Bess Fairman thought she had seen a...

Bess Fairman thought she had seen a lot of things in her 96 years, but this was a first.

While at her daughter’s house in Westwood, Mrs. Fairman noticed “a young man on the front lawn, with a bottle of hair shampoo beside him, using the hose to shampoo his hair. I asked him what he was doing and he said, ‘I have an audition coming up and want to look perfect.’ ”

“With that, he got up and rode away in a very nice sports car.”

In the nothing-ever-changes category, Jacque Porter of Lomita found among her grandmother’s belongings a copy of a June 9, 1888, L.A. newspaper that contained the following notice:

“The L.A. City Water Co. will strictly enforce the following rule:

“The hours for sprinkling are between 6 and 8 a.m. and 6 and 8 p.m. For a violation of the above regulation, the water will be shut off and a fine of $2 will be charged before water will be turned on again.”

Drought police, even then.

So maybe you don’t play the trumpet, lift weights or wear makeup. How else can you pass the time behind the wheel on a crowded L.A. freeway? Crawford Communications, a Santa Monica company, suggests that you take a spin on its “Mystic Traffic Advisor.” Maybe you’ll get lucky and the arrow will land in the 2 o’clock position:

“Work your way to the San Diego Freeway, head south to Mexico, and don’t turn back.”

Susan Kidder of L.A. said she was amused by our “subtle references” to two characters on the “Twin Peaks” TV series in Saturday’s column: An item involving Lori Palmer’s battle with the post office and a photograph of a local Cubs “restricted parking” sign by Dale Cooper.

We were so subtle that we didn’t notice the connection ourselves. By coincidence, our Lori is an actress. Our Dale, unlike TV’s agent Cooper, goes easy on the cherry pie, though. He’s a dentist.

The elegant new city of Malibu, looking for someone to handle its street maintenance, approached neighboring Santa Monica to take the job. By the way, does Santa Monica also do windows?

miscelLAny:

The California Almanac terms L.A. “the bounced check capital of the U.S.”