1992 in Review
Lakers owner Jerry Buss marketed via a toll-free number 8-by-10-inch pieces of the original Forum basketball court for $995 each, or $12.44 a square inch. . .
Investment guru Robert Prechter predicted the market would peak because Johnny Carson retired as host of “The Tonight Show”. . .
First Hawaiian Bank solicited Hollywood producers to film the blowing up of its former headquarters. . .
Former Los Angeles thrift executive Charles Knapp’s bankruptcy papers listed $5,234 in dry cleaning bills under money owed to creditors. . .
Some 23,000 copies of Skiing magazine headed for California were ruined when they were buried beneath fertilizer spilled from an overturned railroad car. . .
Domino’s ranked USC the 28th stingiest school out of 386 surveyed for tipping pizza delivery drivers. . .
The Puchalski, Stang and Ziehl law firm received a food credit at Wolfgang Puck-owned restaurants in lieu of a $25,000 retainer for bankruptcy work involving a restaurant Puck invested in. . .
“Hillside Strangler” Kenneth A. Bianchi sued a novelty trading card firm for $6.75 million, alleging it exploited his name on a set of cards featuring some of the nation’s most notorious criminals. . .
Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. in Tarzana filed a $1-million trademark infringement lawsuit on behalf of the Tarzan author’s heirs over a suggestive “Tarzan, Meet Jane” fashion spread in Vogue. . .
Convicted Newport Beach swindler Steven D. Wymer made a “100 best money managers” list. . .
Worst cliches: Recession-proof, reinvent, jump-start the economy, downsize, level playing field, global, empowering employees, resigning to pursue other interests. . .
UC Irvine searched to fill its “Taco Bell Chair in Real Estate Management”. . .
A Beverly Hills chiropractor offered a “recession stress special”. . .
A Dodgers “See you at Dodger Stadium” ad featured Darryl Strawberry and Eric Davis, neither of whom was seen much because of injuries. . .
A Gilroy flower firm was deluged with calls because its number was a digit off from Jerry Brown’s toll-free campaign number. . .
Five people responded “Abraham Lincoln” when answering a survey on which historical figures deserve to be pictured on U.S. currency. . .
Evian donated 1,638 cases of its trendy water to Los Angeles riot victims. . .
Disneyland during the riots dropped the slogan “Be There When the Night Ignites” for a special effects show. . .
Former Lincoln Savings kingpin Charles H. Keating Jr. worked three meals a day in prison setting and clearing tables. . .
Former Texas Gov. John Connally described Keating as a “man of great vision” in a letter to a judge. . .
Wall Street Week host Louis Rukeyser promoted his new newsletter with a brochure that boasted he was “the only person in history to eat at every three-star restaurant in France before age 30”. . .
The Pacific Stock Exchange cracked down on rubber band fights. . .
A Redondo Beach farm listed 250 ostrich eggs as assets in a bankruptcy petition. . .
An ad for a West Hollywood 900 number featuring off-color jokes included the slogan “call now before the FCC does.”
