Jailbreak Touches Off Wild Party at New Cop Shop

Calypso. Pink flamingos. Pastels. Forty women trying to look sleazy in identical flower-print jackets that cost exactly $17 apiece. Fast cars. Beer in cans. Cops. Men, their faces darkened by two-day beards, the sleeves of their linen jackets rolled up to their elbows. Golly, it must have been a scene from . . .

“Makua Vice.”

Surely, you say, I must mean “Miami Vice.” Don’t call me ShirleyC, and Shirley, I mean “ Makua Vice.”

Saturday. 6:30 p.m. Marie Huff and Julie Young, prominently mentioned on the 10 Most Wanted list for felony merrymaking, get collared and carted off to the city’s new cop shop (that’s San Diego Police Headquarters, to you) at 14th Street and Broadway. Four hundred fifty pals, 38 of them members of the Makua Auxiliary to the Children’s Home Society, show up to try to bust Huff and Young out of the tank.

Things get out of hand. At the turquoise and gray police headquarters, what started as a routine jailbreak turns into a full-scale party. People eat, drink and dance. They even engage in cocktail chatter, for Pete’s sake. And just when it looks like the boys in blue might get the situation under control, Huff, Young & Co. stage a . . . Don Johnson look-alike contest !

Yes, sir, it was a hot time on Broadway on Saturday night. The Makua Auxiliary, which every summer hosts a fund-raiser with a theme based on some whimsical and often current topic (last year, they gave an Indiana Jones party that was doomed to success), this year decided to take a shot at television’s steamy cop thriller, “Miami Vice.” And because series star Don Johnson is hot and the new and as yet unoccupied police headquarters is hotter (with its 21st-Century angles and pastel accents, it looks like a cake created by a baker who lusted after an art degree), their choice of theme and party site were naturals.

Besides the co-chair duo of Huff and Young, the rest of the Makua membership got involved in the project, notably decor chief Laurie Ellis. Ellis had plenty to work with, other than the building itself (only the small front lobby was open for party use), and took advantage of the spacious Broadway-fronting terrace to create a pastel jungle suitable for the likes of these would-be Tubbs and Crocketts. Lots of Caribbean blue and daiquiri green were splashed about, and cocky pink flamingos (sculptured, and evidently available en masse from novelty supply houses cashing in on the “Miami Vice” craze) strutted down the dinner tables. And because Don Johnson keeps a pet alligator, a life-size plastic replica of same swam menacingly around the pond that sits under the plaza’s ultra-modern and definitely different upside-down fountain (the water sprays down into it from a tangle of tubing, rather than shooting upward, as in old-fangled fountains).

Speaking of alligators--this was a costume party, in a way, but guest Sue Ogle took the challenge to a sublimely ridiculous point when she showed up in a home-stitched alligator suit that included a tail that looked to have been padded with pillows, and a snout that protruded far over her eyes. The other women guests were content to wear outfits that were slightly less original, and the Makua members, as mentioned earlier, sported matching print jackets run up specially for the occasion. The intention was to identify them as hostesses, but the unintended effect was to make them almost indistinguishable from one another. Or, as guest Elspeth Myer put it, “Under normal circumstances, they’d all go home and change.”

The men, under specific invitation to become Johnson-esque peacocks for the evening, did their best. Many wore pastel Makua Vice T-shirts (designed by Don Young) under their linen jackets, and those who evidently had time on their hands used it to grow beards. Nearly all of them looked quite pleased with the figures they cut.

San Diego’s night breezes, which sometimes act as if they have underworld connections, proved the evening’s only difficulty. They crashed the party at regular intervals, occasionally toppling decorations, and whipping up a spray from the fountain that repeatedly caused guests to search the sky for rain clouds. The winds proved but a minor nuisance, however, and did nothing to impede the flow of a dinner of jambalaya, Peruvian pork and key lime tarts, and dancing to the Steve Aldrige band.

Making the most of the scene was a guest list that included Marlene and Ken Shook, Chris and Craig Andrews, Martha and Jay Shumaker, Mary and Patrick Rogondino, Nancy and Dan Murphy, Becky and Bill Bradbury, Lynn and Frank Silva, Tricia and Don Worley, Karen and Bob Bowden, Makua president Chris Frost and husband G.T.; Daphne Homik with John Sheffield, Roxie and Fred Link, Pam and Jim La Mantia, and Alice and Brad Saunders. Brad, who developed the building, just recently turned it over to the city and was pleased to point out its stylish details to all and sundry.

