The Inspiration For The Well Titled "Green Door" club in LA

Well that was a lesson in the uselessness of preconceived notions. Last night at Green Door that is. The buzz had washed up on the shores of NY in broken bits and pieces..."Johnny Zander's Friday night...jammed w celebs"... "the front room draws upon images of Parisian coffee shops" "Heidi Klum's Halloween party".When that certain LA Overlord (one of those stealth forces who quietly controls a lot of wires behind the scene) said "C'mon on down", I did just that. After the programming I got from last season's hot spot, Hyde, I expected that behind the little green door would be the typical narrow little cave of a room with sagging thrift store furniture hiding its tawdriness in the dim night club light. Scattered around the room would be the full species of 'movie industry people"... and the hanger-ons who service them. Here is where the preconceived notions flew out the door. The Green Door is not a cave. Its a damn warehouse, redone in a mish-mosh of vintage styles that completely contradicts the scale of the place. The strangeness of that is perverse. A cosy and traditional design vocabulary installed in a massive and rambling space. Very odd. Velvet everywhere.. green velvet curtains, velvet couches, brocades, striped tenting "antiqued" paint treatments on the wall. Think The Gramercy's Rose Bar meets suburban kitsch.
I relaxed at that point because I knew I was in for a full on LA night. I like LA when it goes into this mode as opposed to trying to pretend that we're in...Paris. The Overlord pointed out a major movie mogul in a tan blazer. By the time our party got to our table the music was veering between the old school of Neneh Cherry and Daft Punk. "I think if I did become a DJ in LA I'd be a disaster because I'd assume people wanted to hear music they have never heard before" I commented to my charming young dinner companion. "They do love the classics in this town" he explained. The Green Door is one of those places that serves dinner on very low tables, discouraging you from partaking of the the soup on the menu. Its a long journey up, you know. At that point the managing director of the Green Door spectacle came over to strike up a conversation. Chris Breed is what you call megia-genic to the nth degree and can spin a sell in three minutes or less. Nice young man from London, Ex- LA Models model. Gets into the club biz with the legendary Roxbury, the same Roxbury that launched "Roxbury Nights" the movie. I wanted to ask if he had points on the film, but stayed journalistic and sensible by asking. "Is LA nightlife driven by the movie-biz crowd " , posing an obvious question beacuse the room was filling up fast with movie folks and the people who service them. Behind our party was Adam Sandler but it was so dimly lit I couldn't see a distinguishing feature. "Oh absolutely," he assured. "The thing is I have a relationship with these people and they trust that I'm going to provide them with a good experience" It was getting harder to talk know because the volume of the music was rising. "The after-dinner crowd is starting to show up, "The Overlord yelled. "Oh yes. I can tell by the plentitude of knee high boots and mini-skirts" I shouted back.
Wading through the dance floor was an army of well groomed dudes in blazers and blue jeans. The dandy's were the ones with little feodoras cocked to one side. They were facing off with the blonde homies in hoodies. Models, and modelettes, all the young dudes, aspiring young actresses , power agents in training, trust fund brats... they were all trying to do it up on the dancefloor. As we stumbled back out into the clear LA night, Samantha Ronson was running out of a gigantic Escalade looking more cool boy than the cool boys inside. Did you have a good time asked the Overlord? "Yeah" I said laughing. “Its total anthropology.” For all the NY kids still speeding in this weekend and early next week for the VS festivities, TI says Green Door is a good Weds night destination. With Winston's wilting and Hyde hibernating on most of its nights Green Door is the place to see the natives at their most restless. Strike while its hot because with a space that sprawling, continued "exclusivity" is bound to be a challenge. Doing more "field work" tonight at the Motorola party which everyone says is going to be HUGE. In LA parties with tele companies like Sidekick and Motorola are the most coveted, best funded, most swag-bag happy events you could hope for. If I have the stamina then we head over to S-Bar and then Area for some People's Choice Award. Which people? I dunno. After all the research is gathered TI will then unlock its Top 5 LA Party Promoters feature. And I'm going into with no pre-concieved notions of fabulousness, coolness, nowness or chicness. TI is a kind of travel diary you see and I concede that I'm on a completely different planet now.