SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY: Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and...

SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY: Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and aides flew in style over the weekend in a private jet chartered by the Irvine Co. when they traveled south to discuss the bankruptcy with Orange County officials. The jet is operated by a firm owned by Donald Bren, Irvine Co. chairman, and the meeting was held at the Corona del Mar home of company Executive Vice President Gary Hunt. “You do what you have to do to make it work,” says one company insider about the flight. “It was important to have a face-to-face meeting. And that’s what it took.”

TIGER BY THE TAIL? It’s not your usual fund-raiser at El Rancho Middle School in Orange Wednesday and Thursday nights. International magician Steve Spellman will make a tiger disappear on stage. Which made district board members want reassurances that there will be no tiger escape. They were reassured enough to approve. Besides, the tiger is de-clawed. . . . And, just to be safe, the district--and Spellman--have million-dollar insurance policies as a backup.

MAKING IT WORK: Ed Andrews of Tustin was an aerospace engineer who loved taking pictures. He decided to combine his passion for photography with his work. He became a professional photographer--specializing in engineering and construction projects. “My engineering background opens the doors,” he says. Andrews has made it such a success that he’s featured Saturday at 10 a.m. on KTLA-TV’s “Making It! Minority Success Stories.”

CAN YOU TATOU? Can even a bankrupt Orange County show up Beverly Hills? Tatou, a Beverly Hills supper club known for its celebrity patronage, closed Monday--to reopen April 15 near Disneyland in Anaheim (at the former Cattleman’s Wharf restaurant). “Beverly Hills is a nice community, but a sleepy community, and an older community,” says Tatou’s Mark Fleischman. “Orange County is thriving. Just because one guy messed up on the bond issue doesn’t mean there isn’t money.”