It was the first time anyone could...

It was the first time anyone could remember a press conference for a toilet-flushing.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter hosted the event to show off her new low-flow commode--a water-conservation device that will be required in new buildings after July 1 under an ordinance she sponsored.

The toilet uses about 1.5 gallons of water each time it’s flushed, contrasted with the standard three to six gallons.

“Each year, many hundreds of millions of gallons of water are flushed into our sewers unnecessarily,” Galanter said. “That’s water we could stop diverting from Mono Lake and it’s sewage that doesn’t have to pour into Santa Monica Bay.”

Perhaps because of the subject matter, Galanter’s press conference didn’t draw a big crowd.

A few minutes later, when she tried to squeeze into colleague Zev Yaroslavsky’s crowded 40th birthday party, she groused that more reporters showed up to to see Yaroslavsky blow out the candles than to see her press the lever.

Galanter’s unveiling was a reminder that the city has been in the forefront of revolutionary mechanical devices--though not always with positive results.

For a while City Hall was equipped with a few toilets with battery-powered plastic seat covers. There was one between the press room and the council chamber.

“That stall was not a favorite,” said a council aide. “The way it worked was you pressed a button and this plastic ran around the top. It was a bizarre device.”

During Public Works Week in 1983, the city set out what may have been the world’s only talking trash can. It contained a hidden speaker and was hooked up to a nearby truck, where a worker covertly issued pleas for passers-by not to litter.

“Some people looked at the can like it was crazy,” a participant said later. “Some kids tore paper out of the can.”

Universal Studios, home of the big gorilla, the collapsing bridge and assorted glitzy lights shows, may offer as its next attraction . . . a bookstore? A sidewalk cafe?

The studio has polled more than 1,600 nearby residents on what they think should replace an 80-acre hilltop parking lot, Universal’s last major open space.

A Universal planner said the bookstore and cafe were suggested along with a newsstand and more restaurants. Moviegoers at Universal’s 18-screen complex have complained that it’s almost as devoid of eating places as a set for “Mad Max.”

Mayor Tom Bradley handed out candy canes, chocolate kisses and toy pickup trucks to 15 adults Wednesday--the members of the City Council.

The mayor said the trucks symbolized his plan to have local government eliminate rush-hour deliveries by heavy trucks, which increase traffic congestion.

Last year, when Bradley made his holiday visit to the council chamber, he wore a red-and-white Santa’s cap.

But he now faces a bitter reelection campaign against council member Zev Yaroslavsky, with whom he’s already swapped accusations.

The less jovial mayor was bareheaded Wednesday.

The bearded man who made an unscheduled arrival at a Long Beach City Council meeting, on the other hand, was dressed as the Jolly Old Elf--sort of.

“I’m Santa Ski, I live at the pole,” Ski Demski said. He was referring to his 125-foot pole, from which hangs a 55-foot-by-30 foot American flag that the city’s been trying to take down through legal maneuvers for months.

Just in case council members didn’t get the pun, Demski handed out American-flag decals.

It was only one of many appearances he made this week. Demski also paraded around as Santa at half-time of the Los Angeles Raiders-Seattle Seahawks game Sunday.

“I wore a patch over my eye and brought my pet macaw but I heard people shouting that it was a seahawk,” he said. “It was the first time Santa ever got booed.”