Clubs Women

Theda Woodworth recalls when 300 pairs of heels clattered regularly along the hardwood floors of the Santa Paula Ebell Club, a women's club where ladies of leisure gathered 30 years ago to appreciate sonnets and piano music. Membership was highly coveted, and those without hats and gloves need not apply. Attire is the least of the club's worries today, and carpenters' hammers drown out the click of heels.

Pasties and a G-string are no good to an Indian erotic dancer. With sari firmly tied, she just flashes some navel, or bares her back, to fire up a bar full of men into a money-throwing frenzy. Striptease is out of the question, table dancing an unimagined horror of Western promiscuity. Women who entertain men in India's nightclubs are supposed to do so more or less fully clothed, with a vague nod to an ancient art of suggestion.

Barbara Bramwell-Hutchinson was determined to conquer her fear of the unknown. To do that, she started arming herself with books and information, but not about spiritual enlightenment or self-discovery. The Windsor Hills resident decided to demystify the stock market for herself and a group of African American women who had long been interested in investing but didn't know how--or where--to begin.

Many women are totally clueless over the appeal of the irreverent 1980 golf comedy "Caddyshack," which stars Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Ted Knight and Rodney Dangerfield. "If there is such a thing as a chick flick, this is the equivalent of a guy flick," acknowledges Thomas F. Lesinski, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Warner Home Video.

Donna Bagley and Helen Gagne joined the Buena Park Woman's Club for two simple reasons: to help their community and make new friends. Bagley, 82, became a member of the club, the oldest civic organization in the city, in 1949. "I was lonely when I moved here," she said. "My husband thought I should join as a way of meeting new people in town. It's opened so many doors. I've met so many people." Gagne, 80, said she decided to get involved with the group in 1969 because "people were so friendly.

The Lancashire County Cricket Club has voted to allow women members, ending a ban that endured since the club's foundation in 1864. The club announced over the weekend that the men had voted 2,046 to 961 for the change, which will allow women to watch matches with them in the pavilion and play an equal role at meetings. The vote leaves only one other British cricket club, Middlesex, that does not permit women members.

Back in the late 1950s, when neighborhoods seemed more neighborly, Kathy Raikes learned that one of her neighbors had no living family to remember her birthday. So, Raikes baked a cake and together with a few other women in this small community west of Palmdale went to the birthday celebrant's home to surprise her with gifts and sing "Happy Birthday." In the Leona Valley, the tradition started by these women not only continues, it has evolved into a club.

To those who knew her, Clara Rooksby was the kind of woman who, when something needed to be done, didn't wait for somebody else to do it. She did it herself. Back around 1914, the story goes, Rooksby, a teacher, set out on a crusade to obtain badly needed books for her students. Before long, she had collected enough volumes to open what became the area's first library.

The grande dame of Los Angeles women's clubs, the Friday Morning Club, celebrates its centennial this month--wise and feisty, but frail. Several days ago, at the Wilshire Country Club, 225 joyously met at a luncheon. Los Angeles was a village of 50,000 the year Caroline M. Severance and 87 charter members organized their club in the parlor of the Hollenbeck Hotel, at 2nd Street and Broadway. Among its interests were intellectual and literary pursuits.

A judge has ordered an all-woman San Francisco club to explain its proposed policy to admit men for the first time in its 75-year history. Directors of the 1,500-member Metropolitan Club voted last year to admit men to avoid an expensive legal battle with the city stemming from enforcement of San Francisco's anti-discrimination ordinance. But 15 members of the social and athletic club have filed a lawsuit to reverse the vote, claiming a majority of members do not want a co-ed club.

Plans to put an 11,000-square-foot women's health club into space once occupied by a drugstore at the Westlake Plaza Shopping Center have won approval from the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission. "The issue was primarily the amount of parking availability," said Commissioner Linda Parks. Based on city codes, the Total Woman health club would require 75 parking spaces--30 more than a commercial retail facility of that size.

Barbara Bramwell-Hutchinson was determined to conquer her fear of the unknown. To do that, she started arming herself with books and information, but not about spiritual enlightenment or self-discovery. The Windsor Hills resident decided to demystify the stock market for herself and a group of African American women who had long been interested in investing but didn't know how--or where--to begin.

To those who knew her, Clara Rooksby was the kind of woman who, when something needed to be done, didn't wait for somebody else to do it. She did it herself. Back around 1914, the story goes, Rooksby, a teacher, set out on a crusade to obtain badly needed books for her students. Before long, she had collected enough volumes to open what became the area's first library.

Back in the late 1950s, when neighborhoods seemed more neighborly, Kathy Raikes learned that one of her neighbors had no living family to remember her birthday. So, Raikes baked a cake and together with a few other women in this small community west of Palmdale went to the birthday celebrant's home to surprise her with gifts and sing "Happy Birthday." In the Leona Valley, the tradition started by these women not only continues, it has evolved into a club.

For a long time, members of the Zonta Club have jokingly referred to it as "the world's best-kept secret." But the president of a newly chartered Ventura County chapter of the 75-year-old service club says it is time for more people to find out about it. "People have heard about the Soroptimists and Rotary Club, but they go, 'Zonta who?' " said Loma Siegel. "When I heard about what they do, I knew we needed a club here."

Donna Bagley and Helen Gagne joined the Buena Park Woman's Club for two simple reasons: to help their community and make new friends. Bagley, 82, became a member of the club, the oldest civic organization in the city, in 1949. "I was lonely when I moved here," she said. "My husband thought I should join as a way of meeting new people in town. It's opened so many doors. I've met so many people." Gagne, 80, said she decided to get involved with the group in 1969 because "people were so friendly.

Joe Francis, the founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" empire, is humiliating me. He has my face pressed against the hood of a car, my arms twisted hard behind my back. He's pushing himself against me, shouting: "This is what they did to me in Panama City!" It's after 3 a.m. and we're in a parking lot on the outskirts of Chicago. Electronic music is buzzing from the nightclub across the street, mixing easily with the laughter of the guys who are watching this, this me-pinned-and-helpless thing.

Concerning the Supreme Court-approved invasion of men's clubs by women, how come some places can proudly announce: "No men allowed," and get away with it? How come men are not picketing in sensible shoes for the constitutional right to share these locker rooms and showers? Could it be that men are essentially less tacky and pushy and respect the opposite sexes' desire to have a place of their own? Maybe it's just that men are basically nicer and more modest. JOHN DEGATINA Los Angeles

To Norman Payson, the plan seemed simple enough: If Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus could move lions, tigers and elephants from town to town, Norman and his wife, Fawn, could move clothes. After all, he reasoned: "You don't have to feed clothes." With that in mind, the Paysons opened their Designing Clothing Club, a traveling show where inexpensive designer clothes--not animals--are the stars.

The grande dame of Los Angeles women's clubs, the Friday Morning Club, celebrates its centennial this month--wise and feisty, but frail. Several days ago, at the Wilshire Country Club, 225 joyously met at a luncheon. Los Angeles was a village of 50,000 the year Caroline M. Severance and 87 charter members organized their club in the parlor of the Hollenbeck Hotel, at 2nd Street and Broadway. Among its interests were intellectual and literary pursuits.