Lannan Group to Celebrate L.A. Move

Los Angeles is the place to be. And there’s considerable chat about J. Patrick Lannan Jr.’s move of the Lannan Foundation to Southern California. He and foundation trustees will entertain at breakfast Oct. 28 at City Restaurant to celebrate the opening of the foundation’s national headquarters here.

The Lannan Foundation was formed in 1960 by the late J. Patrick Lannan, entrepreneur and ITT director. In 1981 a museum of contemporary art was opened in Lake Worth, Fla., to house his personal collection. Then, when the foundation received $100 million from the Lannan estate in 1986, trustees vowed to concentrate on support for the contemporary visual arts. With Los Angeles booming in that direction, is the move here a surprise?

Astute collector Gifford Phillips is chairman of the advisory committee. Bonnie Clearwater (formerly of the Metropolitan Museum of Art) directs art programs. Directors who have input are Sharon A. Ferrill, John R. Lannan, Michael J. Lannan, Frank Lawler, Patricia Lawler, John J. Lannan, Tscheng S. Feng and Mark Hampton.

And that’s not all: The Reason Foundation hosts a banquet Saturday evening at the Biltmore to celebrate moving offices from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles. Nobel laureate (economics) Milton Friedman is keynoter. J. Clayburn La Force, dean of the UCLA graduate school of management, is guest of honor. Lots of economists, lawyers, free-market supporters will attend. The foundation focuses on education and research surrounding ideas and institutions of a free society.

Pasadena Public Library is in the midst of a fund-raising campaign for $2.4 million to restore and renovate the public rooms of the historic Central Library on Walnut Street. It’s the California Mediterranean wonder designed by Myron Hunt in 1927. Lights are dim, tables are worn, floors are old, and yet, 3,500 use the library each day. Campaign chairman Betty Keatinge and Edward M. Szynaka, library director, say it has one of the highest circulation rates in the United States--10 books per resident per year. The other day they and Billie Boswell, executive director, Victoria Williamson and Gloria Renwick (trustees), did what they’re doing frequently these days--entertaining at small private luncheons in Ed’s office to entice leadership grants. They were squiring Mrs. Harrison Chandler and Mrs. Melvin Morse. We hear that the library foundation asked library employees to give, and 100% said yes, most giving a day’s pay.

Regents Mary Hesburgh and Ruth LeSage of Mount St. Mary’s College are polishing points for the Oct. 24 Founders’ Ball in the Century Tower Ballroom. It’s an endeavor for scholarships. Earlier regent Mary Lou Melanson invited committee members for a cocktail buffet in her Brentwood home, and ball chairman Rogers Hughes, Maryanne Weiss, Margaret and Peter Keller (he chairs the regents’ council), Jerome Byrne, Alice Aldworth, Daniel Gayton, Monica Luechtefeld, Eloise Helwig and William Elliott, were in the forefront. Karla Ross, an ’84 music major from the Mount, will star in the entertainment. Horace Heidt Jr.’s Orchestra will set the dance tempo.

The younger generation had a marvelous time, we hear, the other evening when Kate Regan and a batch of friends acquainted pals with the Banning Residence Museum at a cocktail party in the residence’s sunken patio. Mrs. Donald Gibbs, chairman, and Mrs. Robert Howard Brant, party chairman were involved along with Mrs. Walter Rose, Mrs. John Boyt, Mrs. James Anawalt, Mrs. Daniel Munzer and others, with a crowd attending including the Robert Bakers, the James Cheneys, the Alan Clarks, the Robert Beckhans, the Donald Paynes, the Frank Morses, Gordon Pashgian, the Robert Cathcarts, the David Cannons, the Y. C. Mendels, the Donald Griffins.

