The Insider goes club hopping with the GMs

Club competition: The 600-member Pacific Club in Newport Beach has filled its GM vacancy by luring Joe Gatto away from the 1,100-member Center Club in Costa Mesa. Gatto, who has been with the Center Club since its 1985 founding, succeeds Brooke Bentley, who had likewise run the Pacific Club since its 1983 inception; Bentley is now a club manager in Menlo Park. Replacing Gatto at the Center Club is John Perrine, promoted from membership director. Gatto takes over as the Pacific Club is embarking on an expansion project; president Tom Gibson said the club, with its roots in the real estate industry, is making moves to appeal more to tech titans and families. The first phase expansion, set to begin next month, will include a bistro, a business center, a women’s locker room and lounge, and a “Kid’s Klub” Western Golf Properties in June got a two-year renewal for the Pelican Hill and Oak Creek golf courses, which they have managed for the Irvine Co. since their inception. But it wasn’t easy. The Insider is told that Irvine Co. dissatisfaction with the condition of showcase Pelican Hill prompted Western’s recent wholesale changes in top personnel at the course. Moreover, Irvine Co. recently awarded the management contract for its private club, Shady Canyon, set to open next spring, to a Western competitor, Troon Golf. (Troon also manages Monarch Beach Golf Links locally.) Irvine Co. spokeswoman Jennifer Smith said everything’s back on track with Western: “We’re pleased with everything they’ve done in the last 90 days. The courses are looking good They’ve really hustled” End of a titular title: The LA Times has eliminated the president’s position at the Times OC Go to the freeway and hang a left: The Bowers Museum in Santa Ana is promoting itself on street banners,in Los Angeles. “We’re trying to cross the border and pierce the Orange Curtain,” quipped spokeswoman Karen Sirmenis. More than 150 decorative banners promoting the museum’s “Egyptian Treasures” exhibition are displayed at Century City, Universal Studios, LAX and other well-traveled locations. The Bowers used the same tack to promote its “Forbidden City” show earlier this year, and Sirmenis said it worked,two-thirds of the 100,000 visitors came from outside OC. It costs a relatively cheap $30,000 or so to place the banners, she added … A reported 1,500 fans turned out for chef Emeril’s book signing at the Borders in Brea last week. Big deal. Rueben Martinez says Univision news anchor and author Jorge Ramos recently sold and signed 2,000 copies of his “La Otra Cara de America” (“The Other Face of America”) at Libreria Martinez Books and Art Gallery in Santa Ana.