Event Does Right by Writers

The ultra-prime piece of real estate on Wilshire Boulevard near Rodeo Drive that once held the Gumps store seems to have been reborn as a party venue.

Most recently, United Talent Agency used it to host a reception for 400 screen and television writers. Bars were set where china was once sold and buffets laid out on the counters where the cut glass had stood.

Though it made an interesting locale for a party, what interested us most was that the event was for writers.

There was the proclamation from the City of Beverly Hills naming the occasion, “The Day of the Writer.” On the whereas list, the mayor of Beverly Hills presented as a reason for designating the day to scribes that Beverly Hills is “the city through which all scripts must pass.”

Then there was the writer who said at first he wasn’t going to attend the party because, “I couldn’t believe anyone would be doing anything for writers. I thought it was a trap.”

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This One’s the Pits: Add to the list of barbed comments on the area, an out-of-towner who visited the La Brea tar pits said: “Only in L.A. could they make a tourist attraction out of what anywhere else would be a Superfund site.”

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Purple’s Reign: Prince might have been ahead of his time in choosing purple as a trademark. It seems the combination of earth tones and purple is one of the major trends in colors.

We learned this from Leatrice Eiseman, the director of the Pantone Color Institute in New Jersey, which tracks consumer trends in color preference. Eiseman believes the increased use of earth tones (or what she prefers calling “earth-related colors”) ties in with the public’s rising concern about the environment. She points out that brown historically has a revival in times of social concern. “It’s a serious durable color,” she says. “It’s not what you’d think of as whimsical.”

Also, brown is “fantastic with purple,” which she sees getting a resurgence because of the increase in New Age religions. “Purple always been associated with spirituality,” she says.

“What you’ve got,” she says, “are two extreme opposites working together--one connected with the spiritual, the other down to earth.”

--COMPILED BY THE SOCIAL CLIMES STAFF