"Outside the door, a 'Seal Rock' will have live seals 'to add to the San Francisco element.'"

Exploiting wild animals for human entertainment is not OK. Please discontinue doing so and please include the welfare of wild animals, along with others, in your philanthropic endeavors.

At the time of Ringling Bros. retiring their performing elephants and discontinuing using such performances in their circus program, due to public pressure of the suffering of these elephants, and at the time of animal testing being of the verge of being illegal, due to the public's awareness of the needless suffering of these animals when other testing methods are available, it is not acceptable to turn your cheek and use wild animals for entertainment purposes. Please stop.

For $32,000 I would expect to be able to eat the seals as well.

Can't these people afford their own vanity press? Or does it thrill them to know that the unwashed masses are reading about their excessive displays of materialism?

I sure hope they have decided to use a parking service off site and bus or limo the guests in. I can't imagine the traffic nightmare. I agree with the poster about the seals, some sculptures would have been fine for a display, not he real thing. How hoity toity and disrespectful of our wildlife. I'm not impressed with this kind of waste of police resources either.

Just donate directly to the cancer fund, no need for this outrageous excessive flaunt of one's home.

Atherton being Atherton!!!

Just think, if they took the money it takes to pull off one of these ego-driven celeb-events and donated it directly to the cause to which they purport to support? Would that not be more prudent? Oh, wait, nobody would know how "generous" these glam-a-zons are, there would be no photos in Gentry or the Nob Hill Gazette,the couture departments at Neiman-Marcus and Nordstrom would lose a lot of sales and social standings from the City to Los Altos Hills would plummet. Please, all this Super Bowl hype is so obnoxious and this "fundraiser" is a prime example.

Jillian Manus is a literary agent. Her husband Alan Salzman is the venture capitalist. They are major philanthropist. She enjoys a party and so do her guests. They will be raising quite a sum of money for some great causes (though Stanford doesn't need any more).

As to the live seals, perhaps some of the guests can perform for the seals, especially the politicians.

According to her LinkedIn profile Web Link Manus is: "presently a Managing Partner of Structure VC, a Silicon Valley early stage venture fund providing capital and marketing strategy to companies exploiting under-utilized assets and excess capacity," but she does appear to have a number of other interests.

Because Jillian Manus and her husband Alan Salzman have been staunch supporters of the Atherton police department and their very outsized pay packages, I predict no issues with this lavish party and its impact on the neighbors. Remember, Atherton is a pay to go neighborhood.

people like to see and be seen. and jillian knows that. she always loves to throw lavish parties. kudos to her for organizing this. i just hope the cars don't clog my neighborhood. i'm down the street from her, received an invite, but would prefer to watch the superbowl from my big screen TV vs hobnobbing with guests whose only focus is to dress to the nines (for superbowl?), be seen with celebs or pretend to be one, and hopefully land a photo at gentry or the chronicle.

Note: The party is on Saturday. Super Bowl is on Sunday.

Maria - since you're nearby and blowing off the party, would you do us all a favor and check on those poor seals during half time? If they aren't faring well, please call
Animal control at: 650-340-7022. I'm happy to have a pizza delivered to you in gratitude. Thanks!

Jillian Manus and Alan Salzman were divorced 4 years ago.

Hmmm
Better make that an anchovies pizza in case the seals are hungry.

where is this party going to be - I want to stay far away from those streets

Why the hate? So the woman likes to throw a lavish party for charity? If it bothers you, don't go. I agree the live seals thing is questionable, but other than that it sounds like the organizers have gone to great lengths to make sure they have abided by town laws and hired private security.

I am disheartened by the vitriol directed at someone just because she throws an over-the-top party. She's raising money for charity. Unless you live on her block and are inconvenienced by the traffic, who cares?

taste a lot like chicken?

Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

-Matthew 6:2

Need more be said about the pompous silicon valley affluent?

People dress up, have some fun, and cancer research gets a million bucks,

You're all a bunch of jealous whiners.

Maria,

If you received an invite was it for the party on Sat. or the Super Bowl on Sunday. Are you watching the party on your big screen, I'm confused.

RW:

I'm not sure who Matthew is or why his 6' 2" height is relevant, but he does seem to know what he's talking about.

Curious - I don't hate these people, but I detest the unnecessary exploitation of animals for events such as these. I also don't think a lot of the commenters are jealous. If they're like me, they're not fans of big shindigs and are cynical about those who have to be courted and feted in order to donate to a worthy cause. We all have to play the game at various levels in our lives but some of these events induce collective eye rolls and then yawns.

That Mathew, at 6.2, would fit in well with the Dubs smallball lineup (SBDS).

Of course, he just missed the WH visit, where potus trashed thedubs in favor of his 95 Bulls. Dude knows hoop and has a great sense of humor.

;-)

Maybe next year they will skip the party -- sounds dreadful to me, but I'm not into posturing and namedropping -- and ask everyone on the guest list to donate an amount equivalent to 10% of their annual plastic surgery budget. They'll have no problem reaching the fundraising goal, and the seals will be able to take the night off.

... Like her purchase of naming rights for a tiger cub at san francisco zoo for $48k.
Guess what name ? Jillian, of course!

While this seems pretty impressive or extravagant, if well-to-do, successful and celebrity attendees generate funds for important philanthropy, like curing diseases, I am just fine with this. Take for example, M.E., Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (aka CFS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), that is more common than AIDS in USA, is a worse disease, with no great diagnostics, treatments or cures. ME/CFS is a neuroimmune disease that affects 20,000,000 worldwide, esp women, including celebrities like Laura Hillenbrand, (Author of books/movies Unbroken, & Seabiscuit), and Cher, and sports heroes etc. Perhaps 15,000 have this disease in Bay Area, incl many in Palo Alto including Stanford Students, Alums, Genetics Professor Ron Davis's (of human genome fame!) whose son is near death from this disease, and likely others in Atherton (approx 30 afflicted), Bay Area etc. This disease puts everyone at risk, esp Women, incl host Jillian Manus and every attendee, since no good predictors of who this might affect. Hope innovative attendees or other leaders, innovators like Zuckerbegs, Gates, Sean Parker, Larry Ellison, Meg Whitman might contribute to top R&D occurring right now in Palo Alto, Mountain View, to cure this scourge that has been grossly neglected by CDC that does not track this, and NIH that has had Pathetic funding to Cure M.E. of about $5M per year vs $3B per year for HIV/AIDS, even though AIDS less common and less debilitating. Hope the successful can take the lead and correct for Federal neglect, pour significant philanthropy into the research

One comments said Stanford has enough money, but that is not true since they do not have adequate funds for R&D to Cure M.E. See:
Web Link

The public and MD's need to get education on this, by watching first ever CDC Grand Rounds Feb 16th: Web Link

We just walked by with our dogs. We did not see any seals out front (but I did look for you "hmmmm." Just guests waiting for their car/UBER. Our dogs didn't seem to smell anything either. Maybe they changed their mind on the live seals?

Although I can hear the music two blocks away, it is music I enjoy. The intersection is well fortified with police but they seem very nice.