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      The L.A. Roller Rink Where the Years Glide By

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      A companion to T’s 212 series about New York institutions, the 213 column highlights beloved landmarks in and around Los Angeles.On a dark night in February, east of the 5 Freeway, south of the 134, down the street from the so-called Gentlemen’s Club, glows the blue neon sign: Moonlight Rollerway. These are the industrial hinterlands of Glendale, a tidy enclave in the rambling city-state that is Los Angeles, and here, among plumbing supply warehouses and an Amazon delivery van lot, sits a squat cinder-block building, an unexpected portal.Under the white overhang, signage abounds: “No In & Out Privileges,” “No Fast Wild or Reckless Skating,” “Be Neat & Clean.” A lengthy passage politely, firmly reminds visitors that risk of accident is inherent in the sport. “If you are not willing to assume that risk,” it reads, “please do not roller-skate here.”Like any Los Angeles icon, the rink has its share of screen credits, appearing in TV shows — “Euphoria,” “The Good Life,” “American Horror Story,” “Modern Family” and “GLOW” — and movies like “Beginners,” “Roller Boogie” and “Straight Outta Compton.”Abdi IbrahimRisk assumed, the 30-some customers ahead of me move steadily up the cement ramp to the box office and flash their tickets for the clerk behind the window. Those who’ve brought their own skates — about half the crowd — present them for inspection (no fiberglass wheels, no micro wheels; they can gouge the floor). Then a door slams behind us and we are somewhere else, in the land of motion.Nostalgia comes fast, from all directions — the black carpet patterned with fluorescent zigzags, the buzz and trill of a Ms. Pacman game, a whiff of some sugary confection being heated at the snack bar — but most of all from the rink, where, beneath two disco balls, skaters revolve, some gliding, some wobbling, one pressing herself against the red-carpeted wall while Donna Summers asks, “Could it be magic?”Built in 1942 to manufacture airplane parts during World War II, the 70,000-square-foot building on San Fernando Boulevard was converted to a roller rink in 1956.Abdi IbrahimWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      2024 Met Gala After-Parties: Usher, Serena Williams and Other Celebs

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      One reason the Met Gala after-parties are nearly as famous as the Met Gala itself has to do with an incident that took place 10 years ago at the Standard Hotel in the West Village of Manhattan.On that night, Beyoncé was a star of the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, along with her husband, Jay-Z, and her sister Solange Knowles. Afterward, in an elevator car headed to the Boom Boom Room, the club on the top floor of the Standard, Solange attacked her brother-in-law while Beyoncé stood watching and a bodyguard tried to restore order. The security-cam footage leaked to TMZ and the internet, and a family fight became the stuff of New York social lore.Things were less dramatic this year and less star studded at the annual Standard after-party. Just past midnight, the most famous person at Boom was the designer Christian Siriano, who had arrived with his date for the evening, the model Coca Rocha. Connie Fleming, the hotel’s longtime doorwoman, reflected on the changes in the social atmosphere since the heady days of 2014.“I think the Met Gala has peaked in its base of being about real fashion and real fashion people,” said Ms. Fleming, who became one of the trans community’s first stars in the 1990s, when she walked runways for Thierry Mugler.Christian Siriano and Coco Rocha at the party at Boom. Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesLil Nas X and Camila Cabello at Boom.Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesPedro Oberto and Marc Bouwer.Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Jeff Bezos, Doja Cat and Pamela Anderson Pregame the Met Gala

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      Designers, athletes and celebrities swapped stories on dress fittings and gala prep routines on the eve of fashion’s biggest party.On Sunday evening, the rapper Doja Cat swept into an upscale French restaurant in SoHo carrying a disposable Starbucks cup. She stashed it at the bar, and then made her way to the rear of the room to kiss the actress Pamela Anderson on one makeup-free cheek.Ms. Anderson was hosting a party with the label Monse as a kind of amuse-bouche for the Met Gala the next night. About 100 designers, editors and models gathered at La Mercerie, the restaurant and home goods store, to greet one another with some version of the line: “I have such a busy day tomorrow.”Ms. Anderson planned to wake at 5 a.m. — a feat she said would not require an alarm clock — and then head to a park for a moment of peace before her first Met Gala. “I’m going to be walking all of those scary feelings out,” she said.Under the ceiling’s central arch, servers circulated trays of buttered radishes. Guests sipping Sancerre traded thoughts on increasingly elaborate gala prep routines. (Fillers came up, as did Ozempic.)Doja Cat said she would be sticking to “regular old beauty prep,” with the help of the makeup artist Pat McGrath.Clockwise from top left: Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos; Pamela Anderson; Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim; and Lizzo and Gabrielle Union.Amir Hamja/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Sprinter Vans Have Become a Staple for Celebrities at the Met Gala

