All Roads Really Do Lead to MOCA

The Scene: An art party of major proportions with Creative Artist Agency Chairman Michael Ovitz, CAA President Ron Meyer and MOCA Board Chairman David Laventhol, Times Mirror editor-at-large, hosting a private preview of the retrospective “Roy Lichtenstein” at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Wednesday. (It opens to the public Sunday.)

Who Was There: A concentration of art world and Hollywood heavies, including Sherry Lansing and Stanley Jaffe, Michael Douglas, Joel Silver, Frank Gehry, Peter Norton, Eli and Edythe Broad, Meryl Streep, Ellsworth Kelly, Thomas Krens, Bud Knapp, Al and Kathy Checchi, Irving Blum, Doug Cramer and Ames Cushing, Jim Corcoran, Ruth and Jake Bloom, Philip and Bea Gersh, Barbara Guggenheim and Bert Fields, Joe Helman, Steve Martin, Jim Goodman, Robert and Jane Meyerhoff, Margo Leavin, Larry Gagosian, Fred and Joan Nicholas, and MOCA Director Richard Koshalek and his wife, Betty.

The Buzz: Traffic patterns (“Sunset to Elevado, Elevado to Doheny, Doheny to Beverly, Beverly to MOCA in 36 minutes,” said Ed Ruscha of his route from West L.A.) and “the installation,” as they call it. Since nearly everyone there had seen the exhibit inside the spiraling walls of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, where it originated last year, the positioning of paintings was of great interest. “Whatever you do at the Guggenheim is very special, but here’s it’s more classical,” allowed Leo Castelli, one of Lichtenstein’s New York dealers.

Quoted: “If I say the odds on two big ones in a row are not very great, the earth would shake, so I won’t say that,” New York-based Lichtenstein said of his feelings about traveling to L.A., post-quake. “I still probably think California is as close to paradise as we have so far here on earth,” said Dorothy Lichtenstein, even though she and her husband arrived just in time for aftershocks.

Noted: Ovitz said, “I’m very fond of Roy. He did the painting in our atrium (at CAA headquarters) and basically moved into the building for a month and a half, so he’s part of the family.”

Overheard: “I know there must be so many people in this room I respect, but I don’t know who they are,” a hanger-on said.

Fashion Statement: Dealer Sid Felsen’s polka-dotted bow tie, a homage to Lichtenstein’s signature Ben-Day dots.