A Pasadena Vista With Special Appeal

First it was a glamorous resort--Vista del Arroyo. Later, it was a Veterans Administration hospital. Now, this tall and stately edifice, as seen from the 134 Freeway, is becoming the site for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. And that calls for a party. Specifically, a Mexican fiesta.

More than 1,000 have been invited for the dedication ceremony Feb. 3 at 125 S. Grand Ave. in Pasadena. No other than Chief Justice Warren E. Burger of the U.S. Supreme Court will deliver the dedicatory address. And Chief Judge James R. Browning of the Ninth Circuit and about 25 judges will be spotlighted. Judge Dorothy Nelson, a member of the Ninth Circuit, and a Pasadenan, has had a major role in the celebration. Mrs. Richard Keatinge and Mrs. Ronald Olson are coordinating community activities and working with Mrs. Ellis La Ravis on the catering.

Mariachis, Mexican hors d’oeuvres, a welcome by Mayor William Bogard, Pasadena Boys Choir singing the National Anthem, and recognition to Neptune & Thomas, the architects responsible for the restoration and renovation, are planned for civic, state and federal dignitaries, lawyers, friends.

During the reception Mrs. Coleman Swart of the Pasadena Lawyers Wives will field her newly trained Vista Docents. Pasadena Heritage, the historical societies, the Women’s Civic League, Ambassador Foundation, the Shakespeare Club are all participating.

Carol Channing has promised to join her Harvard School friends this afternoon at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion after her performance with Mary Martin in “Legends” at the Ahmanson Theatre. Carol’s a past Harvard mother.

Mrs. Fred Hameetman heads the benefit for Harvard School on behalf of the Parents’ Assn. More than 1,000 invitations were sent to Harvard families, alumni, trustees and faculty.

Headmaster Christopher Berrisford will be among those at the dinner. So will Ted T. Tanaka, president of the parents, and the committee--Mmes. Peter Hyams, Jerome Janger, James K. Kaplan, Aram P. Kezirian, Joseph R. Kraus, Albert F. Osterloh, Jack Panagiotis, Alan Rothenberg, Sol Rosenthal, William Silva.

Funds will go to “special needs.”

County Supervisors chairman Peter F. Schabarum and Supervisors Kenneth Hahn, Edmund D. Edelman, Deane Dana and Michael D. Antonovich are requesting “the pleasure of your company” for a reception Feb. 13 at the Regency Club honoring the Los Angeles consular corps.

It’s invitational only. Arthur Andersen & Co. is the host.

George Lawson Bagnall Jr., popular bachelor, was 50 this week, and friends took over Chasen’s to celebrate with cocktails and dinner. George’s favorites--fresh cracked crab, the steak, the chili and all that Chasen’s is famous for--were ordered in ample quantity by his friends: Charlie and Nancy Cord, Bill and Moya Bullis, Hilary and Jon Byk, Cynthia and Wayne Griffin, Katrina and Chris Cord, Becky and Pete Smith and Donald and Ann Petroni.

Among the guests were his brother Michael, and his wife, Emily; Beverly and Frank Jobe; Linda and Donald Pennell; Richard and Linda McCulloch; Mrs. Robert McCulloch; Camille and Joe Byrne and Susy and Michael Niven.

It’s definite: The Pasadena Junior Philharmonic Committee has the location for its 22nd Showcase House of Design. Special guests, including designers, are invited to tour 1125 Rosalind Road, San Marino, Feb. 7 and dine on a light supper, mixed with dancing.

Las Floristas’ Premiere Night on Feb. 7 at the Bel-Air Country Club promises to set the stage for the group’s 48th annual Floral Headdress Ball on April 25 at the Beverly Hilton.

Invitations for this pre-festivity show Uncle Sam cavorting with the Statue of Liberty, which is ball chairman Mrs. Donn C. Lynn’s way of announcing “Las Floristas Envisions the American Dream,” and that the ball will be a floral salute to the 100th birthday of the Statue of Liberty.

The lighthearted patriotic interpretation is Mrs. James O’Kane’s choice.

Following the 8 p.m. dinner, eight Las Floristas mannequins will parade with the Southern California floral designers who will create headdresses for the ball.

