Swank Surprise May Be in Store for Downtown

Campton Place is this year’s swellest spot to overnight elegantly in San Francisco. Quel surprise then to sight Bill Wilkinson, Campton Place’s president, in Los Angeles last week--and having serious talks about setting up a similar swank hotel here. No firm word until Wilkinson finishes talking, but the hint was that it will be downtown.

Mark April 10 at the Century Plaza, the date of the $10,000-per-table dinner for Republican Sen. Pete Wilson. Longtime GOP dinner organizer Joyce Valdez says she’s anticipating a $1-million-net event--and she’s known for knowing how to count.

Ticket sales--even for an incumbent U.S. senator--don’t move without a little help. Pre-sale luncheons--at which those tickets are moved--have been hosted by Northrop’s Tom Jones, Irvine’s Donald Bren (today, at the Regency Club), Arco’s Robert O. Anderson and another co-hosted by Holmes Tuttle, Charles Cook, Randolph Stockwell. Palm Springs’ Howard Marguleas is holding his pre-sale in Leonard Firestone’s home--with the famous next-door neighbor, former President Gerald R. Ford, set to stop by.

Longtime Reagan buddy Sue Cummings along with bipartisan specialist Jerry Weintraub are also set to host a lunch.

Weintraub earlier this week gave a party at his Beverly Hills home for table buyers and sponsors for Mayor Tom Bradley’s March 26 dinner. Weintraub and Sandy Moss are the dinner chairpersons, with “special thanks going to the Hollywood Women’s Political Committee.”

The night after the Wilson black-tie dinner, the heads of major studios and folks such as Jack Valenti will gather at the home of longtime Democrat Lew Wasserman for yet another party for the Republican senator.

When Bob Hope--who left England at 4, when “I knew I would never be king”--turns 82 in May, he’ll return home and be joined for his televised birthday celebration by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

The new anti-nuclear nonpartisan Pro Peace--set to be formally announced in April--has had little trouble getting its bank account operating. Hollywood heavy-hitter Paul Newman came in early with a five-figure donation. And, among those attending the Tuesday night party at writer/director Colin Higgins’ home were co-hosts Paula Weinstein, Lisa Weinstein and Marilyn and Alan Bergman. Also, Barbra Streisand with Richard Baskin, agent Sue Mengers, Donna Mills and Elliott Gould. One can also spot Streisand and former husband Gould shopping in Richard Mulligan on Melrose. Both for Americana, but certainly, not together.

AMONG THE EMPLOYED: Now there is a replacement for the Washington guessing game of ‘Where does Mike Deaver go when he leaves the White House this spring?’ It seems as though Burson-Marsteller is really the PR firm. Now the game is, “What countries will Deaver bring along to represent as clients?”

Christie’s in New York will shortly announce the acquisition of the services of socialite Terry Stanfill becoming their representative here in much the manner of Anne Ford Johnson, now moved to New York.

Rona Barrett, due back on radio April 15, is also planning to return to TV. First, though, she’ll “co-publish and executive-edit” a periodical called “Coming Attractions,” now distributed solely to videocassette retailers. Barrett promises “the ‘TV Guide’ of the cassette world.”

The Board of Governors of the Community Colleges, with more than one million students and a $1.5-billion budget, is searching for a new chancellor for the statewide system. At least a dozen applicants are being interviewed and the governors have signed up the giant head-hunting firm of Korn/Ferry (which married the Olympics and Peter V. Ueberroth). Board President George Kieffer points out that 40% of the students who eventually graduate from the UC and the Cal State systems start out in community colleges, and he points to some famous former community college students--such as former U.S. Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal, writer Joan Didion, pro football czar Pete Rozelle and California Secretary of State March Fong Eu.

WELCOME TO L.A.--The San Francisco 49ers, joining dozens of local sports and screen celebrities Saturday in the annual Friends of McLaren Hall Day, put together by Stacey Winkler and Nancy Daly.

Former U.S. Sen. Howard Baker, this week, for his first meeting as a board member at MCA.

Shirley MacLaine, home to be honored at the Dance Gallery benefit March 27--D.G. devotee Barbara Bain explaining, “Shirley’s heart has always been in dance.” Legs, too.

Gerry Ferraro, to keynote the MECLA (Municipal Elections Committee of Los Angeles) black-tie dinner at the Century Plaza Saturday, March 16. Also on the agenda are awards by the gay-rights group to KABC’s Bill Press and Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy and Assemblyman William J. Filante (R-Greenbrae). The night before, she talks to a $125-a-head crowd, with the cash going to Norman Lear’s People for the American Way.

And Rep. Ed Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat, to play croquet and raise money for his reelection, at the so-called First Annual Ed Markey Celebrity Croquet Classic in the Malibu Colony Sunday.

Apparently not passing through is returned native son Mickey Kaus, now doing regular from-the-West-Coast reporting for the New Republic, while writing a book on the Democratic Party from the neo-liberal angle.

Formerly of “All My Children,” Emmy-winning actress Dorothy Lyman is expecting a new one of her own. The proud papa, she tells us, is Vincent Malle, a movie producer and brother of film maker Louis. Even though Dorothy has a new pilot going and, with help from buddy, antique-hound Julia Winston, is putting together a house here, the baby will be born in France. The baby’s aunt is Candice Bergen. And if that doesn’t sound like old-time Hollywood glamour, what does?

The junior former Gov. Edmund G. Brown was in Trumps last week with still-steady Pamela Fong. They apparently can’t get enough of chef Michael Roberts’ food, because they spent a recent Sunday chowing down esoteric pancakes in his dining room with the chef and Daniel Adams. That day, Pamela helped cook while Jerry chatted about his favorite subject--computers.