L.A. Is Giving the Inaugural a Run for Its Money This Month

Sure, Party Central moves to D.C. this month as the nation’s social as well as political guard changes, but there’s no shortage of hoopla on the L.A. social calendar--including some intriguing new events.

On Thursday, Michael Eisner, Bob Iger, Paul Glaser, Jennifer Flavin and Sylvester Stallone will launch Downtown Disney--located in the heart of Anaheim’s Disneyland Resort--with a premiere party from 7 p.m. to midnight. The prescribed dress code is “dynamite” for the glamorous preview to benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Tickets are $250 per person. For information, call (310) 314-1459.

Also on Thursday, the Junior League of Pasadena celebrates 75 years of service to the Pasadena community with “Swingin’ Through the Years,” a nostalgic evening at the venerable Castle Green. Special guests will be leaguers who have been members for 50 years. The league has come a long way since a handful of young socialites founded the chapter in 1926. No longer an exclusive cadre for the kid-glove/silver-spoon crowd, the organization now reaches out to all women and sponsors diverse philanthropic programs including a literacy project for families in Pasadena’s Madison School area.

On Friday, supporters of the Museum of Contemporary Art will honor two individuals who have helped shape the museum’s history: architect Frank O. Gehry and Audrey M. Irmas, chairwoman of the MOCA Board of Trustees. The alfresco cocktail bash ($500 per person) marks the opening of the new MOCA Gallery at West Hollywood’s Pacific Design Center and its inaugural exhibition, “Superflat,” a collection of works by contemporary artists working in Japan. For more information, call MOCA, (213) 621-2766.

The Pasadena Playhouse opens its 2001 season Sunday with Alan Ayckbourn’s 1970 farce on marital infidelity, “How the Other Half Loves.” Also on Sunday, renowned organist Frederick Swann will join the Los Angeles Master Chorale for a program at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. The location was chosen because of its superb organ and acoustics, says chorale director Paul Salamunovich. Highlighting the concert will be the rarely performed Mass in C-sharp minor by Louis Vierne, a work for double organ and chorus. For information, call (213) 972-7282.

Mozart’s lovable old warhorse “The Marriage of Figaro” opens at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion next Tuesday starring Richard Bernstein, whose widely acclaimed portrayal of the wily Figaro has made it his signature role. Performances continue through Feb. 3.

And get this: “A Nixon Party!”

Would we lie to you? It’s happening Jan. 17 at Fabio in Venice. Billed as a pre-inaugural celebration, the red, white and blue invitations promise “a party with Dick and the gang (with a Chinese twist) and a whole lot of presidential hoopla.” The doings are in anticipation of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s performances of John Adams’ “Nixon Tapes: Scenes From Nixon in China” scheduled for the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Feb. 2-4.

The USC community’s 20th annual commemoration of the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 18 will feature Genethia Hudley Hayes, president of the Los Angeles Unified School District, as keynoter. Actor J.J. Jones is set to emcee the event, which will include a performance by USC’s Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz Quintet; and singers and dancers from the First Church of God Christian School and the Angeles Christian Academy. The celebration begins at noon in Bovard Auditorium on the USC campus. Admission and on-campus parking are free and open to the public.

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And, as January party plans were being made, some time-honored L.A. events unfolded over the holidays:

Members of the National Charity League San Marino Chapter presented two dozen Ticktockers--they’ve completed a total of 15,000 hours of community service over the past six years--at their 38th Debutante Ball held Dec. 23 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. And on Dec. 21 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, 31 young women took a bow at the doyenne of all Southern California deb soirees, the 66th Las Madrinas Ball, to benefit the Las Madrinas Endowment in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Research at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

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Patt Diroll’s column is published Tuesdays. She can be reached at pattdiroll@earthlink.net.