People and Events

When three or four plywood cows suddenly appeared in a weed-filled lot at Olympic and Sawtelle boulevards in West Los Angeles a month or so ago and then grew in number, the folks at a neighboring public relations office were intrigued. They knew a good PR stunt when they saw it.

It turned out that the small herd (now nine cows and a bull) were placed there by Executive Life Insurance Co. and Raleigh Enterprises, a developer. The companies recently bought the 100,000-square-foot parcel and cleared it, but not without some controversy.

The land was once occupied by a low-rent apartment complex called Cozy Court, and many of the families were not happy about relocation. A few resisted.

While the new owners set up a design competition to determine what to do with the property, it was decided to install the wooden cows. “We wanted to do something that would make people smile,” said Deborah Rosenthal, a Raleigh official. “I think we succeeded.”

They also succeeded in stirring the interest of publicist Susan M. Tellem, whose firm began to send Executive Life President Fred Carr a series of mysterious “We mean business” threats to rustle the cows if Carr didn’t show up in the field at high noon Friday.

They even sent a hamburger with a bite taken out of it, but bribed the messenger service not to divulge the sender.

“It sounds like somebody who wants to do business with Executive Life has found an amusing way to grab their attention,” Rosenthal said.

Carr was sufficiently amused to show up Friday, only to be hogtied by people from the PR firm, then entertained by a Western band and saluted for “Beautification of the Olympic Corridor.”

Tellem said her people actually tried in a spirit of fun to remove some of the cows, but couldn’t pull the steel stakes out of the ground.

At least part of the problem has been resolved for food vendors who do a big business every Sunday around Old Plaza-Olvera Street. They have found a kitchen.

Chief county sanitarian Rodolfo Bagnera went there last Sunday to point out to the hawkers of tamales, champurrado and other favorites that it is against the law to sell food that isn’t prepared where sanitation can be controlled and inspected. Also, he said, those with hot foods must have carts capable of maintaining 145 degrees.

By Friday, said Lorena Munoz, of the Central American Refugee Center, which works with the street vendors association, the United Methodist Church at 1010 S. Flower St. had agreed to make its kitchen available for the time being.

As for the carts, Munoz said they cost as much as $1,000 each--an impossible sum for many of the vendors, many of them recent immigrants.

The ones without the proper carts won’t be selling this weekend, Munoz said. But she challenged the county Health Department’s authority in the matter and said, “We don’t feel they have given us an adequate description of what’s acceptable.”

It’s been a bad summer in the LAPD’s Central Division detective squad room, where a major investigation has been launched into the source of flies and mosquitoes that have almost taken over.

Spraying didn’t do much good, says John Duncan, the detective in charge. A roll of flypaper has trapped dozens of the pests, but they just keep coming. Detective Edward Hopson brought in his own bug light to zap them.

The case hasn’t been solved yet.

A batch of church youngsters from Texas showed up at the 1st Street site of the long-razed State Building in the Civic Center, bringing a spaghetti lunch for dozens of homeless people who congregate there.

The kids, ranging in age from 7 to 12, are from Scofield Memorial Church in North Dallas. They did not, of course, drive all the way to Los Angeles carrying pots of spaghetti. Their tour has included two days helping children at an orphanage near Ensenada.

Youth Pastor Rick Van Der Westhulzen said his charges, together with another bunch from New York, are spending a little time with a local church group. Then they will go to San Francisco to do some more mission work with the poor.

One of of the young missionaries, Marc Woodruff, 13, said what stands out in his mind is the experience with the orphans in Baja California. It was, he said, “pretty sad.”