Yelp Unwrapped! Holiday Party @ Westin St. Francis

Last night marked the 5th annual holiday party, Yelp Unwrapped! at the Westin St. Francis, and over 2,500 yelpers braved the cold, wintery conditions to make this the largest event in Yelp San Francisco history.

Big ups to the restaurants that provided tasty nosh for Yelp Elites and non-Elites alike. Those eateries included Ike's Place, RNM, Oola, Local, Poesia, SF Soup Company, Mezes, Espetus Churrascaria, 2223, TCHO, Cups and Cakes, Urban Tavern, Pacific Catch, Triptych, Moussy's, Urban Picnic, Emporio Rulli, Cakemaker, Gelataria Naia and Underdogs.

For those of you looking for a chance to unwind and warm up, all you had to do was walk past the clittering and clattering Tap Dancing Christmas Trees - to the Borgia room, which was doling out pampering in full force, with Scott Harvey Wines, Samovar tea sampling, The Paul Mitchell Academy's updos, Psoas' relaxing massages, and readings by Crystal the Psychic.

Other attendees made their way over to the Timbuk2's sewing station, eager for their hand-made Timbuk 2 waist bags, all - while nursing a cold Firestone Beer, and learning more about the wonderful charity One Brick. The Workshop was also hand with fun DIY displays - including everything from live silk screened Yelp T-shirts to hand constructed beer koozies, many of which were captured in the Laugh Box's engaging photobooth, immortalizing endless memories throughout the night, while Pandora spun a slew of head rockin' beats.

The Bay area is continually producing unique and cutting edge art - and both the Pacific Art Collective and ArtNowSF captured the essence of San Francisco's urban art scene. The Pacific Art Collective's live painted mural, resounding Taiko Drummers rocked the party with exciting vigor - while ArtNowSF's Ian Ross's collaborative live community art piece and an artist painting within a plexi-glass box allowed yelpers to literally become part of the art!

Judging by the bumping dance floor at the end of the night, many of you had a chance to groove to DJ Lighting, all while the Hubba Hubba Revue seduced the crowd with their flirty performance complete with a gorilla (yes, we said gorilla) and the Renegade Rockers dance troupe dazzled with their energetic popping and locking. In between toasting specialty SKYY cocktails mixed with Dry Soda, Pom, and Honest Tea (which were in abundance throughout the whole night), yelpers also lounged on Rebars's Bushwaffles in eager anticipation of the star of the evening, Blackie the Mini Pony! Like a true farm-dwelling diva - Blackie cruised in later in the night to greet his adoring fans and pose with Santa (aka - Don B) - in the fabulous Richard T photobooth. And of course a huge thank you to the Westin St Francis and all of their staff for hosting last night's big event and continuing to don big smiles throughout it.

For pictures with Santa, be sure to check back here soon! For roaming photos from the lovely Ligaya T, click here!

Comments

[JMC-GP]

Thanks for the memories Connie and YELP! HAPPY HOLIDAYS from the SBC!!!
wootWOOT!

[Jae]

To see the photos of the food at this event is just cruel and unjust. By the time I got in the place, after waiting over an hour in line, there was nothing left but a few sips of soup, ice cream, cake and cookies. I left as hungry as I entered. Bad party, Yelp. Bad party.