The morning after the Universal Studios fire,...
The morning after the Universal Studios fire, televangelist Pat Robertson suggested on his 700 Club TV show that the inferno could have been “the judgment of God.”
Conceding that the fire might have had an earthly cause--an arson suspect was arrested that morning--Robertson asserted that “it’s an interesting thing that the company that produced ‘The Last Temptation of Christ,’ which many people thought was blasphemous in the extreme, finds this kind of activity taking place.”
Pat obviously forgot how much the company suffered at the box office with that turkey.
Long Beach is trying to go big-time again. The burg that christened itself the International City after acquiring a ship that doesn’t sail and a plane that doesn’t fly has hired a public relations agency to shore up its image.
Enter consultant Howard Wallman, who suggested taking such measures as using the word village in place of downtown and avoiding use of urban altogether. In a slide show, Wallman showed how one of the city’s run-down apartment buildings could be hidden by a barrier--a wall painted with ocean waves.
The image face lift could cost the city $16 million.
“I’m conducting (the research) the same way I conduct it for potato chips and political candidates,” Wallman said.
It will be interesting to see whether this campaign--unlike the Spruce Goose--flies.
Maria Cowell of Mt. Washington points out that one muffler shop seems to be making a pitch aimed at those with “body parts that are weary and worn.”
Only in L.A. Menu Selection of the Week:
Runner-up--the duck burritos at the Sonora Cafe downtown. The winner was submitted by readers “Lisa and Sandy,” who said they visited UCLA’s coffee shop and came across a “BBQ Tofu Grill.”
Mike Peck of Pasadena was en route to work on the Ventura Freeway when he noticed someone “playing a game popular with lobotomized drivers--changing speeds radically and weaving across lanes. The guy and his passenger would draw even with me, fall back, then gun up again into another lane. Not until they finally got in front me did I realize that the DMV occasionally (and unknowingly) issues ‘personalized’ plates to fit driving habits.”
The letters on the plate were: JRX.
miscelLAny:
Exposition Park, near USC, has the largest rose garden in the nation with more than 165 varieties on 16,000 bushes.