A Party Andy Warhol Would Have Dug

Would Andy Warhol have appreciated the Hollywood-like premiere of his retrospective at MOCA Wednesday night?

“He would have loved this,” said painter Ed Moses. “Andy loved glitz.” Moses was next to Charlize Theron at the bar, one of many scenes of intersecting worlds in a night that began with paparazzi and metal detectors branded with the phrase: “Welcome to Tomorrow’s Technology.” (As one woman walked through, she wondered, “Do you think my knee will set this off?”) The crowd moved across a white carpet, past reporters, and through a replica of Warhol’s 1964 “Brillo Box” and into the party.

The gala drew more than 1,000 for a preview of the show, which opens Saturday and runs through Aug. 18.

Lower Grand Avenue was transformed into a New York Factory party, or rather, an imitation of one. A museum loading dock had been converted to a gritty, urban stage: There was Candy Darling (or a replica--this one was Xavier from New York) wriggling on a platform underneath a group of purple Warhol self-portraits. The bartenders were imitation Warhols in white Warhol wigs.

Big names entered, and the entrance clogged as people gathered to watch. As with any good Warhol event, the audience was part of the show.

Names, names, names.

Was that Michael Eisner over there, greeting Lisa Kudrow? Was that Kelly Lynch, in Pucci? Was that Versace on that woman? Steve Martin?

“It looks like one of his situations,” said Irving Blum, looking over the crowd and the decor. “The copy of the copy,” he said, laughing a booming laugh. (Blum had reason to laugh. In 1962, he hosted the first Warhol show at his Ferus Gallery on La Cienega Boulevard, featuring 32 Campbell Soup cans. Some sold for $100, but Blum bought them back to keep the series intact. After Warhol’s death, he was offered $10 million. They are currently part of the permanent collection at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.)

A redheaded woman in purple named Lovey Dash, who was a teen when she met Warhol at Studio 54, surveyed the black-clad crowd and concluded: “I don’t think people dressed appropriately....I think [Warhol] would have liked a wilder scene.”

Guests and entertainers mingled on a street corner where an ordinary yellow fire hydrant seemed suddenly to look like art in the twilight zone between image and reality. Scenes from the performance: A “cowboy” in silver pants and pink suede, a bare-chested man in a giant blond wig and orange crinoline skirt at the vodka bar. Paul Reubens next to the white leather couches. Robbie Robertson in black. A couple in silver body paint and hot pants. A woman saying: “I don’t know who she is, but she’s wearing a Pucci from 40 years ago” as Lynch, in a psychedelic print, posed for photographers.

Gallery owner Michael Kohn joked about the loops of art and history and the time he showed Warhol’s work in the ‘80s. He had to beg friends to buy it, he said, until the day Warhol died. That day, he said, he got the calls, beginning at 6 a.m. “It was like the stock market,” Kohn said, referring to the escalating prices throughout the day. Still, he said, he had nothing on Blum. “I’m just a total footnote in history.”

Stylist Vincent Boucher looked amused. “Oh, yeah, Andy would have approved,” he said. (Everyone had a Warhol story. Boucher met him when Warhol was signing copies of Interview magazine in 1978.)

Gray curtains surrounded the party, and against the walls floated giant silver inflatables, echoes of Warhol’s 1966 Factory installation “silver clouds.” Around 8 p.m., one set of curtains parted slowly to reveal rows of dinner tables draped in black and topped with bright yellow and orange daisies. . Soundtrack: David Bowie’s “Fame.” With several cameras scanning the crowd, projecting unsuspecting faces onto big screens, it was hard to step outside the frame. Few wanted to.

Dennis Hopper, the guest of honor, spotted an old friend. “Here we are, man!” he said as they embraced. Hopper was flanked by the picturesque and the painter, Anjelica Huston and Robert Graham. On his arm was his wife, Victoria Duffy. “I love it,” he said, looking at the decor--Warhol images of Warhol. “It actually relates to Dennis’ work,” said Duffy. “Reality and illusion,” she said. Hopper’s face, the iconic image from “Blue Velvet” and from Gap commercials, was illuminated by strobes beneath another icon: Warhol’s 1964 “Self-Portrait,” projected on the wall.

After dinner, guests inspected the galleries at the museum, where go-go dancers, patrons and posers provided background (and cat calls) for the well-heeled guests as they admired more Warhol imagery.

Downstairs, in a theater, Warhol’s “Screen Tests” ran without sound. There was Nico, nibbling a Hershey bar. Upstairs, at the tented dance floor, three women discussed images. “Well, they said festive,” one woman said defensively about her colorful, see-through dress. “And you,” she continued, somewhat aggressively, “you look festive in your Prada.” Nearby, a couple of guests took pictures of the party and the parade.

As the party shut down at 11 p.m., some guests took the opportunity to buy images at the gift shop.

See the image, be the image, buy the image.

Somewhere, someone was laughing.

City of Angles runs Tuesday through Friday. E-mail: angles@latimes.com.