Originally imagined with a Great Depression theme, a party tonight at the Holiday Chalet Victorian Hotel will instead feature a 1920s and ’30s motif, complete with burlesque dancers, era-appropriate music, a free soup kitchen, a piano player, and a DJ spinning house and acid jazz. Proceeds from the event will benefit Health for Cambodia, an organization that provides medical education and support for women living with HIV/AIDS in Cambodia.

The Great Depression angle was simply “too depressing,” says organizer Marco Ort, and that just wouldn’t do for this shindig, called Tender Is the Night. “I think the hotel [now a bed-and-breakfast] was built in 1890, and inside, it’s very cute and original. It looks like a time machine. When you walk up with the right clothes, I think maybe you’ll get a little bit of the feeling,” Ort says. “The idea is to bring this together and have everything in harmony — the theme, the hotel, the party.”

Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door; they’re also available by e-mail at [email protected] or at the White Owl Bar, 321 East 45th Avenue. Partiers should dress in period attire; the fun starts at 8 p.m. at 1820 East Colfax Avenue.
Sat., Oct. 24, 8 p.m., 2009