Private Clubs

Unlike some private clubs in Los Angeles, Orange County's most exclusive clubs don't have a reputation for discriminating against women and minorities, leaders of Jewish, women's and black groups said this week. Official club policies prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, religion, creed or sex, said representatives of the Center Club, the Pacific Club and the Santa Ana Country Club. Managers of the Balboa Bay Club were unavailable and those at Big Canyon Country Club refused to comment.

The closest figure to Margaret Thatc her in British history wasn't another prime minister. Nor was it even Boudica, the legendary first-century British tribal queen who defied the Romans. She's closer to Queen Victoria, a woman in what was regarded as a man's job, and one who came to know her mind and exercise an iron will. Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven, remains Britain's only female prime minister, but her impact was not as a woman - she was one of those women who tended to pull up the ladder after her - but as a political revolutionary.

It is somewhat ironic that your editorial "Clubs: More To Come" (June 21), which favorably addressed the issue of women and minorities in private clubs, was placed directly under the Los Angeles Times chief officer list. I notice that of the 14 names listed, there is but one woman. My children and I enjoy following both men's and women's sports and we continually are disappointed in the lack of coverage of women's sports in The Times. Perhaps the private Times club needs to open its doors wide and follow the gist of this recent editorial!

The marble walkway leading into the California Club echoes with the ghostly footsteps of land barons, railroad tycoons and political kingmakers. So does the ostentatious front lobby of the Jonathan Club nearby. Private business clubs once were centers of power in downtown Los Angeles. You might have found rail magnate Henry E. Huntington playing dominoes and plotting his next expansion beneath the high, oak-paneled walls. Or William May Garland, the real estate developer, scheming to bring the 1932 Summer Olympics to Los Angeles.

An elite downtown private club and the City of Los Angeles today filed lawsuits against each other over an ordinance that makes it illegal for large private clubs to exclude people on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin or disability. The Jonathan Club, which had complied by admitting a dozen women as members in April, filed a suit in U.S.

The Beverly Hills City Council has voted to close several loopholes in a law that has allowed the operators of private discos to open their doors to the public. The council unanimously approved the changes Tuesday night at the request of City Atty. Charles Haughton, whose office uncovered numerous practices which, he said, violated the intent but not the letter of the city's ordinance regulating private clubs.

Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, is resigning from three exclusive clubs, his spokesman said Friday. At least two of the clubs do not have black members, but officials of all three said none exclude membership to any group of people. Bentsen, Texas' senior senator, "just felt it was the appropriate thing to do," said his spokesman, Jack DeVore.

Alex "Hurricane" Higgins, a two-time world champion of the billiards sport known as snooker who galvanized the game with his wild antics and quick play, was found dead Saturday at his home in Belfast, Ireland. He was 61. Despite being diagnosed with throat cancer 10 years ago, Higgins played professionally as recently as 2007. The volatile Irishman had a fast and thrilling style as well as a foul mouth and fiery temper that once prompted him to head-butt a referee. He claimed the world title in 1972 and 1982 and lost in the finals in 1976 and 1980.

Wealthy families have played volleyball and paddle tennis on the sands of Santa Monica's Jonathan Club for generations, but the private social club played its own game of hardball recently when it looked as if it might lose three chunks of public beach property. With leases set to expire this year on three publicly owned beach parcels, the club threatened to sue Santa Monica if the city failed to renew lease agreements for 10 more years. The city acquiesced last month, after the Pacific Coast Highway club agreed to pay a significant increase in rent and contribute money for annual beach improvements.

The panoramic views of the city were stunning, but nobody really noticed. Not when CAA titan Bryan Lourd was hosting a long, formal dining table that included manager Jason Weinberg, Matt Dillon, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. Across the room, indie-film power couple Cassian Elwes and Holly Wiersma breezily greeted Endeavor agents, while Working Title partner Eric Fellner huddled with pals. Penelope Cruz was expected. Maybe even Tom Cruise too. "Are you a member?" one agent asked another.

The defining question in Los Angeles nightlife these days: Is it better to be big and inclusive or small and exclusive? Sprawling and democratic or intimate and refined? Tonight, when the first stage of the 40,000-square-foot nightlife megaplex Social Hollywood opens on Sunset, the distinction may become moot. Jeffrey Chodorow and Peter Famulari, the men behind the hubristic project, believe they can be both massive and refined.

When Lenny Lindborg opened his Huntington Beach tennis club in the late 1970s, the golden era of tennis was in full swing. Some 36 million Americans had rackets in their hands, boys and girls dreamed of being the next Jimmy Connors or Chris Evert, and millions were mesmerized by John McEnroe's volatile but winning style. Court time was so coveted at the Lindborg Racquet Club that he charged $1,200 for a membership.

Coach Rob Vandermay remembers the first time he set eyes on setter Mazi Sarahang four years ago, when a talented but raw group of freshmen showed up for spring volleyball practice. "We were going through drills and he had such a pair of hands," Vandermay said. "From the very beginning, he has been a key to our success."