By Dana Miller

Driving through this city of mini-malls, mini-mansions, and grand gas stations, I lose sight sometimes of what magnificent architectural wonders we have here often in the unlikeliest locales. My boyfriend, Ryan Black, donated his time and talent to tossing an executive committee kick off party for an upcoming event celebrating this awesome nonprofit organization called The Point Foundation. The bash was at Sowden House at 5121 Franklin, east of Western, near Normandie. Built in 1926-27 by Frank Wright, this home is magnificent. It's now owned by designer Xorin Balbes who has lovingly updated and restored the landmark to world class status. Its been in movies -- L.A. Confidential, The Aviator -- and is apparently this season's location for TV's America's Next Top Model. The home literally takes your breath away. Bruce Vilanch and Judith Light were the hosts, but the stars were three Point scholar kids who told their tales of what a difference this outfit had made. The Point Foundation reaches out to gay teens who feel rejected by their families and offers emotional assistance, financial help for college and mentoring. It's been on my radar for a few months but thanks to Ryan, Bruce, Judith, its executive director Vance Lancaster and my old friend and board member Joe McCormack, I now really get it. Chad Allen, Robert Gant, Judith Light, and k.d. Lang are throwing a big fundraiser for the Foundation on Monday, June 12, at the Director's Guild. For information, go to www.thepointfoundation.org, or contact Ginger at (866) 337-6468.

David Cooley threw a fun 15th anniversary party for his Abbey last week. In 15 years David has expanded the club five times. It now sits at just under 16,000 square feet. Once just a tiny coffee house, the Abbey today is the location of lifelong memories for thousands. Think about what you have done or did there. Or hell, even who you've done there. It now joins Studio One, Revolver, 8709, Mark's, The Carriage Trade, Greg's Blue Dot, Motherlode, Probe, Micky's, Spike, Gold Coast, Apache, Jewel's Catch One, the Friendship, and a few others as important and incomparable stomping grounds in the history of the Southern California gay and lesbian community. So David, a famous (and slightly altered) Irish toast to you and the Abbey:

When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So let's all get drunk at the Abbey and go to heaven!

Cheers, my friend. Thanks for the booze and let's always remember, there is nothing wrong with sobriety in moderation.

Merv Griffin is 80. That is astounding to me. I still remember hanging backstage at his show. He taped his daily talk show from the Merv Griffin Theater on Vine by Sunset. Merv is one of the nicest guys on earth. He got his start as a singer at the Coconut Grove at the old Ambassador Hotel. He created Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, and became a real estate bigwig once he sold his company to Coca-Cola. After taping we used to cross the street to the old Brown Derby restaurant on Vine. It closed in '85, was hit by fire in '87 and was demolished in 1994. It's now a parking lot. Merv's studio is gone, as is the Ambassador Hotel. But hell, Merv is still vibrant, alive, and in the moment. I called on him a few years ago to introduce Rosie O'Donnell at an AIDS benefit. He was, as always, brilliant. Such the pro. Like Johnny Carson, Jack Parr, Sid Caesar, Steve Allen, Dick Cavett, and a few others Merv is an original. He changed the face of talk television and always did it with a big ole smile on his face.

By the way, I for one am thrilled Rosie is joining The View on ABC. She is perfect for the part. Changes are not over there though. Before this whole Meredith Viera leaving for Katie Couric's job at the Today show sensation there was a not so quiet effort afoot to toss another of the gals off. While delayed, it is still planned and will happen and honestly who you likely think it is ... is wrong.

I was not in Palm Springs over Easter for White Party 2006. I hope it was a huge money maker because I like promoter Jeffrey Sanker very much. I put the question out to my universe of peeps if circuit parties as we know them are still relevant. While Jeffrey did not respond, his publicist Phil Lobel did.  I've known Phil for a couple of decades and trust and respect him. Phil's comments specifically dealt with White Party 2006:

"Well through some great marketing by repositioning White Party 2006, attendance was up 30 per cent. Seems like calling it White Party Spring really had the effect of getting all these young first timers, "newbies" that had never been there or to Palm Springs before. No one was really referring to it as a circuit party so, yes, perhaps the phrase is dead and our age group is over it, but I'm glad for Jeffrey that he has finally found a new audience".

My friend Alan Flippen, a writer for The New York Times had this take on the whole party circuit:

"Not dead, but shrinking and evolving, that's for sure. The days when you'd fly somewhere, buy a weekend pass, check into the host hotel and attend the opening party on Friday night, the main event (named for a color) on Saturday night, the tea dance on Sunday and the recovery party after that, are pretty much over. What does still seem to work is single-day special-event parties in big cities: Alegria in New York (though its specific format is getting a bit stale), and the Mayan/Avalon parties in Los Angeles, are good examples of this."

Artist Kat Coric's thoughts on the scene:

"I really think its bottoming out. The parties got bigger and bigger and more frequent and longer and then all of a sudden after 9/11 the attendance went down (though 9/11 is not the only reason). The parties got out of control and with the advent of after hours clubs and morning clubs and "after cracks" as they call them -- people started to "seriously party" more and more on each weekend instead of only on those special occasions. The drugs have been intensified with crystal meth making a huge appearance on the scene and ruining the party much worse than other party drugs did in the past. All you have to do is look at the eyes (of patrons on) the dance floors these days, or lurk on a message board, or Google crystal meth! When given the chance to speak to media I always underline that the problem is all over our society and not just in the gay world! So if society is playing dangerously, then so is the circuit and vice versa. If the DJs are apparently all doing crystal, well a lot of the crowd is too. We are ignoring the signs given to us and just pleasing ourselves."

And finally from local promoter Tom Whitman: "Dana, I think that the events that are doing well are events that are tied to other activities. Ski weeks, amusement parks, cruises, even pride events. I think that going to a location where the only activity is partying has waned. If guys are going to spend a ton of money flying somewhere for a vacation, many of them want a varied experience. They want a great party, but they also want something else to do. Not everyone wants to party all day and all night. And a lot of people don't want to spend a couple thousand dollars to fly somewhere, if the only option of activity is a party. There's my opinion."

Interesting dialogue. Let's keep it going.

See You Out & About

Contact me at Malibudana@aol.com