A Dinner With 12 Strangers: A Feast for Friends

The guys may have won at Charades, but the girls won the wine drawing....

What's more fun than a barrel of monkeys? A gathering of UCLA Bruin alums at a Dinner for Twelve Stranger, hosted in Newport Beach by Joan Kelley Lutz, former librarian and present traveler.

Last night we dined on lasagna, salad, hot bread and chocolaty desserts, and sipped a variety of wines. Our wine sampling experience was enhanced by the presence of Richard Proctor, a geology professor who has been a taster for Trader Joe's. No, nobody brought Two Buck Chuck, but a lot of wineries other than Charles Shaw were represented. So many, in fact, that at the end of the evening, Joan had us each put our name in a bowl, and we drew for the six remaining bottles of wine. I'm fortunate enough to have picked out a bottle of Six Grapes Reserve Port.

After supper we played Charades, movies and television shows, guys against girls. Joan kept a timer, and at the close of the game reported that the fellows were nearly a full minute faster on their guessing than the ladies.

The evening's discussion ranged from how to recruit students who can meet the grade point average requirements and tuition costs of a public university to whether tunnels really run beneath the Westwood campus. I'd long heard the story of the urban labyrinth but had suspected it was an urban legend. Not so! The tunnels exist. Have you ever wondered where the card catalog shelves from the old Dewey Decimal system used by campus libraries are stored? And theater props, including alcohol bottles? Down there; that's where! And we all want to go on a tunnel crawl!

Here's a link to a tour of the tunnels: http://dailybruin.com/2013/01/18/a-tour-of-uclas-underground-tunnel-system/

UCLA’s underground tunnel system, site of late-night forays by adventurous students and a subject of campus folklore, plays an important role in keeping the university running smoothly behind the scenes. The tunnel system transports steam created by a co-generation plant near Ronald Reagan Medical Center around campus, houses communications and chilled water transportation systems and accesses the underground portions of several campus buildings. Official tours of the underground tunnels can be arranged with Leroy Sisneros, UCLA Facilities Management’s Director of Maintenance and Alterations. Those touring the tunnels should wear closed-toed shoes and be advised that the tunnels are very narrow and hot in some places.

Hostess Joan Lutz, seated far left, with her 12 "Strangers."  --Photo, Mandy Low