One department store that’s going out in style

THE once-glamorous, now-shuttered Robinsons-May flagship store on Wilshire Boulevard will soon be demolished to make way for a $500-million condo project. But for now, the old gal is living like an over-the-hill debutante, ginning it up with a lot of late nights because she knows better than anyone that the clock is ticking.

This last hurrah, it turns out, is also energizing the party season with a little originality. As everyone on that scene knows, party venues in L.A. tend toward a universe of bland hotel banquet halls and overly styled nightclubs. Authenticity is rare. Sure, the city’s packed with palatial, hilltop manses, but after you’ve seen one glittering omniscient city view, you’ve really seen them all.

And so, a vacant old department store -- now known as 9900 Wilshire -- is reborn. It started Nov. 8 with the Sony PlayStation 3 party that featured a “makeup counter” bar, a VIP lounge decked with hosiery and a smoking patio that was the “garden department.” On Nov. 30, the store hosts the annual Divine Design shopping extravaganza to benefit Project Angel Food. In January, the E! Entertainment Network and the Environmental Media Assn. will co-host a “green” Golden Globes party in the store’s parking lot.

Ah, but it won’t last. A year from now, it’s sure to be a dust cloud of memories, lost in a pile of rubble.

-- Gina Piccalo