They don’t make hobos like they used...

They don’t make hobos like they used to: The L.A.-based National Hobo Assn. now holds monthly meetings in Beverly Hills and, it seems to us, the Westside’s influence has become noticeable. For example, Hobo Times, the group’s publication, carries this tip: “Your corner drugstore has 15-inch diameter, inflatable rubber ‘doughnuts’ (for hemorrhoid sufferers) that inflate to two inches thick for a more comfortable ride on that load of scrap metal or cold steel floor.”

Braving a Bruin backlash: Assemblyman Pat Nolan (R-Glendale) notes in his campaign literature that he “attended USC and rode as Tommy Trojan in the 1974 Rose Parade.”

Attn. budding hobos: Irv Weiner of Culver City found an ad in a flyer for a company that appears to employ part-time students (see excerpt).

Metro Pedal: Opportunities for commuting by rail are increasing, but bicycling workers recently suffered a setback. The Central City Assn. of L.A. notes that the group overcame a county proposal that would have required the installation of “showers/lockers for bicycle riders in new developments of 100,000 square feet or more. One estimate put the cost per facility at $15,300 (or) based on a liberal guess of usage, $63.60 (per bicycle trip).”

Sounds like a lot of money--unless, perhaps, you sit next to a co-worker who’s a member of the Park ‘n Sweat set.

It hath how many days?Stan Avison of Hollywood received a Bank of America statement whose postmark could have made him wonder if he’d missed the election. And also wonder what type of calendar B of A uses. (See postmark.)

Great moments of campaigns past: When Richard M. Nixon ran for student body president of Whittier College in 1934, he pledged that he would end the ban on campus dances. He won and kept his promise, according to an exhibit at the Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda.

No doubt school authorities were persuaded by Nixon’s observation that supervised events on campus were preferable to allowing “students to go to second-rate Los Angeles dance halls.”

Too, too romantic: Old Flame Finders of Pasadena, which claims that it “can help you find that special someone from your past,” refers to its computer files as a “Database of Love.”

We hope that special someone isn’t found hanging out at a second-rate L.A. dance hall.

MiscelLAny:

Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin Jr. and Michael Collins, the first astronauts to journey to the moon, have stars on the Walk of Fame at Hollywood and Vine. Author William Gordon (“The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book”) notes they were so honored for appearing in an “outstanding television production.”