In 1987, when Beverly Hills officially banned smoking in the city's restaurants, the ordinance excepted the city's banquet halls and hotel ballrooms, frequent venues for large charitable and social events. The ban lasted 2 1/2 months.

Recently, City Councilman Marvin Braude proposed an ordinance to make all Los Angeles restaurants nonsmoking, although ballrooms and banquet halls may again be exempted if the ordinance is adopted.

One organization has taken matters into its own hands. On June 1, the American Cancer Society adopted a statewide resolution banning smoking at all its public charity events.

"In the past, we've always verbally requested that people not smoke at fund-raising occasions," said Jane Z. Cohen, director of marketing and communications for the Los Angeles Coastal Cities Unit of the American Cancer Society. "Now we have a formal policy." According to Dave Bonfilio, who served on the committee that drafted the policy, "We're not going to put it on invitations. Instead, we won't put out ashtrays, and will have 'Thank You For Not Smoking' signs on the tables. If we're in a hotel and someone lights up, we'll ask them to step into the hallway. If we're outdoors, we'll ask them to move away from the immediate vicinity."

However, the point may be moot, because social pressure seems to be accomplishing what legislation and formal rules never could. At many premieres and galas, the practice of lighting up a cigarette after dinner, or passing around a pocketful of Havana cigars--like prime rib, baked Alaska and ruffled tuxedo shirts--seems to be headed for extinction.

"It always comes down to having to sneak at least one cigarette during the evening," Josh Mooney said with a groan. An editor whose job takes him out on the social circuit several times a week, Mooney said he smokes occasionally at the table, but admitted, "These days, sometimes you have to duck out for one cigarette with the valet parkers."

Michael Alese, director of catering at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, supports Mooney's claim. "People are much more conscious of smoking nowadays," Alese said. "There's more of a call for not setting ashtrays on tables. Especially at a social party such as a wedding, the mother and the father of the bride quite often request smoking only out in the cocktail reception area."