A Deli Customer Brings an Age-Old Question Up to Date

Pat Mooney was at Billy’s Deli in Glendale when a server asked a guy at the next table if he wanted another drink. Mooney swears the in-the-know customer answered: “Is the Pope German?”

Talk about a firm going in a different direction! Howard Ran, who earlier sent along a photo of what appeared to be a seafood place in San Gabriel, now informs me that the company has changed its signs to indicate it has gone into the insurance business (see before and after photos).

Amateurs and prose: Matthew Daday of Rowland Heights noticed a company listing a phone number for “amateur” customer service, which would seem like a surprising description except that the firm deals in amateur radio products (see accompanying).

Name game: There’s a Pasadena acupuncturist named Gary Archer, points out James Tanaka of Monterey Park.

No name game: Paul Brodt of Claremont snapped a secretive stop outside Denver (see photo).

Information, please: Some of the latest questions fielded by the Hollywood Visitors Information Center from confused tourists:

* “What is the name of the street where the stars live?”

* “Do you know where I can buy bagpipes?”

* “Where can I go to buy the Hollywood sign? I have a lot of money and want to buy it.”

Continuing the search for knowledge: Inglewood librarian Sue Kamm received a call from a youth “wanting to know if we were a government ‘suppository.’ ”

Translation, please: Diane Hoover of Hermosa Beach was watching an interview on closed-caption TV with a baseball player who said of a bad loss, “They beat the bejesus out of us.” The caption said: “They beat the Bee Gees out of us.” So that’s what happened to that group!

miscelLAny: Interesting that British-made Range Rovers sold in the U.S. come equipped with voice navigation systems that use British terms. Driving near the Santa Ana Freeway, my nephew heard the gizmo say, “In three-quarters of a mile, merge onto the motorway.” I’ve heard the Santa Ana Freeway called a lot of things, but never that.

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATimes, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012, and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.