’07 Starts the Way ’06 Ended …
With a Party!

Downing energy drinks all weekend, Lohan was full of life at the lounge until 6 a.m.

By Jon Warech

You can go anywhere in the world to celebrate the New Year – Sydney if you want to be first, Bangkok if you want to fear for your life and Times Square in NYC if you enjoy standing in other people’s urine for a few painful hours. But only in Miami is New Year’s a week-long celebration. The fun began Thursday night when Nobu was the spot to be seen. Wilmer Valderrama, Mandy Moore, DJ AM, Kristin Cavallari and Nick Zano were all dining at Opium Group-occupied tables alongside owner Roman Jones and Navin Chatani. Cavallari’s ex Brody Jenner was also in the house, as were actors Jonathan Silverman and Matt Damon, who dined with his wife and a few friends at a much quieter table on the other side of the restaurant. Just steps away, Lance Bass, Reichen Lehmkuhl and Jamie-Lynn Sigler partied inside the Red Room at Skybar. Lindsay Lohan (above) feuded with Joe Francis of Girls Gone Wild fame at Mokai, Bass and company moved over to Suite, and almost everyone, including Kevin Federline, eventually went to hear DJ AM spin at an old school “Betty Ford” party at Prive. And that, my friends, was just Thursday, Dec. 28, for those keeping track.

By Saturday night people were wondering if Wilmer and Mandy were a couple, when Lindsay would finally get some rest, and why Perez Hilton dedicated his Friday night party at Mansion to Britney Spears’ vagina with K-Fed sitting right there. The party rolled on though and no one seemed to want to rest up for the big night. Hennessy took over Social Miami at the Sagamore Hotel for an Eve-Eve soiree that transformed Social into NYC’s Tenjune nightclub. Munching on apps like chicken lollipops and coconut shrimp were Michelle Trachtenberg, Jared Leto, Travis Barker, Kimberly Stewart, JC Chasez, Steve-O, Lohan, Bass and Sigler. Barker and Stewart hit it off and a rock star-style New Year’s makeout seemed inevitable after they were again chatty at the celeb-fest at Prive late night. Over at Casa Casuarina, Jonathan Cheban hosted a launch party for his new clothing line Kritik and welcomed celebrities like Hilary and Haylie Duff, Jessica Alba, Matt Damon, Emile Hirsch, Craig David and Entourage’s Kevin Connolly. Damon and his wife got a tour/history lesson of the former Versace mansion, while Haylie Duff and Connolly bonded before rendezvousing in the private VIP room at Suite until 4:30 a.m. The stars seemed aligned for a hot and heavy New Year’s Eve as Wilmer and Mandy, Haylie and E, Kristin and Zano, and T-Bark and K-Stew were all coupling off before the ball dropped.

COUNTDOWN TO ’07

New Year’s Eve kicked off with dinner parties: The Opium Group brought their celebrities to O Asian Grill, Jessica Alba and company dined on the second floor terrace at Setai and celebs attending the Delano and Shore Club’s soiree hosted by Ben Pundole and a conglomerate of NYC promoters dined at Blue Door at the Delano. But all anyone really cares about is which celeb is where when the clock strikes midnight.

Michelle Trachtenberg, Lance Bass, Reichen Lehmkuhl, Robert Iler, Taye Diggs and Jamie-Lynn Sigler made their way to a cabana at Delano and snapped photos of each other, while Queen Latifah rocked a professional camera to capture the moment with rapper T.I. and singer Kelly Rowland before Lindsay Lohan ran the countdown at Delano and Cassie and Robin Thicke performed for party-goers. Kevin Connolly stood in the back and heckled Lohan like he was Perez Hilton, getting laughs from those close by. Scott Storch, JC Chasez and Kimberly Stewart also rang in ’07 at the Delano, and Bass and Lehmkuhl made it over to Shore Club just in time for a man smooch as Lil Jon worked the countdown. Over at the DKNY Jeans NYE celebration at Setai, Jessica Alba, Hilary and Haylie Duff, Ben McKenzie, Matt Dillon, Chris Kattan and Michael Chiklis rang in the New Year for a packed crowd of nearly 2,000 boozers. The crowd was so thick that fire marshals closed the doors seconds after the Duffs made it inside. Kristin Cavallari and Nick Zano were lip-locked at midnight at Prive, Serena and Venus Williams stumbled onstage to join Ludacris for a countdown at Sagamore and Entourage’s Adrian Grenier performed with his band at Hotel Victor.

