Benefit Turns San Diego Intersection Into Yesteryear

A brief gun battle broke out Sunday afternoon at 4th and Island avenues, but since the mock Wild West shoot-out was simply an attraction of the “Magic of Yesterday” fund-raiser, visitors to the Gaslamp Quarter continued calmly on their weekend strolls through the historic district.

Several hundred of them did stop to enjoy the amusements at the daylong, Victorian Era-themed street fair, which benefited the Vista Los Ninos Education Center for Autistic Children. A few participants walked a mile to straddle the humps of an unusually friendly camel named Sheik, who took riders for brief tours of Island Avenue; most took in the Punch and Judy show, the cancan dancers and the trio of bands that provided a sense of the bustle and life of the district a century ago, when it was known as Stingaree and was shunned by respectable burghers and their families.

The street fair was given as a general admission prelude to a gala auction and dinner for benefactors and underwriters of the event, which raised funds specifically for the repair of the roof at the San Diego special education center for the autistic. This smaller party, given in the courtyard and dining room of the Horton Grand Hotel, also celebrated what the hotel likes to call its 103rd anniversary, a generously broad figure that takes in the actual age of the two buildings that were combined into the hotel, which opened for business as the Horton Grand just four years ago. The gala attracted about 100 guests, several of whom obliged the event and its planners by raiding attics and costume shops for Victorian gowns, feathers and tail coats.

Chairman Phyllis Parrish said the Victorian theme was a natural for the reconstructed hostelry, and carried it out with such details as an antique show and auction and a buffet supper that included such Victorian favorites as rotelli pasta in sauce Mornay. Alma Spicer, who was host to the first Los Ninos auction 20 years ago, when the school had but six students (it now serves more than 70, as well as many adult clients), served as co-chair and donated the 300 pounds of prime Oregon beef that sold as one of the auction’s more sought-after items.

The donation came naturally to Spicer, who with her husband, Bill, retired several years ago to a ranch near Medford, Ore., at which the couple breeds show-quality Simmental bulls. Alma Spicer, long a doyenne of San Diego society and the chair of many human care-related benefits, now describes herself as “a simple Oregon farm girl,” a demurral that causes old acquaintances from the fund-raising circuit to chuckle in polite disbelief.

The guest list included Dottie and David Garfield, Gloria and Charles Melville, Dian Peet, John Parrish, Donald and Kay Stone, Leonor Craig, Harriett and Dick Levi, Louarn Fleet, Robert and Carol Tuggey, and Rose Mary Taylor.

By the time the Soviet Arts Festival arrives this October, Faberge eggs--the jeweled creations crafted by Carl Faberge for the Russian Imperial court, which now fetch prices in excess of $2 million each--probably will have become the motif of half the galas and benefits in town.

Saturday’s “From Russia With Love,” staged by the Multiple Sclerosis Brunch Society for 600 guests at the Santa Fe Depot, featured faux Faberge eggs. Brunch Society spokeswoman Barbara Kramer said since insurance on the genuine articles was a tad too high for the group’s budget, the gilded oval imitations were whipped up by the ambiance committee.

Not every party can claim the services of an ambiance committee, but few parties have the special needs of the events given semi-annually by the Brunch Society, which at its formation in 1982 actually did sponsor dressy mid-day fund-raisers but now hosts black tie evening mixers for some of the county’s more eligible singles. At spring events, men purchase tickets that include the right to invite--anonymously, at least in theory--two women, and in the fall, the women return the favor. Many Brunch Society events have been given at lavish country estates, and over the years the group has raised several hundred thousand dollars for the local chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Chairman Marjorie Schwab said the committee spent three months researching Soviet arts, cuisine and entertainment through such sources as the Soviet consulate in Los Angeles. Her co-chairman, Bruce Sinykin, said “From Russia With Love” was intended as the first Soviet-themed event of a year that should see any number of them.

“We want to be the kick-off for all the social events that will come with the Soviet Arts Festival this fall,” Sinykin said. “We think we’ve created the right ambiance for it.”

Among all that ambiance were Russian folk dancers, a Russian klezmer band that played jolly perestroika music, a casino and buffet tables loaded with foods donated by area restaurants. Russian vodka was displayed in an ice carving of the Kremlin’s onion-shaped domes, which melted gently into a puddle on the train station’s tiled floor and provided yet a little more ambiance for the fund-raiser.

The event committee included Paul Argentieri, Donna Merker, Margie Mopper, Joan Burke, Rupe Linley, Richard Wright, Perette Godwin, Lynne Krepak, Cherie Stubbs, Craig Miles, Sue Whitmore, Pia Greer, Linda Durham and Christopher Scholl.