Odds & Ends Around the Valley

Surfer Boys Who Get All the Breaks

Skiers who share a chairlift up to the top of the slopes traditionally pass the time talking about the weather, or where they’re from, and whether they like where they’re staying. This year they’re chewing on a new topic: The snowboarder.

Snowboarding is akin to surfing on snow, without poles. Both snow-booted feet are strapped onto a single board that looks like the missing link between a surfboard and a skateboard. According to Mark Richards, co-owner of Val Surf & Sport, with three Valley locations, its most avid enthusiasts are--surprise-- teen-age boys. And surfers and skateboarders, rather than skiers, are more drawn to the sport. “In the last few years, it’s really taken off,” Richards says.

Skiers aren’t the only ones talking about snowboarding this winter: so are orthopedic surgeons who specialize in sports medicine. Snowboarding injuries are slowly--inevitably--creeping into their practice as the sport’s popularity grows.

The most common injuries with snowboarding, according to Dr. Ron Karzell of the Southern California Orthopedic Institute in Van Nuys, are upper-body injuries to the hands, wrists and forearms. “The board doesn’t grab the snow as much as a ski, so it tends to slide and things are less controlled,” he says.

According to Dr. Vincent L. Gumbs, an orthopedic surgeon in Northridge, ski injuries--by contrast--are more commonly sustained in the lower body.

Like many of his peers, sports-medicine orthopedist Dr. Robert Grant of Canoga Park figures he’ll be seeing more snowboarding injuries in the months ahead. “Ski resorts are really starting to encourage the sport,” he points out. “They’re even building special areas for it.”

The Roots of Furniture

One mega-name Hollywood producer wanted a bed that featured a towering tree trunk as one of its four posters.

Another customer wants to excavate an ash tree from her yard and use its bulky roots to create a glass-topped dining room table.

Fred Fuchs is in the business of accommodating such desires. His Southwest Country store, a furniture, accessory and gift shop on Ventura Boulevard in Encino, specializes in special orders in which customers or decorators design the pieces they want, no matter how fantastic their vision.

So Fuchs will soon be uprooting an ash tree and converting it into a piece of furniture for a female customer who has a yearning to bring a little nature indoors.

And we can imagine how every conversation at her dinner parties will start.

Keeping Kids Afloat

Hey, parents of rebellious toddlers, don’t you wish you’d thought of this idea:

Sewing those inflatable armbands (that keep the little pipsqueaks afloat in the pool) right into a bathing suit’s design? In other words, making them equal parts fashion and function.

“I invented them during last Christmas’ vacation in Hawaii,” says Barbra Kahn of Los Angeles. “We were with some people with kids. And the kid didn’t want to wear these things. He kept taking them off and throwing them down, so I said ‘This is ridiculous!’ ”

A year later, she and her husband have a thriving company--Bami--and their line of children’s swimsuits are in 100 stores across the country, including The Broadway and Nordstrom in Southern California.

While traditional flotation armbands can make even the sweetest cherub look a bit goofy, Bami’s pads ride a bit higher--around the shoulders-- in their neon-colored swimsuits. They look more like an athletic device or an exercise accessory than a safety feature.

“The suits are selling really well here,” notes Kelly Warren, saleswoman at The Broadway in Sherman Oaks Fashion Square. Prices range from $38 to $42 in sizes 2T to 4T, 4, 5, and 6.

Tuning In at the Office

When they were college students, they had to have the biggest stereo speakers and the receiver with the most dials and switches. Now they’re attorneys, or entertainment industry executives or as Les Fields, manager of Affordable Portables in Sherman Oaks describes them, they’re “the presidents of companies in that yuppie situation.”

What they’re buying now are compact stereo systems for their offices. Also called “mini-stereo systems,” these are separate stackable components--a receiver, cassette player, compact disc player as basics, along with two free-standing speakers--that are much smaller than a typical stereo system.

“They’re miniaturizing everything because of microchips,” says Michael Smith of Reggie Stereo in Van Nuys, where a Sony model is the most popular. Fields claims the sound is comparable to a regular stereo system. “It’s not going to sound as boomy as a big speaker, but the clarity is there and it’s more than enough for a small office or bedroom,” he says.

Although most compact stereo systems are in the $1,000 range, you can spend up to $2,000.

Yuppie presidents aren’t the only ones buying them. “A lot of people buy them for their college student’s dorm room or if they have kids living at home and don’t want that big system in their house,” says Smith.

But what do they use now for end tables?

Overheard

“I look at this place and all I can think is ‘Earthquake!’ ” --Man peering inside crystal and china gift shop at the Woodland Hills Promenade Mall