Gov. Jerry Brown will have at least $1 billion worth of recent experience in the person of FivePoint Communities’ Emile Haddad along for a trade mission to China next month, when meetings with “high-ranking officials” and opportunities to pitch California business to potential investors will be on the schedule. The trip will come less than a year after Lennar Corp., a chief backer of FivePoint, got a $1 billion loan from China Development Bank Corp. for two projects in San Francisco overseen by Haddad and his Aliso Viejo-based operation …
The Orange County School of the Arts Foundation didn’t play it safe at its Gala 2013 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine on March 9. The theme was Artrageous Rock, and the kids took on the Rolling Stones and Queen, among others. They pulled it off, with plenty of notable performances and donations during the evening. One came from Tony Award-winning producers Tim and Pamela Kashani, who put walk-on roles in their upcoming movie up for bid in the live auction. OCSA Executive Director Ralph Opacic provided a Grammy sort-of moment when he thanked drummer Harley deWinter for anchoring the show—and then told the kid that Un D Vided, the band he plays in outside of school, was named Best Youth Artist at the OC Music Awards, which was going on across town at the City National Grove of Anaheim. Credit deWinter with a “show-must-go-on” ethic for taking a pass on glory at the Grove to be true to his school. Perhaps he gets it from his uncle Rikki Rockett, who gained fame as the drummer with metal-band Poison …
A lot of couples make it work with complementary skills. Duane and Kelly Roberts do it in public. No, this isn’t anything racy about the Roberts, who chatted with the Insider recently about next month’s anniversaries at their historic, eclectic and ever-charming Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside. The hotel will turn 110 next month, the latest milestone in a career that has seen it host presidents, Nobel Prize winners, and plenty of Hollywood star power. The place is part art gallery, part museum and part community asset for the Inland Empire, where locals count on its annual holiday-season Festival of Lights to draw 60,000 visitors. Kelly is the Mission Inn’s COO, and Duane says the two “play off of each other—her creativity and my experience in the food industry and other businesses.” Want proof: Her creativity is on display at Kelly’s Spa, which takes pampering to Tuscan-inspired levels and is getting ready for its ninth birthday, with a new Wellness Cuisine Menu among other specials. He chips in with the meat-and-potatoes of the partnership at Duane’s Prime Steaks and Seafood, a 4-Diamond choice of AAA. Both say the Mission Inn is a family affair, and there’s proof of that, too, with Casey’s Cupcakes, the creation of daughter Casey Reinhardt, also on the hotel’s menu of amenities …
There are some local ties to the Let’s Move Schools physical fitness initiative by First Lady Michelle Obama and Nike. Among athletes taking part in the project’s recent launch: Mission Viejo resident Sarah Reinertsen, who lost a leg to a bone-growth disorder at the age of 7, and went on to become the first female leg amputee to compete in the Ironman World Championship. Reinertsen is sponsored by the Iceland-based parent of Össur Americas, a maker of prosthetic limbs in Foothill Ranch.
