By Audrey Rock
West Hollywood, CA (The Hollywood Times) 9/20/17 – It’s enough to keep holiday-infused Angelenos bouncing into the festively decorated front doors of the Abbey’s entrance, hour after hour, until closing. Christmas in September has benefitted The Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for the past 12 years with toys for ailing children. A monumental stack of them, garishly surrounded by Christmas decorations and scantily clad elves greeted partygoers at the door just past the step and repeat. Joy, dancing, and drinking ensued. All this happened last night at the 12th annual such event.
Dancers hung from the ceiling and off of poles and smiled sideways at everyone. It’s West Hollywood, and this is Christmas. For a lot of people here, this is bigger and far more flamboyant than what their actual Christmas will be.
This has become a yearly West Hollywood ritual on-par with…Disneyland. About as immersive a Christmas experience as one can imagine, a little less wholesome and a lot more tawdry–every bit as fun.
Celebrities on the red carpet and mingling at the party included Ross Mathews of “Hollywood Today Live”, Charley Koontz of “CSI: Cyber”, Brandon Black of “Dear White People”, Alex Rose Wiesel of “Heart of Dixie”, Sonia Rockwell of “Being Mary Jane”, Lauren Brim, author of The New Rules of Sex, Celeste Thorson of “A Kid Called Mayonnaise”, and model Natasha Wanigatonga.
The celeb list didn’t end with the formal arrivals and tip sheet. Others simply sauntered in, either because it’s The Abbey, or because it’s a Tuesday, or because it’s a famed event. The Abbey is a favorite celeb haunt (Elizabeth Taylor’s favorite pub) and happens to be home of the Gay Walk of Fame. Lance Bass chatted casually with friends on the dance floor, and rapper/reality star Siya remained a down-to-earth presence at the bar, introducing herself to The Hollywood Times’ TV Critic and Senior Editor Valerie Milano and sharing details on the mechanics of Instagram.
The arrival of actual Christmas is still well around the bend, and The Abbey still has Halloween and any number of regular nights to fabulously grind it’s way through. But Christmas in September was a killer night, and The Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is now replete with toys for Christmas morning from the happiest West Hollywood clubgoers we’ve ever seen.
