People and Events

The end of the year is approaching--a time for taking stock--and, luckily, there’s plenty of data for locals trying to decide whether the Freeway City is really for them.

First, studies made by Zero Population Growth and a Fresno professor pegged Los Angeles as 9th and 10th on their lists of the most stressful burgs in the nation.

And, now, comes a survey by Louis Harris and Associates Inc. that finds that Los Angeles ranks second among metropolitan areas in the percentage of people taking steps to improve their health. One category in the Harris survey is taking precautions to reduce stress.

All clear now?

It’s no wonder that the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission are trying to patch up their turf war concerning jurisdiction over the various transit systems. Lately, it’s been getting vicious.

The other day, LACTC officials showed up early at the site of a downtown press conference to “gift-wrap” the prototype car of the Los Angeles-to-Long Beach transit line, which will be run by the LACTC. In a few hours, television cameras and news photographers would be there to shoot it. And what did the LACTC troops find plastered on the side of the car? Three RTD bumper stickers, which they swiftly removed.

The capital of Santa Catalina Island derives its name from Tennyson’s “The Idylls of the King”: “To the island valley of Avalon/ Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow. .”

Tennyson wasn’t taking poetic license with regard to modern-day Avalon. The average annual rainfall since 1985 has been seven inches--five below normal.

“At the same time, we’ve had the highest-recorded consumption on record as far as water sales are concerned,” said Keith LeFever, Southern California Edison’s district manager for the island.

So LeFever says that, Catalina’s balmy image notwithstanding, it’s time to drive off the sun.

Edison officials plan to try to boost water supplies by sending planes laden with dry ice to seed overhead clouds later this month.

There’s only one problem. First, they need some clouds.

If there was a best-prepared award to be given during all of Mother Nature’s

violent doings Thursday, Dick Kemp was certainly high in the running.

Kemp, an Eagle Rock architect, designed his house on Glen Oaks Canyon Drive with 37 “rainbird” sprinklers around the property, including two on top of the house, and installed a thick 1 1/2-inch water main.

He did it because he remembered seeing a neighbor’s house burn in 1964. When a fire headed north toward his street in the pre-dawn hours Thursday, Kemp turned on the water. As it turned out, the fire stopped within yards of his house. But the numerous small fountains made for an impressive display.

“Now,” Kemp said, “our big concern is mud.”

The year was 1886, and Los Angeles was practically bursting at the seams with a population approaching 50,000. The city fathers decided it was time for the pueblo to organize a full-time Fire Department.

Part of the modernization plan included the purchase of the latest in firefighting tools--a horse-drawn, steam-powered pumper, complete with coal-fired boiler.

The pumper labored until 1921 when it was packed away and forgotten. But city firefighters have restored the maroon-and-gold apparatus, and it’s one of the entrants in the Harbor Holidays Christmas Parade in Wilmington on Dec. 18.

The jury that began deliberating Thursday in the lengthy fraud trial of whiz kid carpet-cleaner Barry Minkow will have to pore over testimony from more than 80 witnesses and sift through more than 25,000 exhibits. So observers believe that there’ll be no quick verdict.

Perhaps that’s why the jurors’ meeting room is trimmed with Christmas decorations.