Realtors, like car salesmen, politicians and even...

Realtors, like car salesmen, politicians and even reporters, aren’t always appreciated for their methods. How refreshing, then, to hear that a dinner has been scheduled for December in Long Beach with the theme: “A Salute to Realtors--The Hardest-Working Professionals.”

Their admiring hosts? The Long Beach District Board of Realtors.

Just when local fans (not including defector Jane Fonda) were beginning to recover from seeing the Dodgers edged out by the Atlanta Braves, a new insult is hurled their way.

This bean ball is a murder mystery called “Bleeding Dodger Blue.” You know right off that it’s anti-Angeleno when the book jacket declares that Dodger Stadium is “where the grizzled Bums of Brooklyn gave way to the tanned pretty boys of Tinseltown. Where . . . ‘seventh inning stretch’ refers to the stretch limousines that carry away spectators during the seventh inning to beat the freeway traffic. . . .”

What’s worse, the novel involves the murder of Dodger manager Jack Remsen, who is found in his car on Sunset Boulevard after picking up a take-out order near Dodger Stadium. “Jack had ordered three soft-shell beef tacos with extra hot sauce and a side order of guacamole,” writes the smart-aleck author, Crabbe Evers.

At least he doesn’t have the manager killed by a tomahawk.

The makers of a Bruce Willis movie called “The Last Boy Scout” won’t win an Oscar for good timing.

They told Los Feliz residents that they wanted to shoot a scene there that included an explosion and a 40-foot-tall ball of flames on a vacant lot.

Resident Frank Swig and others pointed out that they live in a wooded residential area and wondered whether anyone had read of what happened in Oakland.

“The last thing I want is embers flying over my home because of some stupid Bruce Willis movie,” Swig said.

He and other neighbors sent out flyers to protest the filming, contacted City Councilman John Ferraro and threatened lawsuits. The Fire Department decided to deny the permit.

Shows what happens when a group of residents displays a die-hard attitude.

Author Ken Schessler (“This is Hollywood”) writes to point out there’s some disagreement regarding the location of L.A.’s first permanent movie studio, a recent subject of our miscelLAny section. We cited one history that said it was a defunct Chinese laundry on Olive Street, where “The Heart of a Racing Tout” was shot in 1909.

Schessler, however, cites three earlier sources that give the distinction to an old mansion at 8th and Olive streets, where “In the Sultan’s Power” was made around 1908.

A 1923 Times article reports that by then the mansion had been converted into a “parking station.”

Thus had begun the rise of L.A.’s really big industry: parking.

miscelLAny:

Chinese soldiers committed to the overthrow of the Manchu Dynasty trained with the U.S. Army in the L.A. area in the early 1900s and even marched in the Rose Parade in 1905.