Holiday Office Parties Lacking ‘Spirits’ of the Past

There was plenty of holiday spirit at Gina Munoz’s office Christmas party Friday. The only things missing were the holiday spirits.

Instead of the customary eggnog spiked with brandy, workers toasted Christmas and Hanukkah with orange juice and coffee at the Arco Plaza investment company where Munoz works.

Similar scenes were repeated across the city as workers reached for cups of soft drinks instead of the champagne and liquor that has traditionally flowed at Christmas parties.

“We had a potluck breakfast, and there was no alcohol whatsoever,” said Munoz, receptionist for the T. Rowe Price Co. Munoz was clad in a Santa hat. “That was good, though. It wasn’t out of control. It was nice.”

Although the courts no longer hold employers liable for accidents caused by employees who overindulge at company gatherings, liquor-fueled office parties have dried up faster than the LAPD can spread out traffic cones at a sobriety checkpoint.

And there was plenty of that going on Friday as Los Angeles police and the California Highway Patrol teamed up to catch drunk drivers on their way home from office parties in Canoga Park, the Rampart District and the Venice-Marina del Rey area.

At a CHP checkpoint in Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles, officers arrested a suspected drunk driver who was headed home from a combination Christmas and “safe-driving” office party. CHP Officer Jorge Martinez said a 34-year-old Lancaster plasterer spotted driving erratically on the Antelope Valley Freeway told officers that he had just left the party where he and co-workers at a construction company had been honored for safe driving.

“Nobody wants to be responsible for people getting inebriated,” explained Anita Lague, administrator of a Cushman & Wakefield commercial real estate office in Arco Plaza, where workers helped themselves to soft drinks and sandwiches at a noontime party. “The idea is to have a good time, not get bombed.”

At Los Angeles City Hall, City Councilman Ernani Bernardi spread a Christmas tablecloth atop his desk and offered fruitcake and spiked eggnog to municipal workers. But his party ended at noon--in plenty of time for heads to clear before anyone attempted to drive home for the day.

Down the hall at Councilman Richard Alatorre’s office, gift baskets of cheese and wine that had been sent over by developers and lobbyists sat unopened. Some of them would be taken home by workers, and some of the food would be donated to downtown homeless centers, said Linda Ward, Alatorre’s secretary.

Ward said the amount of gift wine and liquor delivered to politicians is down this year.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with the ethics thing, either,” she said, referring to the reform movement that was launched in City Hall this year. “I think times have changed. Twenty years ago, when I first started working in the Federal Building, mostly everybody was trying to get bombed at Christmas office parties. But not anymore.”

At the Bel Age Hotel in West Hollywood, lawyers and secretaries from the law firm of Alschuler, Grossman and Pines sipped white wine as they waited Friday afternoon to be treated to a $10,000 company party. But before a luncheon of fish and veal, they were invited to watch a sobering videotape being shown at the entrance to the hotel’s Grand Salon.

The film depicted three poverty-stricken families that on Thursday received $5,000 worth of gifts, food and clothing donated by law firm workers.

“I think people feel Christmas parties are wilder than they are,” said lawyer Andy Friedman, who paused with co-workers to watch the videotape before sitting down to eat.

Workers at Bob Smith BMW in Canoga Park sipped soft drinks--not wine--at their office party Friday. But that did not keep sobriety squad police from their door.

Officers picked the front of the car dealership’s lot for the city’s first sobriety checkpoint of the holiday season.

In the first hour of the eight-hour roadblock aimed at motorists coming from office parties, five suspected drunk drivers were taken into custody, said Los Angeles Police Sgt. Dennis Zine.

But the unusual daytime checkpoint caused traffic to back up for about a mile in either direction on Topanga Canyon Boulevard as 30 officers checked motorists heading north from busy Warner Center and south from Chatsworth office buildings and manufacturing plants.

The driveway to the BMW lot was blocked by suspected tipsy drivers undergoing field sobriety tests under the watchful eyes of police and CHP officers.

“We haven’t served beer or wine at our Christmas parties for the past eight years because of the danger to drivers,” said Ron Weiss, sales manager for the BMW dealership. “I fully support these checkpoints. I just wish they’d picked another spot for it.”