HughE Dillon: Party at Atlantic City’s Dusk

When you think of summer, more often than not Philadelphians think Jersey Shore, and I’m not talking about MTV’s guido and guidette show. I’m talking about the sun-sand-and-fun Jersey Shore. Although I summered in Stone Harbor while growing up, I’ve discovered in the past few years that if I wanna photograph the socialites and the social heavies, they tend to go to the playground of the East: Atlantic City. Which is where I went this weekend.

First I went to Cape May to do some birdwatching and to watch the sunset. Then Saturday night it was off to Dusk at Caesars to celebrate their one-year anniversary. I’ve been there several times this past year to photograph celebrities like Kristin Cavallari, Mya and Nicky Hilton, plus there’s always a good Philly crowd there too.

ABOVE: Cashman and Associates’ Alexis Razzano, Christa Guidi and Holly Derrick.

ABOVE: Eric Millstein (president of Dusk Management Group), Gary Veloric (founder of the Red Stripe Plane Group, which owns Dusk), and Kevin Friel (Dusk’s GM) welcome Victoria’s Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio. Alessandra was the hostess of the year-old club.

ABOVE: Philadelphia’s Ashley Vanett and Maria Papadakis with Atlantic City’s Nick Valinote (Dusk’s in-house photographer). This is the guy to see to get your photo taken having a good time at Dusk.

ABOVE: Arthur Kade greets Alessandra Ambrosio. Love him or hate him, clubs like Dusk embrace the Arthur Kade factor and consider him to be an influencer because of his notorious blog. And even Gawker, who used to malign him, has given him a platform on their Gawker TV site.

ABOVE LEFT: Dan Reinherz and KYW radio’s Hadas Kuznits. ABOVE RIGHT: Tony Piazza and Rachel Davidson. Note the black shoes—the no-sneaker rule applies at Dusk, and I did see them send people packing. Also at Dusk: Philadelphia Eagles player Jason Peters and free-agent football player Karlton Neal.

Where Magazine‘s Karen Gross and squeeze/TLA manager Dan Cresskoff.

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Thursday I ran over to Stars Within Reach’s An Evening at the Spa: Taking Care of Those Taking Care of Haiti at the Richel D’Ambra Spa & Salon at the Ritz-Carlton. The nonprofit organization was joined by The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, The Links, and other notable women-led organizations. ABOVE LEFT: Rakia Reynolds with Felisha R. Harris prepare to be pampered. ABOVE RIGHT: Roy’s Hawaiian-fusion restaurant was on hand with delicious treats. James Jackson, AJ Sherman and Michael Yoder. They will also be at the PAWS event at the Union League on June 28th.

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Last week when rapper Drake was in town, he stopped by Wired 96.5 for an interview with DJs Kannon and G-N Kang and had a meet-and-greet with Eagles player Stewart Bradley before heading off to his concert at TLA. After the concert he headed over to Vango to party before returning to the Ritz-Carlton for some shut eye. Peter Frampton and Yes stayed there Friday night, and Phil Collins is calling the hotel his home while playing two dates in Philly at the Electric Factory. The last show is tonight, and tickets are still available. Perhaps there will be a star-sighting at the Loews hotel tonight for Taste of the Nation, a charity to fight childhood hunger. The cast of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is in town and that’s the hotel where they usually stay.

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Today is the first day of summer. Enjoy, be safe, use SPF 30 and have fun. See you on Wednesday.

ABOVE: Cape May lighthouse 6/18/10. For more of my nature pictures from the weekend check out my blog PhillyChitChat.com.