A Bowl of Cheeries : Center Backers Journey to Fireworks Concert

Mouthwatering dinners and premium seats--the fruits of impeccable taste and great connections-- were on the agenda for members of the Performing Arts Fraternity last Thursday when they got a head start on the Fourth of July with a Fireworks Concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

Jim Grant had the taste. A gourmet who is the social chairman of the only all-male support group of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Grant chose Patina, L.A.’s No. 1 watering hole, to whip up the group’s picnic supper: Caesar salad with aged Parmesan cheese, roasted farm chicken and apricot tart with almond sauce.

Erich Vollmer had the connections. As executive director of the Orange County Philharmonic Society, Vollmer has friends with access to some of the best box seats at the bowl, a commodity so cherished “they’re often a premium consideration at divorce hearings,” he joked.

“Thanks to Erich, we had our pick of seats,” said fraternity President Gene Hoggatt. “We chose these last January.”

They weren’t front-row center. They were better: center and about 30 rows back.

“We chose them for their panoramic view--all the better to see the fireworks,” said Hoggatt, who has enjoyed box seats at the bowl for 20 years. (“My wife, Shirley, and I dine at the bowl a la William Randolph Hearst,” Hoggatt said. “Crystal stemware and paper plates.”)

The first-class event was just pleasure-as-usual for members of the fraternity, a group of about 80 local businessmen--Fluor Corp.’s Les McCraw and IBM’s Marty Sunde, among them--who annually pay $1,500 dues to the Center.

“The Los Angeles Music Center has a group like ours and they have a waiting list of eight to 10 years,” said Grant. “We try to do things that are unique, not generally available to the public.” There have been gourmet train rides to San Diego. Summer parties in members’ homes. And post-performance parties with Center cast members.

Wives or girlfriends are invited to the affairs, with one exception: the group’s annual, black-tie gourmet dinner (staged in recent years at the Robert Mondavi Wine and Food Center and the now-defunct Rex restaurant).

“I don’t mind that we’re not invited to those,” said Joanne Grant. “We go to all of the others.”

Hoggatt, a real estate developer, is looking for new members. “We’d be very happy with a 100 to 125 membership,” he said. “And we’re very proud of the fact that, this year, our donations to the Center will pass the $1-million mark.”

On Thursday about 50 fraternity members met at the entrance to the Center before they boarded the sleek bus that would whisk them to the bowl.

As they climbed aboard, Center staff member Milly Muzzy passed out paper Uncle Sam hats filled with chilled white wine and packages of salted peanuts. “These will help the trip go quickly,” she said.

Once inside the bowl, the trick was figuring how to set up the little red dinner tables that hung on the wall of each box seat. “We ordered these specially for tonight,” said attorney Mitchell Samuelson, grimacing as he snapped his table into place.

“Hmmm,” Samuelson added, checking out the table’s noticeable tilt, “looks like I’m going to be dining downhill tonight.”

With plastic flutes filled with a crisp 1990 Chardonnay, fraternity members toasted their country before enjoying the concert that featured the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Michael Feinstein and Rosemary Clooney.

“How I love this music,” said Joan Samuelson, after hearing Clooney and Feinstein team up for “Of Thee I Sing,” “Strike Up the Band” and “I Can’t Get Started” (a number introduced by Bob Hope, who was in the audience.)

“What would life be without music?”

What indeed.

The Buzz: Restaurateur David Wilhelm’s new restaurant at the IBM building in South Coast Metro area of Costa Mesa will be called Diva. Wilhelm had wanted to dub it Blonde, but that name was nixed by the powers-that-be. It was sexist, some thought.

“I just liked the sound of the word,” Wilhelm said. “It really had nothing to do with women.” (Sure, David). But Diva has a better ring, don’t you think? And heaven knows, a lot of local social types will be right at home with that name. . . . Another cafe society tidbit: Looks like Roxbury South will hole up at what used to be the Old Courthouse Restaurant in Santa Ana. Watch for an opening sometime this summer.

Still another tidbit: The old Amen Wardy boutique at Newport Center Fashion Island has been torn down to make way for a new Hard Rock Cafe.

Cartier at South Coast Plaza is staging a luncheon and reception at the Center Club on July 23 for the Guilds of the Orange County Performing Arts Center. The names of the models and stores that will participate in the Guilds’ Center of Fashion on Sept. 25 in Segerstrom Hall will be announced at the event.

FYI: The Guilds has tightened up on who may model in the show, which features members. Seems some of the local businesswomen who have donated their time to the event during the past two years have not received an invitation to return this year. Unless they tried out.

“I just don’t have the time to try out,” laments one businesswoman who modeled like a pro at the last two shows.