A Night of Stars And Celebs At The High Line Benefit

by SCOTT BUCCHEIT · June 16, 2009

[Christian Simonds, Gillian Hearst Simonds, Lydia Hearst, Scott Buchheit]

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Last night I joined some of New York's best and brightest for The High Line Benefit held at Pier 60. The invite read festive cocktail, which I guess for most New York men meant wearing the suit you wore to work. After perusing my almost all black wardrobe, I settled on a red shirt hoping it would up my festive quota. I was meeting my friends, Christian Simonds and his always beautiful wife Gillian Hearst Simonds, as a guest of theirs.

The benefit honored three individuals who worked nearly ten years to save, preserve, and open The High Line. The honorees, Lisa Maria Falcone, her husband Philip, and Edward Norton, were given a chance to speak, with Norton drawing the biggest laugh following Lisa's rambling speech. He quipped that one of the best things about New York is all of the interesting people you meet.

Others dinner guests included: Leslie Dipietro, Reed Simonds, Brian Maloney, Matthew Betmaleck, Douglas Hanant and Timo Weiland.

After dinner we high-tailed it out of there to The High Line after party sponsored by Calvin Klein. I had never been up there and was literally awestruck by the park's beauty and scope; it stretches for blocks and blocks. The center piece of the night was a bar that stretched one full city block. At the after party, I met my good friends Tim Morehouse and Jason Rogers, and walked the entire stretch of the park while Tim filmed away. He kept trying to get me on camera, but my insistence on constantly swearing will assure that I end up on the cutting room floor.

After our stroll, we met up with Lydia Hearst who had just arrived from the CFDA Awards Banquet. Lydia looked stunning as always with her new haircut and beautiful white gown. She was joined by designer Marc Bouwer, and Factory PR's Ryan Brown. After hobnobbing with other celebrities, I caught up with Molly Sims and Zoe Saldana, both of who were previously shot by ArtWing, as well as Olivia Palermo and Johannes Huebl. Other celebs spotted at the party included brand new movie stars Bradley Cooper (The Hangover), Taylor Lautner (Twilight's werewolf whose height can classify him as a little person) and probably the world's oldest super model, and Bernie Madoff victim, Carmen Del Orefice, Scout Willis (daugther of Demi and Bruce), as well as, Chance Yeh, Ali Kavousi, and Karim Amutullah.