Mother Earth Puts on Big Show for Planet Hollywood

Lightning . . . camera . . . action!

Even the weather hyped it up Friday night at the opening here of the restaurant Planet Hollywood. Rain drenched the thousands who stood outside waiting for a glimpse of movie stars. Bursts of lightning and crackling thunder occasionally punctuated the night skies, seeming somewhat unreal and resembling motion-picture sound effects.

“I think this is hilarious fun, and the lightning just makes it more exciting,” said Sue Novo, 32, of Santa Ana as she stood on a rain-slick driveway in front of Planet Hollywood.

In prosaic terms, the event was simply the launching of another restaurant. But Planet Hollywood, as its name implies, harks of bigger things than just a place to eat. Relics of the motion-picture industry adorn the inside of the structure at 1641 W. Sunflower Ave. Show-biz rules.

In keeping with that movie-world motif, Planet Hollywood opened with all the fanfare of an Academy Awards evening. Rotating spotlights illuminated the night skies, and scores of flash cameras winked intermittently as VIPs or entertainment personalities entered the building.

“We have about 450 people inside, and all the guests here on opening night are by invitation only,” said Robert Earl, president of the company that owns Planet Hollywood.

Celebrities on hand included three investors in the new restaurant: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone. Many other movie stars were scheduled to be at the opening, and restaurant officials said rain-slick freeways delayed many arrivals.

Santa Ana Police Officer Bill Sweet estimated that 3,500 people stood outside the new restaurant. Several hundred were lucky enough to get bleacher seating, but most stood at the perimeter of a roped-off area. Rain didn’t dampen their enthusiasm. Although many did not have rain coats or umbrellas, they gamely stayed and cheered celebrity arrivals.

“This is really exciting,” said Jocelyn Arter, 21, of Irvine. “It reminds me of what old-time Hollywood looked like--the front of this building and everything. I love being star-struck.”

Inside Planet Hollywood, a lively rock band played and Hollywood souvenirs decorated the walls, including earrings worn by Madonna in the movie “Dick Tracy.”

The restaurant, in the South Coast Plaza Village shopping center, is a $6-million conversion of a Reubens Steakhouse.

Opening of Planet Hollywood became Act One in a drama involving Orange County as a new venue for entertainment-hype eateries. Act Two comes on Nov. 9, when a Hard Rock Cafe opens in Newport Beach’s Fashion Island. The Hard Rock chain memorializes pop music, which often has a direct Hollywood angle--as in Elvis Presley.

Business officials have thus predicted a head-to-head battle in Orange County between the two new entertainment-themed eateries. The battle is going to be especially tense because of the on-going economic recession, according to restaurant analysts.

But none of that seemed to be on the crowd’s mind on Friday night. Times staff writer Ann Conway contributed to this story.