Ringing in Year 1998 - at Skybar

A fairly innocous looking invitation arrived earlier this week touting the re-lanch of an all new Skybar last night (Thurs 2.1). The lure was potent, and Hollywood was yoked west of Cahuenga for the first time in years, maybe becase of the much liked DJ Zen. When was the last time you saw a line like this for a regular night on Sunset? Was the internet even invented? Living 50 yards from the weak pulsed door the past 3 years, I pass by nightly, lamenting the embarassing sign out front that says "Joseph's/Nacional-middle-aged -foreigner-trespassing-only" ...a sad fall from its monopoly as the only nationally gossip'ed place in the late 90s. Infamous for needing "reservations" - an outrageous concept at the time - it was the place I knew I would never get in to when I moved to LA as an intern. Well, last night, it was 1998 all over again at the Skybar. The last time Skybar had a line, Leonardo was cowboying around with his infamous P**sy Possee, and he was last night again. When Skybar had a line, Yahoo looked like this. (Click to see the actual yahoo homepage from 1997, the last known time there was a velvet rope mob at Skybar)New uniforms and new smug grins on the staff, sorta like a Surreal Life D-Lister who was waiting for royalty checks in Tampa a week ago and is now downing patron shots with Mischa Barton at Hyde. The Danny Zuko tagalong who normally consults the fake list at the door (Ron) actually had something to do. He usually spends most of the night in solitary confinement of a 4X4 velvet roped cell, and couldnt quite tell whether to welcome the frenzy of a throwback crowd or despise having to share the hosting duties with 2 newbies crashing the graduation party from the lean years!

Either way, glad that it's back. Or is it?