ORANGE COUNTY : 1986 : YEAR IN REVIEW : Society Recalls Bright Moments : Arts Center Loomed Large

Sob. Sniffle. Blow. Bidding adieu to 1986 is a lace-hankie wringer for Orange County society. Never again will diamonds gleam the way they gleamed at dusk on Sept. 29, minutes before the wearers swept into Orange County’s new $70.7--million Performing Arts Center for the very first time.

Never again will Henry T. Segerstrom blush the way he blushed that night, speaking formally in Segerstrom Hall for the very first time: “Inspired by private initiative, conceived, designed and constructed by private resources, this Center represents the greatness, individual freedom, ingenuity and enterprise given to our society.”

And never again will 3,000 arts-loving philanthropists--dressed to their collective nines--hold their breath as long as they did that night, watching conductor Zubin Mehta poise his baton in packed Segerstrom Hall for the very first time.

Some say Orange County society not only dazzled on Sept. 29, it shone the very first time.

But there were other, singular events in 1986. Amid the dedicated fund raising, some went swimmingly, some were racy, some were all wet.

As the new year begins to unfold, then, time to look back:

SOCIAL SWIM OF THE YEAR: Pounding rains in February had hundreds sloshing their way down a red-carpet-turned-sponge as they entered the Bowers Museum for its 50th anniversary celebration. Actor and noted art lecturer Vincent Price was honored guest. “They picked me up in a limousine that looked like a hearse,” Price told guests, spoofing his career. “Then they pinned this thing on me,” he said, looking down at his VIP ribbon. “At first I thought it meant ‘rest in peace!’ ”

Outgoing museum director William Lee said of the museum: “Bowers will grow and grow and grow and become the center focus of this, the most dynamic county in America, if not . . . the universe.”

SPLASH OF THE YEAR: The Newport Harbor Yacht Club marked its plunge into the America’s Cup race in February when it launched a champagne-popping party to honor members of Club Eagle--donors of $15,000 or more to the Eagle Syndicate, sponsor of the club’s Eagle Challenge entry. Newport’s Bobbie and Robert Grant opened the weighty door of their posh Harbor Island home--which includes a fireplace that once belonged to William Randolph Hearst--where guests shared a rah-rah spirit unseen in Orange County since the 1984 Olympics.

THEME OF THE YEAR: Naming your party after one of the Ten Commandments takes chutzpah. But the “Honor Thy Mother and Thy Father” benefit for the Jewish Senior Center of Orange County in May turned out to be more than a commandment. With $80,000 in proceeds, the party was a supreme blessing. The money would pay for most of the services and programs at the Garden Grove-based center for one year.

MENU OF THE YEAR: Snails-on-a-stick, antelope, rattlesnake, octopus salad, smoked peacock, honeycomb, couscous, Arabian pasta, even boar awaited guests in June at “Night With Scheherazade,” the benefit opening of the Embassy Suites Hotel in Santa Ana. “We were going to have elephant until we found out you have to order a whole elephant,” confided event coordinator Gloria Zigner. Zigner wasn’t kidding. Also on the menu: goat, with nary a tin can in sight.

DECOR OF THE YEAR: Some like it cool. A 15-foot, ice-sculpted Statue of Liberty was the decor centerpiece of the Newport Harbor Art Museum’s “Liberty Celebration” in July. While a nation watched the official unveiling of the renovated Statue of Liberty, guests at the Newporter Resort got two unveilings for the benefit price of one: New York’s and Newport Beach’s--by 29-year-old ice sculptor Mark Daukas. A chilling sight.

NAG OF THE YEAR: How racy can you get? A stallion wearing nail polish, body glitter and eye shadow graced a Derby Day benefit at the Balboa Bay Club in May. “He’s wearing all kinds of makeup,” said Arabian horse investment specialist Tracy Leffer. “Eye shadow, for instance. We use shoe polish. It really sets off the eyes, don’t you think?”

SOIREE OF THE YEAR: Kleig lights pierced Orange County skies Sept. 29, the night the Performing Arts Center opened and 3,000 guests--hands still aching from applauding Beethoven’s Ninth--spilled through the Center’s Grand Arch onto red carpet rolled out for its benefit gala. Wooed by violins, guests hurried into four tent pavilions to tip flutes of pricey champagne, ogle towering ice sculptures and queue up to smother plates with caviar, saddle of veal, lamb, meringue swans, oysters, baklava --morsels ad infinitum.

Fashions and jewels stunned even the most accustomed eye. Renee Segerstrom, Henry’s wife, wore diamonds and emeralds with her pink and black Yves St. Laurent, chosen for her in Paris by the designer himself. Center trustee Kathryn Thompson, trailing sable, slinked audibly in a spangled Gildas, Van Cleef and Arpels emeralds to match. Willa Dean Lyon, wife of Gen. William Lyon, sparkled in sapphires paired with her blue Galanos. Cecil B. DeMille’s granddaughter, Cecilia Presley, wore a glittery Bob Mackie and a lavaliere given her by her late grandfather. In the wee hours, black, gray, white and burgundy limousines inched bumper-to-bumper along the Avenue of the Arts, transporting their resplendent, weary cargo home.

Center donors George and Judie Argyros summed up Orange County’s opening-night of nights in a single word: “Awesome.”