Splashdown DC – Miami Style

By Jordan Wright – Wright on Food
The Georgetowner/Downtowner
July 19, 2009

While the world was celebrating NASA’s 40th anniversary of the first lunar landing, the hot and hip were splashing down at the Capitol Skyline Hotel. It was South Beach in Southwest in this stylishly eclectic hotel. The Rubell family’s latest enterprise is the redesign of American architect, Morris Lapidus’s mid-century modern property located in the newly revitalized waterfront neighborhood. “We bought the hotel six years ago,” according to his daughter Jennifer, “and waited until the neighborhood was more developed before redoing the hotel.”

Mera Rubell and her husband, Don, who own the Rubell Family Collection, have amassed one of the country’s finest collections of contemporary art. The 45,000 sq. ft. “gallery,” open to the public, is housed in a converted warehouse in Miami and is chock-a-block with Keith Haring, Robert Colescott and Lorna Simpson, to mention a few of the art world’s luminaries in this entirely private collection. Committed to the D.C. art scene, they have developed a relationship with the Washington Project for the Arts and Conner Contemporary Art.

It was Lisa Gold, WPA executive director, who clued me in to “SynchroSwim,” an artists-as-synchronized-swimmers team competition, held on the hotel’s chic pool deck last Sunday afternoon as part of a series of video lounge/poolside art projects.

Proof positive that there’s still a cool summer scene in town. Not everyone is in Dewey or Rehoboth! This “staycation” worked it full throttle.

MTV’s not-so-secret-anymore “Real World:DC” actors

and their documentarians were hanging out in a special roped-off rubber duckies’ lounge by the pool (the orange beaks matching the sleek contempo leather sofas). The cast mingled with the hoi polloi but couldn’t discuss the show. “We’re under signed contract not to talk about it,” one bikini-clad reality girl told me.

This hip crowd, who could have been called as stand-ins should the cast have needed help drinking the yummy Spike Mendelsohn-designed cocktails, were having their own reality show.

Did I forget to mention that “Top Chef” runner-up chef Spike Mendelsohn

was flipping his Michelle Obama-approved juicy burgers for the guests? Oh, yeah. This place was smokin’ — and not just the grill.

I asked Spike how this crazy fabulous scene had come together. “Mera Rubell came into my restaurant (Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill) and asked me to check out the family’s new hotel,” he recalled, “I went over and the place was trashed but we sat down together and had a vision of what it could be. It took a month of redesign before we could open this June.”

“I love this area,” he waxed. “Obama has revived this town. There’s a new dedication…a new philosophy. D.C. is on its way to becoming the “new” New York.”

With a been-there-done-that twinkle in his eye, he added, “It takes dedication and passion. You gotta dream.” And then he turned and went back to stoking the grill and hamming it up for the hotties, totally in his element, looking like a cuter version of Johnny Drama from “Entourage.”

By early evening the performers were getting introduced along with judges. Won Kee Moon, Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics, Phillipa Hughes, Pink Line Project founder, and Spike himself, sprung at last from burger duty. Fellini-esque contestants lined up by team and entered the pool. They swim-danced, kayak-rolled, dove and play-acted their somewhat-synchronized show. It was all a big hoot for the crowd, as more than 1400 guests cheered, jeered and rooted for their picks.

After the show, we squeezed into the video lounge to watch the Brandon Morse-curated Experimental Video Project that featured swim-themed videos of groovy wriggling amoebas. Okay, that’s all I had time to watch, though it was dark, cool and comfy in there.

Every Sunday through the summer, there’s swimming and hanging out at the pool from noon to 6 p.m. Ten dollars gets you in, plus one of Spike’s now-legendary burgers. Name brand cocktails are $5. The party is free. Look for a different art project each week and say “hey” to Spike for me.

www.wpadc.org
www.capitolskyline.com
www.goodstuffeatery.com
www.connercontemporary.com

For questions or comments contact me at [email protected].