At Hilltop Party, a Night for Goose Bumps
Some moments are never forgotten, like the Luminaires Juniors’ “Le Bal Masque Des Yeux” last weekend when the Hale-Bopp comet was a member of the party at Dennis Tito’s mountaintop chateau in Pacific Palisades. The event benefited Doheny Eye Institute.
Co-chairwomen Marlene Brakovich and Connie Scherer watched the comet through their glittering masks, but then abruptly turned to a serious matter--the wind. It caused auction tablecloths to billow like ships’ sails. Centerpieces were knocked down on the tennis court and removed from their high pedestals to prevent disaster.
Luminaires Juniors President Jan Thompson praised the benefit committee, which included Callie Irvin, Angela Doheny, Debra Stephens, Stephanie Murray and Liz Bishop. Camilla Shafer had to hang on to her Zoran organza outfit in the gusts, while Katherine Darnell’s gold-sheen gown just glimmered.
To ward off chill, Tori Howe (who is moving with her husband, John, to Montecito) wore white mink, and Carrie Tilton was among those in fur capelets.
Still, it was a night for goose bumps, though the Juniors had doubled their order of heaters. Keeping warm: Lizzy and Robbie Clifford, Kenneth and Robbin Morgan, Jim and Ginny Shelton, Tom Harrison, Bettina and Glenn Duval, Carolyn and John Cleator, Emily and Jeff Gardner, Scott and Jody Adair and new parents Kathleen and Adam Duncan. Michelle and Byron Roth were in the contingent from Orange County. Cheers rang out when Libby and Will Doheny won the trip to Hawaii.
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Applause: They came, they saw, they ate and they liked it. About 250 crowded the new Spago Beverly Hills at its grand opening celebrating not only the restaurant but the kickoff for the Race to Erase MS, 1997.
Kudos came first for Barbara Lazaroff (“Mrs. Spago”), who designed the interior on the theme “the flame of life,” and later during dinner for her husband, Wolfgang Puck, who was in the kitchen much of the time supervising the lobster salad, artichoke tortelloni, roasted veal, seared striped bass and chocolate souffle cakes with Dom Perignon.
“It’s wonderful, daring and exciting,” said designer Rose Tarlow, referring to the flame sconces, flame-designed carpets, and to Lazaroff’s poems etched in glass and stone. “It’s simple, yet chic,” said Tommy Hilfiger, co-chairman with Nancy Davis of the MS Race.
Bob and Kelly Day, who gave the last party at the Bistro Garden on the site of the new Spago, “expect to have many new memories here.”
Others offering compliments: Les and Nancy Moonves, Joan and John Hotchkis, Anne and Franklin Johnson, Dan Aykroyd, George and Jolene Schlatter, Barbara and Marvin Davis, Seth Baker and Dee May, Mitch Yankowitz and Ginger Grace, Quincy Jones and David Foster.
The sign-up sheets for the race were out, and Lynn Palmer, auction co-chairwoman, collected signatures. The party Nov. 14 atop the new Tommy Hilfiger store will constitute “the race,” recalling the benefit a few years ago when it included real ski races at Aspen.
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Social Agenda: Ava and Chuck Fries of Beverly Hills host cocktails next Sunday to honor patrons and artists contributing to the Center Theatre Group “Angels’ Night” on May 10 at the Century Plaza feting Neil Simon . . . Twelve-time Grammy winner Ray Charles will perform for the Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital Foundation gala Saturday at the Century Plaza Towers . . . The 40-year-old Peninsula Committee Childrens Hospital swings off on its eighth annual Nordstrom Seahorse Golf Classic on Monday with a barbecue luncheon and $50,000 hole-in-one prizes including a Mazda, a Lexus and an Acura. Barbara Moore and Betty Miller are tournament chairwomen.
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People Perfect: The Independent Colleges of Southern California has named Martha W. Hammer (recently chairwoman of the Scripps College trustees) its president and CEO . . . The Pasadena branch of the American Heart Assn. gave Dr. Vaughn Starnes its Ace of Hearts award at the Ritz Carlton Huntington . . . Harriet and Charles Luckman will be on stage for their contributions to the Child Guidance Clinic of Los Angeles Saturday at Cal State Los Angeles . . . Mimi London is hosting cocktails and a book signing Thursday for Paige Rense, former editor of Architectural Digest. Rense’s new novel is “Manor House” . . . Roger Hughes, chairman of Hughes Family Markets, receives the Dennis Day Memorial Award, and Marion Anderson accepts the Humanitarian Award Saturday at the Muscular Dystrophy Assn.’s “A Night Under the Stars” gala at the Beverly Hilton . . . The Fashion Circle of the Costume Council hosted dinner and dancing at the Four Seasons to honor St. John designer Marie Gray . . . Friends of Pacific Asia Museum gave their director of 20 years, David Kamansky, a birthday bash.
Elsewhere on the Social Circuit
Activists and members of the historic California Art Club--Peter Adams, Tim Solliday and others--have taken their easels to the plein-air sites of the proposed 710 Freeway and can be spotted painting threatened South Pasadena and its citizenry. The freeway “will make our country culturally poorer,” said Solliday.
* The American Cancer Society’s Daffodil Ball on Saturday at the Ritz Carlton Huntington honors Dr. Stuart E. Siegel, director, Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases, Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles. Fred and Donna Johnson co-chair.
* Kudos to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Cheerful Helpers, who netted $80,000 at their dinner dance . . . To Therese and Lee Mothershead, hosting the Pasadena Symphony Assn.’s post-concert party at their San Marino home . . . To the Salvation Army Sally Award winners at Universal City--Fritz Coleman of KNBC-TV, Bishop Charles Blake of West Angeles Church of God in Christ and the Riordan Foundation, chaired by Mayor Richard J. Riordan . . . To the California American Woman’s Economic Development Corp. and its singling out former Mayor Tom Bradley, Marcy Carsey, Edison International and Victoria Fullerton for entrepreneurial efforts.