People and Events

Did you get the number of that ostrich?

South Pasadena realtor Tom Markey is nursing a sore hip following the weekend collision of his ostrich cart and a similarly propelled carriage driven by school board member Ellen Hervey on the South Pasadena High football field.

The ostrich jockeys were knocked off the carts and Hervey suffered a mild concussion, though she was able to walk off the field. “I have a sore knee but I’m fine and the ostriches are fine,” she said.

The race was part of the city’s centennial celebration. It was also a reminder of South Pasadena’s most famous attraction, Cawston’s Ostrich Farm (1889-1934), where tourists could have their pictures snapped on a stuffed bird, watch the feather-plucking process or feed oranges to the lanky creatures.

Nostalgia’s fine. But as for Markey’s next ostrich sprint, he said: “I can wait another 100 years.”

Nobody excites you in the presidential race? Then join the Nobody for President non-campaign.

Naomi Younin-Hoffman, a West Hollywood free-lance writer, came up with the non-concept after she read a poll that showed that 48% of the public wasn’t enthralled with any of the White House aspirants.

When she tried a test-mailing and received an encouraging response, she printed up Nobody for President bumper stickers ($3.95), T-shirts ($9.95) and sweat shirts ($19.95)--all in patriotic red, white and blue.

“The thing is building momentum as the results of the campaign come in,” Younin-Hoffman said. “Some people think we’re serious, even asking who ‘Nobody’ is. But we’re just having fun.”

Her business is mail-order now. But she figures that, given the number of charismatic personalities in the campaign, by November she could be running a Nobody for President Department Store.

Calculus teacher Jaime Escalante is intensely dedicated to his work, as two film makers discovered when they asked Escalante to read a screenplay about his success story at Garfield High in East Los Angeles.

“They told me I only had a week to read it. I told them, ‘I’m busy correcting papers,’ ” recalled Escalante, whose inner-city students did so well on standardized tests that officials asked them to retake the exam to make sure they weren’t cheating. “I’m more interested in my kids than movies.”

The film makers relented and Escalante read the draft about a month later and suggested revisions.

The subsequent announcement that “Miami Vice” star Edward James Olmos would play Escalante didn’t impress the teacher, either.

“I didn’t even know who this guy was,” Escalante recalled. “I said, What’s ‘Miami Vice’? I don’t watch TV. I asked them, ‘Does he know any math?’ ”

The movie, “Stand and Deliver,” opened the other day. Escalante says Olmos “did a great job” and gives the film an A-minus (“it’s 90% accurate”).

You never know what you’re going to encounter in drive-through land. A Long Beach Jack-in-the-Box once experimented with a speaker that went mute after 9 p.m., instead flashing the message: “Jack is silent at night. Place order now.”

Encino’s famous Wrong-Way McDonald’s is built so drivers must reach across the passenger’s side to pick up food.

And now a Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburger stand in Hollywood offers a special for drivers only.

Teddy Chavez, a Hollywood apartment manager, found out about it to his chagrin when he was refused the restaurant’s $1.99 bargain (hamburger, regular Coke, fries) at a walk-up window. Chavez, who owns no car, walked over to the drive-through section and offered his $1.99. No deal.

One Wendy’s manager said the policy was designed to “cut down congestion at lunchtime because we have limited seating.”

Counters Chavez: “Have we come to a point in this country where a person is deprived of his rights because he doesn’t have a car?”