8/9/11

2011 Animal House Party by DC-in-Detroit

DC is a longtime contributor to the MCB.
She can be reached at DC.in.Detroit [at] gmail.com

to Benefit the Michigan Humane Society
The Whitney, Detroit, Michigan
6 August 2011

The creepy beauty of the Whitney... after dark.


Is there anything more fun than taking pictures of people taking pictures?

Presumably the sort of place one would sit were one having an actual dinner.


A garden party at the Whitney is enough excuse right there to show up. Cocktails, gourmet horse-divers, actual DJs playing actual Fleetwood Mac music, plus all proceeds going to the Michigan Humane Society? Come on, how were you not there?
Historical smartass.
Party started at 8, and because I am tragically hip, I rolled up at about 9, which was exactly the right time for it to start raining. The grounds at the Whitney are lovely and green, not to mention almost hilariously fenced in, so I wasn't sure what they were going to do with us.

Be careful! It's all Woodwardy out there!
After my complimentary valeting (I believe in my gut that the Big Blue Kraken enjoys having as many people behind his wheel as possible), I popped inside to check in and realized… I'd never been inside the Whitney before.

Whenever there's an event there, whether indoors or out, the Whitney itself becomes a character at the party. One of the beauties (and horrors) of architecture of the age is the labyrinth of small rooms, usually lacking hallways. That means there's no lurking between rooms; either you're in or you're out (Project Runway fans feel free to repeat that line in a high-pitched German accent). This, along with the strolling hors d'oeuvres kept an excellent flow going throughout all three floors of the mansion.


After sweating it out with a jovial group of exceptionally friendly critter-lovin' folks, it dawned on us that it had stopped raining after about five seconds. And so people started to filter out around the grounds as well.

My bedroom at the Whitney.
The view from my bedroom at the Whitney.
Being one of the first to go outside, I found the grounds cool and mostly unpeopled. For a few seconds, this could actually give a person the idea that she lived in such a place (especially after I'd already picked out my bedroom). Then, while browsing the well-groomed foliage, what to my dorkishly-wondering eye should appear, but a QR code attached to a path light. Figuring it was some guerilla marketing undertaken by one of my fellow party-goers, I iPhoned it in and found, hey! I won something!


When I scurried back inside, the good people at the check-in table were inappropriately excited to give me my prize, free pet-sitting/walking by a local service. Being a member of the media (and since I have one indoor-only cat), it seemed inappropriate for me to keep the prize, which I donated back to the party, hopefully to be re-won by some smartphone-toting nerd with 5 dogs and a backlog of vacation time.


I spent a little more time talking to the folks inside, but knew it was time to pack my little notepad and make my way Woodward-ward once the music shifted into a mode where I knew it was only a matter of time before the Detroit Hustle broke out. Because once that happens, it can mean only one thing: The chicken dance would be next.

There was a private masquerade going down on floor 3. I know what you're thinking and yes, of course I tried to talk my way in.
Seriously, not even a Fleetwood Mac remix.


The Animal House Party raised $5,000 for the Michigan Humane Society, and has plans to return in early fall of 2012. You'll be sure to hear about it on MOTORCITYBLOG.
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