One thing Austin party planner must plan around: The diurnal cycles of the typical Formula One fan.
Madison Ashpitz and Rusty Irons
The Race Ball at the Four Seasons Hotel and the Sapphire Room at Parkside sounded like promising parties, put on by veteran planners. Yet when I arrived fairly early in the evening, the crowds were ultra-thin. Backers swore guests had promised to drop by late or perhaps during’s Saturday’s iterations.
Daniel Gonzales and Christie Gutierrez
My Yacht F1 Club founder Nicholas Frankl has already established a built-in audience, since his party has been entertaining Formula One fans for decades. Starting in Monaco as a true yacht affair, it landed at the Ballet Austin studios here. Gold-infused champagne flowed. We focused on the early benefit for I Live Here I Give Here and beheld the parade of Lamborghinis out front before talking to Frankl about next year’s hoped-for bash.
Samantha Furry and Philip Tamez
More mysterious was Lounge 88 at La Zona Rosa. Austin and Los Angeles-based backers dreamed up this $2 million ultra lounge with bottle service and celebrity DJs. Top tables went for $50,000. Super-stretch limos began to line up on the L-shaped street. The decor on the first night was classy, white, cool. It will change each night. But don’t expect detailed first-hand reports, since press are explicitly uninvited to the bacchanalia at its lurid height.
Nicholas Frankl and Ashley Delano
Found three pop-up clubs. F1 Temptations is film director Mike Wilson’s salute to Austin’s aerial burlesque scene at the former Maria Maria. Posh is a temporary gay bar in the old 219 West, which Yassine Enterprises once controlled but never opened. An unnamed bar can be found down the alley behind Ruth’s Chris. Friday, the password was “White Rabbit” and at least one Wilson brother was said to have patronized the clever spot.
Mike Wilson and Eva Strangelove
After 12 hours on my feet, I quit the field. Still, it felt like the party was only just starting. This is no SXSW. But it fully occupies the Warehouse District and East Sixth Street, where F1 visitors in team togs joined the usual surge of revelers.