Not Even a Quake Could Shake Fans of the Arboretum

Looking out from lovely Tallac Knoll at the California Arboretum Foundation’s Fandango Saturday evening, the San Gabriel Mountains provided a scenic vista, white clouds hovering over them at sunset.

The day before, the underpinnings of those enigmatic structures had jostled Pasadena and surrounding cities in a 5.8 earthquake. Said Bill Plunkett of the mountains: “They’re beautiful--absolutely beautiful--and just think, they’re a little higher than when Lucky Baldwin looked at them a century ago.”

Veva McKee and Suzie Miller shuttled guests up to the Knoll, a site with oaks and grasses never cut. (Some later walked back down the hill with flashlights.) It was a stunning site for cocktails and a summer barbecue by Rococo served family style.

But for some, the two days had been hectic. Florist Jacob Maarse lost the first round of flowers he was donating for the party when bricks from the Pasadena Playhouse crushed the four-foot-high arrangements in his shop. Although his brick home in Altadena was devastated in the quake, Maarse redid the flowers and was in happy spirits.

Friends were sympathizing with Sally and Bill Wenzlau of San Marino, who brought photos of the chaos at their home. Patsy Austin, Bobbi Galpin and Evelyn Bray had equal tales.

When Fuego Flamenco dancers clicked heels, the full moon was rising and the sleepy peacocks squealed every time the audience clapped.

Everyone called it a sensational party: Foundation president Richard A. Grant Jr., who introduced Kenneth Smith, the new director of the Los Angeles County Department of Arboreta and Botanic Gardens, and his wife, Bette; Kingston McKee; Maggie and George Jagels; Martha Chandler; Ginie Braun; Alyce and Spud Williamson; Bill Whitney; Cathy Tyner; Joan and Bob Banning; Tink Cheney; Polly and Long Ellis; Alice Thomas; Louisa and Bob Miller; William Croxton; George and Mary Lou Boone; Polly Goodan and Bob Hastings.

BIG 40th: Friends of the Hollywood Bowl (formerly the Hollywood Bowl Volunteers) celebrate 40 years of support this year, and they’ll be in full force Tuesday as the Hollywood Bowl begins its 70th anniversary season.

Friends President Kathie Elowitt and opening night chair Paula Hoffman plan the traditional balloons and international flags galore. The HBV was formed by Dorothy Chandler after the Bowl went bankrupt five performances into the 1951 season. The result was a heroic “Save the Bowl” crusade to launch large parties of concert-goers and bus-to-bowl programs.

POLO FUN: U. S. Ambassador to Jamaica Glen Holden and his wife, Gloria, fly in this month for the eighth annual Golden Mallet Invitational Polo Tournament July 13 at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club. The event benefits the Assistance League’s day nursery.

ALFRESCO: Guests will be escorted to Exposition Park’s Rose Garden for a concert and alfresco dining July 27 when the California Museum of Science and Industry and the California Museum Foundation toss a “Summer Symphony in the Rose Garden.”

Dinner co-chairs Jerrold Bratkovich, Benjamin Tunnell and Christy Walters have signed up the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute Orchestra of talented 16- to 30-year-old musicians to play.

First, guests will tour the museum’s exhibitions, which include “AIDS and the Immune System.”

FETE: Patti and Tommy Skouras hosted an intimate dinner at L’Orangerie to honor Nicola and Anna Bulgari after the international jewelers debuted in Beverly Hills at the Regent Beverly Wilshire.

Invited: Veronica Bulgari; Charles and Mary Skouras; Ames Cushing and Doug Cramer; Tina Skouras; Elaine Perangelo, manager of the new Bulgari salon, and Joan and John Hotchkis.

SPECIAL: Switzerland’s ambassador to the United States, Edouard Brunner, and the Swiss Consul General, Kurt Welte, were the drawing cards for for the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising fashion show.

The show featured advanced students using only imported Swiss textiles. The preceding “Supper on the Park” benefited the FIDM Scholarship Foundation.

THE BARD: Expect a chocolate bust of Shakespeare when Citibank underwrites the opening night performance and dinner of the Shakespeare Festival/LA’s “Love’s Labour’s Lost” July 12 at the John Anson Ford Amphitheater.

KUDOS: The Quest Dinner for Prader-Willi syndrome honoring Lee Iacocca at Le Dome netted $250,000. . . .

City of Hope celebrates its 78th anniversary at its biennial convention at the Beverly Hilton July 13-15.

KICKOFFS: Co-chairs Helene Brown and Harvey Kibel expect to announce soon the entertainment headliner for the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA gala planned for Sept. 28 at the Century Plaza. . . .

Fred and Rikki Rosen hosted two breakfast meetings to kick off the T. J. Martel Foundation’s Neil Bogart Memorial Laboratories “Prom Night” benefit to be held sometime in November.

It will honor Geffen Records president Ed Rosenblatt. David Geffen and Mo Ostin are honorary chairs, and Fred Rosen and Tom Ross are benefit chairs.

NEW: The House Ear Institute dedicated its new quarters at 2100 W. Third St., Los Angeles. . . .

Beverly Hills Hadassah dedicated the Amelia and Mark Taper Hadassah House at 455 S. Robertson. . . .

More than 70 restaurateurs joined Geena Davis and Kevin Kline at Il Cielo Restaurant to introduce a charity to benefit the homeless--RUSH (Restaurants United to Serve the Homeless).

PLAUDITS: To Louise Barker, president of CARES (Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center Auxiliary for Recruitment, Education and Service), recipient of the Volunteer Center of Los Angeles Community Award. . . .

To Richard Eamer, Mitsui Fudosan and Caltech, honored at the 30th Los Angeles Headquarters City Assn. luncheon, co-chaired by Barbara Trister and Chris Martin.