Loyal to the Royal Itinerary

The visit of the Duke and Duchess of York to Los Angeles proved it isn’t who you are, but where you go.

In the tradition of baseball cards, wine labels and Olympic pins, some well-known social types this week collected a pocketful of royal encounters of the personal kind, going to one select event after another.

It was not difficult. Many of those at the UK/LA Royal Gala on Sunday night advanced to the KCET benefit luncheon at Bullocks Wilshire on Monday, braved the rain to make the British consul general’s reception at the Four Seasons that night, then proceeded to the Music Center for the Blue Ribbon reception Tuesday night.

It could have been a little bit stale, like day-old scones. But it was as fresh as an English daisy when the dozens of instantly experienced old hands at shaking hands lined up Wednesday at the David Hockney exhibit and lunch hosted by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, AT&T; and the board of trustees of the County Museum of Art. Hockney (in a black and white suit he had tailored for the occasion) took the royals on a personal tour of his exhibit, saying afterward that they were particularly interested in the photos, since the duke is a photographer. Hockney said they seemed to really like his “Pear Blossom Highway.”

Meanwhile, in an amazing piece of organization, guests were assigned to specific small galleries with hostesses, and when the young royals finished the Hockney tour, they did their walkabout through galleries, meeting each guest. The group included some first-timers at the royal events, like David Wolper, looking very fit and chatting with the duke about the Winter Olympics and Eddie the Eagle.

The best was yet to come. County chief of protocol Sandra Ausman took no chances with the English weather. She turned the somewhat stark Atrium of the Ahmanson Building into a bursting-with-color spring garden with flowers lined up like a careful English garden down the center of the head table, while on surrounding round tables flowering redbud trees grew out of beds of dichondra with miniature roses, English primroses, crocus, Narcissus and Johnny-jump-ups.

Among the crowd, LACMA board chairman Julian and Jo Ann Ganz, AT&T; vice chairman Randall and Marilyn Tobias, Caroline Ahmanson, Dorothy Collins Brown, Iris and Gerald Cantor, Dona and Dwight Kendall, Richard and Jill Riordan, Neil Papiano and Sharon Thralls, down-from-San-Francisco Maggie Wetzel, new Music Center Blue Ribbon president Joanne and Roger Kozberg, Dorie Pinola, City Attorney Jim and Monica Hahn, and, of course, LACMA director Earl and Nancy Powell.

There were the generally pleasant speeches, including one in which Supervisor Deane Dana welcomed the duke and duchess to the “County of Los Angeles.” (Remember, under the rules of the Protocol Wars, dignitaries aren’t really in either the city or the county until they are at an event specifically sponsored by one entity or the other.)

Then there was a bit of royal kidding as the duchess carefully undid a large gift box and took out a smallish piece of sculpture, and, with Dana, squinted at the inscription on the black marble base. The Correia Art Glass sculpture titled “Blue Magnum Saturn” was chosen to represent a Southern California firm and the Yorks’ interest in flight and aerospace.

She also thanked her hosts for “a really wonderful lunch”--and it was really good. Somerset had developed new Southwestern recipes, including a main dish of grilled lime chicken in red pepper sauce with a corn and green chile timbale and savarin of rice.

When the food was served, artistically laid out, Elizabeth Ballentyne, wife of British Consul General Donald Ballentyne, couldn’t have been more enthusiastic. “Look,” she told her luncheon partner Sheldon Ausman, “it’s a Hockney.”

But of course.

The County Museum of Art always seems to know how to do things right, and when you add in chief of protocol Sandra Ausman, there’s surely no rain on the parade.

APRES LE DELUGE--Now that the royals are leaving our shores, it’s time to deal with the waves of other social events . . . Philip Hawley, chairman and CEO of Carter Hawley Hale, receives the Urban League’s Whitney M. Young Jr. Award on March 24 at the Century Plaza. Young served as the National Urban League president during the 1960s, and the award is presented annually to an individual “who personifies the principles of equality for people of all races, income level and sexes. . . .” And there’s the “Very Special Moments with Very Special Friends,” the March 20 benefit for the John Douglas French Foundation for Alzheimer’s Disease. Rhonda Fleming Mann is putting together the evening, along with Marcia Israel. Performing as a gift to the foundation will be Michael Feinstein, Maureen McGovern, Norm Crosby and John Forsythe. The foundation’s Humanitarian Award will go to John and Bonnie Green. Miriam Nelson Meyers is producing the evening at the Century Plaza, hosted by Dorothy Kirsten French and Robert R. Dockson. . . .

Richard and Phyllis Sandifer and the Music Center Opera League host a dinner, honoring the donors of the First Opera League Raffle, on Monday at the Biltmore. And everyone will be a winner, since Dudley Moore and Jonathan Miller will present a special preview of “The Mikado” . . .

Sasha Stallone is the honorary chairwoman at Sunday’s 10th annual benefit for the L.A. Chapter of the Autism Society of America. The fashion show, auction and raffle at the Beverly Hilton will be the place to be for celebs like Charlene Tilton, Doug Barr and Elinor Donahue . . .

Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-Colo.) might not be making the presidential run, but she’ll be discussing “Election ‘88: Challenges for the Future” Monday at the Biltmore, hosted by the Res Publica Board of Governors and Claremont McKenna College . . .

The Luminaires of the Doheny Eye Institute get a look at Geoffrey Beene’s Spring ’88 collection on Monday. The fashion show at the Beverly Hilton will be preceded by lunch. . . .

Tuesday, Citicorp/Citibank vice chairman James Farley and The Music Center honor the leadership of the Music Center Unified Fund Campaign ’88 and celebrate the official reopening of the historic Engine Company No. 28 on South Figueroa.