A $30,000 Family Plan on the High Seas
David and Estelle Corwin figure that the family that sails together stays together, so the Camarillo couple is shipping out of Fort Lauderdale in June with their four children, four children-in-law, 15 grandchildren, three grandchildren-in-law, and two great-grandchildren.
The Corwin clan, which stretches from California to Missouri and from age 4 to age 76, will sail the briny on a seven-day Caribbean cruise, courtesy of the senior Corwins, both 76.
The voyage resulted from a conversation Corwin had with his son Ted, a Westlake Village physician. They were talking about Corwin’s will, and Ted asked “Why don’t you just spend it?” Corwin and his wife decided the best way to spend some of “it” was en famille .
“It will cost us $30,000, possibly $35,000. It just seemed like a good idea to have all the family together in one place for seven days,” said Corwin, the retired president of Aetna Finance Co.
Pisano Directs Panel
Developing recommended strategies for Los Angeles in such diverse areas as transportation, housing, water use, economic development, job creation, international trade and the arts will be some of the duties of Jane G. Pisano in her new job with the L.A. 2000 Committee.
On March 17, Pisano will become the first executive director of the 75-member panel appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley. The group will undertake a three-year study to “produce a blueprint to guide the City of Los Angeles into the 21st Century,” said James P. Miscoll, executive vice president of the Bank of America and chairman of the committee.
Pisano said she will strive to “develop a strategic plan that works, not just a document to be filed away, but one that will be embraced by the city as a whole.”
The 41-year-old Stanford graduate holds a Ph.D. in international relations from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. She was a White House Fellow and an assistant professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. In 1978, Pisano was appointed executive director of the Los Angeles 200 Committee, the official organizing corporation for the Los Angeles Bicentennial commemoration. In 1983, she became director of Times Mirror Co.’s Olympic programs, where she planned and executed projects related to the Olympic Arts Festival and Games. Currently she is executive assistant to Charles R. Redmond, senior vice president for finance and administration at Times Mirror Co.
Rolls by the Dozen
The Christian Dior sunglasses worn by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh while riding in one of his Rolls-Royces (including a bullet- and bomb-proof limousine) around his Oregon rancho, were sold at a Laguna Beach auction last week. They went for $50 a pair.
Now you can buy one of the Rolls-Royce cars that went with them. Including that limousine. Obviously, they will sell for a little more. “Maybe up to $200,000 a pair . . . with $400,000 for the limo,” said a spokesman for the Los Angeles Collector Car Auction to be held at the Sheraton Universal, March 22-23. “But you have to understand that these cars are different, starting with unusual paint jobs that are genuine art and would cost $25,000 to duplicate.”
In December, soon after the Rajneesh was deported from the United States, his fleet of 85 Rolls-Royces was purchased for $6 million by Dallas auto dealer Bob Roethlisberger. A handful of the more conventional vehicles have been resold at recent auctions in Florida and Oklahoma. Los Angeles will get a dazzling dozen with motifs (painted by disciple Peter Haykus) ranging from snakeskin to mountain sunsets.
“The most bizarre are coming to L.A.,” another auction representative said. “That’s typical.
“The limousine is called the ‘Green and Gold Lace’ car because it has a paint job that looks just like green and gold lace. It has three tear gas canisters, operated from inside the car, mounted beneath the fenders and a CB radio with outside speaker.
“These Bhagwan cars reflected his teachings, of the power of nature and the beauty of birds and flowers. There’s the ‘Sun and Storm’ car with the front end bright blue with little puffy clouds changing to dark clouds with thunderbolts at the back.
“The ‘Snakeskin Car’ has a coarse, cracked finish. The ‘Mountain Summer Car’ goes from dawn on one side to the brightness of midday on top to sunset on the other side.”
As used cars, she added, these Rolls-Royces certainly qualify as cream puffs. Low miles. Only one owner. New paint. Good running and very clean. “They vacuumed the interior of each car every half hour.”
Elysian Park’s 100th
In observance of Arbor Day today, Los Angeles is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Elysian Park with a ceremony at the Memorial Grove at 11:30 a.m. Ceremonies include a National Arbor Day Foundation presentation, designating Los Angeles as a Tree City U.S.A. in recognition of the city’s efforts to develop an urban forestry program.
A substantial portion of the 575-acre park was ravaged by fire five years ago, but more than 50% of the area has been replanted by government and civic groups, including the Citizens Committee to Save Elysian Park, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, the street tree division of the Department of Public Works’ Bureau of Street Maintenance and the Department of Recreation and Parks. Sponsors of the program, Los Angeles Beautiful, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and enrichment of the city’s natural environment, will plant flowering trees to honor the four groups for their efforts.
L.A. Beautiful will also unveil a large redwood sign, which will identify the park at the Golden State Freeway. The horticultural department of Lincoln High School made a blanket of chrysanthemums in the design of the city flower, Bird of Paradise, to be used for the unveiling.
“We believe in the future,” said architect Raymond Ziegler, president of L.A. Beautiful. “We enjoy today what was planted in the past and plant today for people to enjoy in the future.” As well as sponsoring the Arbor Day celebration every year, L.A. Beautiful has a number of beautification and public information projects involving schools and businesses during the year. In 1886, the Rock Quarry Hills were designated a city park forever and renamed Elysian Park, meaning a happy, delightful place. The site is the last remaining large piece of the original 17,000-acre Pueblo of Los Angeles Spanish Royal land grant.
