Around Town - Hearst The Collector With Victoria Kastner

Last night I had the privilege of attending a lecture sponsored by the Royal Oak Foundation given by architectural historian Victoria Kastner, the preeminent scholar of Hearst Castle.  The lecture was held at the Beverly Hills Women's Club, an organization with many members who have an interest in decorative arts and the architectural preservation of important local buildings and landmarks.
Kastner, who has been the official historian of Hearst Castle for 30 years, has written these two amazing books.

 Hearst Castle:  The Biography of a Country House

Hearst's San Simeon: The Gardens and The Land

The lecture focused on Hearst as a collector, the construction of San Simeon, and use of the property as a country house.  Hearst typically entertained the Hollywood set at the Castle, but he also hosted George Bernard Shaw, PG Wodehouse and Winston Churchill. 

I won't go into to details of the hour long lecture but I will post this short interview with Kastner who explains some of the wonder that is Hearst Castle.

Julia Morgan Architect

Of course no lecture on this topic could be complete without a description of Julia Morgan, the greatest female architect...ever.  Julia Morgan, who graduated with a degree in civil engineering from UC Berkeley in 1894, was the first female student to graduate from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.  After studying in Paris she returned to California and built the first bell tower or campanile on a college campus in the US, which housed bells that had been cast for the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893. The campanile, which was the first reinforced concrete structure on the west coast, withstood the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and she became sought after to rebuild important structures that had been damaged, including San Francisico's Fairmont Hotel. Then in 1919, after some 500 commissions, she became the architect of Hearst Castle and Wyntoon, Hearst's other fantasy property.

In her long career she was the architect of some 700 buildings.  

Imagine that for a woman who died in 1957.

OK, I can go on and on about Julia Morgan but she deserves her own post.

So instead I'll write about something really important...like what I wore.

As I've mentioned before, navy is my neutral 

so voila, a  navy blue suit and sapphire and diamond estate jewelry from Beladora.com

Naturally, I had to wear that sapphire cuff bracelet because it was all things wonderful

But instead of the mother of pearl and diamond earrings I kept with a cabochon sapphire story with these earrings

Sapphire and Diamond Earrings in 18K $4950

and this gorgeous ring

Sapphire and Diamond Ring in 18K $2850

How is it possible that as a lifelong Californian, I've never been to Hearst Castle?

Obviously after last night it is high on my agenda for a future road trip after I get my new car.

Now....If I can only finagle a private tour of the house and grounds by Victoria Kastner...

So lovely...California at its best

No wonder Hearst loved it so.

Around Town - The Beverly Hills Women's Club 85th Anniversary Gala

It probably wouldn't surprise you that I'm a big believer in community based organizations, like The Beverly Hills Women's Club.
Yes, I know the very idea of a 'women's club' is indeed old fashioned, bringing to mind afternoon tea and bridge.  Well yes the BHWC is a bit old fashioned and proud of it's nearly 100 year old heritage.
And yes there really are teas and bridge and book clubs and mahjong and cotillion. But there are also, lectures and concerts and private tours and cooking classes.
Most importantly, the club also supports children in need by providing such things as school supplies to kids in a local homeless shelter and sponsoring events for Aviva Family and Children's Services which works with abused and neglected children.
This year was the 85th anniversary of the actual club house, built in 1925 by noted architects Gable and Lyons. Over the last five years, under the leadership of club president Claudia Deutsch, the building has been carefully restored, with respect to the architectural heritage.  Hopefully the club will continue to be a thriving part of the community with ongoing philanthropic service for another 85 years.
And I dressed up complete with partial up-do and other fripperies....but alas, no diamond brooch in my hair.
So here's the look...dark navy blue taffeta dress, navy blue satin shoes, sapphire and diamond estate jewelry, a mink coat (vintage) and a happy disposition.

Yes, I know...not the most attractive of photos, but that was the best that I could do with my iphone.
But I was especially happy with the Fred Leighton diamond bow brooch.

Yes, I'm posing in front of my bicycle which is parked in front a painting. 
I know, awesome decorating skillz.
Have a wonderful Sunday everyone.

Around Town - Culture and Conflict

Or perhaps a better name for this post would be
Gardens and Gulags
because I was fortunate to attend two interesting but very different lectures yesterday.

The first was a presentation sponsored by the Friends of Virgina Robinson Gardens
by Erik Haskell, Professor of French Literature
and author of The Gardens of Brécy: A Lasting Landscape
The gardens of the Château du Brécy in Normandy, are one of the finest examples of 17th Century garden design in France. You are of course familiar with the vast gardens designed by Le Nôtre at Vaux-le-Vicomte and Versailles. Unlike those in terms of scale, the gardens at Brécy are a petit 4 acres. After decades in ruin, they were painstakingly recreated by the current owners of the Château, Didier and Barbara Wirth, and are now a little bijoux on a human scale of the cultural heritage of France.

Note: Even if you are not particularly interested in French History or Landscape Design, if you have an opportunity to attend a lecture by Professor Haskell, do go. He is fabulous speaker and charming man. And of course, buy his book!

Then last night I attended a speech by Kjell Magne Bondevik, the former Prime Minister of Norway, and the founder of the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights.

The speech, sponsored by PEN and The Beverly Hills Women's Club, was well attended not only by the BHWC members and their husbands, but by diplomats from Switzerland, Uruguay, Belgium and of course Norway.
The Oslo Center's mission is to promote dialogue, democracy and human rights, which is all awesome.
But with a focus on Eritrea, North Korea, and Burma...I'm not sure that "dialogue" does really any more good than singing a rousing chorus of Kumbaya. But I admire any organization that focuses attention on the North Korean gulag and mistreatment of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.