DEL MAR--The late Bing Crosby’s graceful invitation to “take a train, take a plane, take a car” to the Del Mar Racetrack has been packing ‘em in since the ponies first hit the turf in 1937, and Opening Day 1986 was no exception.

Apparently, the attendance was only the fourth highest on record, but in the jammed-to-the-rafters Turf Club, it seemed as if everybody and his Aunt Mary had turned out. Box holders turned out en masse with gaggles of guests in tow, and lots of the out-of-town summer crowd made its first appearance of the season, signaling that once again the upcoming Jewel and Monte Carlo balls will echo with Energy Belt twangs. And as gambling fever hit the crowd, the lines at the betting windows ballooned into a solid crush of gorgeous humanity.

For gorgeous the Turf Club scene was, as it always is, the colors as unrestrained and brilliant as the jockeys’ silks and the costumes tailored with a thoroughly horsey raciness. Hats abounded, as hats always do, and few were demure in style or size; Dorene Whitney trimmed her sweeping straw with a bouquet of fresh lavender orchids, and Nancy Ann Chandler bowed under a sizable black number that boasted a fat crimson poppy on its brim. As always, the scene was a carnival for people-watchers.

One especially convenient perch from which to watch (and to keep track of the bob-tailed nags and bays as they circled the course) was the Director’s Room, which sits high atop the Turf Club and, like everywhere else that day, was filled to capacity. Among those enjoying the scene from this sanctum were Del Mar Thoroughbred Club President John Mabee and his wife, Betty; Larry Mabee and his fiancee, Lynne Johnston; bandleader Bob Crosby and wife, June; San Diego Police Chief Bill Kolender and Lois; track general manager Joe Harper with Barbara (the Harpers gave a zippy at-home supper for special track patrons after the last race); Frank and Joanne Warren, Jack and Loraine McDonald, Jack and Virginia Monday, and Robert and Mary Allan.

LA JOLLA--Jeanne Lawrence wore her “lucky” dress, a red and black harlequin affair dotted with spades and hearts and such, to the track, and while she declined to reveal how it had served her in Del Mar, there was no question that plenty of luck rubbed off for the jolly little reception she and husband Larry threw the following evening at their La Jolla home.

This amiable tea-time gambol turned into something of a lush summer frolic as the guests continued to pour in through the early evening; all in all, the crowd assembled in the Lawrence’s handsome new gardens numbered perhaps 100. The guests gathered to honor La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art director Hugh Davies and his wife, art historian Sally Yard, on the publication of their new book, “Francis Bacon.” The volume is an exhaustive study of the work of the 20th Century British master painter.

The authors received their guests around an entrance table blooming with flowers and stacked high with volumes from Jeanne Lawrence’s extensive private collection of art books. Sally Yard, who modestly ascribed most credit for the work to her husband, still took immense pride of authorship; she said that when their copy of the book first arrived, she left it sitting out just so she could look at it and convince herself that it was real.

Davies said that he wrote his doctoral dissertation on Francis Bacon and the book is “kind of the popular version of that rather turgid dissertation.” He signed the contract for the work in May, 1983, just two weeks before being interviewed for the La Jolla museum directorship, which he said explained why writing it had turned into a three year’s labor. “This book has been in the making for three years, a longer gestation period than our daughter took,” he laughed, adding that the personally inscribed copies given to the guests would not be exchangeable at the museum gift shop.

Guests perused their copies while nibbling at the elaborate treats set out by Somerset Caterers, which offered clever canapes of sauteed apples topped with rounds of chevre, and Oriental mouthfuls of grilled marinated beef wrapped around pungent scallions.

The guest list included plenty of San Diego arts figures, and supporters of the San Diego Museum of Art as well as the La Jolla museum. Among the guests were LJMCA President Chris Calkins and his wife, Diane; Barbara and Charles Arledge; Walter Fitch; Pauline and Stan Foster; Joan and Ira Katz; Fran and Ed Marston; newlyweds Leslie Simon and Michael Krichman; Karen and Kit Sickels; Audrey and Ted Geisel; Judith Harris with Robert Singer; Barbara ZoBell; Katie and Mike Dessent; Harry Cooper; Sue and Charles Edwards; and Betty and Don Ballman.