1990: A RETROSPECTIVE : L.A. SIDESHOWS

In a community with a flair for the zany and bizarre, Los Angeles had more than its share of eye-catching news stories in 1990.

Consider:

* The Dad’s Donuts raid: Los Angeles police burst into a Mid-Wilshire doughnut shop, busting a nightly chess tournament after undercover vice squad officers found $1.50 on the table during a match. Days later, Los Angeles Police Department supervisors instructed the officers to tear up the gambling citations.

* Dog days: The California Highway Patrol, fearful of a public relations disaster, called a news conference to explain why officers intentionally ran over and killed a stray dog holding up rush-hour traffic on the Harbor Freeway. “We are not bad people,” said Southern Division Cmdr. Edward Gomez. “Most of the officers have pets.”

* Name game: Career bureaucrat Daniel W. Waters was appointed manager of the Department of Water and Power. Waters’ executive staff includes veteran chief financial officer Norman J. Powers.

* Manhole madness: For two weeks in July, catch-covers and storm drain grates disappeared at a dizzying rate across Los Angeles. But police detectives, still scratching their heads as to why anyone would steal metal worth 3 cents a pound, put the kibosh on the caper by staking out a downtown scrap-metal yard. The perpetrators were nabbed as they sought to recycle their hot and heavy merchandise, concealed by layers of cardboard and broken bed frames.

* Just say hot fudge sundae: Nancy Reagan, unable to attend a Baskin-Robbins news conference introducing the firm’s glasnost- inspired flavor of the month--Gorba-chocolate--sent a letter instead. In keeping with her anti-drug theme, the former First Lady wrote: “The love for ice cream is shared by all nations . . . and it is a wonderful alternative to drug and alcohol use. So the next time someone offers you something bad, suggest that you go have some ice cream and fun instead.”

* Soundtrack theft: A Los Angeles lawyer was arrested and handcuffed at LAX for using his own earphones to listen to the soundtrack of a movie on a United Airlines flight. The petty theft charges were later dropped. The movie: “Presumed Innocent.”

* Pushcart prosecution: “Tasty Hasty” hot dog vendor Michael Mikhail was convicted of health code violations by a jury which ruled that onions and chili were not necessarily condiments. The jury, acting on evidence that the 59-year-old Egyptian immigrant had been observed grilling fresh onions in his Mid-Wilshire street corner stand, declared that the foodstuffs were “potentially hazardous” and should have been prepackaged at an approved facility.

* Cookout curbs: Opening a new front in the war against smog, the South Coast Air Quality Management District board banned the sale of lighter fluid and self-starting charcoal beginning in 1992. While industry sources say that most barbecue enthusiasts prefer lighter fluid, regional officials contend that a switch to electric charcoal starters or propane grills would be a small price to pay to fight pollution.

* Flickering light: In town for the day, President George Bush ventured into the troubled Oakwood neighborhood of Venice to hand a “Point of Light” award to semi-retired janitor Foster Webster, founder of a volunteer program to fight gangs and drugs. Just hours after Bush and his Secret Service agents departed, it was business as usual. “Hey, you get high?” yelled one drug dealer, seeking to flag down a reporter in his car, blocks from Webster’s house.

* Fare dress wear: A strict dress code for Los Angeles cab drivers was enacted by the city’s Transportation Commission. In: white dress shirts with collars, dark trousers and neckties. Out: Plaid pants, leisure suits, sandals, cutoffs and any shirt with more than two buttons unbuttoned at the neck.

* Bank king: Elvis impersonator of the year? No question, man. It had to be Los Angeles actor Nicholas D’Ambra, who debuted his “S&Lvis;” routine at a Mid-Wilshire union rally. The quasi-king’s song list included “Bailout Rock” and “Tax Break Hotel.”

* Courthouse craziness: When members of two rival street gangs bumped into one another in the crowded lobby of the West Los Angeles Municipal Courthouse, a battle royal ensued. Twenty law enforcement officers finally broke up the fight, but not before a county marshal was hurled through a plate-glass window. “These people, when they see each other, they are going to fight,” said one cop at the scene. “They don’t care where they are or who’s watching.”