A cynical Easterner might call this an...

A cynical Easterner might call this an “L.A. boycott”:

The cashier in a Civic Center department store asked, “Cash or charge?” and the customer responded cooly that she would never use the store’s credit card as long as furs were sold there.

Then she paid in cash and left with her two shiny new wine glasses.

A midday freeway jam, like the one on the Santa Monica Freeway Thursday, can be especially infuriating. But, in this case, motorists at least had the benefit of an explanation from the electronic freeway message board.

To wit: NO LANE GLIPPERY.

For almost 50 years, City Hall’s elevators were manned by operators. Project Restore, an agency refurbishing City Hall, recently found a “1928 City Hall Elevator Operator’s Manual.” The manual was lengthy, since officials were faced with the job of coordinating the routes in the city’s tallest building (28 stories).

Among the directions to the operators were the following (capital letters are those of the manual writer):

1--There must be NO ONE-FLOOR STOPS (passengers traveling only one floor) except for aged or injured people.

(Georgia Rosenberry, president of Project Restore, is undoubtedly not alone when she says of No. 1: “I wish people would follow that today.”)

4--Call your floors LOUD (but not GRUFF) and on EVERY floor . . .

9--You must NOT TALK, visit or explain too much to passengers or others. This ties up traffic . . . GET RID OF YOUR PEOPLE WITH THE SHORTEST, COURTEOUS ANSWER POSSIBLE WITHOUT BEING ROUGH.

11--When TROUBLE COMES, BE A GOOD SALESMAN and placate your passengers with “POWER IS OFF” and don’t talk. ENOUGH SAID. Use your distress signal and KEEP QUIET AND COOL.

12--OPERATORS--NEVER leave your car without permission or proper relief.

14--OPERATORS MUST NOT SIT while in motion. STAND ERECT, facing the door and make good use of your left hands on the doors to protect all of your passengers . . .

18--GOOD FLOOR LEVER STOPS are necessary to keep down complaints, and avoid delay.

As Caltech’s chemistry chairman from 1928-1936, Arthur Amos Noyes was acquainted with complicated formulae. One of his own own--which he painstakingly revised several times--recently appeared in the school’s Engineering & Science magazine (see photo). Noyes held a weekly research conference at which refreshments were served. He posted this lengthy formula (we didn’t have room to publish all of it) on the kitchen bulletin board. It contains directions for making coffee.

miscelLAny:

The Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine, a religious community in Pacific Palisades, houses some of the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi.