Twenty years ago, real estate agent Joe Smith sold Beverly Hills airplane-finance mogul Steven Udvar-Hazy four oceanfront lots in Ritz Cove for about $8 million. Udvar-Hazy erected a big home for his family there. (Smith estimates the developed site now is worth about $55 million). Time went by, then the other day Smith heard from Udvar-Hazy again. He wanted to buy the Boom Boom Room in Laguna Beach and a couple of nearby parcels (see story, this page), and wanted Smith to handle it. A fair guess would put Smith’s commission on the $25 million in transactions in the $500,000 range. “Time and luck can make you look good,” Smith said …
Goodbye, Donald B., hello, Henry S.: The Insider is told that the Orange County Museum of Art has decided to make the long-anticipated move from Newport Center to the grounds of the OC Performing Arts Center …
Lawyer and former Congressman Jim Rogan has switched Irvine offices, leaving Venable where he was a partner “and their only lawyer west of the Potomac” to become “of counsel” for Preston Gates & Ellis, where he’ll do IP litigation and public policy …
Irvine Councilwoman Christina Shea says she may join Tom Harman and Diane Harkey in the race for John Campbell’s presumed soon-to-be-vacated state Senate seat …
EE RR visited hometown Chicago for what would have been game six of the World Series. Instead, he basked in the White Sox’s afterglow, caught a cold watching Michigan pummel his Northwestern and never escaped OC’s pop culture,Anaheim-bred Gwen Stefani also stopped in the Windy City and got top billing over Dolly Parton in the Chicago Tribune’s review of “blond diva” concerts. Greg Kot said a sold-out Stefani performance at Allstate Arena “had all the profundity of a banana split” while anointing her “the platinum blonde diva of choice for the hip-hop generation” …
When Yale standout Marisa Reisman used Expedia to book a flight home to John Wayne, she was offered “The O.C. Experience” tour: “Escape to beautiful Newport Beach …
site for the hit television series ‘The OC’ …
Relax on a cruise through Newport Harbor …
shop Southern California’s trendiest retail outlet, Fashion Island …
” This and more for only $44 …
At the dedication of a bridge in his name at the UCI campus, legendary Ray Watson repeated his observation that, “People don’t move into Irvine, they join Irvine.” The retired Irvine Company exec and former Disney director also said the bridge gave his 10 grandkids a reason to be impressed with him beyond his ability to secure free passes to Disneyland …
EE RR moderates: A candidate forum for the Chris Cox congressional seat on Nov. 15 at Irvine City Hall; call (949) 824-5227. An Urban Land Institute morning discussion on “The Jamboree Corridor: Urban Village or Just Infill Development?” Nov. 17; call (949) 380-3308.
