Grads’ Night Out : Sober All-Night Festivities at High School Offer Teen-Agers a Safe Way to Celebrate

Lynn Greenberg leaned forward and began describing the “Starlight Lounge” in a low whisper. “We’re going to drop the ceiling with black fabric, and attach stars with each student’s name on them,” she said, cradling a stack of notes in her arms. “And then, out here we’ll have a. . . . Oh, that’s a secret.”

“Keep it hush,” said party organizer Elisa Olson. “There’s a senior upwind.”

Greenberg and Olson, dressed in sweats and sneakers, were sitting in the amphitheater at Santa Monica High School on a recent afternoon, divulging plans for the school’s first all-night graduation party.

Tonight, about 300 newly graduated teen-agers will board the SS Viking--actually the girls’ gym--and celebrate until dawn in an imaginative and alcohol-free setting created by community volunteers.

They will dance in the Starlight Lounge, surrounded by lights set up to look like city lights as seen from the Santa Monica Bay. The “casino” will offer a variety of games, and entertainers will perform in the “Galaxy Theatre.” Students can have their palms read in the “Mystic Room,” or take time out to feast on tamales, barbecued hamburgers and nonalcoholic cocktails. When they get tired, they can crash on the “Poop Deck.”

Supporters of the popular, on-campus party concept say it offers students a chance to socialize with friends they may not see for years, and keeps them off the highways during a time that is traditionally one of the most dangerous for alcohol-related traffic accidents involving teen-agers.

“It offers parents the peace of mind that their kids aren’t driving around looking for good parties,” Olson said. After graduation ceremonies, the students are “very tired, but very excited, and may be tempted by peer pressure to drink or take drugs.”

A dozen high schools in Los Angeles County are hosting alcohol-free, all-night parties this year, according to Elaine Goodman, executive director of the Grad Nite Foundation in Orange County. These include Palos Verdes, Culver City, and Mira Costa high schools. On a somewhat smaller scale, Beverly Hills High School seniors gathered Tuesday evening for an alcohol-free graduation party at Stringfellow’s, a private club.

The Grad Nite concept started with just a few schools in New England in the early ‘80s, Goodman said.

“About 25% of all high schools across the states are now involved in some kind of organized Grad Nite,” she said.

Olson attended workshops offered by the foundation on how to sponsor a Grad Nite party after the school principal suggested the idea at a PTA meeting.

Although there are variations, all Grad Nite parties have two basic rules: Alcohol and drugs are not permitted, and guests are not allowed to re-enter once they leave.

Only Santa Monica High School seniors will be allowed at their party. Seniors at Culver City High School, however, will be allowed to bring guests to their party Friday.

At Culver City High, the on-campus party is an independent tradition that substantially predates the Grad Nite movement. Organizer Donna Mitchell said this year’s party will be the school’s 38th, and about 100 students are expected to attend.

For the Santa Monica bash, organizers have put their best efforts into creating an atmosphere in which the seniors will want to stay.

Among the inducements designed to keep the revelers on hand are four prizes of $1,000 each, contributed by the alumni association. They will be awarded as door prizes at 4 a.m.

“Our kids are very sophisticated,” Olson said. “You want to keep them there. . . . The prizes are an incentive to stay all night long.”

Another major supporter of the party was the city of Santa Monica, which contributed $10,000, Olson said. Altogether, businesses, individuals and the city contributed about $50,000 in cash, materials and services.

Santa Monica students voted last semester to have the on-campus party over other graduation activities, including an evening at a Hollywood club.

“It seemed so different from all the other grad nights,” said senior Kellie Phite. “Disneyland was getting old.”

Asked about the lack of alcohol, Phite said, “This is a night you want to remember. You don’t want to be in a totally different state of mind. You don’t want to be throwing up outside.”

Classmate Brandon Goldstein added jokingly, “You have all summer to do that.”

Another senior, Luke Cohen, was one of those who did not plan to go.

“It doesn’t seem to offer anything that seems like much fun,” he said. “It will just be a lot of people hanging out, and I’d just as soon do something else.”

Cohen said he planned to have dinner with his parents and go out with friends, some of whom are students from other high schools.

The tickets started out at $10 in December to encourage students to buy early. They went up by increments throughout the year, and will cost $45 at the door. About half of the graduating class of 600 had purchased tickets as of Tuesday.

Olson, the coordinator of the event, said a core of about 30 volunteers has worked for the past year on the project. Last week, they moved elaborate stage settings to the gym to begin the final setup.

“This is my first big involvement with the community,” said Malibu resident Rick Morgan, a civil engineer for the city of Los Angeles. “We got a lot of support, so that’s made the project fun. The only negative is we don’t get much sleep.”

Morgan and his wife, Laurie, were in charge of decorations, which included the two-story-high ship that will serve as the entrance to the gym.

In order to paint a 64-foot mural representing the Santa Monica coastline, a group of parents went out on a lobster boat and took pictures from the bay. The photos were projected onto panels and traced in by the volunteers.

Not all volunteers are parents of seniors. Patty Krieger, whose daughter, Rachel, is a freshman at Santa Monica, said she volunteered because she supports the Grad Nite concept. As she pressed miniature lights through the back of a prop, she explained it was important to make the first party a success so it could find continued support.

“I hope by the time my daughter is a senior it will be a tradition,” she said, “and all of her friends will automatically go.”

Students paused at the door to the gym and looked in with curiosity.

“At first we wanted to keep everything secret,” Greenberg said, “but we had to talk about it a lot to generate interest.”

According to Olson, a great side effect of the project is the new friendships that have been created.

“It’s endless what closely knit parents and community can do for a school,” Olson said. “And I think it’s an important time for the high school to have that.”