From Maine to Hawaii, Say ‘Cheese’

From daybreak in Maine to sunset over Hawaii, they’ll be all over the place, 200 of the world’s leading photojournalists, collaborating next Friday on the largest photographic project ever attempted in America.

The $5-million project will result in a large-format hard-cover book, a TV special and a traveling exhibit, all entitled “A Day in the Life of America.”

Wall Street is sure to figure in the photos, as are Iowa cornfields, Mississippi mud, Chicago wind . . . And what of Los Angeles?

Among others, George Steinmetz returns home to shoot Beverly Hills. An Iranian, Mike Shayegani, tackles Santa Monica (“shopping-cart ladies, pier fishermen, bums in the sun” are among the possibilities). Graziella Turbide, an Italian photographer, will turn her talents loose in el barrio, while Xavier Lambours, a Frenchman of all people, will head for Riverside and Orange counties to peek through the lens at the likes of “a senior citizens’ party, Dana Point, gay businesses.” Watch the birdie!

Monster Bash

It’s happy birthday to Godzilla on Saturday with a monster bash scheduled at the Comic Castle on Hollywood Boulevard.

Posters, exhibits and a giant, inflated Goddie (suitable for family photos) will mark the 30th anniversary of the beast’s first flick. Sound tracks from notorious films--like the environmental epic “Godzilla and the Smog Monster”--will be played, and a “temporary” star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame is scheduled to appear, as if by magic. (“Before the Chamber of Commerce catches up with us,” said a store employee who understandably did not wish to be quoted.)

“We tried to get Raymond Burr to send us a telegram,” sighed Mark Speiller, co-manager with Joseph Kerezman, “but we couldn’t get through to him. His manager said Burr would prefer to be forgotten as the most famous human actor in the Godzilla classics. . . .”

Camarillo Heritage

The names have changed, but once a Camarillo, always a Camarillo.

Earlier this month, Dr. Martina Nicholson was married to John Gregory Nicholas II, in St. Mary Magdalene Chapel. The chapel, a gift of Juan Camarillo to the archdiocese of Los Angeles, also is known as the “Camarillo Family Chapel,” a traditional site for weddings, baptisms and burials of the Camarillo clan.

Martina was baptized there. Her parents were married there. So were her grandparents.

Juan Camarillo was Martina’s great-uncle. One of her great-grandfathers was Adolfo Camarillo, founder of the city of Camarillo and often called “the last of the Spanish dons.”

Further back, another ancestor of the new Mrs. Nicholas was Jose Francisco Ortega, who discovered San Francisco Bay.

All of which makes Martina Nicholson Nicholas a true rarity of the breed: an eighth-generation Californian.

Greyhound Adoption

There are various ways of disposing of a greyhound once the dog has outrun its usefulness as a racer.

On Macao, an island up the coast from Hong Kong, they eat them. In America, they often are “put down” as an expedient, because owners and trainers simply can’t afford the upkeep.

Now Linda Bryan of Vista, who raises greyhounds and is a member of the Southern California Greyhound Assn. (no racing in California, but they keep hoping), has a better idea: Put the doggies up for adoption.

Greyhounds, Bryan says, make “great pets,” once they’ve been retrained out of the racing mode. “They have a natural tendency to chase after anything that moves,” she says (which bodes ill for the family cat), but they are essentially “sweet-tempered” and easily able to make the adjustment to civilian life.

Dogs, ranging in age from 8 months to 5 years, are available for adoption for a $50 fee.

Take a Hike, Tell a Joke

What lies on the bottom of the ocean and shakes?

A nervous wreck.

When Arlen Grossman prepares for his four-mile hike to Sullivan Ridge above Brentwood on Saturday evening, that will be one of the jokes in his backpack.

The Sierra Club hike leader will embark on the fifth of his twice-annual joke hikes. He asks hikers to bring cookies and punch lines to share with the group--and neither should be stale. He said the group will hike until it finds a comfortable clearing. The joke-telling generally lasts a half-hour to 45 minutes.

“We get all kinds,” said Grossman, who estimates that about 25 persons will show up for the joke hike. “There are usually topical and political jokes, some real groaners and some that don’t get off the ground.”