Roger Neal’s Oscar Viewing Dinner at the Hollywood Palladium
The historic Hollywood Palladium on Sunset Boulevard hasn’t seen an Oscar party for 50 years. Until now, when Roger Neal’s annual Oscar viewing dinner and after party took over the venue.
That’s right, it’s been 50 years since Hollywood movers and shakers gathered inside the Streamline Moderne Art Deco building for the entertainment industry’s biggest night, the Academy Awards.
Neal’s soirée re-created the glamour of old Hollywood inside – and outside – the Palladium, which was built in 1940 and is now run by Live Nation.
This fourth annual Oscar dinner had previously been held in another historic locale, the Hollywood Museum, directly across the street from the Dolby Theater at Hollywood and Highland where the Oscar ceremonies take place.
But the event was so popular that that museum space could not accommodate the number of VIP guests who wanted to attend, so the Palladium became the new home for event founders and chairs Roger and Lynn Neal and their partners Maryanne and Thomas Lai.
There was something else new this year—a rockin’ after party. More on that in a minute…
The evening got underway in the late afternoon, with a gifting suite on the mezzanine and, of course, cocktails.
The Icon Awards
Then before the 91st annual Academy Awards got the party really started, the Neal event featured its own awards, the Icon Awards.
This year’s honorees included award-winning star of M*A*S*H, actress Loretta Swit, Oscar nominees Robert Forster, Oscar nominee Margaret Avery (The Color Purple), Lainie Kazan (My Favorite Year), Ghostbuster’s Ernie Hudson, Love Boat’s Bernie Kopell and The Walton’s star Michael Learned.
The Music Icon award was presented to Grammy and Golden Globe nominee Frank Stallone. The Woman in Philanthropy Icon award was given to actress, philanthropist and two-time Daytime Emmy Award winner Kira Reed Lorsch (The Bay).
Black tie-clad and gorgeously-gowned guests were seated at beautifully dressed tables with red floral centerpieces and red satin napkins as the Oscars were projected on a big screen and the crowd was enraptured from the beginning as Queen and Adam Lambert opened the show.
Among the estimated 600 attendees were attorney Gloria Allred, The Supremes’ Mary Wilson, Green Book’s Joe Cortese, A Star is Born’s Luenelle, Lorenzo Lamas, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Ken Davitian, Brigitte Nielsen, Dawn Wells, Buzz Aldrin, Jaime Monroy, Marla Gibbs, Farah Abraham and George Papadopoulos.
And then, it was time for the white glove dining service. The four-course dinner was catered by Chef Tamearra Dyson of Oakland’s Souley Vegan. On the menu, baby spinach and arugula salad with dried cranberries and walnuts and a red vinaigrette dressing, a spicy white bean cheddar fondue served in a bread bowl with roasted vegetables, Cajun spaghetti with croquettes of hearts of palm and zucchini served with sautéed spinach and braised asparagus and for dessert, a lemon cheesecake topped with champagne-infused strawberries and bitter chocolate ganache.
Roger Neal’s Oscar viewing dinner menu
The hosts may have been having a heart attack backstage as the broadcast feed went out right in the middle of Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s performance of what became the Oscar-winning song Shallow from A Star is Born, but it was quickly restored, and guests got to see what became the most talked about moment of the Oscars.
And speaking of performances, the after party featured several including Foundation Records recording artist, 22-year old Roger Neal, (son of the hosts) along with his dancers, followed by Richard Halpern’s Hollywood Cavalcade show with a live band, (from LA’s Cicada Club)and special guests performing vintage music from the 20’s and 30’s. A special appearance by Howard Hewett of Shalamar also rocked the Palladium at the after party.
