People and Events

Angelenos have developed thick skins, dating back to earlier this century when writeL. Mencken dismissed L.A. as “Moronia.” They’re used to hearing gibes from New Yorkers (current and ex) as well as San Franciscans.

But there’s got to be a limit.

Now, the members of a homeowners association in another California city are filing suit over water quality problems and runaway growth because, they say, they don’t want to “live in a little Los Angeles.”

The snobbish homeowners group resides in . . . Fresno.

You can’t help thinking that the 1950s were a simpler time when you compare a roadside Burma Shave jingle from that era with a sort of updated version that appeared on the Pasadena Freeway Wednesday morning.

A typical Burma Shave ditty, spread along six signs, would proclaim:

In this vale

Of toil

And sin

Your head goes bald

But not your chin .

Burma Shave.

But the banners hanging from three overpasses on the incoming Pasadena said:

Cramps, Diarrhea

It’s Not the Flu

It’s Malathion

Tom Bratter of Palms gives quote-of-the-week honors to Dodger star-turned-radio host Steve Garvey.

The Garv was interviewing Olympic champ/actor Bruce Jenner on radio station XTRA-AM when Jenner mentioned that he’s working hard these days because he has “four kids to take care of.”

Commented Garvey: “I know how that is.”

The sight of USC’s horse, Traveler, galloping around the Coliseum is unquestionably impressive. But lately there’s been a resurgence of interest in the Trojans’ original mascot, a scraggly mutt named George Tirebiter, legendary chaser of whitewalls.

Though the curbside setter has been dead since 1950--he didn’t live to see the advent of radials--”George Tirebiter” T-shirts were big items at USC games this year. A photo of him recently ran in a fraternity newspaper. And his picture hangs alongside those of Trojan football greats in the USC hangout, Julie’s.

Tirebiter’s origins are murky, but he first strolled onto campus in 1941. He became a national figure in 1947 when he disappeared, prompting a search of UCLA. One day George casually returned, apparently of his own accord.

Eventually the aging Tirebiter began nipping at moving people, too. One writer suggested that his strange behavior was “a shot reaction from all the hydrophobia tests the health department gave him each time he bit a UCLA rooter.”

Whatever, he was placed under house arrest at an El Centro ranch in 1950. A few months later, apparently while trying to sink his teeth into one last tire, he was run over by an automobile.

Doug Hays, a USC grad, was so moved by nostalgia that he sent us his copy of the Sept. 20, 1950, Daily Trojan that reported the tragedy in giant headlines.

“Gone to heaven,” the newspaper eulogized Tirebiter, “where he will have cushion rides for breakfast, white sidewalls for lunch, and cold rubber recaps for dinner.”