On October 23, Absolut revealed a party pad for the future amidst the warehouses and street art of downtown Los Angeles' Arts District and it was aspirational. Drones mixed cocktails. A robot band called Compressorhead performed. Biometric bracelets kept tabs on the excitement in the crowd. The vodka company's Elektrik House Party was made as a tribute to the bashes that go down every weekend in homes across the world. Yet, it far surpassed anything that regular folks could plan. That rager you threw when your parents were in Las Vegas, the soiree in the Hollywood Hills with all the people who think they could be famous -- they all pale in comparison to Elektrik House Party.The space itself was decorated to elicit maximum envy. Silver ottomans? Want! Mirrored DJ booth? Need! Terrarium wall? Hmmm, I might have to steal that idea for my apartment. Of course, there's a reason they stepped up the home decor game in this temporary abode. This wasn't just a party; the footage was being filmed for a future commercial. Needless to say, the crowd ready for the camera too. There were no schlubs in flip-flops here.
By 9 p.m., the party was jumpin'. In any other house party situation, a crowd of this size would have prompted the first of several PBR-and-Doritos runs. Here, though, the booze-- served in plastic mason jars with stylish Absolut straws instead of Solo cups-- and food flowed freely throughout the night. People munched on tiny slices of sausage and fig pizza and bite-sized Portobello mushroom and Sriracha burgers. I tried two of the Absolut cocktails on the menu (for journalism!) and the citrusy, gingery Neon Nights was a winner. The espresso and lemon-flavored Coffee Tonik was tasty too and had enough of a caffeine kick to help me brave my way through a very thick crowd.It would have been enough to dance on a light-up floor under the laser glare of a moose head and bob along to the robot band, but the party didn't stop there. By 11 p.m., the crowd had moved into the yard area of this pretend-house to catch a performance from Empire of the Sun. The Australian synthpop band played a full set with dancers who changed costumes repeatedly during the performance. Once you thought the night just couldn't get better than this, a massive Tesla coil shaped like an Absolut bottle crackled as it lit up high above the crowd.
This was the house party of dreams, the kind of event that fashionable hosts/hostesses will forever try, and fail, to mimic. At least we can take away the memories.