A snowball’s chance in Redondo Beach: Nicholas...

A snowball’s chance in Redondo Beach: Nicholas Scott writes that the reason certified public accountant Chris Boyle received just 6% of the vote in the recent mayoral election in Redondo Beach must be that his statement on the sample ballot was overlooked.

“I believe I am the most qualified candidate for the office of mayor as I live only two blocks from City Hall,” Boyle said. “In the event of a major snowstorm here in Redondo Beach, I can easily walk to work, thereby ensuring that the city would continue to operate. . . .”

So far, Redondans who snubbed Boyle have nothing to regret. But winter’s not over yet.

It’s Shangri-L.A. no more: “Falling Down,” the latest L.A. movie, is the tale of an enraged motorist who abandons his car in a traffic jam and sets out on foot across the city, involving himself in several violent episodes.

Not exactly a Chamber of Commerce highlights film. And it seems decades removed from Woody Allen’s 1977 movie, “Annie Hall,” in which a transplanted New Yorker says of L.A.: “I’ve never been so relaxed as I have been since I moved out here. . . . There’s no crime. There’s no mugging. . . .”

If “Annie Hall” were remade today, the Woody Allen role would probably be given to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Go directly to school . . . : A USC Business School graduate who pleaded no contest to using bogus records in an effort to obtain a $192,500 loan has been ordered by a Van Nuys Municipal Court commissioner to take an ethics course at the university.

The graduate, Charlie J. Hung, 24, was also fined $2,700 and ordered to work for 40 days on a Caltrans road crew, according to Deputy City Atty. Gary Geuss.

The USC course is “Conflicts in Change--Ethics in Business.” Hung must receive a passing grade, Geuss added.

Plus, they didn’t have Bon Bons back then: Rik Joel Carter of Hollywood did some calculations after we mentioned that moviegoers paid $2 apiece in L.A. to see the $100,000 production of “Birth of a Nation” in 1915. Using that standard, he noted, “tickets for the $45-million “Batman”’ would’ve cost $900.”

License to speed: Up the coast, Venice activist Jerry Rubin and his wife, Marissa, suspect that hurrying motorists take the name of one narrow street too seriously for their own (and residents’) good. True, professional road races were held on Speedway earlier this century. But the Rubins would like to see it re-christened in an effort to induce amateurs to slow down (see photo).

Change of speed: Rudy Heske of Mar Vista, meanwhile, came across the address of one Department of Motor Vehicles office that evokes a Slowway approach to life.

At least until you get on the nearby Riverside Freeway.

miscelLAny:

The city of Palm Springs was known as Palmdale before the turn of the century. Perhaps community leaders changed the name after realizing that “P., I Love You” isn’t a very catchy slogan.