Spicing Up Search for Watkins Items

Mrs. Earl Rau of Westchester and some of her friends and neighbors would like to find a Watkins products dealer who services that particular area. Can you help provide the spice of life for Rau, or will she have to keep her frustrations bottled up a while longer?

Because he wants to do some repair work on his roof, John Griffin of Encino needs a slate puller. Can you help Griffin wipe the slate clean, or will he have to raise the roof before he can claim that he’s completely on top of things?

Jane Albright of Hacienda Heights has been having a terrible time trying to find Trewax paste wax , which she has used on her floors for more than 30 years. You can absolutely floor her by coming up with a source. But if nobody takes a shine to her, will she wax angry until she gets up off her knees?

Reader-to-Reader Help Line: Don’t think that Peggy at (213) 425-1341 has a screw loose just because she needs replacement screw handles for 35-year-old Revere Ware, specifically a 10-inch frying pan. Please see to it that Peggy gets a handle on things before she feels she has better fish to fry. . . . Joyce at (213) 533-6607 would like to find some pink Depression glasses in the Manhattan pattern. Please show some “glass” and help Joyce out before she gets really depressed.

Note: The Reader-to-Reader Help Line is only for one-time items and for products no longer available in stores. And you must give us written permission to publish your telephone number, so that others may contact you directly.

More on sour pickles: A reader named Fannie, who lives in Boyle Heights, says many of the small grocery stores and butcher shops in East Los Angeles carry sour pickles in large jars on the counter. Alli Farkas of Sherman Oaks writes that Hughes Markets carries Ba-Tampte-brand sour pickles, which appeared locally about a year ago. Los Angeles reader Bylli R. writes that she just finished a masters food preserver’s class at USC Extension and would be more than happy to help anyone out of a culinary pickle.

Two of our readers might soon be in the chips--Dr. J. Taylor of Temple City and Max Brown, both of whom were looking for mother-of-pearl chips. Alice Pierret of Santa Barbara says to contact a shell collector’s club or a good gemologist. Susie Milette of the Bead Shop, 899 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, (714) 494-2115, says she has a few chips. Nina K. Roberts of West Hollywood suggests that a man named David at (818) 986-4378 has all sizes, mounted and unmounted. And Burt Levine writes that mother-of-pearl and abalone are used by guitar makers and guitar repairers for inlays and suggests that one of these places might be able to help.

Mrs. Frank Genovese of San Marcos, who was looking for makeup tissues that absorb facial oil without removing powder, will soon be able to save face. Evelyne J. McEntire of Hawthorne says Merle Norman Cosmetic studios might help, and Mrs. John Bro of Westminster suggests beauty supply stores. Then we had recommendations from more than a dozen readers--far too many to list individually--for Andrea Fresh-Ups blotting squares, made by the Andrea Raab Corp., 4702 Glenwood Road, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11234, and available in pharmacies and leading drug stores. And Trish Dixon of San Pedro informs us that Shiseido makes Paper Powder, which has been available at several of the larger department stores in our area, including Nordstrom and Bullock’s.

For Southern California readers looking to complete sets of discontinued patterns of flatware, we want to again mention one nearby source: Vroman’s Silver Shop, 1748 S. Grand Ave., Glendora, Calif. 91740, (818) 963-0512. They stock more than 100,000 pieces of flatware in obsolete patterns of sterling, silver plate, gold plate, stainless and pewter. One caution, though: They carry only American-brand merchandise (meaning that, if it is an American brand but is made overseas, they will probably have it).

Herb Hain cannot answer mail personally but will, space permitting, respond in this column to readers who need--or have--helpful information. Write (do not telephone) to You Can Help!, You section, the Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053.