Receiving junk phone calls at home or...

Receiving junk phone calls at home or at work is one thing, but. . . .

A few hours after Judy Graeme gave birth to 8-pound Sean Rose at Tarzana Medical Center, the phone rang in her room. The cheery female voice on the other end said, “Hi! Congratulations!” and went on to say that Graeme was now eligible for a gift.

The caller asked for the new mom’s home phone number. But when the solicitor, instead, was asked for her phone number, her cheeriness evaporated and she hung up.

At least it wasn’t a door-to-door pitch.

What if they gave a protest and everyone came--to the wrong address?

About 90 members of Pesticide Watch and other anti-malathion groups showed up at a Wilshire-area building the other day to picket the local offices of Gov. George Deukmejian.

Only problem was, the Guv had moved downtown in August, the same month (coincidentally) that authorities rained malathion on the Wilshire area.

(Downtown hasn’t been sprayed yet, its many fruit trees having avoided contamination.)

“He fled the spray zone,” demonstration organizer David Bunn said of Deukmejian.

And the protest? Well, since they’d gone to all the trouble, they held it at the old address anyway. But the protesters faced downtown.

Should Long Beach’s new logo get the heave-ho?

A survey taken by the Long Beach Weekly Seabreeze found Beachites favored, by a 2-1 margin, sacking the new skyscrapers/waves symbol in favor of the old design, which featured such lost landmarks as the Rainbow Pier and the old Municipal Auditorium.

“The new logo looks like Long Beach is sinking into the waves after the next earthquake,” wrote one reader, possibly recalling the city’s 1933 shaker.

An anonymous city employee commented that the new logo “implies that all there is to Long Beach is its business development. Why not a big dollar sign, instead?” The new symbol, chosen over more than 100 other entries, was announced a couple of months late, sparking rumors that the judges were not overwhelmed with any of the candidates.

City officials felt that the old logo--dating back to 1930--needed replacing, because it puts Long Beach’s incorporation date at 1897, which might lead one to wonder why the city celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1988. Also, the old logo contains the Latin motto, Urbs Amicitiae (“The Friendly City”). That title is claimed by nearby Bellflower. And, when it comes to a stolen motto, there are limits to Bellflower’s friendliness.

It might seem hard to believe, but there was a time in Southern California when junk mail from real estate agents wasn’t so plentiful.

In the 1860s, the bottom fell out of the market after a drought virtually wiped out the cattle industry and left many land barons impoverished.

At a sheriff’s sale of confiscated downtown property, held 125 years ago today, there were no takers for lots on the corners of Main and 5th streets, Spring and 5th streets, and Broadway and 4th street.

The price was the amount of unpaid real estate taxes owed on each lot, according to author Oliver Carlson (“Mirror for Californians”). The lack of interest was understandable. Back taxes amounted to 63 cents for each parcel.