Nothing like getting away from the headaches...

Nothing like getting away from the headaches of L.A.:

City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky was walking down a street in Manhattan the other day when a pickpocket brushed against him and nabbed a plastic bag containing six little white pills.

Yaroslavsky said he was initially upset until he realized that his assailant “was walking around, trying to smoke my aspirin and trying to figure out why he wasn’t getting high.”

The kinder, gentler “Blue Thunder”:

Hundreds of people were standing outside the Temporary Contemporary in Little Tokyo the other night at the opening of a museum exhibition when a helicopter appeared overhead.

“It shined its blue light on the crowd and announced, ‘This is the Los Angeles Police Department,’ ” said Chad Reed, a downtown dweller. “I assumed they (the police) were going to say something like, ‘Get out of the street’ or ‘Disperse.’ Instead, they wished everyone a happy 1992, and a nice evening, and flew off. I thought it was kind of funny--a PR helicopter.”

Jane Turner Update:

Following a skiing accident in which the actress suffered a knee injury, Birmingham, Ala., surgeon James R. Andrews said Tuesday: “Because of Mrs. Turner’s excellent physical condition, her recovery should be a speedy one.”

Amazing how time passes. We remember her when she was Jane Fonda.

When last we visited with Santa Monica businessman David Bencke, he was attempting to market a parking-meter hood for motorists that says “Meter Broken.” Bencke claimed the cover was a better insurance policy against receiving unjustified parking tickets than a note taped to the meter.

Santa Monica, which collects $5 million in parking revenue per year, has since written up Bencke for a more serious violation--for alleged deceptive advertising. And the city is also seeking civil penalties of “up to $2,500” for each of the 20,000 flyers that Bencke mailed out. (He claims no covers have been sold.)

“We’re protecting consumers,” said Dep. City Atty. Kimery Shelton. She explained that any motorist using one of Bencke’s covers would not only have it confiscated by officers but could be “considered tampering with a parking meter.”

Shelton said that the actions were taken against Bencke because “he insisted on staying in business” after the city “gave him an opportunity” to quit.

Perhaps he should have converted the hoods into golf-club covers.

Paula Steele of West L.A. spotted a bumper sticker that said: “Even the lies they are telling you are not true.”

We just can’t disbelieve that.

miscelLAny:

One, considered by some historians to be the first magazine for the lesbian and gay community, was published in L.A. and first appeared in 1954.