B.W. COOK -- The Crowd

A recent fund-raiser brought in more than $50,000 for the health

education programs of Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino

Counties, reports Kim Custer of the organization. Some 250 local guests

supporting Planned Parenthood and its projects took over the Marrakesh

Restaurant in Costa Mesa for an evening themed around ‘70s rock and roll.

They called it The Haute Wired Ball at the Marrakesh Express, and they

came with the purpose of promoting teen pregnancy prevention awareness.

The funds raised will be used by Planned Parenthood’s education

department, which advocates responsible sex education in schools and teen

groups. Presently Planned Parenthood’s sex education programs reach some

20,000 teens each year in Orange County.

Some of the funds will also be used to underwrite Teens Ask Teens

Hotline, a phone service created by Planned Parenthood that enables young

people to access “free, accurate and anonymous reproductive health care

information,” reports Custer. In addition, another Planned Parenthood

program called Male Involvement will also be supported by the local funds

raised.

The evening was chaired by Teddie Ray, a board member of Planned

Parenthood. Ray was supported by co-chairs Katherine Sanderson and Darcy

Lee. Additional support came from Pallie Jones, Sheryl Anderson, Paula

Cole. Nancy Dahan, Lisa Dwan, Ellen Gordon, Jill Johnson-Tucker, Barbie

Knapp, Lisa Kray, Dana Myerson, Ann Smyth and Judy Steele.

* * *

The very chic Islanders, a charitable group working to support

numerous children’s charities, will throw its annual membership

installation July 26 at the elegant Harbor Ridge residence of Zee Allred.

Party organizers are planning an afternoon champagne garden reception on

the beautiful terrace of the Allred estate facing the Pacific.

The affair is being thrown to encourage prospective new members to

join the long-standing Newport charity, which supports a different

children’s organization each year. At the champagne reception, formal

mention will be made that this coming year Laura’s House will be the

recipient of the Islander’s fund-raising effort.

One of the major Islander extravaganzas is its fashion show, which is

set for Nov. 10 and will be sponsored by such distinguished retailers as

Neiman Marcus and Tiffany and Co.

* * *

One of Newport’s most colorful citizens is none other than bon vivant

bachelor Paul James Baldwin. The son of the late Lucky Baldwin, who was a

Los Angeles land developer, art collector and horse racing legend, Paul

James Baldwin has championed his late mother’s charity of choice, the San

Diego Museum Of Art at Balboa Park for the past several summer seasons.

Baldwin, who divides his time between the European Riviera and his

residence at the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach, throws what some

insiders claim to be the wildest event of summer.

This year, Baldwin’s Summer Salon and Costume Cabaret is set for

mid-August at the San Diego museum. The impresario has called for his

guests to “celebrate the art of exhibition featuring high societies:

psychedelic rock posters of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury,

Toulouse-Lautrec and the cabarets of Montmartre, and Japanese wood block

prints and the floating world of Edo.”

Baldwin will make a significant donation to the museum, as hundreds of

Newport Mesa revelers and other guests from around the Southland and

around the world converge in San Diego for the party.

* THE CROWD appears Thursdays and Saturdays.