First Century Families Go for the Gold

History is made every day, so keep those photos, records and letters (if any, in the age of the telephone).

First Century Families do. They’re members of the crowd that is not only native Californian, but delights in comparisons of sixth generation, seventh generation, and up and beyond.

The other day, about 500 gathered at the Beverly Wilshire to celebrate 50 years of luncheons begun by the late Mary Foy. Miss Foy and the founding committee ordained that FCF members should be descendants of pioneer families, those who came to Southern California before or during the first century of the existence of the city of Los Angeles--between 1781 and 1881.

Chairman Gretchen Dockweiler narrated the fetes and festivals of Workmans, Rowlands, Bannings, Sepulvedas and Kellers, starting with the Fiesta of 1894, an elaborate floral parade designed to attract settlers. She pointed out that the boom of the 1880s brought many of Los Angeles residents’ ancestors to the Southland. And, on the big screen, Gretchen showed a photo of her grandparents, Isidore and Gertrude Dockweiler, dressed for that festival.

Patsy Burr Edwards also spoke; she’s a descendant of the 1931 queen of the fiesta. The fun of the luncheon was looking for your relatives in the pictures. Alice O’Neill Avery (who has an invaluable collection of historical slides) saw pictures of her look-alike granddaughter Katrina Moiso Shattuck and Katrina’s husband, Matt, at their huge al fresco wedding reception on the O’Neill Rancho last spring.

Mona Modini Wood-Bonelli looked proud of the photo of her mother, Mami Perry, the 1895 queen of Los Angeles Fiesta. (The Perry house now stands in Heritage Square off the Pasadena freeway.) Mona married Richard Bonelli in 1933 during his Metropolitan Opera career and is actor Robert Stack’s aunt; Rosemarie Stack and her cousin Jasmine Lindsay were in the crowd.

Sally Brant observed her father-in-law in the front row of the 1911 Los Angeles High School football team. Jo McLain viewed a picture of the beloved Kerckhoff summer cottage where she went as a girl. (They’re the Kerckhoffs of Kerckhoff Hall on the UCLA campus.)

An attendant in the queen’s court in the 1897 fiesta was Miss Blanche Hinman, who married William May Garland the next year, and Gwen Babcock in the audience could claim them as grandparents. He was the same Garland who in 1931 at the new Coliseum being readied for the 1932 Olympics donned the robes of a bishop to crown the queen; and he served as chairman of the Coronation Ball that evening.

Perhaps the one-upmanship of the day, however, was provided by four members of that 1931 Fiesta de Los Angeles court who were in the audience--Madeline Forthmann Boyer, Barbara Mott McCarthy, Eleanor Newmark Scharff and Margaret Grant Gregg. They were the center of attention, and so were the history buffs at the head table, among them Suzanne Forgie, Julia Dockweiler, Kathryn Geddes, Michelle Crahan, Ynez O’Neill, Marie Jones and Christine Shirley.

DC3: There’s huge excitement surrounding the grand opening of DC3 restaurant and the Donald Douglas Museum. The setting is Santa Monica Airport, where the Douglas Commercial Model 3 aircraft was originally designed and flown. Now David and Dallas Price have joined with Rebecca and Bruce Marder (he’s owner/executive chef of the West Beach Cafe and Rebecca’s) and with August Spier and William Hufferd on the restaurant. There are dozens of parties.

The Associates of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center plan dinner and dancing Saturday. Party-goers will dine and dance in the interiors designed by artist Charles Arnoldi and get views of the city and of planes taking off on the adjacent runway.

Today, Architects for Shelter will host 200. On Nov. 21 the Venice Action Committee plans cocktails and food stations for 750, charging $175 to raise funds to plant trees on Rose Avenue, which separates Santa Monica and Venice. The owners--the Prices, the Marders, Spier (he’s manager) and Hufferd (he’s chef)--also will host sit-down dinners for several hundred between Nov. 25 and 30. For atmosphere, Ed Ruscha’s painting “Harmless Dinners” will be the menu cover and his “Several Beverages” will cover the wine list.

THE SEASON: The Beverly Hills Pops Orchestra is dedicating its third Christmas Gala dinner concert Dec. 9 at the Century Plaza to the memory of Bonita Granville Wrather, a true friend of the arts. President Ronald and First Lady Nancy Reagan are honorary chairmen. David Gill Evans and Ruth Tullis chair the affair. Franco Collura will be guest conductor.

SUPER PATRONS: What is a benefit without patrons? The Mannequins Auxiliary of the Assistance League of Southern California is inviting lots of friends to become patrons and be honored at a Sunset Garden Reception next Sunday at the home of John and Judy Bedrosian in Bel-Air. Cynthia Gillespie and Robert Dundore are patron co-chairmen. Mannequins chairman Terry Francis and Beverly Thrall, president of the Assistance League, will be center front greeting guests.

IN THE CLOUDS: And in the pink too. The powers at Harvey Mudd College have learned that astronaut George D. (Pinky) Nelson, class of ‘72, will return to Harvey Mudd for his first solo appearance after Discovery’s successful flight. It’s a reception and dinner in his honor Friday hosted at the president’s campus house by new Harvey Mudd president Henry Riggs and his wife, Gayle. The invitation was a fold-up paper shuttle.

ALADDIN: We haven’t seen it, but we’re told the Nine O’Clock Players’ production of “Aladdin” at the Assistance League Playhouse, 1367 St. Andrews Place, Hollywood, is captivating. Performances continue Saturday and next Sunday. Tickets are $5. The Players are giving Thursday performances for the handicapped and socially disadvantaged. Judith Hally plays Aladdin. Dolly Ruegg heads the production staff.

PAST TENSE: Gale Hayman hosted a dinner party at Trumps for her longtime chum and house guest Marian Javits, widow of the late New York Sen. Jacob K. Javits.