Late-season bash a ball for Menino
Mayor's inaugural gala at Fairmont Copley Plaza, BPL decks the halls
It has already been a long holiday party season, but for anybody who wants to be somebody in Boston there were some serious social obligations yesterday: Mayor Thomas M. Menino's inaugural festivities.
First there was dinner for 250 at the Fairmont Copley Plaza, where the likes of Red Sox owner Larry Lucchino, developer Ron Druker, and the senior vice president and general manager of TD Banknorth Garden, John Wentzell, were in attendance. Then, some 1,200 guests, including city employees and community activists, paid homage to the city's famously loyalty-conscious chief executive at a $200,000 gala in the Boston Public Library.
''This is a man, a special man. He is the only politician I've ever met with no ambitions beyond the office he's in," said David D'Alessandro, former chief executive of
''It takes a very special occasion for me to put on a tie," he said.
The library bash was not a place where one could slip in unseen. The facade of the library was awash in light from 21 colored spotlights, including some that projected the city's official seal.
Inside, partygoers wandered among five color-themed rooms, each with a different kind of music to reflect what the administration called the diversity of ''our colorful city."
They swayed to a Latin beat in the red room, listened to sultry jazz in the purple room. In Bates Hall, the green room, Menino's younger brother David sampled mashed potatoes from a martini glass. Darryl Settles, owner of Bob's Southern Bistro, formerly Bob the Chef's, wandered among the tables set with green apples and decorated with leafy centerpieces.
''He always throws a good party," Settles said. ''I think the mayor has done a fairly great job for the city. He's always out there all the time doing something to try to make the city a better place to live. He deserves a pat on the back."
Many paid special tribute to the mayor. Lynne Smith, a longtime supporter from Wellesley who said she does volunteer work, had photos of Menino affixed to her earrings, jacket, and handbag.
''I think Tommy is a very special person, and I love Angela," she said. ''They really represent Boston."
Two South End residents who called themselves the ''hat sisters," John Michael Gray and Timothy O'Connor, had made 2-foot-high glittering hats for the occasion.
''We're two of the mayor's big supporters and friends," said Gray, director of fine arts for Newton Public Schools.
When Menino arrived with his wife, Angela, he was mobbed by admirers, who slapped him on the back and shook his hand.
''Ready to make it six?" one asked, referring to another run in 2009.
Corporate donors and ticket sales paid for the red-carpet gala. Organizers said they were ''just wanting to put together a great event for the mayor."
''It's his fifth [swearing in], that's special," said Lynne Kortenhaus of Kortenhaus Communications, one of three firms that helped put on the event.
Menino said: ''What we're doing is having a celebration for the city."
There were some who wished Menino's party hadn't come so hard on the heels of the holiday season.
''It's kind of like Martin Luther King Day. You kind of wish it was a month or two later," said Bill Walczak, chief executive officer of the Codman Square Health Center. But he said that for Menino, he would attend, regardless of the time of year.
''The setting is fantastic, the greatest library in America for the greatest mayor in America," Walczak said.
''I would guess that if you ever wanted to do business in the city, everyone you'd need is going to be here tonight," Walczak said after checking in at the grand entrance.
Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com 