Champagne Antics at Grand Opening to Aid Abused Kids
Development may be nearly moribund, but an interesting symbiosis will occur between two new buildings on New Year’s Eve.
One of them points to the sky, the other, it could easily be argued, to the future.
Downtown’s new Hyatt Regency San Diego, a 40-story tower with a wedge-shaped roof, will formally open that evening with a gala given partly for the benefit of the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation and its allied St. Germaine Auxiliary. These groups in turn will apply the $50,000 pledged by the hotel to the $12.5-million A. B. and Jessie Polinsky Children’s Center under construction in Kearny Mesa.
It is predicted that the center will become a model for its genre. One foundation board member recently said of it, “Unfortunately, we need this center, but at least it will be so well designed that other cities will come to see ours before they undertake building their own.”
The paper trail that will lead from the Hyatt to the Polinsky Center will commence as the mounds of confetti, streamers and other gala debris that work crews will sweep away the morning of Jan. 1, and will end as two checks written to the foundation and the auxiliary for $25,000 each by the Manchester Group, developers of the hotel. Developer Douglas Manchester and his wife, Betsy, both foundation board members, have also pledged $500,000 of their money to the center and will chair the gala.
The debris that will confront the cleaning crews could include the shattered remains of as many as 12,000 Champagne glasses if a stunt intended to capture a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records should happen to go awry. The French Champagne house of Moet and Chandon will celebrate its 250th anniversary Dec. 31 and is dispatching wine expert Robert Gordin to supervise the construction of the largest recorded pyramid of glasses in the hotel’s Manchester Ballroom.
Before the stroke of midnight, Gordin--who enjoys expert status in what surely must be one of the world’s most esoteric fields of endeavor--will mount a mechanical hoist and slash the necks off a pair of Nebuchadnezzars of bubbly. A saber will be used to perform the operation, which, perhaps not too surprisingly, is known as “sabering.”
Each of the oversized bottles holds 15 liters of Moet et Chandon, which if all goes as expected will froth merrily as it cascades over the 12,000 Champagne coupes. If not, there will be a good deal of cleaning up to do--but the party planners already have conducted experiments to ensure that vibrations from the orchestra will not transform the pyramid into the walls of Jericho.
Betsy Manchester declined to discuss the details of the gala in specifics, saying that she wanted to offer some element of surprise to the expected 1,000 guests. But the scale of the affair will be immense, in no small part owing to the surroundings; at 25,000 square feet, the Manchester Ballroom ranks as the largest hotel ballroom in the city.
Guests will ascend from the lobby on escalators flanked by 10 string musicians from the Wayne Foster Orchestra, which will field a 30-piece ensemble in the ballroom. Manchester, who chaired the 1986 Jewel Ball and at that time displayed a taste for formal elegance given a romantic twist, will decorate the room with thousands of carmine roses. She acknowledged an intention to make the evening a salute to Broadway and reportedly will give the setting a “Phantom of the Opera” mood. The tickets, priced at $200 per person, will include an overnight stay in the hotel so that, Manchester said, “Everyone can enjoy the gala without worrying.”
Securing the grand opening of a prestige development is considered a coup by most fund-raising groups around town. That the Manchesters serve on the CAPF board smoothed the way, but fellow board member and former St. Germaine Auxiliary President Kathryn Murphy said that, in this case, the added attraction of a New Year’s Eve date was an unexpected bonus.
“In April, I asked Doug Manchester if we could have the opening,” said Murphy. “The contractors had said the hotel would not be ready to open until February, which was fine with us, but Doug said, ‘I love music, I want this party on New Year’s Eve.’ So we’re thrilled that those celebrating the start of a new year will also be celebrating another happy milestone.
“We’ve already broken ground for one of the most noteworthy buildings to be built in our generation in San Diego, a new residence for the city’s children who have been innocently abused and neglected.”
The Polinsky Center is the result of an unusual private-public partnership between CAPF and the County of San Diego. The Hillcrest Receiving Home, built in 1964 and intended to house 16 youngsters from infancy through 16, now frequently accommodates 70; the county several years ago realized the need for a new facility but lacked the funds with which to build one. As a result, CAPF pledged to raise a total of $16 million, which will cover construction costs as well as a base endowment. The county donated the 10-acre site and will operate the center. About $9.2. million has been raised, including the $5-million naming gift donated by local philanthropist Jessie Polinsky.
A cluster of structures arranged on a campus rather than a single edifice, the center will include a baseball field and swimming pool; six residential cottages designed for children of various ages (and, for older youths, separation by sex); a school; a community center that will offer both recreation facilities for center residents and special events for the public, and, because CAPF is devoted to the prevention of child abuse as well as the care of abused children, the Prevention Pavilion.
This building, paid for by a donation from Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities, will house research programs and a library as well as spaces for volunteer training, county-run programs and similar endeavors.
