Home Delivery More Than Pizzas, Papers : Life’s Goods and Services Arrive, Signaled by the Ring of a Doorbell

They also get served who only sit at home and wait.

Newspapers and pizzas are no longer the only things one can have delivered to the door; now everything from designer clothes to dog groomers can be brought into your home.

You don’t have to be like the Laziest Woman in the World (the character from the movie “True Stories” who never so much as lifted a fork to her mouth) to justify taking advantage of home services. The businesses that offer them report much of their clientele is made up of two-income families who don’t care to spend their off hours hauling Fido to the groomer. Senior citizens and those too ill to get around also make use of the services.

A typical day, without ever leaving the house, might go like this:

5 a.m.: The milkman delivers the week’s supply of dairy products and other items to your door. That quaint tradition is still around, and at least three companies in Southern California offer the service: Adohr Farms in South Gate, Alta-Dena Certified Dairy in Hawthorne and Carnation in Los Angeles.

Besides carrying dairy products such as milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese and butter, some milkmen also stock everything from lunch meats to soap.

There is usually no extra charge for delivery, but the items are more expensive than they’d be at the grocery store. A half-gallon of milk, for instance, might cost $1.45, compared to $1 at the supermarket.

6 a.m.: Rise and shine. Open the front door, get the milk and newspaper and head for the kitchen and breakfast. But before you can pour the milk on your Wheaties, the doorbell rings and it’s . . . the personal trainer, here to put you through an hour of grueling exercise.

While some trainers prefer to teach the joys of weight lifting and cycling at a gym, others will come to your home even if it’s not equipped with the latest in technological chrome wizardry.

Jon Jon Park is one trainer who is more than happy to use a broom stick, a beach ball and exercise rubber bands to whip his clients into shape.

“Some people don’t want to make an effort to go the gym,” said Park, whose background includes a stint on the British swim team at the Montreal Olympics. “Some people are shy, or they may be a bit overweight and feel somewhat insecure about going to a gym.”

Personal trainers aren’t limited to aerobic workouts or weight lifting; Park also teaches swimming, nutrition and will help those serious about fitness install an at-home gym. So will Karen Jubert, another trainer with a background in the Ice Capades who works with such famous bodies as Linda Ronstadt, George Lucas and soap opera star Kristian Alfonso on weight training, walking and running from their homes and at the Matrix One health club. “My nickname is ‘The Little Monster,’ ” she said. “I drive my clients real hard, but that comes from my background as an athlete. If they want a good body, I’ll show them what it takes.”

Where to find a personal trainer? Word of mouth is one way; ask friends who keeps them in shape. Gyms and health clubs have full-time trainers to work with members, others keep some on retainer. The cost ranges from $50 to $100 for an hour to an hour and a half session, and most people work out three times a week.

8 a.m.: You deserve a little pampering after the session with the trainer, and what better way to relax than with a masseur. He brings his own table and towels, gives you a complete rubdown for an hour and departs.

“L.A. has the mood of wanting to be served in the home,” Eric Love said. This Santa Monica-based masseur who is also director of the National Conservatory of Holistic Medicine, has been teaching massage for 12 years. He approaches it as “a healing modality, and people have to realize it has nothing to do with sex. It does have to do with healing. That’s why some people consider it a luxury, while others see it as a necessary part of their life.”

Legitimate masseurs who will come to your home can be found through health spas, or by calling major hotels such as the Beverly Hilton, who keep some on call for their guests. The average fee is $50 for a one-hour session.

9 a.m.: The pampering isn’t over yet. It’s time for your weekly facial, and the friendly woman from the beauty salon will give it. Beverly Hills salons Elizabeth Arden and Aida Grey both offer at-home treatments; at Arden it is done “on an as-needed basis,” according to manager Sandra Schofield. “Sometimes we have clients who are having a big party, and if they book it far enough in advance we can do it.”

The salon offers a “basic face treatment,” but prices are steep; makeup alone would be about $115, as compared to $40 in the salon.

Aida Grey will give facials, massages, makeup application and occasionally hair styling at home. Appointments should be made at least a week in advance, and the services are about twice what they are in the salon; facials, for example, run $65.

10 a.m.: More beauty treatments. Your hair stylist is first, equipped with tools to cut, blow-dry and style your hair. After that comes the manicurist who files, buffs and polishes your nails and gives you a pedicure as well.

Most major salons will send out their stylists and manicurists if given enough warning, although few offer it as a regular service. Since stylists are booked through the day, they rarely have a few hours to spare to make a house call.

“There has to be a legitimate reason for it,” said Sonia, the manager of the Jose Eber salon in Beverly Hills, “since a house call is more expensive than coming to the shop. Like if someone is sick or an invalid. We can’t just come out to the house if someone is lazy.”

It helps if you already have a regular hair stylist with whom you can make arrangements if you need the service at home. Most salons surveyed say they charge at least twice what they do in the shop to justify the time taken away from the salon.

11 a.m.: The cooking instructor arrives for your cooking lesson. The Ma Cuisine cooking school in Los Angeles (currently waiting to move into its new location) has a staff that will teach you how to cook in the privacy of your own kitchen. Christine Hall is one of the instructors; she says her clients include busy men and women who want to learn the basics of cooking, or fine-tune their existing skills. Some also hire her to teach housekeepers how to cook.

