RSVP / THE SOCIAL CITY : Truly an Instrumental Gift

Ever successful, the Pasadena Junior Philharmonic Committee will proudly present another check--for $230,000--to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Assn. on Friday at the Music Center. It’s the second installment from last year’s Pasadena Showcase House of Design. Earlier, $400,000 was given. The $630,000 total elates Mona Mapel, benefit chairwoman, Betty Rossiter, president last year, and new president Susan Clayton. The annual benefit has raised just under $6.3 million over 31 years.

Handsome Affair: Tall, stately Hubert de Givenchy, Paris fashion icon (he recently presented his final couture collection there), greeted guests at a tea at L’Orangerie, and “Isn’t he handsome?” was whispered nonstop.

Givenchy came officially to announce that noted American hotelier Rose Narva will be proprietor of the Givenchy Hotel and Spa in Palm Springs. It opens late this month, and the pampering programs on the 15-acre paradise nestled against the San Jacinto Mountains will be identical to those at the Givenchy Spa at the Trianon Palace in Versailles.

Narva is a natural for the job. She has restored and operated four venerable establishments in the nation’s capital: the Hay-Adams, the Jefferson, the Carlton and the Wardman Tower at the Sheraton.

When Givenchy got up to speak, he acknowledged his longtime Los Angeles friends Janet Thompson Hovis and Carolina Barrie. Hovis recalled that she and her mother met couturier Jacques Fath in 1947 while sailing on the Queen Mary to Europe. Later, Fath invited them to a party, where they met Givenchy. Hovis’ mother invited Givenchy to visit Beverly Hills, and Hovis remembers driving him in a Cadillac to Palm Springs when she was 18.

More sipping tea were Jean Smith, Meredith MacRae Neal, Jayne Berger, Mary Jane Wick, Rhonda Fleming, Lee Minnelli and Cyd Charisse.

We hear Monsieur Givenchy himself created the tableware, robes, exercise outfits and jogging clothes for the spa. Michelin “two-star” chef Gerard Vie will create the cuisine.

Cheers: The Beaujolais nouveau from France and the Provencal cuisine prepared by Alain Giraud of Citrus, in concert with other leading chefs, made “La Grande Affaire 1995: An Evening in Cannes” a winner for the California Hospital Medical Center.

Tom Decker and Andrea Van de Kamp co-chaired the noisy affair. “The auction raised $72,500,” said Van de Kamp, “and can you imagine what we could have made if they [the audience] could have heard us.”

It was a happy lot: Keith and Joan Renkin, Rob and Joan Blackman, Joy Fein, Sam and Mary Helen Bell, Shel and Sandy Ausman, Patty and Charles Hathaway, Bill Wood, Dean and Nancy Ziehf, Sam and Florestine Biggers, John and Jacqueline Holly, Janice and Neil Harrison, Paul and Sherrill Colony.

French, Too: Champagne, a bistro dinner, a Parisian stage revue and dancing under the stars at Hope Ranch put an elegant touch on the Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera board’s “An Evening on the French Riviera,” headed by Betty J. Stephens. Among supporters: Stewart and Katherine Abercrombie, Richard and Marguerite Berti, Stephen and Jean Crossland, Paul and Leslie Ridley-Tree.

Elsewhere on the Social Circuit:

* Almost 850 guests attended the Women’s Guild of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s world premiere of “Nick of Time.” Chairwoman Beverly Firestein says the event will net $250,000 . . . Chandler School raised $79,000 at the “Toy Story” premiere at El Capitan Theatre.

* The United Liver Assn. celebrated a 10th anniversary at the Beverly Hills Hotel and honored Jim Moret and Sybil Brand . . . United Hostesses’ Charities honored P.K. Shah at a dinner at the same hotel . . . Jennifer Lowland chaired Starlight Foundation’s sports-celebrity auction, hosted by Nautica, GQ and Bullock’s . . . Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth and trustees of St. John’s Hospital and Health Center Foundation dedicated the Soni and Hobart McAlister Perinatal Center with a tea.

* Keeping Up: Carl Reiner’s theory and book “Continue Laughing” had luncheon-goers at the John Wayne Cancer Institute Auxiliary affair chuckling . . . Wow! Another $500,000 grant for Methodist Hospital’s Patient Tower Campaign--this one from the Santa Anita Foundation . . . The Westside Guild of Childrens Hospital took over the Regency Club to stage a day of “holiday inspirations” with ideas on cuisine, tea, morning coffee, flowers, home decorating . . . The Southern California Council of the National Museum of Women in the Arts lunched at Rockenwagner’s with Teri Solomon in charge. The event was a fund-raiser for future exhibits of women artists . . . Mount Associates, substantial givers to Mt. St. Mary’s College, brought their children to a benefit dinner at the Petersen Automotive Museum.

* Step Up on Second’s executive director Susan Dempsay turned 60--but there was no party; instead, to honor her, donors are giving to the Step Up endowment fund . . . The Downtown Women’s Center took over the Stadium Club at Dodger Stadium for a benefit dinner . . . Hispanics for L.A. Opera were invited to the wine reception and opera recital at the home of Consul General of Mexico Jose Angel Pescador and his wife, Efigenia . . . Associates of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center hosted a membership gala at Four Seasons . . . White Memorial Medical Center celebrated an evening with Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’95 at the hospital foundation’s fund-raiser.

* Ringing in the holidays: Descanso Garden hosted its holiday feast and magical light display last week . . . Los Angeles City Hall will be lit for the holidays Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. with a reception later in the City Hall Rotunda.

* Mary Lou Loper’s column is published Sundays.