Out & About
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Caviar and champagne were served at many an RNC party, but during this all-American event, the place to be was a diner: the CNN Diner on 34th Street and Eighth Avenue.
Located inside the Tick Tock restaurant, the CNN Diner was created to serve as a set for “Crossfire” and to welcome advertisers, staff, and friends, from Pat Buchanan to Democratic National Committee volunteers.
For the four days of the convention, the diner opened at 7 a.m. for breakfast, and operated until 2 in the morning. It offered a cell phone charging station and a menu with no prices – the milkshakes, burgers, and drinks (with names like the Metro North and Coney Island Cyclone) were all on CNN’s tab. “This is the greatest idea since sit-down toilets,” said CNN commentator William Schneider, who praised the Cobb salad. “This is the coolest thing that CNN has done since that phone line in Baghdad,” said Joe Klein, who refrained from ordering yesterday.” I’m trying to control my nausea,” he said, referring to Wednesday night’s speakers.
Wall Street Journal editor Albert Hunt, husband of CNN’s Judy Woodruff, stopped by daily for a chocolate milkshake.
The Miami-based caterer Barton G. took charge of the menu, which included blintzes, pancakes, mile high chocolate cake, and make-your-own cupcakes (the burgers and fries were the most popular). Saturday, it will once again be the Tick Tock Diner, and most of the glitz CNN added, including the bar, will be gone. The neon lights and four of the CNN booths will stay – marked with plaques. Of course, not every CNN staffer had time to hang out and chow down. Yesterday afternoon, for example, anchor Anderson Cooper was on the convention floor interviewing Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
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At 11:30 p.m. Wednesday night, a security guard counted 750 people waiting to get into the “Amigos de America” party at the Copacabana, hosted by Governor Pataki and designed to reach out to Hispanic constituents. The governor was inside with his wife, working the room with his security team in tow.
Miss National Puerto Rican Parade, Michelle Rodriguez, the president of the Hispania Network, Melania Garcia, and the founder and chairman of Orphans International Worldwide, Jim Luce, were among the guests who took photographs with Mr. Pataki.
It was only after the governor left – and those people outside were let in – that the party started rocking. After Latina pop star Laura Flores performed, people started to dance. Mariana Blume gave Karla Robator a lesson, while Mike and Millie Flaherty of the Bronx merengued. College buddies from Washington and Lee, Jon Bayer and Brian Rogers, headed to the bar.
Other guests found late-night energy at the coffee station.