In Praise of One Bowl That’s Never Empty

There’s never been any doubt about the charm of our famous Hollywood Bowl. In the early 1900s the area was known as Daisy Dell, a popular picnic site. By 1920, theatergoers, music and art lovers, nature buffs, politicians and real estate developers recognized the area’s perfect acoustics and agreed an open-air theater would be a boon to the community.

An Easter Sunrise service with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a Hollywood Community Sing, band concerts and a huge Armistice Day women’s rally for world peace were among the first events. Artie Mason Carter battled for classical music and by 1922 the Philharmonic was staging regular Symphonies Under the Stars.

Fortunately for our city, this is all noted in the newly opened and greatly expanded Hollywood Bowl Museum, renamed to honor former County Supervisor Edmund D. Edelman. It was a must visit at the Bowl opening night Tuesday and Edelman, now with Rand Corporation, and his wife, Mari, arrived early to savor the magnificent exhibition of photographs by the late Otto Rothschild--among them, Judy Garland and Leonard Bernstein, Jascha Heifetz with Vladimir Horowitz, conductors Bruno Walter and Otto Klemperer, Jeannette MacDonald, Agnes and Cecil B. DeMille.

A modest-sized crowd leisurely picnicked. Rolling Hills residents Dena and Cosmo Occipinti and Chad and Corinna Smith were an upfront foursome. So were Arletta Tronstein, Mark Buchman, Suzanne Marx and Nick Goldsborough, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Music Center. Bob and Maureen Carlson, and Michael and Diane Cornwell delved into Peggy Dark’s pork and pasta. Jack Lowrance and Richard Gaz brought out a Foxhallow 1983 Cabernet to mellow their petite Greek lamb kabobs. Priscilla and Curt Tamkin, and Mary Tyng and Wesley Ru finished on Patina’s strawberries. Bud and Barbara Hillman, and Paul and Ruth Lehman, sharing a picnic, couldn’t wait for the Mahler Symphony No. 8. “I’m here for the music,” Bud said.

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Jazzy Del Mar: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club kicks off its 57th racing season July 24. And it will be $1 million prettier thanks to winter renovations including a new sun deck for the jockey colony and 420 trees and bushes planted among the barns.

“Most of our money over the winter went toward improving the backside,” said Del Mar President and General Manager Joseph W. Harper.

Making sure everyone looks fashionable, Saks Fifth Avenue will show off racy fashions the night before the opening at a “Riders Up!” reception and show.

On opening day, Director of Racing Tom Robbins will be calling the shots.

And “Jazz at Del Mar,” the popular concerts for race-goers, will return for the sixth summer in its usual Wednesday evening spot following the races. This year it has the backing of Mercedes-Benz. Singer Diane Schuur will headline the Aug. 7 show during the track’s Pacific Classic Festival preceding the $1-million Pacific Classic Aug. 10.

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The Homestead: Not everyone can be married on the family homestead. Mary Regina Workman, however, married John Vincent Hatton this month in a nuptial Mass and celebration at the Workman and Temple Family Homestead on East Don Julian Road in the City of Industry. She’s the daughter of Mary Lou and Thomas E. Workman of South Pasadena. The Homestead Museum (the Workman house) was once a part of Rancho La Puente, a 48,790-acre Mexican land grant co-owned by the bride’s great-great-great-uncle William Workman and John Rowland. In 1841 the two men led the first organized overland expedition to settle in Southern California. Shortly after arriving, the Workmans built an adobe house, which they remodeled in 1872.

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Romance: Fred Hayman, Beverly Hills creator of the Giorgio fragrance phenomenon and official fashion coordinator for the Academy Awards, wed his longtime companion, Betty Endo (former assistant to Clint Eastwood), at her mother’s home in Roy, Utah. Now Hayman is planning a full moon garden party Sept. 28 at his ocean-view Malibu estate to honor his bride. He’ll pull out all the stops. Remember that Hayman, before his Rodeo Drive fashion fame, was a guiding force behind the Beverly Hilton when it opened and, later, the Coconut Grove.

Malibu, Too: Barbara and Frank Sinatra have been summering at their Malibu home. They celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary Thursday. Winter residents of Palm Springs, they’ve set the date for their ninth Frank Sinatra Celebrity Golf Tournament for Jan. 31 to Feb. 1 at Westin Mission Hills Spa in Rancho Mirage. Ol’ Blue Eyes and his bride have raised more than $1 billion for charity, much of it going to the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center at Eisenhower Medical Center to help physically, sexually and emotionally abused youngsters.

Elsewhere on the Social Circuit

* The South Coast Plaza Summer Food & Wine Festival brought out the steel drums and gourmet cuisine from 32 South Coast Plaza restaurants to raise funds for the Food Distribution Center and Someone Cares Soup Kitchen. The center is a nonprofit food bank that collects and distributes surplus food through a network of 280 charities. It serves 180,000 hungry people each month.

* Social Service Auxiliary presented five debutantes at its Presentation Ball at the California Club. Making it all possible were auxiliary President Diane Vogelsang, and ball co-chairwomen Eliane Berger and Bea Bennett. Patty Burschinger hosted the pre-ball tea for presentees and their mothers.

* Nancy Israel, new president of the Conejo Valley Symphony League, joined the cast of “Guys and Dolls” in a walk-on role. The occasion was New West Symphony’s benefit outing to Cabrillo Music Theater’s musical comedy production at the Probst Center of the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. Said Israel, “Give me a stage or a podium and I love it!”

* Keeping Up: The California Art Club, established in 1909, hosted its 87th annual Gold Medal Exhibition at the Los Angeles Arboretum . . . Ladies of the Ebell of Los Angeles hosted the Junior Philharmonic Orchestra’s 59th celebrity “Battle of Batons” with founder-conductor Dr. Ernst Katz and the 110-piece youth symphony . . . The California Alliance for Arts Education Awards luncheon kicked off California’s participation in a nationwide advocacy effort for arts in education . . . Pacific Asia Museum celebrated its 25th anniversary with a family day.

* Mary Lou Loper’s column is published Sundays.