Welcome to “Late Morning With Zev, Joy,...

Welcome to “Late Morning With Zev, Joy, Ernani, Etc.!”

That merry gang of lawmakers known as the Los Angeles City Council makes its television debut today.

But don’t stay home from work to catch their act.

The first month or so of sessions will be broadcast only on City Hall’s in-house TV system as technicians give the new $1-million Council Control Center a tryout.

“We’re working with new technology for us, so we’re experimenting here,” said Karen Constine, an aide to Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, a strong proponent of televising meetings. “We’ll have some kinks to work out.”

Plans call for a Council Control technician on the floor above the chamber to operate five (count ‘em, five) swiveling video cameras by remote control--all the better to catch the various activities of the members while ignoring the speaker.

If initial reviews are reasonably positive, gavel-to-gavel images of the thrice-weekly meetings could be sent to every household in the city with cable television (Channel 35) within 30 days.

Last week, council members were so late for one 10 a.m. session that a colleague suggested fining tardy lawmakers.

Flores predicted that no one will be late today.

Incidentally, it shouldn’t be taken as a comment on the quality of the council’s work that the stationery used by the members carries a footnote revealing that it is made from “recycled waste.”

More L.A. Honors: The book, “Roadside America,” lists the statue of cartoon buddies Bullwinkle Moose and Rocket J. (Rocky) Squirrel on Sunset Boulevard among its collection of “beautifully tasteless and wonderfully weird leisure-time tourist attractions.”

Why is the statue there? Why, it sits near a Bullwinkle memorabilia shop, naturally.

One of the brigs on display in Marina del Rey this week during the Tall Ships Festival is the Pilgrim, a replica of a ship that sailed here from Boston in the 1830s.

It brings back somewhat painful memories for San Pedro.

One of the passengers on the original vessel was Richard Henry Dana, a 19-year-old Harvard dropout later to gain fame as the author of “Two Years Before the Mast.”

Dana described San Pedro as “dismal” and said that when it was time for the ship to pull out it was “to our no small joy.”

It’s believed to be the first attack on Southern California by an Eastern snob.

The latest poetry from the car culture:

A sign on a Slauson Avenue gas station boasts, “Try Our New Lightweight Nozzles!”

The days of gasoline wars seem long past.

But the Chinese newspaper World Daily News reports that another type of price-cutting trend is sweeping Chinese restaurants of Monterey Park: A lobster war.

Prices have fallen to $4.99 for a one-pound lobster dish as the fiercely competitive eateries in the city try to lure in customers; grocery stores in the area charge more than $7 per pound.

Those who don’t read Chinese, however, may not be aware of the bargains, since most of the restaurants print their signs in Chinese only.

Seventy-five years ago this month, Touring Topics magazine of the Southern California Auto Club reported that there was a proposal to permit longer parking hours in downtown Los Angeles.

The proposal, said the magazine, came in response to merchants “whose women patrons with motorcars have too little time under the present regulations to finish their shopping.”