CHELSEA — Before you pass out from turkey, you can pass out from partying.
Chelsea's chic Hotel Americano is hosting a "Blackout Wednesday" party next week, celebrating a growing tradition of binge-drinking the night before Thanksgiving. The invented holiday is particularly big in Chicago, but has migrated to New York recently.
"It's the biggest night of drinking of the year — but we don't know why," said Patrick Duffy, the hotel's creative director. "We joke that we party all night to help us get through the next day with our friends and family."
Duffy said the party was also for the "wayward children" of Thanksgiving: those who won't be seeing friends or family at all.
The Hotel Americano soiree kicks off at 8 p.m. in the hotel's rooftop bar and restaurant, Artico, where drinkers will find pelt-covered chairs and a bright disco ball, underneath which they can dance the night away.
DJ Sean Glass will spin tunes. Sean Capone, a projection artist, will project his signature images on the bar's walls.
The hotel has had big parties on "Blackout Wednesday" before, but this is the first time it's acknowledged it as a holiday.
"We're encouraging a good time," Duffy said, "but we're going to let people interpret the name the way they want to."
