Felt Like New York, Smelled Like L.A.

The Scene: Sunday’s world premiere of Columbia’s “Money Train” at the Century City Cineplex Odeon. A crowded, rapturous party followed at the Bergamot Station complex in Santa Monica.

Who Was There: Stars Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, co-stars Jennifer Lopez and Robert Blake, director Joe Ruben, producers Jon Peters and Neil Canton, plus 1,200 guests including Muhammad Ali, Martin Lawrence, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Larry Flynt, John Leguizamo, Peter Guber, Robert Shapiro, Dina Meyer, Kelly Emberg, and studio execs Mark Canton, Lisa Henson, Alan Levine, Barry Josephson and Sid Ganis.

The Venue: Entertainment Lighting Services transformed a dilapidated, 25,000-square-foot warehouse into a New York subway station complete with white tile walls, advertisements, graffiti, turnstiles, massive I-beam trusses, custom-made neon and smoke machines. “The idea was to accentuate the negative,” said ELS’s John Chuck. “The building is such a dump, we went for grunge to get a New York feel.”

Overheard: “It doesn’t smell bad enough to be New York.”

Chow: Buffets from Along Came Mary featuring every food group that ever passed through Manhattan: eggplant Parmesan, lasagna, pizza, pastrami and--a subtly devastating improvement on a classic--egg creams spiked with brandy.

Quoted: Both Harrelson and Snipes mentioned a specific career goal--making seven films together. “We want to do seven,” said Snipes. “Seven is the power number. Got to have the seven. Seven organs in the human body, seven planes of existence, right? Once we accomplish the seven, we’re going to decide if we ever want to speak to each other again.”

Fashion Statements: Harrelson’s ensemble included a black baseball cap worn backward over a bandanna, white pants and blue shirt with an exterior label identifying it as made of cannabis hemp fabric. Snipes came in an embroidered Islamic-style skull cap and an elegant, handmade two-piece, black silk suit with gold buttons that appeared to be Mandarin, but Snipes said was of African design. “Old Egyptians used to wear stuff like this,” said the actor. “What did you think, they just built pyramids?”

Expression du jour: “Float the boat.” As in: “Hey, good intentions are not gonna float the boat. If this movie’s gonna get made, somebody’s gotta write a check.”