THE BIRTHDAY TRIATHLON—- FROM REDSTONE TO “E.T.†AND “THE INSIDERâ€
Showers of champagne, flowers, martinis and red velvet cake rang out across the city starting with the bottle of Perrier-Jouet Rose Champagne boxed in a beautiful Choinserie container. That served as the invitation to Irena Medavoy’s 50th birthday party hosted by Lynda and Stewart Resnick at their home. Live piano music serenaded friends including Sumner and Paula Redstone, Peter and Megan Chernin, Rita Wilson Hanks, Wendy and Leonard Goldberg, Victoria Hopper, Michael Black, Sharon and Arnie Messer, Ernie and Danielle Allman Del, Lyn and Norman Lear, Nancy Daly Riordan, Arianna Huffington and Irena’s posse of beloved girlfriends. There was a magnificent formal sit-down dinner, lots of laughs, and toasts of love.
Just three nights later, the girl posse moved to Sur Restaurant on Robertson to celebrate the birthdays of Cheryl Woodcock, reporter for “E.T†and “The Insider,†and Dagny Hultgreen Dubelko, former anchor of “E! News Daily.†Sur is a restaurant very much like a private club owned by Guillermo and Nathalie Zapata and Lisa and Ken Todd, who own ten restaurants in England. The restaurant’s décor is like a Zen spa, the food is divine, and it is HOT. Recent guests include Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, Penelope Cruz, Naomi Watts and Demi Moore. Joining Irena, Dagny, Cheryl and myself were Danielle Allman Del, Julie Araskog, Alexandra Dwek (just back from two months in the South of France), and Fabienne Guerin.
A GREAT BIG THANK YOU TO Dr. Tom and Mrs. Ellen Calcaterra for their extreme generosity in donating $2 million to UCLA to fund the Thomas C. Calcaterra M.D. Recruitment for Head and Neck Surgery Chair at UCLA. Tom practiced at UCLA for 35 years, and is professor emeritus. Tom and Ellen want to ensure that top head and neck surgeons will continue to be recruited to UCLA.
CONGRATULATIONS TO VICKI REYNOLDS, four-time mayor of Beverly Hills just elected to the board of directors of KCET and their Education Committee. “My maternal grandmother came here from
Eastern Europe and had no money. She spent her life giving back to Israel,†said Vicki. “My father told me that the value in having means was in helping others. I have always been interested in the arts.â€
Indeed she has. It was Vicki Reynolds who came up with the idea of turning the old Beverly Hills Post Office on Canon into a theatre and community arts center. It is now known as the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and Vicki has almost single-handedly raised all the money for the project. She has also been a trustee of the Calif. Summer School for the Arts since 2002.
Sue Cameron, formerly a columnist with 213 and The Hollywood Reporter, writes a monthly column covering people, places and things of interest.
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