One more sign that Fidel Castro’s days are numbered: Mike Lutton is coming. The Newport Beach developer expects about 30 fellow Young Presidents Organization members to join him on a State Department-sanctioned trip to Cuba next March. “There’s sort of a forbidden feel to it, but sooner or later Cuba’s going to develop in a big way. It was a resort once, it will be a resort again,” says Lutton. But the Lutton group will be playing catch up. The other local YPO chapter made a trip to Cuba five months ago. That contingent included Don Koll, Cary Bren and Jon Wampler, who writes about it on page 43 No cell phones, please: At Saddleback Memorial Hospital, or on the golf course at Big Canyon. The Insider welcomes other examples of cell-phone bans Sign of the times: The plane flying over Woodbridge lagoon on July 4 didn’t carry the usual banner advertising for beer or rock radio. Instead, it read, “Software eng. resumes greatjobs@filenet.com” The hit of Dana Point’s fireworks show July 4 was a four-color Happy Face, from a Japanese-made shell fired off by show producer Pyro Spectaculars. The Rialto-based fireworks giant did more than 300 shows over the Fourth Are scholarships available? The golf school at Tustin Ranch Golf Club now has a “Play Better University” The Insider was working off of an old floor plan when it described Chuck and Twyla Martin’s new Ile de France-style mansion in Smithcliffs as being 7,500 square feet. It’s 10,000 square feet TheStreet.com recently picked David Kang of Roth Capital Partners, Newport Beach, as the nation’s best analyst for telecommunications equipment and the ninth-best analyst overall, based on how early 1999 recommendations turned out a year later. Alas, he’s left Roth for ABN Amro.
OC license plates. These have an occupational theme:
BREWMAN
MIZATTY
MCI PR
TAX REX
FAST CPA
