Updated posts 2026
Actress, Philanthropist, and Author Leesa Rowland and Larry Wohl held her “Old Hollywood Glamour Soiree” at The Venue in the Hard Rock Hotel Times Square New York – an affair bringing out silver screen style and good grace with a special tribute to the stars of the screen. This light-hearted party was a throwback to the times when the movie studios created the stars and starlets who dominated our lives. Guests wore their best classic red carpet looks while enjoying cocktails, and dancing to live music.
The era being honored had a distinct visual grammar, and the guests dressed accordingly. Studio-era glamour meant floor-length bias-cut gowns, elbow gloves, marcel waves, and jewelry chosen to catch the light of black-and-white film. Those looks were manufactured as carefully as the films themselves, with contract players styled by studio wardrobe departments that controlled every detail of how a face reached the public. Recreating that aesthetic for an evening turns a party into a form of collective performance.
The Reception was held in the one-and-only The Venue at the Hard Rock Hotel Times Square New York. Event Décor, Cocktails and dinner were created by Hank Stampfl’s Revel Rouge with many personal touches from Leesa Rowland. Fashion Designer Marc Bouwer designed Leesa’s Costume and with Pedro Oberto created a special video with Leesa to open the Soiree.
Notable Attendees included: Leesa Rowland, Larry Wohl, Marc Bouwer, Pedro Oberto, Ramona Singer, Carmen D’Alessio, Tina Radziwill, Debbie Dickinson, Wendy and Bob Federman, Dottie Herman, Pamela Morgan, Stewart F Lane and Bonnie Comley, Liliana Cavendish, Paul Margolin, Sergio Zapata, Lucia Hwong Gordon, Cindy Guyer, Nicole Noonan and Steve Knobel, Sharon Bush, Hank Stampfl, Lady Betty Grafstein and Jose Castelo Branco, Bill Sclight and Cheri Kaufman.
Lucia Hwong GordonJose Castelo BrancoNicole SalmasiBrigitte SeguraMarc Bouwer, Leesa Rowland, Pedro ObertoDottie HermanNadja SayejTina RadziwillRamona SingerDebbie DickinsonWendy FedermanMarc BouwerPamela Morgan
Cindy GuyerHank Stampfl, Leesa RowlandStewart F. Lane, Bonnie ComleyLeesa Rowland, Larry WohlLeesa Rowland
Leesa’s new book, The Charisma Factor: Unlock the Secrets of Magnetic Charm and Personal Influence in Your Life, which is available in bookstores and online.
About Leesa Rowland:
The daughter of an artist and college professor, Leesa Rowland grew up in Austin, Texas where she studied broadcast journalism and later became a classically trained actress at the world-renowned Stella Adler Studio in Los Angeles.
Beyond her extensive career and credits as a film and television actress, she is also well-known for her work as a philanthropist and animal rights activist. A vegan dedicated to healthy eating, she has been active with the national non-profit organization Last Chance for Animals since 1989 and is the president of the New York non-profit group Animal Ashram, which she founded in 2013.
As she continues to develop her work as a philanthropist and involvement with these and other charities while exploring new dramatic roles, Leesa recently began adding something else exciting to her sizzle reel: comedienne. A lifelong sitcom fan, she has been taking comedy classes with Richard Kline – the actor best known as Larry on the late-1970s classic Three’s Company – in Los Angeles. She has also been studying improv and sketch comedy in New York at the famed Upright Citizen’s Brigade whose alumni include Amy Poehler, Horatio Sands, Matt Besser, Matt Walsh and Ian McKay.
