Hilton a Safe Harbor for Committee

F inally , a hotel they can call home. In Orange County, a social tribe without a ballroom is like a socialite without a diamond--she can paint the town without it, but it’s a little harder to shine.

With the advent of the new Waterfront Hilton in Huntington Beach, the Huntington Harbour Philharmonic Committee--the single largest annual contributor to the Orange County Philharmonic Society--can kick up its heels without leaving home, so to speak.

The 300-room resort, just a swim away from Huntington Harbour, boasts not only an elegant ballroom but also a pool area with a surf-and-sand view, something no other major Orange County hotel can claim.

On Friday night, about 300 members of the Huntington Harbour committee schmoozed around the undulating pool, sipped something cool, and dug into a generous array of appetizers.

Guests were hard-put to believe that they were in Huntington Beach. The hotel’s structures were on either side and straight ahead: the deep-blue ocean view.

Overheard: “ This doesn’t feel like Huntington. You can’t see any oil wells!”

Ah, but an oil tanker lurked on the horizon, giving Leonard Catalano--the hotel’s catering manager--fits. “What can you do?” he asked, rolling his eyes.

If you’re Catalano, you distract guests with the Pandemonium Steel Band, a duet of dolphin ice sculptures, and enough floral exotica to camouflage the Exxon Valdez, now called the Exxon Mediterannean. You pass tulips of wine and bubbly on silver trays. And finally, you bid guests into the ballroom for dancing and a repast that includes warm duck-breast salad, lamb chop, grilled tuna, and fruit tarts drizzled with champagne sauce.

Guests included Philharmonic board president Robert Searles and Huntington Harbour Committee Chairwoman Doris Willis, attending with her husband, Dr. Burton Willis. (Holiday entertaining tip: the committee’s annual Cruise of Lights--open-to-the-public boat tours of Huntington Harbour to view homes decorated with lights--is set for Dec. 13 through Dec. 21. Proceeds to the Philharmonic Society are expected to exceed $140,000.)

Also on the party scene: Erich Vollmer, executive director of the Orange County Philharmonic Society; Philharmonic board member Bobbitt Williams with her husband, Bill; Joanne and Howard Fernbach; Joyce and Mark Weiss; Sherry and Dale Skerik and Isabel and Paul Greenwald.

On Saturday night, members of the Little Mermaid Guild--also a Huntington Beach-based group--of Children’s Hospital of Orange County helped launch the new hotel. After a pool-side reception, guests filed into the ballroom for dinner, an auction conducted by Lyle Waggoner and a surprise performance by singer-songwriter (the “Rocky” theme) Carol Conners.

Another highlight for guests: the chance to gaze upon posters up for auction that showcased the touching “Secrets” painting created by Laguna Beach artist Ivan Anderson. Each “Secrets” poster--an impressionistic portrayal of a boy and girl whispering as they walk down a path--displayed the signatures of celebrities. The party was themed “Celebration for Children.” Among guests: gala co-chairwomen Lori Bobo and Jackie Teichmann, Joyce Graham, Barbara Alter, Joyce Berneart, Ginny Bowman, Sarah Faber, Ellen Pook, Lotus Williams and Kathy Brandt, president of the Little Mermaid Guild.

Super scoops: Vice President Dan Quayle will appear at a $1,000-per-person fund-raiser for the local and statewide chapters of the GOP on Sept. 25 at the home of John and Donna Crean of Santa Ana Heights. (Imagine the Secret Service trying to safeguard the jillion nooks and crannies of the luxurious Crean “hotel”--more than 35,000 square feet of Tara-esque grandeur that, among other things eye-popping, features a dance studio, screening room, and a private apartment for the owners. . . . Talk about a social coup. The Center Dance Alliance, a support group of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, has landed the post-performance party of 1990. On Sept. 30, the group will stage a “Stars and Stripes Gala” at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel. Up for gawking: members of the super-hot New York City Ballet, including its Adonis-like master-in-chief, the Danish-born Peter Martins (There is nothing like a Dane). Guests at the $125-per-person, black-tie preferred event--which is open to the public--will enjoy cocktails at 6 p.m. (the party follows the company’s final matinee at the Center) and dinner at 7 p.m. The New York City Ballet appears at the Center from Sept. 25 through 30. During its engagement the company will perform the West Coast premiere of a work by Martins entitled “Ecstatic Orange.” How appropriate. . . . The Viba Guild of Opera Pacific is staging a bus trip to Los Angeles on Oct. 7 to see the opera “Nixon in China” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center. (John Taylor, the new director of the Richard M. Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, saw the show in New York. But he may decide to take in the L.A. production soon, says library spokesman Kevin Cartwright, who saw the production last week and claimed it interesting and confusing. Personally, I got a kick out of watching Pat Nixon arrive in China in those ‘60s-style boots we all wore. Remember?). . . .