On Tuesday we attended the Redwood Room's 75th Anniversary. That's right, SFist landed an invite to the bash, and we apologize to the poor inter who gets canned for mistakenly putting us on the list. (Really, it involved an open-bar and free food, so we couldn't resist Febrezing our cleanest pair of pants and heading out for a night of almost fun.)
The Redwood Room, for those of you who don't know, was a chic watering hole on Geary Street brimming with glamor back in the day. A place where, before catching a show at the Curran, you could the driest gin martini in town, an aging cabaret singing emoting to an empty room, and a tipsy Brian Boitano chatting with a young male courtisan.
A few years ago, the Clift decided to renovate the place, giving it that Philippe Starke touch. Popped-collared asswipes and shiny-faced whores followed soon thereafter.
But Tuesday night's commemoration of the Clift's Hotel's famous bar was really top-drawer, darling -- or at least, it tried to be -- returning to a bygone era if for one night only. Hosted by Mayor Gavin Newsom and Jennifer Siebel, no one remotely important whatsoever, save for a few local on-air personalities and the the exquisite Joy Venturini Bianchi, showed up.
Local photog Bill Wilson, though, was there to capture what went down. (To check out even more photos, go here.)