The Century Club of Birmingham, Ala. is...

The Century Club of Birmingham, Ala. is an exclusive organization.

It doesn’t admit women.

It doesn’t admit men, either.

In fact, it doesn’t admit humans at all--just iron sewer pipes that are at least 100 years old. And now some of the sewers of Pasadena have passed the test.

“This is a hallmark,” said Willard Bangham, manager of Pasadena’s water system.

Formed a few years ago by the Ductile Pipe Research Assn. of Birmingham, the club now has 253 members--and will get its 254th when Pasadena’s pipes are formally inducted later this month. Bangham said he would be glad to accept the membership plaque.

“Within the industry,” he declared, “there is a certain prestige in this.”

Of course, the new members can’t attend the induction ceremonies; they have to stay in the ground and not burst with pride.

“Passion Flower” was outraged.

It was one thing, Romina Danielson said, to identify herself in court as Peter Holm’s mistress before, during and after his marriage to “Dynasty” vixen Joan Collins--but quite another to be publicly accused of theft.

Clad in a tight-fitting black dress and flanked by attorney Caryl Warner and ex-husband Axel Danielson, 80, she held a press conference in Beverly Hills to announce that she is suing the supermarket-circulated tabloid Star for libel and defamation of character.

Danielson, who swooned dramatically after testifying to her marathon affair with Holm, displayed a copy of the tabloid that carried the front page headline “How Peter and His Passion Flower Cheated on Joan Collins--and schemed to rip off her $millions.”

The implication, Danielson said, was that she was a thief. The action, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, called it a “traumatic shock to her mind and body,” for which she wanted $100 million in punitive damages.

“After all,” said the plaintiff (whose petition says she is “also known as ‘Passion Flower’ ”), “I’m not a rip-off. If nothing else, I helped Joan Collins’ case.”

The number of AIDS cases reported in Los Angeles County during August took a sharp dip--to 89, from 119 the previous month--but county Health Director Robert Gates said that’s no reason for optimism.

“The numbers went down,” he said, “because there were fewer diagnoses. The doctors were on vacation.”

Call them the Odd Couple:

Conservative County Supervisor Pete Schabarum and his liberal colleague Ed Edelman are actually the best of friends. But that doesn’t mean they agree on anything, and casual observers have been known to draw the wrong conclusion from their public demeanor.

This week, for instance, Edelman took exception to Schabarum’s proposal that the county counsel’s office might “save money” by farming out some of its cases to private attorneys.

“Do you realize,” Edelman scoffed, “that private attorneys can charge more than $250 an hour for a difficult case?”

“I don’t pay that much!” Schabarum replied.

“Well, perhaps you should!”

Schabarum--a wealthy developer despite his aversion to high legal fees--replied with a wordless sneer.

(Later, they argued about who should pay for lunch.)

Police said it wasn’t your usual auto theft.

Bary Trupin, 51, of Pacific Palisades was tootling through Westwood in his brand-new $180,000 Rolls-Royce convertible when a pedestrian jumped into the back seat of the car, pointed a gun at him and told him to stop.

Unwilling to be robbed, Trupin speeded up--and then opened his door and fled.

But the net effect wasn’t what he’d hoped. Instead of coming after him, Trupin said, the gunman calmly climbed into the driver’s seat of the car and sped away into the darkness. Trupin was not seriously hurt. And the car was insured.

But he told police he isn’t sure he wants another convertible. . . .