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      Famous actors, singers, athletes and housewives are fans of the Mercedes-Benz van, which has become a staple in streets outside events like the Met Gala.When Kendall Jenner attended the 2022 Met Gala in a Prada gown with an enormous flowing skirt, getting her to the Metropolitan Museum of Art required special transportation. A limousine would not do, nor would an SUV — walking in the dress was a challenge; sitting, impossible. The solution: Ms. Jenner would be driven, standing, in a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van.On the way to the event, as a way to relieve her anxiety about running late, Ms. Jenner relieved herself in an ice bucket while standing in the van. “Best decision I ever made,” she said of that moment in an episode of “The Kardashians” on Hulu.The Sprinter van, a towering box on wheels with nearly six-and-a-half feet of head room, is a direct descendant of the earliest motorized caravans developed by Karl Benz in 1896. (Some 30 years later, he and Gottlieb Daimler founded the Mercedes-Benz company.) The Sprinter, first released in Europe in 1995, started being sold domestically in 2010. Last year, Mercedes-Benz unveiled an electric version.The van — which can be used to transport up to 15 passengers (or cargo) — is appreciated by automotive enthusiasts for its build quality, reliability and versatility, as well as for the thrust and longevity of the diesel engine in most versions.But other people have come to recognize the Sprinter for different reasons, among them its proximity to celebrities. The van has become a preferred mode of transportation for actors, singers, athletes and “Real Housewives,” and is now a staple in streets outside star-studded events like the Oscars and the Met Gala.Sprinter vans, like the one behind Amber Valletta, a model and actress, have become a staple in streets outside red carpet events. Neil Rasmus/BFAWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      At Least 2 Are Stabbed on a Party Boat in Brooklyn

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      Three people were hospitalized, including a man who was struck in the head with a bottle, and more than 1,000 passengers were evacuated, the authorities said.Two men were stabbed and another was hit in the head with a bottle on a crowded party boat in Brooklyn on Saturday evening, the authorities said.The men were hospitalized with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening, police and fire officials said.The police said the attacks forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 passengers from the boat, a cruise ship called the Cornucopia Majesty, which was docked at Pier 4 at the Brooklyn Army Terminal.A 32-year-old man was stabbed in the torso, a 40-year-old man was stabbed several times in the chest and abdomen, and a 28-year-old man was hit in the head with a bottle, the police said. All three men were taken to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn.The stabbings happened just after 5 p.m., the police said. No arrests had been made as of Saturday night, and it was unclear how many attackers had been involved.The police said they believed that a dispute had escalated into a physical altercation, but that the events leading up to the stabbings were still under investigation.Just before 8 p.m., the group that organized the party, BYFAR Entertainment, posted a statement to social media.“Unfortunately, a crime scene developed by the pier, which has caused the postponement of the night event,” the company said. “We will have updates on a later date so just hold on tight with us while we sort everything out. BYFAR Entertainment has always been a beacon of safe events in New York City and this rare occurrence has never been the norm with us.”In the hours before the fight, the Cornucopia Majesty had hosted a party.Passengers said in interviews that they had enjoyed dancing, eating and drinking rum aboard the ship, but by early evening, they were standing confused on the pier, surrounded by police cruisers and ambulances.Glendon Thomas, 29, a resident of New Jersey, said he and several friends realized a fight had broken out on the ship only after they disembarked.“I saw a guy laying on his friend,” he said, adding that the friend appeared to have a wound on his chest.Kevaun Whitely, who lives in Brooklyn, said the fight had broken out as a large crowd of rowdy partygoers — many of whom had been drinking alcohol — attempted to disembark through the same door.“It was like a stampede,” Mr. Whitely, 27, said. The police kept Mr. Whitely and several other people on board the ship for hours as they checked identification, he said.“I’m glad we got out safe,” he said, adding, “I hope nobody passed away from all this craziness.” More

