A Little Help Blowing Out Candles

The Scene: Sunday night in Santa Monica, where Jeff West, owner of the club The Pink, was throwing himself a birthday party with about 100 of his most intimate friends. (In true Hollywood fashion, West admitted only to being “thirty-something.”)

Who Was There: The rock star-supermodel combination of David Bowie and Iman; actors Bud Cort and Susan Tyrrell; restaurateur Mario Tamayo; gallery owner Robert Berman, and social staple Joan Quinn, who almost had her camera confiscated when she sent a friend to snap a picture of Iman and Bowie in their booth.

The Buzz: The guests everyone wanted to get a look at were Iman and Bowie, who had the misfortune to make their grand entrance while the publicists and the lensmen were distracted by another photo opportunity. It didn’t take long for them to steal focus, however; Bowie wore a royal-blue suit and Iman a leopard-print jacket. (Iman is hardly the kind of woman who can slip into a room unnoticed, no matter what she’s wearing).

The Entertainment: Tyrrell performed a selection from her one-woman show, “My Rotten Life.” Later, rhythm and blues singer Millie Kaiserman performed a set that got the room going with some mildly dirty dancing.

Dress Code: “Dress to kill--I always do!” said the invitation, but the only possible sartorial death threat came from an overdose of tight little black dresses. Several men wore the vest-over-T-shirt outfit, which works only if one has a completely flat stomach.

Fashion Statement: Demure little tattoos everywhere. (Imagine the family chats 50 years from now, when a whole generation of women has to explain to the grandchildren why grandma has a parrot tattooed on her shoulder blade.)

Crashability: Moderate. There was a small sign on the door that read “Private Party,” and the doorman was checking invitations, but there were no safeguards against no-shows slipping their invitations to others.

Overheard: “Like Tom Vu says on his infomercial, ‘I’m not afraid of success,’ ” said one man. Another guest, trapped in the crush of bodies around David Bowie, said, “I’d shake your hand, if I could just find my hand.”

Noted: The Pink has a reputation for being a New York-style club, but it’s not true. New York club-goers don’t dress to show off their muscles, complain about smoke or generally look like older versions of the cast of “Beverly Hills, 90210.”