Art Council Hopes the Sun Will Shine

Hoping for sunshine are members of the Art Museum Council of the County Museum of Art. They host their 24th annual Art and Architecture Tour on April 27, with six quality locations for art collections, architecture and design. The charge is $50 per person, all for the museum’s acquisition fund.

On the tour are the Mediterranean-style home of Lisa Specht and Ron Rogers, the award-winning home of Karen Simonson and architect Barton Phelps, the traditional Beverly Hills home of Harriet and Alan Lederman, the home of collectors Mandy and Cliff Einstein and the contemporary home of architect Johannes Van Tilburg. Participants will also see the corporate office of Executive Life. For further information, call (213) 857-6214.

There’s little secret that Music Center supporters were wooing Valentino at the black-tie Bistro sit-down dinner hosted by Lili Zanuck, Wendy Goldberg and Nancy Vreeland. They’d love him to return for a glamorous fashion extravaganza at some future date. More than 100 welcomed him with open arms, among them Earle and Marion Jorgensen, William and Jean Smith, Tucker and Chardee Trainer, William and Mignon Winans, Harry and Maggie Wetzel, Wallis Annenberg with Rupert Hitzig, the Nick Vanoffs, Victoria Principal and Dr. Harry Glassman, James and Gloria Stewart, Sidney and Joanna Poitier, Frank and Luanne Wells. They’re powerfully persuasive, you know.

Much fun, love and laughter surround social events leading up to the 40th birthday of the Ojai Festival on May 30 through June 1 in Ojai. Specifically, two fund-raising galas, labeled Springfest/LA and Ojai.

The first is Springfest/LA on May 4 at the Los Angeles Sheraton Grande. Sheila Tepper, Dr. Wallace A. Smith and Rudolph Petersdorf are chairing the lavish champagne buffet dinner underwritten by the hotel. Expect a spectacular 40-candle cake. On hand to blow out candles will be festival music director Kent Nagano, who has served as guest conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. (In April, he’ll conduct a new production of “Salome” at the Paris Opera.) Conductor Stephen Mosko will also be there.

Then, May 10 Springfest/Ojai gives impetus to the season with a black-tie bash at Ojai’s new Soule Park Club House. Mrs. Ray Ellis chairs the dinner dance and silent auction, with assists from Patricia Eaton, Margerie Sims, Louise Low, Yvette Ellis and Virginia Lee Swift.

For four decades the festival has been a community affair, with hospitality extended to orchestra leaders including Pierre Boulez, Igor Stravinsky, Michael Tilson Thomas and Andre Previn and soloists such as Gregor Piatigorsky and Dorothy Kirsten.

Robert Guralnik, who re-creates the music and life of Chopin, is the star attraction for the Support Group of the Peninsula Chamber Orchestra. Executive board chairman Maggie Wetzel is planning a 19th-Century evening at the new Renaud’s on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Proceeds will benefit the orchestra, which presents three concerts annually at the Norris Community Theater. It’s an organization of young musicians, brilliant and superbly trained, Maggie says. Her committee includes Mrs. Richard Arnold, Mrs. James L. Burke, Mrs. Charles Drexel, Mrs. Julian Elliott, Mrs. Leonard Geissel, Mrs. Jerrold A. Glass, Arthur B. Laffer, Mrs. Ben Kuchar, Mrs. Michael Noble, Mrs. Nick Roderman and the orchestra’s music director, Douglas Lowry.

St. Anne’s Maternity Home’s highest tribute, the Angel Award, will be presented to Joan Leslie Caldwell on Tuesday at a fashion luncheon in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton. The actress is being honored for her dedicated support of 30 years. The opulent fashion of designer Ruben Panis will add lots of glitz. And Barbara Eden is honorary chairman. Evelyn Blasiar heads the executive committee, including Rosemary Berman, Joanne Bland, Rita Bland, Mary Byrne, Rosemary Marco, Marie Poyer, Kay Reid, Pamela Rice, Vicki Richards, Patricia Sawaya and Mildred Tibbles.

The gardens in San Marino will be the setting Sunday afternoon for “White Lace & Chocolate.” The Sierra Madres Girl Scout Council will reign with high tea to honor Georgie Van De Kamp. Sweet Desires will conduct chocolate demonstrations.

The Pasadena-Foothill Valley YWCA hosts its 13th annual Second Century Awards Luncheon on Tuesday at the Pasadena Hilton. It honors Denise Hyde Wood, Priscilla Gamb, Nancy Wheat, Carolyn Carlburg and Pat Rostker for their outstanding volunteer work.

Tiffany & Co. is inviting guests for “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” on May 4 to view the Jean Schlumberger Collection. The event will laud Jewel Gala III, to be held Nov. 7 to honor Fred MacMurray and to benefit the USC School of Fine Arts.

All Saturday:

It’s a novel idea--nurturing “the family cocoon” by celebrating the family and hosting a seminar for not only parents but their children and the children’s grandparents. Polytechnic School in Pasadena does it Saturday. Dorothy Corkille Briggs delivers the keynote address on self-esteem. An oom-pah-pah band will play between workshops and for the old-fashioned picnic. Hilary Jacobson, chairman, calls the day a “Celebration of the Family. . . . “

More than 600 are expected for the Loyola High School Mother’s Guild 55th annual birthday luncheon at the school. Linda Guerena is guild president. . . .

Ahoy! The Juniors of the San Marino National Charity League have a sail from “Pirates’ Cove” at the University Club of Pasadena on Saturday evening. . . .

Reservations are close to capacity for the United Stroke Foundation Tribute Dinner honoring Ernest Leff on Saturday in the Grand Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton.