trekked downtown Wednesday night to christen the new club in The Standard Los Angeles.
Andre Balazs’s downtown hotel, slated to open this summer, boasts little more than a two-story concrete lobby nestled among the high-rises, but the hotelier opened his doors just the same for an unusual guest of honor: Cadillac’s new sport utility truck.
“Who wants to stay in a hotel downtown?” asked China Chow. “I don’t know about that yet, and I can tell you the people here are still a little scary,” she said, referring to the neighborhood’s suspicious street life and not to the crowd inside, which included Tara Subkoff and Matt Damhave, Milla Jovovich, Paris Hilton and Oliver Hudson.
As Chow took her perch in the corner of the go-go-girl-filled dance floor, Samantha Ronson doled out spinning lessons to the likes of Ione Skye and Kidada Jones. “The space is dope,” Ronson said.
Rosanna Arquette, not exactly a downtown habitue, also seemed optimistic.
“This place would help make it happen over here,” she laughed.
Chow, still not convinced, pondered her exit.
“But I do love the Cadillac truck,” she admitted. “You think it’s in the goody bag?”