Among those joining in the fun will be ball co-chairman Mrs. Ronald Higgins, and Mmes. Nick Lee, Michael Hall, Joseph Petrotta, Marshall Jarvie, Thomas Von Der Ahe.

President Mrs. Thomas Simms will introduce honorary ball chairmen Mrs. Kenneth T. Norris Jr. and Dr. William L. Allen (father of Las Floristas member Mrs. Welton Becket).

Proceeds will go to clinics for the handicapped.

Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge (Los Angeles County Chapter) also salutes the 100th birthday of the Statue of Liberty with its 22nd annual Patriotic Ball on Feb. 21.

Guests will gather in the Versailles Room of the Beverly Hilton for the reception and move to the Grand Ballroom for the black-tie dinner dance.

Elizabeth Lawton of Westlake Village is ball chairman, expecting several hundred.

Proceeds from the annual affair, according to Mrs. John Burgess of Sherman Oaks, will benefit the foundation scholarship program at Valley Forge for elementary and secondary teachers who develop special teaching programs in history and economics. It also will support the annual spring youth forum at Valley Forge.

In charge of arrangements are Mmes. Charles Mair, Robert Klugman, Richard Steinbach, H. D. Patton, Eugene Noneman, John Bonelli, Ralph Ruud, Roger Lockwood, Richard Shellenberger, Robert Christensen, William Rea, Vincent Guarino, Charles Taylor and Melvin Savage Jr.

The Paulist Women’s Club (the mother’s club of St. Paul the Apostle School) hosts its annual fashion show and luncheon honoring past presidents Feb. 5 at the Beverly Hills Crystal Room.

Patti Lewis, Kathleen Yuhl and Kathleen McCarthy are a few of the ex-presidents to be feted.

At work are chairmen Lee Thompson, Bunny May, Marlene Thorpe, Susan Milford, Lisa Crehan, Joanne Balak and Joan McNamara.

For-sure acceptances have come from Sister Stella Maria Enright (school principal), Joann Pflug, Margot Barron, Kathy Ellis, Barbara Jamison, Joyce Flaherty, Kathy Terzian, Mary Lou Pinckert, Patty Duke and Katie Osterloh.

The dragon parade, a Chinese custom to clear out all old evil spirits so that the new year starts on a clean slate, is ready to go for the Loretta Wu Wong Scholarship Banquet sponsored by the Marymount High School Alumnae Assn. on Feb. 9 at Madame Wu’s Garden in Santa Monica.

The annual event, now in its sixth year, celebrates the Chinese New Year--this year the Year of the Tiger--and is a tribute to the memory of Madame Wu’s daughter, Loretta Wu Wong, who died of cancer and posthumously, in 1979, was named Marymount’s Alumna of the Year.

The honorary chair family this year is the Harmon clan--Tom, Elyse, Kris, Kelly and Mark. Kris and Kelly are Marymount alumnae. Julie Pinckert heads the dinner committee. Tickets are $50, but Madame Wu is underwriting the entire dinner to allow more for the scholarship fund.

Before closing her Beverly Hills home to return to their home in London and then on to Monte Carlo where their yacht, the Southerly, is anchored, Ingrid Ingram, married to the international industrialist Fritz Ingram, invited a few chums for a farewell luncheon at the Bistro Garden. Among them were Mrs. Robert Stack, back from Austria; Mrs. George Schlatter, returned from skiing in Gstaad, and Mrs. Vincente Minnelli.

Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and Eighth Grade Ticktockers of the National Charity League, Los Angeles chapter, honor their mothers and seventh grade Ticktockers and their mothers at a mother-daughter tea Saturday at the Brentwood home of Mrs. A. Victor Antola and her daughter Monica.

Navy Belles of the Navy League hosted a “not-just-tea” dansant in the Beverly Hills home of Louise Larson and a cruise and luncheon aboard the U.S.S. Vandegrift with Edna Ralston and Margaret Haycroft making it all ship-shape. . . .

At the home of Elsie and Norman Rips, the Opera Associates opted for an operatic interlude by coloratura Candace Rogers and baritone Robin Buck, participants in the Metropolitan Auditions. Muriel Shapiro and Dorothy Shrier were co-chairmen.