Toddler Mutant Ninja Turtles

“Every time a decent martial arts movie comes out, it gives us a shot in the arm,” said Bernie Krasnoo, owner of Sherman Oaks Karate Studio. The most recent release--”Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”--created a small flurry of interest in the martial arts among the younger set.

“This time of year is pretty slow, but we had an unexpected number of sign-ups among the 4-, 5- and 6-year-olds,” Krasnoo said. “Everybody wants to be a ninja turtle now. The real little ones like it because of the turtle characters.”

While being a ninja turtle is a glamorous fantasy, becoming one is grueling hard work. “The kids find out real quick that they have to work, and some of them don’t like the discipline that’s involved,” Krasnoo said.

According to Frank Dux, owner of Frank Dux’s Samurai Connection in North Hollywood, the martial arts industry is coming out of a slump. “The martial arts industry is really tied into the film industry. When good martial arts movies dry up, so does our industry,” he said. “We were in a depression for several years, but when the movie ‘Bloodsport’ was released on video in 1989, it actually saved the industry.”

It is Dux’s dream for teen-agers to turn to martial arts rather than to gangs. “It helps you find the courage and strength to stand up to adversity and to find value in yourself--it improves your self-esteem. Most people do drugs because they don’t have any self-esteem. But with the martial arts, you find it within yourself.”

You Mean It’s This Sunday? If mothers only knew what went on behind the scenes while their offspring were purchasing their Mother’s Day flowers.

“Usually toward Friday and Saturday, if the flowers are being sent out of the area, the customers start saying, ‘Just send anything, as long as it gets there,’ ” designer Caralyn deJong of Granada Hills Florist said with a laugh.

Several florists report that another on-the-job talent they must possess is the ability to write a good card. “People always ask for help in writing the card or they ask what everybody else is saying,” deJong said.

Floral designer Lee Burcher of Rambling Rose Florist in Woodland Hills and Warner Center refers to Mother’s Day as “Guilt Day.”

“So many people never send flowers to their mothers during the year, so then on this one special day, they make up for it,” he said. “And the later they are with placing their order, the more they spend on the flowers.”

The Monday after Mother’s Day offers no respite. “We still get a lot of orders on Monday,” noted Marty Lavitt, owner of the Wild Flower in Northridge.

To help the exceedingly tardy shopper, some shops are open on Mother’s Day. “One of the few things that’s kind of a bummer about having a flower shop is that you have to be open on the major holidays,” Lavitt said. “But it’s not like working in the complaint department. People who buy flowers are the nicest people in the world. It’s not like mean people buying flowers for other mean people.”

Just What California Needs Yet another variation of license plate styles has been added to the soup and began appearing on cars this month. “It’s called the Olympic Training Center license and it was issued in an effort to raise money for the center in San Diego,” said Department of Motor Vehicles spokesman Bill Gengler. The center will be apportioned $100 of the plate’s $135 cost.

California is rather unusual in that it has five basic license plate designs, Gengler noted. A large number of specialty designs exist that build on these standard styles. The new training center design, for example, is a variation on the basic Olympic plate. “There’s everything from the Pearl Harbor Survivors plate, the Purple Heart plate, the historical vehicle license plate, the disabled-person motorcycle plate . . . the list goes on and on,” Gengler said.

The DMV collects more than $4 billion in fees and registrations annually, according to Gengler. “We’re a collection agency,” he said. “About 55% of the money we collect goes right back to the local city or county government where a car is garaged. The California Highway Patrol gets 15%, the DMV gets 10% and there are a variety of smaller allocations.”

One tip passed along by Gengler is the method for identifying whether a car parked in handicapped parking legally belongs there. “A plate for disabled persons or disabled veterans will have a DP or a DV on it,” he said.

Overheard “I hope this summer, when I buy my son a Dick Tracy T-shirt, I can get a rebate if I turn in his Batman T-shirt.”

--Mother to librarian at the West Valley Regional Branch Library in Reseda.