INSIDE SCOOPS

Compiled by the Daily Pilot staff

Planning Commissioner Tom Ashley will finish his four-year term at the

end of this month. Ashley decided not to seek reappointment.

But Ashley is not shunning the field of planning. He just won’t have time

to be a commissioner because he is writing a book. The subject? Planning.

Ashley said the title is “Revolutionizing Urban Development.”

There’s millions, and there’s millions

When Corona del Mar resident Susan Samueli announced last week that she

and her husband Henry were donating $5 million to Opera Pacific, it

seemed like a pretty generous move.

But in the course of the press conference, another detail emerged. Opera

Pacific executive director Martin Hubbard was speaking about an anonymous

$1 million gift that helped jump-start the group’s fund-raising campaign

last year, and he let the financial cat out of the bag.

That source of the mysterious million? Let’s just say that the Samuelis

had a lot to do with it.

Hugo who?

A Hugo Boss-sponsored gala held Thursday night in a white tent outside of

South Coast Plaza drew luminaries from their L.A. nests.

The almost star-studded guest list included that skinny guy from “Road

Trip,” what’s-his-name from “Gremlins,” the lead man from that Drew

Barrymore romantic comedy, those kids from “American Beauty” ...no wait,

“American Pie.” And that band that had a huge hit on alternative radio a

few summers ago. What were they called again?