The ninth wonder of Southern California: At...

The ninth wonder of Southern California: At a height of 170 feet, it won’t rival its more famous predecessors in Egypt. And rather than containing the treasures of kings, its compartments will hold such valuables as the gym shoes of athletes.

But, as Cal State Long Beach official Scott Charmack says, “We think it’s going to be a unique building.” What it’s going to be is a campus pyramid that will house (we almost said, entomb ) a basketball arena and physical education building (see photo).

The Great ($15.7-million) Pyramid of Long Beach is being constructed to appease the budget gods. “The savings come from not having to put up separate walls and a separate roof,” Charmack explained.

State funds supplied $10 million, but another $5.7 million must be raised privately to pay for the 6,300 seats and other furnishings in the basketball chamber. No date for the groundbreaking has been set.

While the 14-story monument has been in the planning stages for years, some neighbors were shocked to learn that it will sit on the present site of a parking lot within a few hundred feet of an adjacent street.

“This monstrosity will literally tower over our homes,” complained resident Andy Jones, who is leading a petition protest drive. “What we don’t understand is why it can’t be built on the other end of the parking lot, which would put it at least a quarter-mile from the street.”

So there the issue stands for the moment: The pyramid is great to some, grating to others.

List of the Day: Thomas Pleasure of Venice alerted us to a press release from the office of Secretary of State March Fong Eu, which asks write-in candidates to “provide alternate spellings of their names to assist elections officials in determining the validity of write-in votes.”

The alternate spellings are acceptable. And one write-in hopeful for a state Senate seat in Inglewood is obviously taking no chances. She submitted more than 20 variations, the most of any candidate. A sampling:

--Lois Hill Hale (her actual name).

--Lois Hail Hill

--Lois Hill Hall

--Lois Hillhale

--Lola Hill Hale

--Louis Hill Hale

--Lewis Hill Hale

--Dr. Hill-Hale

--Loyce Hill

--Luis Hill

--Ms. Holl

And we know just where a graduate can get a job: Sara Meric of Santa Monica sent the catalogue of the Information Exchange adult school, whose Editing/Proofreading class is described this way:

“There are more than 1,500 publishers and 500 printers in L.A. County alone! And all of them need people to proofread and copy-editor material every day. . . . For economic reason much of this work is done at home. . . .”

miscelLAny:

But will it pack a kick? The American Professional Soccer League has granted a franchise to a team that will call itself the Los Angeles Salsa.