THE TIMES 100 : The Best Performing Companies in California : POTPOURRI

For trivia buffs, California companies are a cornucopia of quirks and curiosities. Here are a few from this year’s harvest.

Least likely to make the Modesty 100:

* The Good Guys, the San Francisco consumer electronics chain .

* Superior Industries, a Van Nuys wheel maker for automobiles.

Borrowed Time

* You won’t find this company anywhere in next’s year’s publication: Security Pacific Corp.

* You probably won’t find this company in next year’s report: HomeFed Corp.

* You may not find this company in next year’s report: MGM Pathe Communications Corp.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock ...

* Name most likely to change within eight years: 20th Century Industries

Is ThIs SoMe Kind of TreNd?

* SynOptics Communications

* UniCare Financial Corp.

* FirstFed Financial

* BankAmerica Corp.

* MagneTek Inc.

Really Big Oil

Chevron Corp. is so large that its sales nearly equal the total sales of California’s next three largest oil companies combined.

Who’s in Charge Here?

Companies named after the boss (or former boss):

* Charles Schwab Corp.

* Conner Peripherals

* Carl Karcher Enterprises

* Jacobs Engineering Group

* Walt Disney Co.

* Price Co.

A Rose By Any Other Name ...

Name that sounds most like a Greek goddess: Neutrogena comes from the “neutral” effect the Los Angeles company says its soap has on people’s skin.

Name that sounds most like an Internal Revenue Service form: WD-40 Co., the San Diego maker of the famed lubricant spray, whose name stands for “water displacement, 40th formula.”

And the First Shall Be the Last

Turns out there was no insurance that Los Angeles-based First Capital Holdings would be a good investment for stockholders. After finishing 90th in 1989 and 63rd in 1988, its main insurance units failed last year after mounting losses.

Check the Map

* Geographically incorrect: Downey Savings & Loan is based in Newport Beach

Aunt Bea Would Still Be Proud

Ron Howard’s Imagine Films Entertainment First nearly became the first company founded by a former star of the “Andy Griffith Show” to make the Times 100. The company would have finished 99th with a 16.9% return on its equity, but its revenue fell below the $50-million-a-year cutoff point. Another hit movie could do it.

It’s Tough at the Top

Making the Times 100 can be a sign of accomplishment, or in some cases, a jinx. Here is a list of some fallen stars of lists past:

* C&R; Clothiers: What a difference four years makes. The Culver City clothing chain, No. 29 in the 1988 list, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month.

* L.A. Gear: No. 2 in 1989 and No. 11 in 1990, this tennis shoe company pulled up lame last year, losing $67.8 million. The deep pockets of financier Roy E. Disney and other investors are helping bail out the company.

* Live Entertainment: Its results haven’t been lively in quite some time. After finishing 59th in 1990 and 23rd in 1989, the Van Nuys home video firm lost $107 million in 1991, with its auditors expressing doubts on whether it can continue. In addition, it’s more than half-owned by Carolco Pictures (see below).

* Columbia Savings: The Beverly Hills savings and loan, 89th on the 1987 list, vanished last year after it was seized by federal regulators because of big junk bond losses. Its branches were sold off to American Savings.

* Carolco Pictures: Despite the box office success of its “Terminator 2,” the Los Angeles filmmaker, No. 25 in 1987, lost $265 million in 1991. Things are so bad that it stopped providing free coffee to its employees. A financial restructuring earlier this year gives it some breathing room with lenders.