Caviar dollops and a smattering of high-powered guests were supposed to be the stars of a party on Wednesday night for a slice of New York’s elite who were celebrating a newsletter on “cultural capital.”
But like most things right now in New York, the Knicks nudged in and stole the show.
Carson Griffith had planned the party for subscribers of her newsletter, “Rich People Shit,” before it seemed likely that the event, at a boutique hotel in SoHo, could coincide with a Knicks game in the N.B.A. finals at Madison Square Garden.
Ms. Griffith “freaked out,” she said, upon learning of the scheduling conflict. Then she decided she would invite the Knicks to her party, on the big screen.
But the hotel, which advertises its “discreet, refined, generous sensibility,” has no televisions, even in its guest rooms. Staff members initially thought the request of an impromptu Knicks watch party wasn’t precisely “on brand,” said Rachel Harrison, a public relations specialist who helped organize the event.
“I told them: ‘Guys, this is a moment in time. This isn’t an on-brand moment. This is a New York City moment,’” Ms. Harrison said. “We’ve all put a lot of time into this party. If we can’t do this, our entire high-powered guest list is going to leave.”
The hotel’s staff relented.
The guest list included finance and media executives; high-end realtors and plastic surgeons; the author Candace Bushnell; and Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Elon Musk’s children. At least one former Real Housewife, among others, mingled and sipped specialty cocktails called “Quiet Luxury” and “First Wife’s Revenge.”
A number of them most likely could have afforded to attend the game being played simultaneously at Madison Square Garden, where ticket prices have soared to roughly the cost of an alligator-skin Hermès Birkin bag.
As the 8:30 p.m. tipoff time approached, the crowd thinned. A large television was rolled into the back of the bar, and a few people gathered to watch alongside a candlelit spread of red grapes and other appetizers.
If you can’t be inside Madison Square Garden, Ms. Harrison said, “this is the only other place any person should be.”
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