It was certainly "old home week" in a way for Los Angeles' Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters, who honored James Darren as its latest Art Gilmore Career Achievement Award recipient on November 16. But with a lifetime of pop hits, the Gidget films' Moondoggie, TV acting /directing and now concerts to honor, 'twas Star Trek that stole the show.

At luncheons five times a year in Studio City, the PPB honors a deserving luminary with a body of work in radio, TV and/or motion pictures, enlisting a dais full of friends and well-wishers of the honoree to help. What sets them apart from the standard televised "roast" or tribute is the local feel: being based in Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley, the events definitely have that "in town" community feel of old friends and colleagues.

Darren's day was more of the same, where the crowded platform included TJ Hooker creator Rick Husky, longtime music arranger/composer Stu Phillips, and Time Tunnel costar Lee Meriwether — better known as Losira of "That Which Survives" to Trek fans, of course. Two of his three sons, Inside Edition and former CNN reporter Jim Moret and screen writer Christian Darren, were able to make it and join him on the dais; his wife Evie was just out front. His third son, Anthony, is an in-demand guitar player and could not escape studio work in Nashville.

Meriwether joked that she had almost no anecdotes on Jimmy from their Time Tunnel days because, after her excitement at being castmates, she soon realized the show's format never gave them scenes together — her back in the lab, he in the various eras visited — but for one offbeat episode. Instead, she told the crowd — an audience of industry folks and retirees, not familiar with fandom ways — of her awe at watching Jimmy during a convention: signing and chatting all day from 10 to 5 — "with lunch at his table" — and then performing a concert showing no voice fatigue after just a two-hour break, gracious and unrushed with every single fan.

A surprise guest was Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick, who personally presented a long, mega-decorative proclamation noting Jimmy's PPB day and career and signed by her, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the city attorney, and all 17 members of the LA City Council. Chick specifically read a latter section that noted how Deep Space Nine and his character Vic Fontaine single-handedly "called Jimmy back into the spotlight" and relaunched his music career.

The mention of Star Trek and Deep Space Nine, of all things, on an official city document drew an audible gasp from Ira Steven Behr, DS9's executive producer who snared Jimmy for the role in a memorable story he retold for the 200-plus on hand, most of whom had no idea about Jimmy's renaissance on a "space show." Never one to disappoint with a sly quip, Ira later apologized in advance for his remarks, noting that he had not been on a dais as a speaker since he was 12, at his buddy's bar mitzvah — when he later got caught for smoking.

But as unfamiliar as the well-wishers were with Jimmy's "space" career, Ira's dais turn held the crowd spellbound. After recounting the actors who turned down playing Vic — Frank Sinatra Jr. and Robert Goulet among them — he recalled his buddy at a local autograph show chiding him for not going over to ask Jimmy directly about playing Vic, going through formal channels instead. And then, at lunch before the staff was to meet with Jimmy for his audition, accidentally choosing the same eatery as his son Christian, who came over to apologize for overhearing their talk of his dad before adding: "You're gonna love him. " ("A sign from God," the producer said of that serendipitous encounter. "What are the chances?") Or the "audition"-turned-geekfest a couple hours later, in which the whole team became so spellbound at Jimmy's stories they didn't even notice when he cleverly began slipping in actual Vic lines of dialogue — they thinking it all a coincidence.

The topper — especially for this audience — was Ira recounting his newly widowed mother being so excited when she heard her early-day heartthrob was going to be on her son's show — then getting to meet and encourage him on a renewed signing career, shortly before passing away. Noting that Jimmy co-dedicated one of his new CDs to "Lillian Behr," her son concluded: "How do you not love a guy like that?"

Jimmy tells us his convention tie-in plans are sketchy for now, but 2008 will bring two stints back in Vegas for his fans — April 4-5 and November 7-8 at the South Point Hotel and Casino. Keep your dial set right here as always for more details.