You Are Invited to a Harlem Rent Party Circa 1944

The weekend is fast approaching, we’re looking forward to letting our hair down, maybe go dancing, listen to some music and have a glass or two. In early 20th century Harlem, New York, these cards would have been your ticket to a good time. They advertise what was known as “Harlem rent parties”, a social phenomenon…

A Surrealist Parisian Dinner Party chez Madame Rothschild, 1972

Dali was there of course and Audrey Hepburn showed up with her head trapped inside a Magritte birdcage. Never has there been a dinner party quite like the “Diner de Têtes Surrealiste” that took place at the suburban Parisian mansion of Baron Guy de Rothschild and his ‘hostess with the mostess’, Marie-Helene de Rothschild. Only the crème…

Ladies’ Smoker Night, 1941

I think I need to step up my ladies’ night game– these gals I found filed away in the Life archives are putting us to shame! In June 1941, Life magazine’s photographer Nina Leen attended a women’s “smoker”, the term usually reserved for a men-only social gathering. The concept flabbergasted local menfolk in Milford, Connecticut, who were strictly uninvited. The…

We went on a Picnic in a Parisian Nazi Bunker

I‘ve been on some adventures in my lifetime, but none of them ended with a candlelit banquet in an abandoned Nazi bunker. And it is with great pleasure that I finally get to share this surreal experience with you. The idea began with the proposal of a picnic with a few friends, somewhere a little…

The Chelsea Arts Ball, 1947: The Most Scandalous Party of New Year’s Eve

Some of you might have understandably sworn off parties this New Year’s Eve and plan to slink away for a low-key night in, but before the countdown begins, I thought I might tempt you to join me on my time machine to take a tour of the most scandalous New Year’s party of them all, the Chelsea Arts…

Hitchcock’s Haunted House Party

Who better to kick off our Halloween weekend celebrations with than the master of horror and suspense himself, Mr. Alfred Hitchcock. In 1953, as he was about to embark on his next film, The Wrong Man, Hitchcock decided to throw a “Ghost-Haunted House Party” at his rented New York pad on East 18th St. Guest…

The Rambling Notes of an Expat at a Parisian House Party

Over the weekend le boyfriend threw a house-warming party. I neatly arranged saucisson sec, expensive-looking crisps and black olives on a table. Boys in blue stripey sweaters attended, clusters of people did bohemian things on the roof and I walked around crashing into things. I tend to avoid conversation as a whole at Parisian parties.…

A Brief Compendium of Vintage Interiors that Get the Party Started

It’s finally the weekend, maybe you’ve heard someone’s throwing a house party and with any luck, your host will have some interesting digs to poke around. Interior design probably has the power to make or break a house party, or at least it used to. Browsing through the kitschiest Tumblr I’ve found on the interweb in a while,…

Want to see what a House Party looked like in the 1960s?

Overall, I’m going to say it was debaucherous. But there was still time to braid hair with daisies. But then it was back to debauchery… Crotch contact was seemingly normal practice. ….definitely more cross-dressing than I expected. And a healthy dose of three-way interaction… Don’t forget lingerie modeling. Seem like your kind of party?

Shshshsh! Private Parties in Paris….

When I first moved to Paris, I quickly found out that the real nightlife was not in the bars or in the clubs but in the Parisian apartments. House parties. House parties galore. I wasn’t sure at first how I was going to get invited to one, but sure enough, if you break away from…