When Does a Spa Make Big Splash?
Psssst! The buzz at the Center Club is that the worn-out restaurant (formerly Ambrosia) across the street from the Orange County Performing Arts Center is becoming a $7-million spa.
We’ve nailed down the facts and here’s the scoop: Patterned after the exclusive Center Club, the Spa at the Center will be for 1,400 men and women, who will be invited to join.
The initiation fee will be in the four-figure range, and monthly dues will cost about as much as 2 1/2 bottles of Dom Perignon.
The developers? C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, Prudential Insurance Co. and Leisure Development Interests of California Inc. (Yes, Henry and Renee Segerstrom will be members. Imagine unwinding in a Jacuzzi next to slim-and-trim Renee and having her tell you about her latest glamour junket.)
No, this is not going to be a sports club, with row after row of machines crowding acres of space. Oh, there will be a few machines, but the idea here is to relax, not bench-press yourself to death.
Besides the chance to Jacuzzi, members can sauna, have a facial, and when that’s completed--get their hair styled in the spa’s beauty salon.
For members who like to socialize, the Spa at the Center will feature a restaurant. “Just think of it,” said one insider who’s sure to be a member. “A person can get off work about 4, hop into a Jacuzzi, have a massage, get her hair done, dine and then hit Segerstrom Hall for an 8 p.m. performance.” (We’re sure that’s what Henry had in mind.)
Another reason the spa is bound to become one of Orange County’s hot spots: Toni Beck, currently with the Crescent spa in Dallas, will be its executive director.
The plans for development of the facility will be discussed by Segerstrom during a Valentine’s Day luncheon at the Center Club. Jeff Jones is the project’s developer.
You Coward you: Noel Coward would have loved the chic little bash South Coast Repertory tossed in its lobby on Monday night. Calla lilies bloomed on the buffet table (so did pineapple pizza from Birraporetti’s, but never mind); champagne bubbled; and to make things achingly perfect, guests convened in the theater’s Second Stage auditorium to watch vocalists John-David Keller, Teri Ralston and Aumi Katz sing some Kurt Weill and some Coward.
Keller brought the house down with lyrics from Coward’s “I’ve Been to a Marvelous Party” from “Set to Music”: “I’ve been to a mahhhvelous party,” he sang archly, “I must say the fun was intense; we all had to do what the people we knew, would be doing a 100 years hence. Dear Cecil arrived wearing armor, some shells and a black feather boa. . . . I couldn’t have liked it more!”
The idea, Keller announced, was to sing the song he knew guests would be singing after SCR’s end-of-season benefit auction bash June 22. Auction chairman Jim Henwood said the event--which will have a ‘20s theme--will feature items such as a biplane ride with picnic and a blimp ride.
The party was thrown to honor donors from last year’s auction. Among guests were SCR Guild president Michele Meyer, and those irrepressible twins, Daphne Walker and Doris Pascal, who used to perform Coward in their cabaret act.
