LOUISVILLE — Don’t try to crash this party.
You’re not nearly famous enough to get through the door. But for celebrities glamorous enough to be on the Derby guest list, their first glimpse inside Churchill Downs will be a stunning tent with giant ottomans piled high with black and white pillows, swagged mirrors and 4,000 roses arrayed in bouquets and adorning obelisks. “The tent is dramatic, but with a really beautiful, clean, crisp elegance,” said Bradley Pickle simer, a West Coast exotic event designer known best here as the flamboyant owner of two former Lexington nightclubs. Los Angeles event planner Bradley Picklesimer, formerly of Lexington, is the designer for the Derbys celebrity Green Room, shown under construction on Thursday. Last year was the first for the special room. Post time Saturday’s 135th Kentucky Derby will begin at 6:24 p.m. “I am tickled to be back, honey,” said Picklesimer, laughing as finishing touches were put on the venue Thursday. “I left my heart in Kentucky.”
It’s been 20 years since Picklesimer moved to Hollywood, finding fame, fortune and clients such as Elton John, actors Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, singer Barbra Streisand and tennis great Billie Jean King.