It was a perfect early spring night on Wednesday as the garage door to Morton Street Partners opened up onto the West Village block where Pharrell Williams’ auction house Joopiter was celebrating its latest auction, called Joyride.
Williams himself wouldn’t arrive until after 7:15 p.m., but guests such as Dianna Agron, Daniel Arsham, Fiffany Luu, Paul Arnhold, Ezra J. Williams and Tina Leung mingled from 5 p.m. onward, sipping Casamigos margaritas and admiring the lot of cars. Arsham’s Porsche, tucked in the back of the garage space, was a crowd favorite up for auction. The Joyride auction also included consignors Michael Strahan, Devon Turnbull, Phil Toledano, Micah Spear and Scarr Pimentel, and focused on “rare and high-performance models of the ‘80s and ‘90s, as well as distinctive art cars that blur the lines between automotive design and contemporary art,” the signage in Morton Street Partners declared.
The rest of the crowd gave off as strong of a “downtown block party” vibe as one could conjure: there was an Apollo Bagels baseball hat, plenty of Amie Leon Dore and several pairs of Comme des Garcons Converse; there were babies and dogs; there was lingering out on Morton Street for a cigarette; there was cheering of hand rolls.
As Williams and his wife Helen Lasichanh held court at the back of the garage, in whisked a surprise VIP: Rosé of Blackpink fame. She’d join Williams on Thursday at his Tiffany & Co. launch party, and had shown up a night early to hang with him.