CITY ABUZZ: Circle Fine Arts Corp. of Chicago opens its first Beverly Hills gallery this evening with what it says is the largest exhibition of Peter Max original paintings and studies since the late ‘60s. The reception for Max will be at 329 Beverly Drive. He’s the artist who teamed up with Lee Iaccoca to promote the Statue of Liberty restoration. As official artist for the Liberty Centennial, he created 10 portraits. Several will be displayed at Circle Gallery, says director Judy Lambert . . . Bronson-Rollins & Associates Inc., international art organization, presents its inaugural exhibition tonight in its gallery at 120 N. Robertson . . . The last of the Steinway dynasty, Henry Z. Steinway, will be in Los Angeles this evening for the black-tie champagne reception surrounding the dedication of the new Steinway Selection Hall at Sherman Clay on Wilshire . . . Sam Thomas tops the hosts and expects some of the most notable screenplay writers in the history of cinema for a celebration of the publication of “Best American Screen-Plays” from 4 to 6:30 p.m. today at Hunter’s Books in Beverly Hills . . . Edd Jacobs, president of Somper by Fur Couture International, will underwrite the lavish party catered by Wolfgang Puck’s Spago on Sunday evening for the American Foundation for AIDS Research. He’s tenting his Rodeo Drive parking lot to accommodate the Carlton Burnett Production of a fur fashion show--$4 million in furs. Sheldon Andelson, Joan Van Ark, Burt Bacharach, Bob Mackie, Coral and Vincent Price are involved . . .

TOP EFFORTS: Isaac Stern, Vera Stern and Dinah Shore will be special guests Sunday at the musicale-reception honoring producer Henry Jaffe. Belle and Seymour Owens are hosting the event for the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. The Israeli Army Flute and String Quartet will perform at Gindi Auditorium at the University of Judaism . . . The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America (Los Angeles/Pasadena Committee) has opted for a No Party Benefit--”No date, no time, no place”--to raise funds to restore Mt. Pleasant House. Just a contribution will do.

PERTINENT: Dr. W. Ann Reynolds, California State University chancellor, speaks to the California Museum Foundation luncheon today at the California Museum of Science and Industry . . . Young Stanford alumni dubbed SU Now mingle Friday evening at the Pacific Palisades home of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Caballero, sip wine and talk fund raising. Jonathon Abbis, Charlotte Perry, Annie Smith, Amy Smith, Meredie Haupt, Jeremy Stanford, Connie Schlatter and Pattie Donahue will be there . . . Dr. and Mrs. Alan Kessler host black-tie classical music in their elegant Hancock Park home Saturday evening on behalf of the United Cerebral Palsy/Spastic Children’s Foundation . . . Club 100 of the Music Center lunches with new members Monday at L’Ermitage Restaurant, and according to president Joyce Rosenblum, spotlighted will be Joan Thompson, Lillian Prusan, Roberta Leven, Miranda Diener, Kim Johnson, Suzanne Tennenbaum, Maryl Kruger, Beau Lavine, Roberta Levey, Georgia Linder, Barbara Platt, Eileen Rayden, Joan Riach, Julia Rosen and Lynne Ziman . . . Tierra del Sol, a special education school in Sunland for the developmentally disabled, will present mementos of appreciation Sunday to SHARE (“Share Happily And Reap Endlessly”) chairman Dolores Nemiro and president Judy Feder. The champagne brunch honoring SHARE will be at Cal State Northridge

PAST PERFECT: The Brentwood-Westwood Symphony Orchestra presented Elisabeth Waldo and artists from her Multi-Ethnic Ensemble in a meet-the-composer benefit musicale at West End Restaurant. (She’s composed the music for the new motion picture, “Catalina”) . . . The Volunteers Auxiliary of the Watts Health Foundation Inc. hosted a dinner dance “Salute to Watts Musicians” in the Grand Ballroom of Stouffer Concourse Hotel . . . Lorraine Colich and Doris Busch co-chaired the Les Marraines Auxiliary of Children’s Home Society of California luncheon and musical fashion theater featuring Holly Mitchell Presents at the Beverly Hilton . . . Lenore Fraser chaired Las Primeras Guild’s luncheon and fashion show at the Beverly Wilshire benefiting Childrens Hospital . . . the Mary and Joseph League’s annual Royal Luncheon in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton honored Queen Cecilia Waeschle, who will receive more accolades at the Mardi Gras Ball. She was presented by Rhonda Fleming Mann before the Bill Travilla fashion show. At the luncheon: Tova Borgnine, Bettina Collins, Frances Franklin, League president Patti Frechette, Dolly Granatelli, Ann Jeffreys, Marilyn McDaniel, Cordelia Owen, Rosemarie Stack and Gloria Sutherland, the chairman . . . Friends of Vivian Webb School dedicated the Mary N. Hutchison Dormitory on campus, then celebrated with dinner . . . Couturier Ruben Panis was designer of the day for the Immaculate Heart Auxiliary benefit luncheon and fashion show at the Sheraton Universal planned by president Mrs. John Poyer and chairman Mrs. William Pistey.