You've Gotta Have Friends

I think at one time or another, most of us have met someone new that we just hit it off with instantly. That's what it was like when I met Marie Ferro at Destination Rejuvenation, a retreat facilitated by Mary Wilson and Ann Mincey in Laguna Beach, CA. Marie is a spiritual seeker who has a joie de vivre that's contagious. At Marie's Hair Studio, the salon she owns in Malibu, CA, her clients include celebrities, directors, producers, studio executives and a princess named Lilly Lawrence. "I met Lilly about 10 years ago," Marie told me recently. "I did her hair for awhile, and we became good friends. She threw a party for me at her castle one year. It was a major landmark in Malibu, but it burned down two years ago during the Malibu fires. She lost an incredible collection of Elvis Presley memorabilia as well as letters from Princess Grace, Princess Diana and six U.S. presidents." In May, Marie threw a party for Lilly at Terra, a restaurant on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, and invited me and my daughter Erin to attend. She also invited celebrity hairdresser Mike Karg. Marie had hired him to come to her salon to teach a dry-haircutting class, and they formed an instant connection. Apparently Marie and Lilly have been throwing parties for each other and like-minded friends for years. "Now you're part of the tribe," Marie told us.



Lilly, whose charity work includes the arts and anything to do with children, held the third annual Malibu Film Festival at her castle the year before it burned down. Now she has decided to rebuild. She unveiled the plans that evening. When her home was destroyed two years ago, Lilly told firefighters, "My possessions don't possess me. My house does not possess me. I'm thinking about our boys in Iraq. I'm thinking about you boys." No wonder Newsday called her "The People's Princess." —Marianne Dougherty, editor in chief, [email protected]

 1. Mike Karg and my daughter Erin.
1. Mike Karg and my daughter Erin.
2. Jeraldine Saunders, who wrote the book the popular TV series The Love Boat was based on, and Donaldo Monroy.
2. Jeraldine Saunders, who wrote the book the popular TV series The Love Boat was based on, and Donaldo Monroy.
3. Lilly Lawrence and Marie Ferro.
3. Lilly Lawrence and Marie Ferro.
4. Lilly unveils plans for her new castle.
4. Lilly unveils plans for her new castle.