Twas the 27th day before Christmas, and...

Twas the 27th day before Christmas, and all through the Los Felix Market one creature was stirring in the building’s chimney. His cries didn’t sound like “Ho! Ho! Ho!”

A store employee, hearing the disturbance Monday morning, phoned authorities, who sped to the East Los Angeles market. And what to their wondering eyes appeared in the chimney but Hector Medina, 27, Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Steve Jongsma said.

A rope was lowered to free Medina, who was stuck with his hands above his head.

He was taken away by county sheriff’s deputies and booked on suspicion of attempted burglary. Jongsma described Medina as “a bit frustrated.”

Meanwhile, the real Santa Claus is under wraps. Civic dignitaries will gather downtown on Flower Street between 7th and 8th streets at 11 a.m. Wednesday to “open” a gift-wrapped prototype car scheduled to operate on the Long Beach-Los Angeles rail transit line.

When the car’s unwrapped, Santa will pop out.

The event is sponsored by the Downtowners, a local promotion group. Spokeswoman Nann Miller said she’d originally planned for Santa to make his entrance by climbing out of the subway hole at 7th and Flower streets. But Metro Rail officials nixed the idea for safety reasons, no doubt pointing out that Santa isn’t as spry as he used to be.

The sign on the door at Los Angeles City Hall said, “Office of the Mayor.” But it opened into a closet-sized room filled with trash cans and mops and devoid of a desk.

Part of a reelection campaign by Mayor Bradley to clean up the city?

Actually, the sign was a prop for the PBS educational series, “Square One Television,” which was filming an episode Monday.

One signal of the start of the holiday period here the last couple of years was the appearance of the Bra Museum at Frederick’s of Hollywood.

Alas, lingerie scholars will have to get along without a showing this Christmas season.

“We need the room for Christmas merchandise,” spokeswoman Ellen Appel explained.

However, Appel added that an inflated museum will reopen soon, perhaps by Valentine’s Day, featuring the Lingerie of the Stars.

Not all Pasadena merchants join in the laughter at the annual Doo Dah Parade, which was held Sunday. Some resent the fact that spectators who line the streets have their backs to the store windows.

One businessman, who said he wanted to discourage parking by parade-watchers, put up a sign in his parking lot that proclaimed “first hour free with validation.” The catch: Every half an hour thereafter cost $20.