Media Coverage The Virginian Pilot
February 21, 2009
A Most Fabulous Party celebrates hotel opening
VERY FEW PARTIES go down in history, their purpose and displays of fabulousness talked about for years. Truman Capote, for example, is still revered for his 1966 Black and White Ball in Washington to toast Katherine Graham. Oprah's Legends Ball in 2006, where she honored black female cultural icons, will live on not just because she gave dozens of women big diamond earrings, but because it was televised.
On Thursday night it might have been that Tidewater saw the Most Fabulous Party - at least in a long time. It even had a name - a:bash.
The event was hosted to celebrate the opening of aloft, a new hotel tucked away in a cluster of lodges in the Greenbrier section of Chesapeake, at 1454 Crossways Blvd.
What made the event smashing wasn't just the collection of people: the athletes, hip-hoppers, punk rockers, senior citizens, radio DJs, executives and so on. It wasn't just that DJs Excel and Jeyone's bouncy soundtrack of electro, Baltimore-house, hip-hop and vintage soul became a kind of textured white noise that glued the people together. It wasn't even the raffle to benefit Hope House - the requisite charity element that helps to make a really legendary event - or the fashion show by Shmack, in which impossibly thin creatures and buff boys showed off clothes from the streetwear line's spring collection.
It was the location, the location, the location.
Aloft brings not just a new hotel to the area, but one whose concept and feel are by and large new to Hampton Roads. Aloft is frequently called a "baby W," the W being the international, high-end chain of hotels with an emphasis on decor, design and mood. The W, in cities such as Los Angeles, Miami, New York and so on, strives to dazzle patrons when they walk through the door. They feature bars and lounges where in-the-know locals go for cocktails and to be seen. (Think Catch 31 on the Oceanfront.)
Aloft is part of the W chain but tries to appeal to a younger, tech-savvy traveler. There's art by local artists and a free pool table. Guests can check in at a kiosk; the hotel actually understands that many people don't want to interact with a clerk. The rooms offer "play and plug" dock s for travelers' gadgets, along with a 42-inch plasma screen that allows for synching with a computer or MP3 player.
The lobby is stunning and visually chaotic; there's an LED screen featuring trippy, bleeding visuals and a ticker that offers news-of-the-day crawls. A cluster of couches and chairs in the lobby bursts vividly with too many hues to count, and there's an outdoor patio featuring low, mod couches that, in summer, will be the venue for DJ series and more parties.
But none will probably top Thursday's.
"I love it!" was a popular refrain. People in the packed lobby asked if it was actually a hotel with rooms upstairs.
"I'm so glad to see something that resembles a W here," said Kelilah LeGrand, a 30-something Virginia Beach resident who travels often. "It's young, it's fresh."
She did not believe the event seemed inappropriate at this time of economic gloom; in fact, having just been laid off this week, LeGrand said she felt the opposite.
"You have to get your mind off stuff. If I stay home, I'd get depressed. I've been in the house on the computer all day, and it's not like they're having lobster tails here."
They didn't, but local chef Jason McCarthy's appetizer menu included brie and almonds, blackberry balsamic chicken skewers, fried ravioli, pork wontons and oyster sliders, with waiters circling the packed lobby with the finger foods on trays.
"We are freaking out," said Kim Wadsworth, editor of Skirt! Hampton Roads magazine, who came with her husband. "I feel like I'm in South Beach," she said. "This is really happening. It's a pleasant surprise." (Skirt! Hampton Roads is published through Virginian-Pilot Media Companies, which also publishes The Pilot.)
Shay Haley, a member of the rock/hip-hop group N.E.R.D., was at the party; soon, he said, he and his bandmates, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, will be jetting off yet again on tour. Of course, the band criss-crosses the globe all the time - they'll be in Australia and New Zealand soon - so he's well accustomed to the concept of the hotel-as-chic hangout spot, and he seemed thrilled it had arrived here.
"We need more stuff like this," he said. "This is for those artsy-fartsy kids. I like events like this. It makes you feel like our area has depth."
