Fuchsia Fever: The fount of all things...

Fuchsia Fever: The fount of all things fuchsia is on Santa Rosa Street in Ventura, where Pam and Steve Hantgin cultivate more than 500 varieties of the plant (F1A). . . . Their Fuchsia Cottage is home to the Gold Coast Branch of the American Fuchsia Society. With more than 1,000 members in 20 countries, the society even has a page on the World Wide Web. There are on-line listings for global groups from Australia to Zimbabwe.

Not Rich Enough: They’re in a taunting row along the county line, just out of reach, hoarding the figurative Grey Poupon. . . . Westlake Village, Agoura Hills and Calabasas all made Worth magazine’s list of America’s 300 wealthiest communities (B10). But supposed suburban soul-mate Thousand Oaks failed to make the cut--as did every locale in Ventura County. Thousand Oaks City Manager Grant Brimhall is neither surprised nor cowed by the snub. “Thousand Oaks’ wealth transcends the pecuniary,” he says. “The richness of our community is more in the richness of its people culturally.”

Bill! Over Here! Those folks figuratively waving their arms at President Clinton during his California visit this week were Ventura County Democrats, who’d love to have the Big Guy up for a campaign stop. . . . County Chairman Bob Gallaway said local Dems want a can’t-turn-down event that “highlights the accomplishments and themes of his administration.” They’re working on something at Casa Pacifica “that would really be good for the first lady, given her work with troubled children.”