“Some people don’t have an extensive kitchen, but we can work around that,” said Hall, who also teaches clients how to use the Cuisinart that was purchased and never used.

Hall charges $350 for about 12 hours of classes, each class lasting two to three hours. That doesn’t include the food, but Hall can buy that ahead of time, or teach you how to shop.

1 p.m.: After lunch it’s time for another lesson, this one to learn how to use the home computer. Mark Flaisher of Businessland Computers in Westwood does at-home training for all major brands of microcomputers. “A lot of people run their business at home,” he said, “and this way they don’t have to leave their house, it suits whatever schedule they want.” Flaisher will also provide installation and programming “on a custom basis.”

Rates for at-home service start at $50 an hour; classes at a training center might run $95 to $145 for four hours of classes. Also offering the service is the MicroAge Computer Store in Los Angeles; at-home training for most personal computers runs $50 per hour. And the Sun Computer store in West Los Angeles maintains a file on trainers, primarily for the Macintosh computer. Rates for lessons vary.

2 p.m.: So much for concentrating on you. Now it’s Fido’s turn. His day starts when the Dog Lovers mobile grooming van arrives, equipped with blow dryers, tubs, clippers, combs, ribbons and colognes to make poochie look great.

“A lot of times the dogs are so dirty, people don’t want to put them in the car and take them to the groomer,” said Rosemarie Williams, who also owns two Dog Lovers stores and grooming parlors, one in Los Angeles and one in Ladera Heights. “And sometimes it helps when the owner is there. Or just having the dog alone in the van is nice because there aren’t other dogs barking and having fits.”

She charges $25 per dog, which includes bath, comb-out, flea dip, nails clipped, ears checked, teeth checked; all for the average dog that “isn’t in terrible shape,” and it lasts about an hour. The mobile unit serves Los Angeles, Inglewood, Hawthorne and Gardena.

3 p.m.: With the dog looking tip-top, he can feel confident meeting the trainer, who has just arrived to teach Fido a thing or two. At least two companies specialize in at-home training; one is Best Behavior for Dogs and their Masters, run by Bob Berman, who is also a “canine consultant” for the city of Manhattan Beach, settling pet disputes. He thinks home is the only place to train a dog. “Sending a dog to be trained is not owning up to the responsibility of raising a pet,” he said. “It’s like a person taking piano lessons. I wouldn’t take piano lessons in a group of 40 people.”

Berman charges $425 for a five- to six-week series of classes once a week lasting about an hour per session. Owners are supposed to spend 20 minutes a day training their pet. Berman is based in Manhattan Beach but also serves the South Bay, Beverly Hills, Westside, Marina del Rey and Playa del Rey.

Michael Kamer of Kamer Canine College in North Hollywood recommends home training for people with a lot of patience and free time to devote to their dog. His five-week session of once-a-week classes is $400, and he serves all of Southern California.

4 p.m.: By now Fido’s beginning to look a little better than you are, so you call in the Clothesmobile. That’s the name of the 35-foot converted mobile home provided by Amen Wardy, that tony clothing store in Newport Beach that caters to anybody who is anybody in Southern California.

The Clothesmobile can hold up to 600 pieces of clothing and accessories, and also comes equipped with a fitter and a salesperson to help you with your purchases.

You don’t have to set foot in the van (what would the neighbors say, seeing you walk into a mobile home , after all), it’s all brought into your home for you to try on. There is no extra charge for the service, but once you see the price tags on the clothes, you’ll understand why.

5 p.m.: Even though you never use your car since everything is brought to your home, you still want neighbors to be impressed by your spiffy automobile. So your next appointment is with Blake Rogers of Mr. Buff Superb Car Care, here to do some serious buffing on your prized set of wheels.

For $85 to $120, Rogers will detail your car, which includes everything from glazing the exterior (much better than mere waxing, he says) to shampooing the rugs and rubbing down the dashboard and the tires. He even goes over the nooks and crannies with a Q-tip and a toothbrush. And he’s no car snob; even though most of his clients own Mercedes, he’s even detailed a Honda. His service extends to Bel-Air, Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Malibu, Rancho Park and Marina del Rey.

7 p.m.: After dinner (prepared by you, if you’re still feeling inspired after your class, or by Hall herself, who caters dinner parties separate from her Ma Cuisine duties) you feel like unwinding with a good movie. Videocentre will deliver and pick up any one of the thousands of videos they stock in their two stores, one in Beverly Hills and the other in West Hollywood (both deliver to within a 5-mile radius of each store).

There is a $5 charge each for pickup and delivery, and a credit card is needed for any video rental.

9 p.m.: You’re into the second movie and you’re feeling a tad hungry. No need to worry because many restaurants that offer take-out now will also deliver, including Angeli on Melrose in Los Angeles and Loretta’s Original Chinese Food on Burton Way in Beverly Hills. Gil Turner’s on Sunset Boulevard, a liquor and convenience store, also delivers until 2 a.m., everything from beer to detergent, to Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. There is a $15 minimum.