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      Dianne Brill, a 1980s ‘It Girl,’ Makes a Splashy Return

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      “I’m back,” she says at her 66th birthday party. “Maybe not everyone knows it yet, but I am.”When Dianne Brill arrived at the Soho Grand Hotel for her 66th birthday party on Saturday night, she did so with the same sense of spectacle that made her an icon of Manhattan nightlife in the 1980s.People stopped and stared as she stepped out of a black S.U.V. Standing 6-foot-3 in white platform boots, Ms. Brill was wearing a silver satin wraparound dress and holding a glittering wand in one hand. Her hair was big and blonde, and she wore a big necklace that read “B-R-I-L-L.”“I’m back,” she said. “Maybe not everyone knows it yet, but I am, and that’s why I’m having this birthday party. To show everyone I’m back.”The party was billed as “One in a Brillion.” The dress code on the invitation was “Strictly Brill,” meaning the kind of thing Ms. Brill might have worn at nightclubs like Area and Danceteria four decades ago.She came to New York at age 22 from the suburbs of Tampa, Fla. Soon she seized the mantle once occupied by Edie Sedgwick and Bianca Jagger as downtown’s reigning “It” Girl. She also became a muse to Andy Warhol, who once stated, “If you were at a party and Dianne Brill was there, you knew you were at the right party.”Ms. Brill poses for Andy Warhol in 1984.Roxanne LowitWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Esther Coopersmith, Washington Hostess and Diplomat, Dies at 94

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      A place at her dinner tables, which sat 75, provided access to networks of money, influence and power across cultural and political divides.At a private fund-raising reception last year, the president of the United States introduced himself this way: “My name is Joe Biden. I’m a friend of Esther Coopersmith’s.”Mrs. Coopersmith’s name has been a calling card in Washington for seven decades. As one of the longest-reigning hostesses, best-connected diplomats and top fund-raisers in the nation’s capital, she greased the machinery that helped keep political, diplomatic and journalistic circles spinning; a place at her dinner tables, which sat 75, (with room for many more elsewhere and outside) provided access to networks of money, influence and power across cultural and political divides.Among her many matches, she introduced Bill Clinton, who was then the governor of Arkansas, to Boris Yeltsin on a trip to Moscow. She introduced Jehan Sadat, the wife of President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, to Aliza Begin, the wife of Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel, before the Camp David peace accords. Anatoly F. Dobrynin, the longtime Soviet ambassador to the United States, had his first Thanksgiving at her table.“People need a place out of the public spotlight to meet and talk,” she told The New York Times in 1987.Mrs. Coopersmith, who had multiple affiliations with the United Nations but who also reveled in her role as a freelancing citizen diplomat, died on Tuesday at her home in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington. She was 94.The cause was cancer, said Janet Pitt, her longtime chief of staff. Rather than seek treatment that might have only postponed the inevitable and made her miserable, Ms. Pitt said, Mrs. Coopersmith “wanted to live her life.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Jewelry Brands Say Showing a Client a Good Time Brings Sales

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      Brands including Van Cleef & Arpels and David Morris acknowledge that showing a client a good time really produces results.For its first flagship store in Europe, the family-owned jewelry company Mouawad chose one of the nine Arcade boutiques at the Peninsula in London. The hotel opened in September, alongside Hyde Park Corner and Wellington Arch, and marketing makes clear that its target audience is the ultrarich.But Pascal Mouawad, a co-guardian of the Swiss house, acknowledged that its most significant sales would not occur in the new store.“Our big sales happen outside the boutiques,” Mr. Mouawad said as he sat beneath the store’s interior arches, a nod to the typical architecture of the family’s native Lebanon. “We do a lot of private events, trunk shows; we caravan the big pieces around the world.”Mouawad is not alone in its approach. Taking a leaf out of luxury fashion’s playbook, which in recent years has involved whisking V.V.I.P. clients to exotic locations around the world to see (and buy) their resort collections, jewelry parties and multiday trips have all but replaced the semiannual high jewelry presentations scheduled during Couture Week in Paris.In late December, for example, Van Cleef & Arpels invited a group of special clients to London to view some of its high jewelry pieces between private receptions and an evening at “The Nutcracker” at the Royal Opera House (the jeweler is a longtime sponsor of the theater).Anoona Jewels held a party for clients in London in November.via Anoona JewelsWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More