A grand-opening celebration will include light refreshments, music and giveaways. A portion of the night's proceeds will benefit the Beckstrand Cancer Foundation. Although Rosenmayr did not find her ideal tropical fan, walking through the showrooms produced other ideas to share with clients, such as a customizable salina sofa she described as a "great coastal piece for a beach-styled home."

The exhibition of rarely seen paintings from the late artist's "Ocean Park Series" will run from Sunday till May 27. Bancroft is the curator for the "Richard… (STEVEN GEORGES,…) Although never intended to be abstract landscapes, works in "Richard Diebenkorn: The Ocean Park Series" impart a sense of coastal Southern California light and atmosphere.

Reynolds' father, Albert Forster, who is in remission after being diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2010, will be following the riders in a vehicle. "It's amazing," Christopher Reynolds said of having his father along for the journey. "There's definitely no way that I would be able to back out halfway."

Sharrows and bike safety committees weren't enough for one devoted female cyclist. So after riding into town, Lisa Kanno opened the Unlikely Cyclist, a female-centric biking boutique on Irvine Avenue in Costa Mesa. Her brightly decorated store offers Bianchi and Volagi city, road and hybrid bikes in women's sizes (44 to 55), gear, accessories and women's clothing, including plus sizes.

As far as dream homes go, the 18-room designer showcase on display at South Coast Collection could turn out to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for those interested in design. "I think it's really amazing," said Rick Campos, owner of Christopher Tracy Interiors in Newport Beach. "This may be the only time we're able to do this if we're not able to find a similar space another year."

A $25-million Venetian Palazzo-inspired Newport Beach estate hits the market this week with at least one potential buyer interested in the property, according to the listing agent Monday. The 8,000-square-foot, five-bedroom mansion at 43 Linda Isle is a rarity when it comes to Newport Harbor, said Jim Kline of Surterre Properties, which is managing the sale on behalf of the title holder, Orange County Investments.

Kenneth recalled spending time with Margaline at church, where he would meet her out on the sidewalk in front of her Newport Beach home and then hold her hand as they walked together. "We did that half a dozen times before we decided that we belonged together," Kenneth said. "We've been together ever since."

In the heart of the about 20-vendor market, there is the aroma of coffee and fresh scones mingling with the scents of lavender and vanilla from a soap vendor. Tables offer hand-crafted jewelry, apparel, art and other unique items. "I think this is really well done," said Newport Beach resident Gay Lynn Clasen, who had come to shop in the morning after seeing a Daily Pilot calendar listing for the market.

Olhats will also bring traditional French dishes, signature to Tradition by Pascal, to Pascal Épicerie and Café Jardin, as well as create new dishes, macarons and add quality wines and cheeses. “I don’t want any of my patrons to feel abandoned,” he said. “They’ve been good to me, and Orange County has been good to me for 25 years.”.

Lama and Ralph Grippo, Irvine Co. president of resort properties, claim the resort's success comes from the standard formula in the luxury hospitality industry of focusing on customer service and building relationships. Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, GolfWorld, Golf Magazine, Andrew Harper's Hideaway Report and others have rated the resort as among the top in the nation.

Newport Beach entrepreneur and philanthropist Julie Brinkerhoff-Jacobs knows that for 35,000 Orange County residents, "There's no place like home." Helping provide temporarily homeless families and individuals access to shelters and vocational programs is Project Playhouse, the annual charitable event of HomeAid Orange County, of which Brinkerhoff-Jacobs is a founding member.

The $1.5 million home is one of six in Newport Beach and Laguna Beach that make up the 11th Annual Art & Architecture Tour and post-party organized by the Orange County Museum of Art from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The 1900s- to 1960s-era homes feature an array of architecture, including Gaudi-inspired, Craftsman, mid-century modern and contemporary.

Costa Mesa businesswoman Lindsay Espinoza designed five rooms in a Newport Beach home, which will be featured on a reality-TV series. Interior designer Lindsay Espinoza aims to make beautiful homes available to the masses, but she never envisioned that her audience would be comprised of thousands of viewers tuning into reality TV.

Fixtures Living, a home supply store for the kitchen, bath and outdoors, will "change everything" with the opening of a flagship store in the South Coast Collection shopping center, a store spokeswoman said. The more than 20,000-square-foot store set to open Sept. 10 at the shopping center on Hyland Avenue in Costa Mesa will revolutionize the industry for both shoppers and manufactures, said Maria Swanson, director of marketing for the San Diego-based company.

Hotelier Donald Sodaro ran a successful Holiday Inn in the South Coast Metro area for 10 years before deciding that the market deserved more than just another chain hotel. So he took a risk just as the economy started to decline. In 2008, he discontinued his contract with the franchise hotel chain and launched plans to reopen the facility as an upscale "boutique" hotel.

A butterfly fluttered briefly above a lush red bloom bursting from atop a thorny succulent, before flying off toward dozens of other blossoms hidden in a small corner of the Orange County Fair. Various hummingbirds and bees were attracted to the red, yellow and orange flowering plants in the Water Wise Demonstration Garden, sponsored by the Mesa Consolidated Water District.