Kudos, Clue at Hispanic Chamber; Celebration of Chuck

Well-deserved recognition and an early insight into next year’s gubernatorial race came during the Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s annual Estrella dinner and fundraiser at the Grand Ballroom of the Disneyland Hotel on April 29. Among the black-tie crowd of 500 was former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has been popping up around OC lately, a pattern that seems to offer a clue on why he shouldn’t be taken lightly by Lieutenant Gov. Gavin Newsom, State Treasurer John Chiang, or the handful of others in the mix for the governor’s mansion. Villaraigosa likes big primary fields, which have favored him throughout his career because the Latino-American voting bloc has always stuck with him as a significant base—no small edge in races where a plurality means a spot in a runoff. His Saturday night trip to the Estrellas indicates an impressive early focus on fundamentals … The Estrellas included a Lifetime Achievement Award for restaurateur Frank Garcia of La Casa Garcia on Chapman Avenue, who is pictured here with his wife, Silvia. The Garcias feed more than 10,000 individuals every Thanksgiving through their We Give Thanks Foundation … Some fun for a crowd of fashion-forward females who perused the shoes at the recent opening of the Gianvito Rossi boutique at South Coast Plaza, the designer’s first on the West Coast—and the first anywhere in the U.S. with a men’s salon. Some buzz they brought to dinner at AnQi, where Rossi himself remained chipper and charming, despite having stepped off a flight from Italy just a few hours earlier. Some spirit for the gathering, which was organized as a fundraiser by Friends of CASA, supporters of Court Appointed Special Advocates, a Santa Ana-based nonprofit for children in foster care who are deemed to be especially at risk … CASA joined Buchanan Children’s Charities and the OC Community Foundation as beneficiaries of Encore for Education, which raised $160,000 with Cheap Trick as the headliner on April 20 at the House of Blues. “Generous sponsors from the real estate industry” helped, with Newport Beach-based Buchanan Street Partners a key … Mike Means is all for the Angels as sales manager for AM830 KLAA, the team’s own flagship radio station. But he’s got a deep tie to divisional rival Texas Rangers, thanks to his great-great-great-great-grandfather—an adventurer and entrepreneur named Dr. Charles Bellinger Stewart, who also managed to design the Lone Star flag that plays a big part in making Texas so Texas, and even serves as a shoulder patch on various versions of the Rangers’ uniform … A check of the Angels’ regional rival suggests that someone might want to double-check Means’ connections in Chavez Ravine, come to think of it. Isn’t that hot rookie the Dodgers just debuted named Bellinger? … Have you heard about Hana Ayala’s Pangea World and its hopes of making Irvine a center of the “Century of Biology”? Here’s borrowing from Ayala’s indefatigable spirit to give you the only good answer to that question: Not yet. Visit pangeaworld.com for a look—and stay tuned … Sullivan Says: Any friends who would like to attend the May 20 Celebration of Life that’s set for the Irvine Barclay Theatre in honor of recently deceased entrepreneur, investor and intellectual extraordinaire Chuck Martin can contact lauren@venturelabllc.com for details.