How I Snuck Into The Governors Ball, The Top Academy Awards Post Party

From The Red Carpet To Red Treatment At The Oscars

By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Blogger

Here's a funny story about when I went to the Oscars out of curiosity and wound up at the prime post-awards show party.

My girlfriend at the time and I were watching the Academy Awards red carpet show on TV in Hermosa Beach when I said, “well why don’t we just go to it!?”

That’s the kind of thing you do when you first move to L.A. And the kind of thing we should more often, by the way. But it's easy to get complacent, especially when one lives at the beach.

Anyway, we decided to go, got to Hollywood and completely lucked out finding a parking spot close to the event. By the time we arrived, the awards show was underway and the red carpet was empty.

But we had it to ourselves at it was really cool. We walked on the actual red carpet, got on the scissors the photographers used and did a few silly things acting like the celebrities.

When walking back to the car, we peeled back the side of a tent to take a shortcut. Inside were all sorts of workers in tuxedos and suits, a huge food spread and a bar.

Suddenly someone approached us and an instant fear came over us. I envisioned him saying "how did you get in here? Get out – this way!"

But a remarkable thing happened. Instead of telling us to leave, he smiled, held out a tray and asked if we would like some appetizers. Another guy walked up with a tray full of cocktails.

Turns out we were in the Governor’s Ball!

Within minutes, dozens of celebrities walked through the proper entrance. We just stayed in the back trying not to be noticed, but we did have more food and drinks and with a few tips, I got in pretty good with the bartender.

As you can imagine, we had not planned for such a thing and were way under-dressed for such a swanky party. We knew we would eventually be grilled about who we were and how we got in, so after a while we discreetly excited exactly the way we entered it.

The whole experience was really cool, certainly something I'll not only never forget but always remember every year at Academy Awards time.