Hollywood: A Trip to a New Planet
The West Coast’s answer to New York’s Planet Hollywood restaurant opened in South Coast Plaza Village on Friday night with supernova-owners Sly Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis on hand to heighten the hype.
Proposed Planet Hollywoods include locations in Cancun, London and Paris. Someday Hollywood might even get one, says film producer Keith Barish (“Sophie’s Choice,” “Ironweed,” “Her Alibi”), Planet Hollywood chairman.
Until then, Southern Californians will have to drive to Santa Ana.
Thousands of umbrella-wielding fans did just that on Friday, braving the rain as they waited to see the celebrity guests.
The nasty weather hindered a timely arrival for Schwarzenegger, Willis, Demi Moore and Christian Slater, who came by helicopter, landing “in a parking lot down the street somewhere,” noted a Planet Hollywood spokeswoman. Stallone had zipped down to Orange County earlier in the day to play a game of golf.
Inside the eatery, in an environment that is as much a pop-culture museum as it is a restaurant, about 400 guests gawked at carefully displayed pieces of movie memorabilia, including the ice pick Sharon Stone wielded in “Basic Instinct,” the Harley-Davidson Stallone rode in “Rocky,” some sparkly drop earrings worn by Madonna in “Dick Tracy,” Darth Vader’s costume from “Star Wars” and a life-size model of Schwarzenegger as the “Terminator.”
“This is a place where people can get close to things they’ve only seen from a distance,” Moore said of the memorabilia. “People look at it, and it brings back the emotion they felt in a movie.”
Moore--whose nude Vanity Fair covers have become collectors’ items--covered up for the evening in a caramel and black suit-dress. Sean Young arrived in skin-tight bicycle pants edged with flared chiffon. Stevie Wonder appeared in braids and a siren-red chemise; Schwarzenegger was attired in blue jeans and snakeskin boots. And Renee Segerstrom, wife of mall mogul Henry Segerstrom (South Coast Plaza), sported a black ensemble highlighted with a diamond-studded planet-shaped pendant by Paloma Picasso.
Some not-so-famous guys strutted around the tangerine-dream colored restaurant in gold-washed leather jackets created by Tony Nowak of Santa Monica. The price tag: a hefty $1,100.
The party’s highlights: watching Bruce Willis make love to his harmonica (accompanied by his Red Devils band) and hearing Stevie Wonder bring the house down when he sang “High Heel Sneakers.”
And the food : tin after tin of beluga caviar served up with poufs of sour cream on toast points shaped like stars (what else?), a mountain of fajitas, roast ham, roast turkey, pizza, you name it.
