People and Events

Unemployed television evangelists Jim and Tammy Bakker drove away from their Palm Springs hacienda in a white Cadillac last July 28 on their way to what they seemed to think would be a bright new life in Gatlinburg, Tenn.

As rumored, however, it appears that they have rented a $7,000-a-month house on the beach at Malibu--at least for a month or so while shopping around for a permanent home in the area.

Malibu real estate broker Barbara Moser said Monday that the Bakkers had their eyes on a little million-dollar number in the famed Malibu Colony but they then “changed their mind and decided to lease.”

The Bakkers’ New York publicist, Marilyn Ford, confirmed that her clients are living in Malibu but would offer no details. She said they have postponed their “Farewell for Now” national tour and are writing a book.

On the collegiate front, the “trek of the homeless” arrived at USC after meandering through Beverly Hills, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica since the Los Angeles urban campground was closed more than a month ago.

Ted Hayes, 36, activist for the homeless and founder of Justiceville, has been leading about 30 followers on what he calls an “awareness campaign” aimed at those with “influence and affluence.”

USC, which apparently meets the criteria, arranged for the group to take their knapsacks, bedrolls and tents to the United University Methodist Church property, adjacent to the campus, because, said university official James Dennis, “we do have a policy against overnight camping.”

Hayes left his followers long enough to attend a press conference promoting a Nov. 28 fund-raiser at Los Angeles City College to benefit Justiceville and five other grass-roots groups.

He said the trek’s next stop will be affluent Baldwin Hills, “to make the black community more aware of the problems of the homeless.”

The new homecoming queen of Cerritos Community College is Dottie Thompson, 67, whose six children and 11 grandchildren were on hand for her coronation Saturday night.

Trying to make out the street signs along Corona Avenue in the Belmont Shore area of Long Beach can produce a stiff neck. After losing more than a dozen Corona signs from Ocean Boulevard to Appian Way, Long Beach traffic authorities began mounting them way up by the lights.

“We’ve got them up there 50 to 60 feet,” said traffic sign painter Jerry Beach. “We haven’t lost any since.”

Officials guess that the signs were taken by teen-agers who want to show affinity for a certain brand of Mexican beer.

Another Long Beach street still losing signs is Coke Avenue. “We’ve even welded them to the poles,” Beach said, “and they have just broken the welds.”

Yet another problem has been Karen Way, where the presumed admirer or admirers of some lady by that name have made off with six or seven signs a year for at least the past eight years.

“I want to meet her,” Beach said.

Topanga chimney sweep Jonathan Seutter, 30, who was stopped by the California Highway Patrol as he roller-skated down Interstate 5 en route from San Francisco to Los Angeles, said he will try again in the spring “with all the permits they say I require.”

He conceded, “You have to be crazy and I guess you could say I’m crazy enough to attempt it again.”