Meanwhile, on the streets below, tens of thousands of people in costume ate, drank and made mitzvahs.

BBC: A shot of religion in the Holy Land

Instead of Harry Potter screenings, the venue hosts trade shows, bar mitzvahs and Peter Frampton concerts, as well as corporate functions held by the likes of Reebok, Pepsi and ESPN.

FORBES: Screen Play

Once here, he set up a portrait studio in his apartment on the Upper West Side, and took pictures in night clubs and of bar mitzvahs to earn a living.

WSJ: Roman Vishniac | Witness to Catastrophe | International Center of Photography | By William Meyers

No event is too trivial to escape being fixed by croppers, as scrapbooking enthusiasts are known: weddings, christenings and bar mitzvahs, of course, but also first days of preschool and teddy-bear parties.

FORBES: Thanks For the Memories

While millions of Americans are expected to tune in to see movie stars walk the scarlet path at Sunday night's Academy Awards presentation at the soon-no-longer-to-be-called Kodak Theatre, a small but growing number of everyday folks are doing the peacock-strutting themselves at events ranging from bar mitzvahs to corporate bashes.

WSJ: It's Time Again in Hollywood to Roll Out the Reddish Carpet