At Heal the Bay’s Dinner, Talk of Making Progress--and Waves

The Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel was packed to capacity Wednesday with a passionate posse of more than 800 dedicated to cleaning up Santa Monica Bay and the coastal waters. Organizers had to turn away reservations for Heal the Bay’s ninth annual Bring Back the Beach dinner, which honored conservation heroes Erin Brockovich Ellis, Dr. Sylvia Earle and the ecology-conscious cosmetics company Kiehl’s Since 1891. Heal the Bay president Tony Pritzker and event co-chairs Nancy Akers, Lisa Boyle, Matt Hart, Thomas Unterman, Karen Waldron and Luann Williams transformed the reception area into a shore scene, complete with an authentic lifeguard station, palm trees and shark-alert signs. Environmentally friendly stars on hand included Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mimi Rogers and the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy band, which provided the entertainment.

Heal the Bay Executive Director Mark Gold’s reasons weren’t quite so delicate: “My mom took me to the placid, uncrowded waters of Mothers’ Beach in Marina del Rey. That’s how my passion for the now fecal-polluted ocean got started,” he said. “My [food critic] brother Jonathan is intrigued by food going in one end, and I seem to be fascinated by what comes out the other. Thankfully, for a man with such sophisticated interests, there was Heal the Bay.”

Gold’s humor belies the fact that he’s a devoted policy wonk who admits he’s sent countless people into comas with facts and figures over the years. “But,” he claims, “we’re making progress: Fish no longer have tumors or fin rot, the dead zone has gone away. We haven’t seen a major summertime spill in years, and California now has the toughest bathing water standards in the country.”

Pritzker said the event raised more than $600,000. “I hope the day will come when I can say, ‘The bay is clean; everybody can go home.’ ”

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I know a little bit about a lot of things. But one of them isn’t automobiles. It’s only in recent months, since gasoline prices soared, that I finally abandoned the “full serve” island. My eyes still glaze over when the discussion segues into things like rack and pinion and torque. (I just bought a new car, though, a black one . . . because it’s slimming.)

On Thursday, however, at the opening of a new exhibit at the Petersen Auto Museum, I could savvy everything. The marvelous machines on display through Sept. 24 are Hollywood icons, fantastic flivvers from the movies like Fred Flintstone’s Flintmobile, the Batmobiles I and II, James Dean’s “chopped Merc” from “Rebel Without a Cause” and James Bond’s Lotus Esprit submarine car. These are cars.

Margie and Bob Petersen and co-chairs Raylene and Bruce Meyer greeted more than 1,200 guests at the third annual Cars & Stars gala to benefit the newly formed Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation.

The party was a paparazzi paradise. In the crowd were Anne and Kirk Douglas, Red Buttons, Art Linkletter, Rosemary and Robert Stack, Tom Selleck, songsmith Carol Connors (wearing faux leopard from head to toe) and avid auto collector Jay Leno, who told me: “That’s the way reporters are. Get the person who doesn’t know anything and send her out to cover the story. . . .

“Look at it this way,” he said, “Cars are like shoes. You know how your husband has to stand around in a store while you look at 50 pairs of shoes? These are our shoes.”

Leno emceed the live auction, which raised $250,000 (the final tote for the evening was around $450,000, according to the Petersens). He wasn’t the only car buff on the scene. Carroll Shelby--nearly 78--said he’s still turning out Cobras and the Series I cars, award-winning chili and entering rallies. “I’ve had a heart and kidney transplant and everyday’s Christmas,” he said.

Lee Iacocca was there, hyping his new electric bicycles. (I’m tempted; they’re cheaper than a personal trainer and more fun); also Peter Mullin, Jim Hull and star-car maker George Barris.

These events always seem to attract collectors of something or other. I talked to several who were into vintage juke boxes, arcade games, unique hats or film memorabilia. Todd David Schwartz (a.k.a. KRLA’s Mr. Hollywood) said he’s amassed 3-D comic books and an impressive selection of rubber chickens. Maybe I should take up hobby shows.

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