A Glittering Inaugural at Paladion
Saturday’s charity assault on the new Paladion center downtown may not have been quite as meticulously planned as the landing on Omaha Beach, but parallels could be drawn.
In the eyes of at least half of the 1,200 guests (or 1,100, or 1,500--no one from the Paladion management to the caterer to the beneficiary, the Costume Council of the San Diego Historical Society, seemed to have a firm count) this fortress of haute retailing approximated the size of the gem in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” and was as worthy a prize.
Battle cries rent the air as the crowd spilled through the Front Street and First Avenue entrances. Blood-thrilling war whoops like “Gucci!” and “Tiffany!” reverberated off the marble walls as the La Jollans circled the atrium court, while a small party led by prominent members of Old San Diego shouted “Remember Marston’s!” as they charged off in the direction of Alfred Dunhill.
Equipment included the white Paladion shopping bag issued each woman (men were forced to go into combat bare-handed) as she entered. Through the evening, each was drilled and drilled in the use of
that bag until, weighted down by full sacks and nourished only by rations of pasta and Caesar salad, they came together as a group that could proudly describe itself as a precision shopping team. And that was the whole point of the exercise.
Developer Walter Smyk and the glamorous corps of merchants he assembled for this select pavilion of commerce did, in fact, pull off the cleverest of coups by providing what could only be described as a training exercise in shopping, given less than 48 hours before the stores--the roster includes Cartier, Nina Ricci and Salvatore Ferragamo, among other international heavyweights--would open for regular business.
Each shopping bag contained an envelope of coupons redeemable for gifts at the shops, which meant that savvy guests made the rounds and saw all the merchandise while collecting shoe-patterned scarves at Ferragamo, blue-and-white ceramic boxes at Tiffany, letter openers at H. Stern (the prestige jeweler from Rio de Janeiro) and zippered leather cases at Mark Cross. In the lingo of the evening, these costly chachkas quickly and universally became known as “goodies.”
The mood of the evening could only be described as one of delight, an emotion rare, perhaps, at a commercial opening, but inspired very much by civic pride.
“San Diego is in the big time now,” avowed one broadly smiling guest. “This city finally has come of age. We’ve finally got the trappings of a big city. We no longer have to go to Los Angeles and New York to find the best.” Generally speaking, this was not a crowd to be awed by fancy shopping--most of it has plenty of experience in that department--but it was impressed to see G Street added to the international list of premiere shopping thoroughfares on which virtually all the Paladion shops operate, districts with names like Bond Street, Rue de Rivoli, Place Vendome, Fifth Avenue, Via Veneto, Rodeo Drive, Via Montenapoleone, Michigan Avenue and the Ginza.
Kay Porter, co-chair of the opening night festivities and a member of an old-line San Diego family, said, “All this really is so terribly exciting. We’ve seen people window-shopping for several days, which is something that hasn’t happened in downtown San Diego for lo, these many years.”
“San Diego’s never seen anything like this before,” added gala chair Ann Jones. “This is great for the city and great for the Costume Council.” The beneficiary actually kept a low profile during the evening, which unquestionably showcased the Paladion and its merchants, but the council did benefit from the immense turnout and the fact that developer Smyk underwrote the party. According to Costume Council President Judith Smith, the event netted more than $100,000 for the San Diego Historical Society branch, which maintains about three thousand garments and accessories dating from the early days of San Diego to the 1950s. Council literature says that the collection “opens a window into the past of the quiet, sleepy seaside community that has grown to become the sixth-largest city in America.”
Smyk’s first comment on the spectacle was “I want to get a Dunhill tuxedo,” but in a more reflective tone he summed up the comments made by many guests through the evening. “This is just one more step in San Diego becoming what it really is, a big city in the process of becoming a wonderful city.”
Other guests questioned whether the current economic climate would prove propitious for the merchants, but the general mood seemed to be, “Recession be damned!” This attitude was stoked by the fashion show, madly extravagant in its offerings and unusually racy for San Diego, that the shops co-produced in the Ivy Court, a fountain-centered lounge at the bottom of the building’s four-story atrium. The first segment, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” brought out a mob of models dressed identically in the “little black dresses” favored by Audrey Hepburn in her role as the movie’s lead character, Holly Golightly; all the better, of course, to show off the the ransom in Tiffany gems that sparkled on every throat, wrist and finger.
Rival jeweler Cartier actually upstaged this scene by re-robing the models in black body suits, covering their faces with cat masks made of white feathers, then pinning jewels everywhere; the effect was like jewelry displayed against a particularly sinuous sort of black velvet. The Alfred Dunhill shop, meanwhile, caused a sensation by sending out a troupe of male models in silk boxer shorts and vivid dressing gowns.
Not quite surfeited by fashion, perhaps, but hungry nonetheless, the crowd gradually made its way up the escalators to the food stations on the upper floors and roof, where the Sheraton Harbor Island catered a supper in the rooms soon to be occupied by a branch of Milan’s Bice restaurant. Other rooftop spaces were turned into nightclubs, one occupied by the Benny Hollman Orchestra and the other by Ruby and the Red Hots.
Principals from many of the shops attended, including Massimo Ferragamo, youngest son of famed shoe designer Salvatore; Alfred Dunhill President Richard Dunhill; Cartier chairman Ralph Destino; Gucci chairman Domenico De Sole and family scion Maurizio Gucci, and William Chaney, chairman of Tiffany, who brought along his chief designer, Elsa Perretti. Several local merchants who will be in direct competition with the Paladion attended, including Kelly Cole, manager of the Neiman Marcus store, and Jeanne Larson of The Collector jewelry stores, who wore more than a few of her own diamonds and tourmalines.
The crowd also included ITT chairman Rand Araskog, Mary Smyk, Linda and Frank Alessio, Jeanne Brace, Mary and Dallas Clark, Louise and Steve Davis, Barbara and Ed Malone, Ann and Robert Gallagher, Lynn and Douglas Mooney, Dolly Poet, Marsha and Mike Sewell, Virginia and Jack Monday, Coolley and Don Carley, Marie and Merrel Olesen, Jane and John Murphy, Barbara Iredale, Liz and Chris McCullah, Rita and Joe Neeper, Judi and Dick Freeman and Kathryn and Michael Murphy.
