Mystery tape: There were no credits at...

Mystery tape: There were no credits at the end of the movie that Los Angeles Police Lt. Mike Melton witnessed recently, which is too bad because he’s trying to find the main characters.

A home movie of a couple’s Hanukkah celebration, the videotape was found in a camcorder that police seized at the residence of a suspected receiver of stolen property. Melton hopes to bolster his case by finding the victimized couple.

He’s been able to deduce this much from the video:

* The couple’s names are Art (a 50ish man wearing a vest that says GTE) and Val.

* The camcorder was a recent gift to them from a guest, named Leonard, at the celebration.

* Art and Val have a cat named Lucky.

* The door on a clothes closet in their home is labeled: “Val’s Closet.”

* The house, which appears to be in Southern California, has an address with three digits. The first two are: 41.

Melton found no record of a stolen property report. “Maybe they thought there was no chance of recovering it because they didn’t know the serial numbers,” Melton said.

One other intriguing element is an orange concrete bus bench visible near the house. “Just finding a city that has orange benches would be a big help,” said Melton, who can be reached at (213) 485-6902.

In case you’re wondering, that type of bench is not found in the city of Orange.

Bare-headed preserve?

Next week, a state Senate subcommittee is scheduled to consider a bill that would exempt motorcyclists on the Catalina Island city of Avalon from the state’s new mandatory helmet law. It’s sponsored by state Sen. Robert G. Beverly (R-Manhattan), whose office points out that there are few cyclists in Avalon and that the speed limit there is 20 m.p.h. Plus, no store on the island sells motorcycle helmets.

Stagecoach days: Four of the huge letters in the lighted WELLS FARGO logo are partially burned out on the east face of the Bunker Hills smogscraper, making it resemble an incomplete answer on “Wheel of Fortune.” Funny, it seems as though Fargo never had this sort of problem at its former building on 5th and Flower, where it displayed a smaller--and more artistic--stagecoach symbol.

Off-limits to vaqueros: Ed Gilbert of San Gabriel figures the sign at San Gabriel Mission High must date back to the days when cowboys herded cattle through the area.

A gift for the ‘90s: The product carries those familiar Southern California symbols, the palm tree and the surfboard. And the manufacturer, Antny-Borden Global Marketing Inc., obviously had the local automobile culture in mind, as well. Sold on a mail-order basis, it’s a key chain condom-holder.

miscelLAny:

In pre-Pacific Rim trading days--1909--a Japanese delegation of merchants, businessmen and legislators visited L. A. A contemporary report says they knew just four words in English: house , cocktail and thank you .