Jazz Age Birthday Bash
A Brielle man marked his first half-century with an event full of the speakeasy spirit of the 1920s.
When your birthday falls on Christmas Day, it’s not hard to get the day off from work. The downside, though, is that everyone’s a bit preoccupied. Folks like Michael Mozeika of Brielle—born Dec. 25, 1975—can’t help noticing that the decorated green trees and the corpulent red-clad figures aren’t exclusively for them. “He’s a true Christmas baby,” Michael’s wife Lucia says of him, “and that means his birthday ends up an afterthought most years.”But she vowed that his 50th would be different.
“He’s a doer for everyone else,” she explains. “If anyone needs something, he’s the one who steps up and raises the bar—he’ll organize the fundraiser, he’ll get things moving. He started the Wall Knights Family Foundation to raise money for a better field and uniforms for the Wall High School football team when our son was playing there.” Michael is an entrepreneur and business owner;
Lucia, she says, helps “manage whatever he comes up with.” That experience has helped her hone some planning skills.
She wanted a night that was both a true, full celebration of her husband and an immersive experience for the guests. She’d been ruminating on themes as she searched for the perfect venue—“I wanted something classy and sexy, and I wanted to give everyone an excuse to dress up and go all out,” Lucia explains.
The key that unlocked her concept? Finding the Park Loft, an event venue in Oceanport with moody, dark wood paneling and breathtaking chandeliers. “When you pull up, you think you’re in the middle of nowhere. And then you walk into this beautiful space that takes you right into the 1920s,” she says. “It’s the perfect speakeasy vibe.”
Michael’s life, of course, extended only halfway back to the Roaring Twenties. But there was nothing halfway about how Lucia grabbed that theme and ran with it, crafting a truly transportive party worthy of Jay Gatsby himself—wardrobe, lights, entertainment and all. The birthday boy, meanwhile, was carefully kept in the dark. He knew he would be having a birthday party, but he didn’t know anything else about it.
On Dec. 27, about 170 guests began to arrive at the Park Loft. The dress code: black tie or 1920s-themed, which all attendees embraced with relish. “Everyone dove in and had fun with it,” says Lucia. Guests were greeted with fake paparazzi, hired from NYC-based Famous for a Day, who snapped pictures on film cameras and called out questions to them—“What are you wearing?” and “How do you know Mike?” When the guest of honor himself arrived, a fake bodyguard shooed away the paps and escorted him into the ballroom like a true VIP. “It was such a great moment because he wasn’t expecting it,” says Lucia. “He was like, ‘What is happening right now?’”
He also wasn’t expecting the scene inside. Tablescapes sparkled with candles and fake gems nestled in pooling black fabric with feathers for texture—all designed and sourced by Lucia, and set up the night of the event by the Park Loft staff based on pictures she provided. Live music by Michael Arenella & His Dreamland Orchestra captured the Jazz Age vibe right away. Costumed performers—dancers and an aerialist, hired through New York-based Phoenix Entertainment—mingled and greeted the guests. (After the cocktail hour, they gave everyone a how-to on some 1920s dances to keep the dance floor lively and ontheme.) “Michael walked in, saw everything and was shocked,” reports Lucia. “His mouth dropped open. You could just see how happy he was. That really made it worth it for me.”
She credits the Park Loft staff for being willing to roll with whatever she threw at them. “I would come up with crazy ideas, and they’d never tell me ‘no.’” They also provided a delicious dinner spread that included, among other choices, “Sleeping With the Fishes” branzino and “The Godfather” braised short ribs. These dishes were delicious, says Lucia, and huge hits with the crowd.
The music continued far into the night, with a DJ from Wall’s Prol Entertainment (which also provided a photo booth) taking over from the band for the last hour. In every way, says Lucia, she captured the once-in-a-lifetime feeling that she wanted, and that Michael deserved. They also tapped into that “doer” energy that makes him so beloved—rather than gifts, they asked for donations for the Bayville-based nonprofit Dine On Us, which supports New Jersey servicemen and -women and their families. They raised a total of $5,200.
“Everyone was having a good time, loving the moment,” Lucia recalls. “At the end of the night, none of us were ready to go. We never wanted it to be over.”
