For Some, Preparing for Inaugural Events Is No Time for Frugality
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 94_pf.html
By Avis Thomas-Lester
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 7, 2008; C01
Cody Matthews isn't a wealthy man, but he figures that witnessing the inauguration of the nation's first African American president is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he's willing to dole out a hefty sum to experience it.
He'll spend two nights at the Hamilton Crowne Plaza downtown at $1,200 a night. He has paid $550 to fly buddy Paige Bradford in from Salt Lake City and has put aside $1,000 for two inaugural ball tickets. Dinner at the Willard Room the night before President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in will run about $200, as will a celebration meal the next night at Al Tiramisu. And to make sure he looks every bit the Washington sophisticate when he steps out, Matthews is buying a new tux, an overcoat and other accouterments.
The total for the two days? Five grand and counting.
"It is going to be expensive, but I've been planning it since June," said Matthews, 31, an IT specialist for a cosmetics retailer who lives in Owings Mills, Md. He is putting most of the expenses on his credit cards. "This is going to be an experience to remember, and I was willing to go all out for it."
With the nation officially mired in a recession, many Washington area residents are scaling back on holiday shopping, turning down the heat and spending less on food, yet some are willing to blow two mortgage payments to participate in the making of history next month.
Luxury hotel rooms at rates above $1,000 a night are being grabbed like candy from a split piñata. Boutiques are selling out of ball gowns, and tailors are creating custom tuxedos, even before tickets to most balls are being sold. Limousines are being booked, and hairdressers and aestheticians are being reserved at a pace they've never seen.
"It's as if we're not even in a recession," said Lena Tali, owner of Blackberry Limousines in Sterling, which is renting a "Hummer package" for $1,700 a day, a 10-passenger limousine for $1,400 and a Mercedes S500 package for $1,200 -- fuel, taxes and gratuities included. "I'm sure we'll be booked up for the five days. I've got people calling me from all over, even out of state. They aren't even worried about the prices, because they know it won't be cheap."
Although swank inauguration festivities are generally associated with Washington's wealthy and powerful, Obama's inauguration is attracting a more varied group, said David Bositis, senior political analyst for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
"Typically, the people who would be able to attend would be people who knew insiders or were insiders themselves," he said. The parade has been the only event largely attended by those outside politics and business circles. "You certainly wouldn't have had everyday people who would be going out of their way to spend a lot of money to participate . . . the way they appear to be doing this time."
Donald A. Ritchie, associate historian at the U.S. Senate Historical Office, said atypical visitors also attended the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Blacks came because it was the first time they were allowed to march in the parade.
"Probably the most popular so far was Andrew Jackson's first inauguration in 1829, because he was seen as the people's president," Ritchie said. "The well-to-do of Washington were appalled at the common folk who showed up for Jackson's inauguration."
Colleen Evans, spokeswoman for the Ritz-Carlton hotels in Washington, said: "Americans are an optimistic group, and I think everybody is just tired of the negative news and all the complaints. This is a time when they can put aside the pessimism and just celebrate being an American."
The combination of established revelers and novices is expected to result in a boon for the local economy, said Victoria Isley of Destination DC, the District's convention and tourism arm.
At the Claire Dratch shop in Bethesda, ball gowns with prices of as much as $4,000 are being snapped up. It has dressed Jacqueline Kennedy, opera diva Denyce Graves and members of Congress as well as teachers, nurses and saleswomen.
Lori Ross, 45, a speech pathologist who lives in Bethesda, put down plastic for a $2,000 purple sheath for a ball she and her husband will attend, their first.
"I'm so excited!" she said Friday, minutes after trying on the dress. "The minute I saw it, I knew it was perfect! I wanted something I could wear again, That's especially important now in this current economic situation."
Michael Lyles, 46, a lawyer who lives in Bowie, said that he and his wife, Deneen, have cut back on eating out, vacations and Christmas presents but that they are likely to spend $3,000 for inaugural events, including a $1,300 table for friends and family at the Omegas for Obama Ball, a fraternity event where his band is playing; two tickets for another ball; and two dresses for Deneen.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing," Lyles said. "We supported Obama . . . and we want to be with like-minded folks who were part of the movement to reminisce and be a part of the inauguration. It's more than an inauguration -- it's a celebration."
That sentiment was echoed by Oakland, Calif., resident Maya Dillard-Smith, 30, who estimates that bringing her family to Washington for a week will run up $11,000 on her credit cards.
"When you say the amount, it sounds crazy, but this is history," she said. "I remember my mother taking me to see Nelson Mandela at the Oakland Coliseum, meeting Jesse Jackson and being there when Desmond Tutu came when I was a child. Because of the historic nature of this election, I want my daughters to be there to see this in the environment where it is happening."
Estimated inaugural expenses for Maya Dillard-Smith, director of the Oakland, Calif., mayor's domestic violence program; her boyfriend, who owns a small construction company; and their daughters, Makayla, 13, Micah, 3, and Mariah, 1:
$2,500: week's rental of a house in Fort Washington.
$2,250: tickets for four balls, two parties.
$1,950: airfare and car rental.
$1,000: food.
$1,000: kids' winter clothes and coats.
$1,000: Dad's tux, overcoat, accessories.
$700: Maya's two gowns, wrap and shoes.
$300: hair, manicures, pedicures.
Total: $10,700
SOURCE: Maya Dillard-Smith
The irony is rich throughout this article. The economy is in the shitter, people are losing jobs left and right, and unemployment is going through the roof. But yet there are people dropping $11,000 on credit cards for the privilege of attending Onogga's Inauguration.
So, Ms. Ross, you'll be spending $2,000 on a dress you might wear, two, three times at the most? Especially with this "current economic situation," spending $2,000 on a dress just doesn't seem like the smart thing to do. Especially when you're going to wear it twice, maybe three times. But, then again, this is the Montgomery Co. wealthy we're talking about here, and they don't live on the same planet as the rest of us.
I can barely justify to myself spending $500 on a new suit that I surely would wear at least one hundred times in my life. And Ms. Ross is going to average around $1k per wear. Nice. Just another example of how you'll never find a woman's name on my credit cards or bank accounts.
And you gotta love the 30 year old mother, who kicked out a kid at 17. Sound financial planning is probably not in her repertoire. But you have to give her credit for waiting 10 years to have more kids. In the case of Rylan Warner (boyfriend of 30-year old mother), I actually feel sorry for him. He'll be dragging along a one and a three-year-old, in addition to a 13-year old, to the Inauguration, where it will be horribly cold and crappy and there will be millions of people down there, and these kids won't even remember a lick of it. And they're going to drag a three-year old and a one-year old and a 13 year old, to balls and parties? Gonna change the diapers in the bathroom? Will there be toys for the kids to play with? Boy, sounds like a hell of a fucking time. What a couple of fucking dumbasses. That sounds like a lot of fun. Glad I won't be doing that. That's why I don't date single mothers.
While it is nice that bar hours are extended to 4 am for Inauguration weekend, I can't wait for the Inauguration to come and go. It's going to be absolute mayhem here.
