People and Events

Lynn Kutz was not pleased when two men drew up in a car and relieved him of his wallet at knifepoint as he left an automatic teller machine in Hollywood. In fact, “I literally froze.”

Although he had surreptitiously put the $200 in his pocket, Kutz said the moneyless wallet contained “every credit card you can think of.” As the muggers sped away, Kutz knew that before he could contact all the banks, department stores and gasoline companies involved, “those guys could run up a hell of a lot of charges.”

The 53-year-old office manager said he dashed to a nearby pay phone, dialed 911 and was put on hold. By the time he talked to Hollywood Division police, “Needless to say, I was hysterical,” he recalled.

The responding officers were there quickly, however--and just missed the robbers.

The two men had driven back into view, slowed down and tossed Kutz’s wallet at his feet--only to speed away again. All the credit cards and identification were still there.

Kutz said the pair took a real chance of being caught in the 5:45 a.m. incident at Hollywood and Cahuenga boulevards. “I don’t know whether they were sorry for me or what. The sergeant told me he hadn’t heard of anything like that in 20 years.”

Another officer was less willing to credit them. She said they probably just didn’t want to get caught with somebody else’s wallet.

Developer John P. Wilson opens his three-day architectural antique auction today in City of Commerce, where his warehouse at 2220 Gaspar Ave. is stuffed with entire paneled rooms, stained glass and ornate mantel pieces stripped from old mansions and castles.

He even has J. P. Morgan’s lavishly refurbished personal railroad car for sale.

It costs $250 to even get into the auction. The catalogue explains that “this meager stipend is simply a deposit, to be fully credited towards any purchase.” As for speculation that the deposit is to keep out “freeloaders and voyeurs” and also to provide him with “petty cash for last-minute luxuries,” the catalogue declares:

“These rumors are declasse, insulting, and--quite frankly--very disturbing to John. Needless to say, they are also 250% true.”

Among other people and things pictured in the catalogue is Nancy Burkitt, described as “personal astrologer to Mr. John P. Wilson.”

Actually, confided staff member Diana Markes, Burkitt is “his personal girlfriend.”

Another unusual auction will be conducted on Tuesday by the Ace Pawn Shop in Santa Monica, where owner Ron Manes said he is going to unload a lot of stuff hocked by some well-known (although momentarily strapped) Hollywood folks and never redeemed.

Manes would divulge no names, but said “99% of them are writers.” Because of the (now tentatively settled) strike, he explained, “They’ve been selling or pawning things they would never leave before.”

Examples: “a Nobel Prize, Oscars, gold medals they won when they were kids, antique jewelry, signed manuscripts.”

Manes said the Nobel Prize medal was for medicine, presented “around the turn of the century.” He couldn’t say where the owner got it, but thought it might have been awarded to “an uncle or grandfather.” Again, he would not offer a name.

Nor would he identify three Academy Award statuettes he said he has for sale, including “a couple of pretty well known ones.”

Of course the last mystery Oscar billed as big turned out to be a duplicate of the statuette awarded for a Yugoslavian cartoon.

An out-of-court settlement has brought Stephanie Schatz $7,000 and a letter of apology from the Marriott Corp., owners of the Bob’s Big Boy chain, because managers at a couple of the restaurants wouldn’t let her take her dog inside early last year.

The dog, a miniature schnauzer named Romeo (subsequently killed by a car), was a “service dog” entitled by law to enter public establishments just as guide dogs are. Schatz said he was more than just a pet. His presence helped her control the anxieties and depression resulting from a “biochemical disability.”

Schatz, who has replaced Romeo with a standard schnauzer named Delta, says a service dog “helps me get around and do things on my own,” giving her “a feeling of security and independence.”

The law enabling service dogs to accompany their masters into restaurants and other places is 8 years old, she points out, “but a lot of people haven’t heard about it.”

This was the case at the restaurants, conceded John Doherty, attorney for Marriott. The managers, he said, “didn’t know and they should have.”