Partying in Hollywood, Now and in the Future

Errol Roussel stood in the middle of a Hollywood dream: a construction site in the former Schwab’s drugstore on Hollywood Boulevard, near Ivar Avenue. Sure, it’s just a dusty loft now, but, says its 32-year-old developer, it’s destined to be the next cool spot in Hollywood--a “digital supper club,” a restaurant-bar-screening room. “That’s where the VIP screening room will be,” he told visitors who’d been lured Wednesday night by the promise of a party at Star Shoes bar, the slick mix of drinks and footwear, next door. A group of four nodded in unison. A cell phone rang.

Roussel un-spooled the spiel: unique revenue streams, a concept supper club, product differentiation.

The group seemed more interested in the opening date--which is nebulous. Sometime in the early summer, maybe.

A young couple came up the stairs. “Thanks for coming, man,” he said, and was introduced to the woman. “Your name is Cinnamon? Like the flavor?”

He took a break from schmoozing to talk about himself. “I put in $250,000 of my own money,” said Roussel, a onetime waiter who has an MBA from Pepperdine, Oliver Peoples glasses and a whiff of a goatee. “I liquidated my 401(k) and put in all my savings,” he said. “I did it the old-fashioned way.”

The club is far from finished, and the concept supper club is still just that--a concept. But Roussel and his partner, Kimberly Hermann, 29 (who worked the black-clad crowd in front of Star Shoes’ display cases), have procured early buzz by sponsoring events at the Sundance and AFI film festivals.

A young man climbed the stairs to the loft to greet Roussel. “Hey,” he said, “you remember me from Sundance? The Jodie Foster party?”

Around the corner, at the new Club A.D. on North Highland Avenue, Columbia Records’ budding star Pete Yorn captivated hundreds of young Hollywood execs and their fame-hungry clients at E! Entertainment network’s Sizzlin’ 16 party.

While Yorn’s rumored girlfriend Winona Ryder didn’t make the show, the crowd was jumping as he took the stage, thanks to Beastie Boys deejay Mixmaster Mike’s spinning. During his 50-minute set, Yorn, who recently returned from a European tour, performed songs from his album “musicforthemorningafter” while fans sang along. The annual party, which was taped to air Saturday on E!, is held to recognize 16 actors under 30 that the network has deemed “the ones to watch.” Among this year’s picks are Kate Hudson’s younger brother Oliver Hudson, “Lord of the Rings” co-star Orlando Bloom, Erika Christensen of “Traffic,” Gabrielle Union of “Bring It On,” Clayne Crawford of “A Walk to Remember” and “White Oleander” star Taryn Manning. “Malcolm in the Middle’s” Frankie Muniz held hands with young Hilary Duff, who has the title role in the Disney Channel’s “Lizzie McGuire.”

Taking Attendance

Payroll watchdog Matt Drudge accused “Today’s” Katie Couric of playing hooky from work earlier this week. In a Web site item, Drudge claims that Couric, who just negotiated a new multimillion-dollar contract with NBC, called in sick Tuesday but was “partying it up” with boyfriend and power producer Tom Werner in Boston to celebrate the new owners of the Red Sox. A spokeswoman for “Today” laughed off the report, saying the incident “seems to have caused quite a stir.”

“If Katie wanted a day off, she could have asked for one,” the spokeswoman said Wednesday. “In this case, she was sick and after resting for a day and a half, she felt well enough to attend it. She was back on air this morning.”

Godfather of Soul Faces Lawsuit

James Brown is in Los Angeles Superior Court this week fighting a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Lisa Ross Agbalaya, a former employee who claims that the Godfather of Soul fired her after she dismissed his sexual advances. A trial in the case was scheduled to begin Thursday.

Brown has been fighting the lawsuit since it was filed in May 2000. Agbalaya has reportedly demanded $2 million of the soul star. In a statement issued Wednesday, Brown declared: “I look forward to my day in court when I will personally appear and respond under oath to those baseless and outrageous allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace and to the individuals who have mistakenly concluded that I would rather settle a case of this kind than to pay high legal defense costs.”

Agbalaya claims Brown fired her and shut down the West Coast branch of his enterprise because she filed the complaint.

Brown’s attorney Debra Opri and Agbalaya’s lawyer Matthew Herrell were in trial at press time and could not be reached for comment.

Familiar Face

Overheard in the East Tower elevator of Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles:

Kirk Douglas greeted by a stranger with this comment: “I bet you get this all the time, but you look exactly like Kirk Douglas,” the passenger said.

Sightings

Former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic walking through the crowd at the Troubadour in West Hollywood on Wednesday night just before his new band Eyes Adrift took the stage; producers Jerry Bruckheimer and David E. Kelley at the Staples Center, each leading a mixed team of hockey stars and actors in Wednesday night’s charity exhibition game, the NHL All-Star Celebrity Challenge.

Bruckheimer’s team won.