The most notable no-show at the mega-gala opening of the Ren & #233;e and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at the OC Performing Arts Center? Donald Bren, most powerful man in the county and, according to the L.A. Times, in all of Southern California. The nearly 4,000 VIPs attending back-to-back opening nights included numerous corporate titans, civic leaders and even a few Hollywood celebs. Bren and his The Irvine Company brass were conspicuous by their absence. A TIC insider said it was not a snub,Bren was in Chicago on business and sent Henry a congratulatory note after reading about the celebration. The source said Bren “has nothing but admiration for Henry” and described the two as “friendly competitors” locally for retailers and office tenants. (Recent competition: Bloomingdale’s is taking more space at Henry’s South Coast Plaza than it already occupies at Bren’s Fashion Island; Bren was first to announce trendy H & M; for Irvine Spectrum Center, but now South Coast is getting two H & Ms; and the OC Museum of Art is planning to move from Bren’s Newport Center to OCPAC.) A couple of years ago, the source said, Bren declined Henry’s request that he contribute to the concert hall, which remains about $50 million short of its $200 million fund-raising goal; Bren explained that he was focusing his considerable philanthropy on education and conservation, and mainly on his ranch. Henry likewise keeps most of his charitable dollars close to home, but he has made scattered donations on or near Bren’s turf, including to UCI, the Great Park and the art museum. In any case, it was a different story when the Performing Arts Center held its grand opening in 1986: Bren and his date were among the honored VIPs, seated on the same tier as the Segerstrom family. Bren gave an estimated $1.4 million to the original campaign, and one of his then-top aides, Gary Hunt, chaired the gala …
Among those attending opening night of the concert hall were high-tech billionaires Henry Samueli of Irvine-based Broadcom and Qualcomm’s Irwin Jacobs, up from San Diego. The Insider doesn’t know if they spoke face-to-face, but they’ll have to do just that on Oct. 4. Former OCBJer Peter Brennan, now with Bloomberg, reports that U.S. Magistrate Anthony Battaglia has ordered the two chairmen into federal court in San Diego “to discuss a global resolution in earnest” of their companies’ patent disputes …
Air ball: The Anaheim Arsenal of the NBA Developmental League will be playing at the Anaheim Convention Center, not Honda Center (nee Pond) as incorrectly reported here last week …
Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, telling an OC Business Council breakfast one of the reasons that his city spends money promoting not just itself but the rest of Orange County: “I want people to think that Anaheim has a beach.”
