Thursday, December 3, 2009

New York Glamour Hits La Jolla for a Reunion to Remember


Typically, around the weekend prior to Thanksgiving, a slew of San Diego natives return to their hometown for some good food, quality time with the family, and a trip down memory lane at a slew of high school parties and local bars with old familiar faces. A local tradition at my alma mater, Torrey Pines High School, is an annual night after Thanksgiving bar party where you can see your old flings, past life besties, and kids from class you never thought you'd see again. The standard 'Where are you now?' and 'What are you up to these days?' pass with ease into a more comfortable, nostalgic vibe where old friends seek to make new memories, like time has never passed.

This year, three members of the Torrey Pines alumni came together to plan the annual event. These individuals wanted to not only plan a fun event that would top the parties of years past, but a fresh, elegant, SAFE event that would go down in the books as one of the best holiday parties of the year. It took a hip young transportation business owner and two aspiring event planners to make this shin dig happen, and it was the ultimate culmination of story telling, shot sharing, and scandal Torrey Pines students haven't witnessed since grad night.

Meet Yvonne Najor & Carli Roth. Two girls about town that know great parties and enjoy excellent company. After graduating from college and relocating to New York City, they noticed a recurring trend among friends... the need to connect with interesting new people. They began hosting small cocktail receptions in quirky, trendy spots that quickly resulted into new friendships, romances, and fun. From this, DBD was born.

DBD is a social club thats motto is about living life day by day. DBD is a constant reminder to take in and enjoy the people around you. Each month Yvonne & Carli host exclusive events, dinners, parties, and gatherings for an elite social group of young professionals in New York & California who are just looking to have a good time and live life day by day. "Its not about the life you live, but the way you live it", says Carli Roth, half of the entrepreneurial team. When planning an event of such magnitude with such an eclectic crowd, it takes an air of confidence, comfort and cooperation to pull something so hyped off. It was up to the alumni to show up, which was without doubt seeing as its the first and best holiday party at home, but the details of the event had to be worked out first.

The venue was Prospect Bar in downtown La Jolla, only a few exits South of the old neighborhood, but refreshing and new like it was another city. There was a VIP area with bottle service, and a full bar for others to fill up their cups. A pure glass wall allowed insiders to view who was coming in, and who was getting kicked out. Cali Camera Photography was hired to photograph the reunion, and took great photos capturing the excitement and surprise of many old friends reacquainting themselves with one another. The final detail to work out was the transportation. And that's where our third entrepreneur came in.

Brandon Blum, an up and coming businessman who likes to work hard and play harder, is owner of a limousine company that DBD used to shuttle guests from the Del Mar Plaza (neutral ground for most TP alumni) to Prospect Bar throughout the evening. "We wanted to help ensure people werent drinking and driving over the holiday" said Carli about teaming up with longtime friend Brandon. After a slew of alcohol related car accidents in San Diego in the past 2 months, and many other alcohol and drug related community deaths in recent years, safety was of the utmost importance on an evening where lots of alcohol and celebrating would be occurring.

The evening was filled with lots of memories, hugs, and toasts and thanks to the transportation and venue, was in a safe, refreshing, fantastic place. Overall, it went very smoothly, minus the usual drunk table dancers, sparklers, and shirtless men, and it was agreed upon by all to be an awesome reunion party. So if you missed any of the cat fights, kamikazes or kisses, be sure to check out the pics and follow DBD on facebook! And mark your calendar's for next year kids, because like fine wine, the alumni parties only get better with age and next year is bound to have just as much, if not more excitement, than this year!

2 comments:

cend_it. said...

Very informative, why did i not know this before. No more holding back. Thanks for allowing me to log more hours at Jimmy O's...with all the rest

fashionlushxx said...

haha. shirtless men, sparklers, scandal, champagne... same old story... since freshman year.