THE HIGH LIFE: The Ritz-Carlton hotel in...

THE HIGH LIFE: The Ritz-Carlton hotel in Dana Point has been piling up the accolades in recent days: Mobil Travel Guide’s elite five-star rating plus “Best Luxury Hotel in North America” by the “Official Hotel Guide,” based on travel agents surveyed nationwide. . . . So you’d like to spend the night at a place like that? Here’s the rate schedule: $235 a night (standard), $315 (courtyard view), $355 (coastline view) and $415 (full ocean view). . . . Club floor prices range from $310 to $490. But you get your own concierge for that, plus chocolate-covered strawberries at bedtime.

NIXON SPAN: Because of his birthday this week, TV has been running numerous specials on the late Richard Nixon, plus interviews with cast members from the Oliver Stone movie “Nixon.” If you are a Nixon fan, the most positive image comes from ceremonies at his own Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda on Jan. 9, his birthday. If you’ve got cable TV, you can see that one repeated tonight at 7 on C-SPAN.

GLAMOUR JOB? To research his latest book, Pulitzer Prize winner Edward Humes of Seal Beach spent a year teaching a class at Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles. . . . “I talked to judges and lawyers, but you get a different perspective when you deal directly with the kids,” Humes says. “They very clearly see the flaws in the system.” . . . “No Matter How Loud I Shout: A Year in the Life of Juvenile Court,” due out next month, is excerpted in this month’s Los Angeles magazine and in next month’s issue of Glamour.

GETTING SOCKED: Despite the flag-waving fervor at Anaheim Stadium this week, nearby restaurants reported no noticeable increase in their business from the CONCACAF Gold Cup. El Torito manager Lucio Garduno was especially disappointed: “We were ready for a big crowd but nobody came.” Scott Gerbasi, manager at The Catch, said they picked up only about eight dinners because of soccer, compared with about 100 for baseball. . . . The games continue today with the U.S. playing Trinidad and Tobago at 4 p.m.