Clubs celebrate with fireworks, barbecue
WILSHIRE COUNTRY CLUB FIREWORKS viewable throughout Hancock Park return for July 4 this year.
Dazzling bursts of color will once again light the sky above the Wilshire Country Club on July 4th. After skipping the Independence Day tradition in 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions, members will be able to celebrate the holiday at the club, and the rest of the community will no doubt gather in backyards and on street corners to view the joyful display.
General manager Daniel Enzler emphasizes that golf was an activity that was allowed during most of the pandemic, so the country club remained busy during the months when so many businesses shut down completely. Now, he says, the club can add more dining tables and welcome more members and their guests.
“The biggest issue is labor,” Enzler states, echoing the sentiment so many in the service sector are finding. Serving and maintenance jobs are remaining unfilled, which affects how many people the club can accommodate.
“We usually have 1,500 people here for July 4th. This year, we’ll allow 700.” Enzler explains further that, in the past, members sometimes brought up to 30 guests. This year, they’ll each be limited to six.
POST-PANDEMIC BARBECUE is planned by The Ebell of Los Angeles in August. Above, the event in 2019.
Another local club facing post-pandemic opening decisions is The Ebell of Los Angeles. After a year of keeping afloat by renting to film companies and providing members with numerous programs over Zoom every week, the club is tiptoeing into in-person programming with a Caribbean-themed barbecue for members and their guests in the clubhouse courtyard August 8.
Ebell president Patty Lombard is eager to introduce The Ebell’s new executive chef, Tommy Bellissimo, at the barbecue dinner. Bellissimo developed his culinary chops at The Ebell, having started as a kitchen utility worker in 2011, working his way up under the guidance of the club’s previous chefs.
Lombard adds, “We also want to thank our members for their steadfast support and celebrate getting back into the building!”
The public will be invited back to The Ebell in October for the start of the traditional programming year.
100-YEAR-OLD Los Angeles Tennis Club is back in operation.
The Los Angeles Tennis Club (LATC) is operating closer to business as usual since the dropping of County health restrictions mid-June.
Board president Michelle Weiss cautions that they closely monitor county and California OSHA guidelines which could change based on infection statistics, and they are also cognizant of people’s hesitancy regarding returning to what used to be considered normal. OSHA has declared that all who are vaccinated can go maskless, but, as of this writing, LATC is still evaluating its own policy.
Only members with reservations had been allowed to access the club during the pandemic, but now guests are allowed. Exercise equipment, which had been moved outside for safer use, is back in the gym, and doubles tennis has been reinstated. “Usually we have a buffet afterwards,” says Weiss. “During this time, food was ordered, not grabbed.”
The Los Angeles Tennis Club’s 100th anniversary fell during the black hole of the pandemic in 2020 and was marked only by a members’ Zoom commemoration. Weiss reports that they are now planning a large in-person milestone celebration.
Reflecting the excitement felt throughout the city and beyond, LATC president Weiss is relieved that the club’s social activities can resume, including a Fourth of July barbecue for members and their guests.
She sighs, “We definitely turned a corner.”
Category: News
