A Trip to Nowhere and Back for a Mere $985

The folks who are planning to turn Brown Field next May into “Air/Space America 88,” San Diego’s answer to the Paris Air Show, are now taking reservations to fly people halfway to Hawaii and back.

The trip to nowhere will cost $985 per person, but it has certain perks: French champagne, caviar, smoked salmon, pastries and Mach 2 at 60,000 feet with a view of the curvature of the Earth.

You’ll be flying aboard the British-French supersonic Concorde, the world’s fastest commercial airliner.

The aircraft will take paying passengers 1,500 miles over the Pacific at the speed of sound, do a U-turn and whip back at twice that speed before landing at Brown Field, two hours later.

The Concorde can take 100 passengers per trip and make two trips a day for each of the four days the aircraft will be in San Diego, said Dub Allen, spokesman for the air show. Officially called the Air/Space High Technology Aerospace and Electronics Trade Exposition and Air Show, the event is an opportunity to showcase American technology on American soil.

The Concorde doesn’t operate any regular routes over the United States because of its sonic boom. But it has flown these kinds of charter flights in the past, out of such places as Las Vegas and Little Rock, Ark.

Show organizers plan to spend $3.5 million to spruce up the field for the air show and said Monday that they’ve raised $1.9 million toward that goal.

None of the money is needed to prepare Brown Field for the Concorde itself, Allen said.

“They’ve told us they need 8,000 feet of runway and Brown Field’s got 8,000 feet of runway,” he said.

Classy Fringe Element

If you don’t figure on getting tickets for the Super Bowl next month, consider Plan B:

A “corporate hospitality village” will be erected in the parking lot just outside the open end of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium where you can plunk down $215 (or more) to, as they say, “purchase hospitality.”

That’s Super Bowl nomenclature for buying your way into a state-of-the-art tailgate party for those who won’t be getting out of the parking lot and into the stadium.

This particular party will take place in an area of the parking lot already reserved for NFL officials, VIPs, television network crews and Keith Prowse & Co., the outfit that has the contract to provide what it calls “Hospitality at the Village.”

“In the Village, guests will enjoy pre- and post-game parties in comfort, with sumptuous catering, open bars, wall-to-wall carpeting, crystal, china and entertainment,” said Neil Scott-Barbour, president of Keith Prowse & Co. The outfit does the same sort of thing at Wimbledon and major horse racing events around the world.

Here in San Diego, companies will be able to lease entire private party chalets for the day, or individuals can buy their own way into a larger pavilion. Prices start at $215, and include champagne, pre-game brunch and a post-game cocktail party.

There will be a television set or two to watch the game as well, we’re assured.

Fresh Approaches

From our Fund-Raisingathon Department, these items:

- Among the 8,000 runners expected to participate in Saturday’s San Diego Holiday Bowl Marathon will be 49-year-old Gary Clark of Carlsbad, who might consider the race a second chance to show his stuff. He underwent a heart transplant two years ago in Tucson. Race profits will go toward San Diego’s Just Say No organization and the Balboa Park Endowment Fund.

- To help raise funds for new construction at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School in San Ysidro, school advisory board President Nicolas Lopez and Vice President Carmelo Estrada are going on a bike ride Sunday--1,500 miles, from San Ysidro to Cabo San Lucas in Baja California. The two figure the trip will take 15 days. They’ll stay in a motor home or convents along the way, Lopez said.

- Boy Scout Troop 668 in Escondido raised more than $500 last weekend toward the purchase of new tents. Did they sell cookies or calendars or wash cars or Scout Fair tickets? They took pledges for rocking around the clock--from 9 p.m. Friday to 9 a.m. Saturday--in rocking chairs.

Gift Idea? Gift Returner

Need to buy some time? Barbara Lotierzo and her fiancee, Michael Armbruster, operate Task Tamers out of Rancho Santa Fe. It’s one of those executive personnel service outfits where they’ll tend to such mundane tasks as grocery shopping, pool cleaning, dog feeding and house cleaning.

Their jobs turn seasonal this time of year, Lotierzo noted. One woman wants Lotierzo to decorate her Christmas tree. Some customers are having her address Christmas cards. She’s doing a lot of Christmas shopping for executives too busy to do it themselves.

“And we get real busy right after Christmas when people want to return gifts but don’t want to fight the traffic or stand in return lines,” she said. “Someone who earns $100 an hour would rather pay us $15 an hour to stand in line for them.”

Where Are Reindeer?

Chris Claus is the general manager at KJQY (K-JOY) radio in San Diego and he says this time of year can prove unbearable, even if his first name isn’t spelled Kris.

There was a time in fifth grade, he said, when he tried to use his middle name, John. He fell back to Chris and now “it usually works to my advantage because otherwise I’m a totally forgettable person.”

Still, there’s a down side. “It’s worst when I have to make travel arrangements and I’m calling airlines and hotels,” Claus said. “It’s too easy for people not to take the name seriously, especially at Christmas time. When I give my name there’s a pause and then they say, ‘Sure, and your reindeer are outside?’ ”