‘We don’t want to sound whiny, but we feel that we’re being abused. It’s very upsetting.’ : PGA Crowds Are Teeing Off Some Riviera Neighbors

The buses start rolling in about 6 a.m., belching diesel as they wind through the posh neighborhood. By day’s end, thousands of spectators--some drunk and unruly--pass through the tree-lined streets that hug the Riviera Country Club.

Those who live in this nook of Pacific Palisades are trying to cope with the onslaught. One woman tried earplugs. Another rearranged her schedule to avoid traffic. Others left town.

Welcome to the Professional Golf Assn. championship--that is, the part you won’t see on national television. More than 100,000 fans are packing this week’s tournament, which concludes Sunday.

Boosters speak of a historic event, insisting the prestigious PGA--one of four major golf tournaments held worldwide each year--will help brighten Los Angeles’ battered image.

But many homeowners who live in the shadow of the club aren’t biting.

The steady stream of buses, late-night delivery trucks and round-the-clock construction, they say, have turned their lives upside down.

“We’ve given up sleeping for a week,” said Florence Irving, whose home sits at ground zero, next to the entrance where buses packed with fans unload every few minutes. “I am kooky from sleep deprivation.”

While some who live around the Riviera are thrilled that the PGA has come to town--calling the event a trophy for the country club--more than a few homeowners in these hills aren’t happy about the invasion of their privacy. Celebrities and executives pay big money for lavish homes where the worst annoyance most days is the buzz of the gardener’s lawn mower.

Recognizing the potential for trouble--and aware of traffic jams caused around the Riviera in the past by the annual L.A. Open golf tournament--Los Angeles officials have devised an elaborate traffic plan.

Extra parking enforcement officers have been dispatched to the streets around the club to enforce a city law that makes it a misdemeanor to park on a front lawn. Violators could face a maximum six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Parking also is prohibited on most streets around the club, and all spectators are bused in from parking lots miles away.

But the plan has its critics. Some say the buses are intolerable.

“We don’t want to sound whiny, but we feel that we’re being abused,” said Meri Bender, president of the Brentwood-Riviera Homeowners Assn. “It’s very upsetting.”

PGA organizers say they are trying to address the trouble.

“Any problems in the neighborhoods are a No. 1 priority,” said Dick Caruso, a Riviera member and general chairman of the tournament. “We’re not going to satisfy everyone, but we’re trying our best.”

Boosters say the complaining homeowners miss the point. The PGA tournament is a historic and prestigious event, they say, one that is good for the local economy.

Hordes of tanned and moneyed spectators are flocking through the Palisades for the event, each paying $50 to $75. Restaurants are packed. Cabbies are scrambling. Even the scalpers outside the club are doing a brisk business.

“The place is jumping,” said Michael Lynch, a Riviera member hosting golf buddies from Dublin and Mexico City for the occasion. “It’s enormous. My mother in Ireland is watching.”

Inside the club, the caviar-and-wine set is spending its days in “corporate chalets”--air-conditioned circus tents set up for big businesses looking to treat big clients to a good time.

More than 800 journalists are covering the event, beaming it to 52 countries including places as remote as Mongolia and Oman.

Indeed, organizers say, the PGA tournament also is important to the Riviera, one of Los Angeles’ most storied country clubs that has counted scores of luminaries--including Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Humphrey Bogart--as members.

“It’s a great honor and privilege to host the PGA,” said Lynch, the Riviera member hosting out-of-town guests. “It reflects on us all that our club would be selected.

Some are happy to see the PGA because it gives them an excuse to party--in style.

Sandy and Charles Reed have invited 140 close friends to watch tomorrow’s big finale from the comfort of their home overlooking the 18th hole.

The couple rented three shuttle buses to ferry their guests from a parking lot a few miles away. The affair is being catered--finger sandwiches to start, followed by grilled hot dogs, pasta salad and ice cream.

Simple but elegant.

“And of course, a great big bar,” Sandy Reed said. “We’ll eat, drink and meet old friends.”