SMUIN BALLET SPINS CONFECTIONS
As Hollywood gathered March 4 for the Academy Awards, philanthropic dance fans here fundraised $400K at the San Francisco Design Center for Smuin Ballet, in its 25th season this fall. Led by co-chairs Jerry and Patti Hume with Athena and
John Konstin, the enthusiastic affair commenced with cocktails followed by a McCalls dinner and a sizzling contemporary performance by Smuin stars, sources said.
Guests noted a delicious Oscar irony amid the live auction: While Hollywood stars starved themselves to squeeze into size 00 Oscar gowns, slender Smuin dancers whipped up decadent desserts for bid at a live auction.
Terez Dean’s dark chocolate buttercream cake raised a whopping $3K. Lemon pie by Ben
Needham-Wood raised $2K. And Benjamin Warner, who’s nursing a ruptured tendon, created Kneecap Cakes: cupcakes decorated with anatomically correct tendons and nerves that raised a healthy $1,400 for the troupe.
Board chair Dell Larcen turned the spotlight on Board of Supervisor President London
Breed, who honored Smuin supporter-philanthropist Bruce
Braden with a proclamation for his support of the arts.
“Ballet is one of my favorite arts forms,” he enthused. “And Smuin is my favorite of the favorite!”
Flawless: It was a curious sight on a sparkly March 7 morn as white-aproned waiters passed delicious Paula LeDuc bite-size avocado toasts with bacon among a coterie of well-heeled shoppers cooling their heels on the corner of Post Street at Grant Avenue.
The occasion: a ribbon-cutting heralding the arrival of haute jewelry house Harry Winston in the revamped bones of storied San Francisco jeweler Shreve & Co. that, until pushed out by rising rents, owned its namesake building founded in 1906.
Yet all is well among our highend jewelers: Shreve’s found new digs a half block away at 150 Post St. And even Tom Carroll, Tiffany & Co. Northwest vice president, and legendary local jeweler Sidney Mobell were on hand to welcome the house of Harry.
“This is probably one of the most beautiful jewelry salons in the United States,” said Mobell, who maintains an office above the boutique.
Wielding gold ceremonial scissors, Winston VP of Regional Sales Michael Moser and salon manager Matthew Coleman were joined by San Francisco Protocol Chief Charlotte Shultz, who, adorned with Winston dazzlers, shimmered in the morning sun.
Shultz read a mayoral proclamation honoring this first San Francisco salon for Harry Winston, long dubbed “The King of Diamonds” as a sparkling addition to our crown jewel Union Square shopping district.
Inside, a classical music trio serenaded guests as Shultz expertly surveyed vitrines filled with diamonds, deep red rubies and a variety of exquisite sparklers.
“There’s so much beautiful jewelry here,” she marveled, with a teasing aside about a fellow carat aficionado. “I guess Dede
(Wilsey) hasn’t been shopping yet.”
Bonjour: Gretchen Leach and her husband, former U.S. Ambassador to France Howard Leach, were recently feted by friends Jan
Buckley and Mara Fritz to to celebrate madame’s first book, and her return to San Francisco.
Available on Amazon and at the Sacramento Street atelier of
Sue Fisher King, “Letters from Paris: My Life as the Wife of the U.S. Ambassador to France from 2001-2005” (Vantage Point Historical Services; $50) is a Proustian madeleine of reminiscences featuring photos, recipes and letters Gretchen wrote from Paris to her American friends.
Howard was appointed by President George. W. Bush, and Gretchen described the job as both a huge honor to serve their country yet “awesome” in its scope of duties.
“It was truly 24/7 duty. Wherever we went, you never really had time to yourself. I always had at least one bodyguard; Howard had six to eight,” she recalls. “So you always had to look good, smile and attend food shows where you might taste foods you didn’t really want to try.”
Even at home when not hosting one of their numerous receptions at the historic U.S. ambassador’s Parisian residence, the Leaches, attended to by a 24strong staff, remained in topnotch form.
“The only time I really relaxed was on Sundays, when I gave most of the staff the afternoon off,” she says, with a laugh. “Then I could take off my shoes because I love walking barefoot.”
The Leaches were in Paris at a time when anti-American sentiment in the City of Light ran high. Back home, Americans were defiantly eating “Freedom fries” and pouring French wine down the drain.
But, personally, the couple were embraced and developed many lasting friendships — especially when her husband was asked on French television if he’d divested of his French wines.
“Howard replied, ‘Yes,’ ” Gretchen recalls, with a laugh. “‘One bottle at a time shared with friends.’ ”
Though now residents of Pebble Beach (Monterey County), Palm Beach, Fla., and Paris, Gretchen shares her advice for other potential EssEff ambassadorial appointees.
“Meet the locals; attend everything; be polite, engaging and engaged; make some good friends,” she says. “Abroad, America is still No. 1, and people want to see the American ambassador. Even those who didn’t share our party views, we were liked for who we are. And that made people more accepting of the president we represented.”