Over at Mansion DJ AM performed with Travis Barker and Wilmer Valderrama ran the countdown while Mandy Moore watched from the wings and K-Fed partied at a VIP table at midnight. By 1:30 a.m. though, Lohan, the Duffs, Taye Diggs, Scott Storch, Brody Jenner, Fat Joe, Kimberly Stewart and BET’s AJ Calloway were all partying onstage as AM worked the one’s and two’s and Wilmer continued his emcee gig for what seemed to be the wildest party of the evening. Everyone was up and dancing, the liquor was flowing and the house was rocking. At 4 a.m., party queen Lindsay Lohan and Scott Storch moved to Mokai, where Jared Leto (who ran the countdown at the Raleigh Hotel) and Kevin Connolly were still stumbling around. Downing energy drinks all weekend, Lohan was full of life at the lounge until 6 a.m., but still made room for pizza, which Storch had one of his entourage deliver to the club. After all that, little romance seemed to happen (at least publicly) for the aforementioned couples on New Year’s Eve, since Wilmer was busy working, Haylie Duff and Kevin Connolly were pulled by promoters in opposite directions and Travis Barker seemed to decide he wasn’t so into Kimberly Stewart after all. That left Cavallari and Zano battling with Lance and Reichen for smooch of the night, unless of course you count the Red Bull that Lohan had her lips wrapped around all night. They make a cute couple, don’t they?

THE PARTY CONTINUES

The celebration never really ends on South Beach and the majority of the celebrities in town were able to rally for more fun Monday night as well. Celebrities flocking to the Red Room at Skybar included Lindsay Lohan, Hilary and Haylie Duff, Kevin Connolly (who seemed to return to his chatty ways with Duff), Adrian Grenier, Queen Latifah, Wilmer Valderrama, Jared Leto, Lil Jon, Pitbull, Kelly Rowland, Taye Diggs, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Lance Bass, Kristin Cavallari, Brody Jenner, Scott Storch, Emile Hirsch, Kelly Rowland, Mickey Rourke, Craig David, Robin Thicke  and even Ryan Seacrest, who just 24 hours earlier hosted Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Years Eve live from Times Square in New York. At one point in the evening every table was occupied by a celebrity and at 2 a.m., Lohan hopped behind the DJ booth to spin a 20-minute set alongside DJ Zen Freeman. The Duffs, Connolly, Wilmer, and K-Ro moved the party to BED for the always popular “Secret Society” soiree. Everything was normal at the late night hot spot until a fire alarm was pulled, causing the music to shut off and emergency lights to turn on. For a brief moment, party-goers didn’t know what to do, but then Empire Event’s Justin Levine opened the bar for the next hour and brought all the celebrities more bottles of alcohol at their tables. From that point on, the scene turned into a Hollywood house party, where celebrities and socialites lounged on the bed, drank and chatted. Lindsay Lohan arrived after the power went off and security at the door explained the situation, and she still opted to come in and hang out before wooing Wilmer over to Mansion at 4 a.m. Is there anyone more dedicated to the party than Lindsay? I don’t think so.

DAVE’S STARRING ROLE AT CAMEO

The big buzz around the behind-the-scenesters was the end-of-the-year career move made David Grutman, who parted ways with the Opium Group and took his Miami Marketing Group to Cameo. On New Year’s Eve, Grutman was part of the Setai party team, but all focus in 2007 shifts to the new venture located in the old Crobar spot. Partnering with Kenny Smith, Cal Fortis and Luis Puig, Grutman will be the man responsible for bringing star-studded events to the nightclub, which includes Vice, the upstairs tables-only VIP room. During his four-year tenure at Mansion and Prive, he brought Hollywood’s finest – from Eva Longoria to Jamie Pressly to Robert Downey Jr. – to the clubs. But as Opium Group expands to a third Miami club and a Vegas venture, Grutman opted to devote his attention to one venue, which will undoubtedly be a hot spot when it opens prior to Super Bowl weekend. LA club owner Brent Bolthouse is scheduled to DJ opening night at Vice, so get your party hats ready for a wild ride at Cameo in 2007.

SPOTTED …

• Wilmer Valderrama hosting karaoke night at Mokai on Wednesday and grabbing the microphone to do his best Justin Timberlake impression.

• Woody Allen and Soon-Yi lunching with their daughter at Blue Door at Delano on Thursday afternoon before taking a stroll on the beach. With all the young, hip celebs staying at the Shore Club for NYE, it was Allen who occupied the famed penthouse suite.

• Lindsay Lohan chatting with Chris Jones poolside at the Delano on Friday afternoon.

• Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton arriving with Mandy Moore to the Ingrid Casares dinner party at Social Miami on Friday night after hanging together at the “Blame it on Rio” party at the Raleigh Hotel.

Got the 411? Send comments, questions, news items and Advil to Jon@miamisunpost.com.