A Retro Look at Tomorrowland

Peerless prognostications: On a recent visit to the Beverly Hills Library, we stumbled upon a 1972 city directory containing a drawing of what was then envisioned as the Beverly Hills of the future. The most prominent features were a modernistic skyscraper, hovering helicopters and a monorail (see photo).

As prophecies go, it was a dud. The City Council enacted a ban on helicopter landings that very year. (The law allows exceptions “to protect the personal security of the President or Vice President of the United States when visiting the city.”) In 1975, the council outlawed construction of commercial buildings taller than three stories or 45 feet, whichever is less.

A monorail remains a possibility, but don’t bet the monthly Mercedes payment on it.

A monorail line from Westwood to Hollywood, probably along Santa Monica Boulevard, is being discussed by area officials.

Already, however, some Beverly Hills folks are organizing to fight it. A new homeowners group representing the well-heeled north side of town recently pushed the City Council to promise a citywide vote before making any commitment to a monorail system. And a January poll by the Beverly Hills Municipal League of its members found 70% opposed to a monorail or Metro Rail stop in the city. More than 75% were “concerned about the crime Metro Rail and/or Monorail could import into Beverly Hills from other areas of Los Angeles.”

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Sweetness and light: The bonhomie was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.

Maverick West Hollywood Councilman Sal Guarriello began his yearlong turn as the city’s mayor Monday amid a shower of good cheer from council colleagues he has irritated regularly over the years--including John Heilman, who was out of town but sent congratulations by note.

“I know you will strive to bring us together,” the note said.

Togetherness would be a switch. After the blunt-talking Guarriello was elected in 1990, Heilman accused him and his campaign manager of breaking election laws, but the two were cleared. Then Guarriello allies, including his wife, Rita, took part in a failed attempt to dump Heilman. In return, Guarriello got tossed off the powerful tenant-rights group that dominates city politics. Then the Heilman-led council majority slapped down Guarriello’s appointee to the city’s Human Services Commission, an unheard-of move.

Things have calmed down considerably over the past year, though Guarriello backers frequently rise at meetings to pepper the council majority with catcalls and harsh one-liners (one even belittled Councilwoman Abbe Land’s hairstyle during the council campaign last year).

Maybe an external threat can bring old foes together. This year, Guarriello said, that enemy is the state--specifically, revenue cutbacks that may spell the need for new local taxes.

“I shall reach out to my fellow council members for support,” the retired insurance agent promised more than 120 friends and City Hall regulars who packed a streamer-draped auditorium.

Later, political rivals were pulling slices from the same pizza as a three-man combo played old-time Italian favorites. Guarriello was asked about his relationship with Heilman.

“Right now it’s been on a friendly basis,” he said. Then he flashed a troublemaker’s smile. “We’ll see how far it goes.”

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The way to a reporter’s heart . . . Los Angeles Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas has undertaken the challenge of “educating and informing” the news media in an effort to communicate useful information to his constituents.

Ridley-Thomas has noticed, however, that the journalistic attention span tends to be rather brief. It is difficult to give reporters an in-depth education “when they are rushing about” from issue to issue, he says.

So the councilman, whose district includes the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw area, has come up with a remedy. The press luncheon. A free press luncheon.

Feed them, then talk to them, he explained.

One recent luncheon attracted eight reporters from The Times, one from the Washington Post and several broadcast reporters. The gathering, however, was not completely freewheeling. Reporters had to submit their questions in advance to the councilman’s press secretary.

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Council meetings this week:

Beverly Hills: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. 450 N. Crescent Drive (310) 285-2400.

Culver City: 7 p.m. Monday. Interim City Hall, Trailer 1, 4095 Overland Ave. (310) 202-5851.

Los Angeles: 10 a.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. 200 N. Spring St. (213) 485-3126.

Malibu: no meeting. Hughes Laboratory, 3011 Malibu Canyon Road (310) 456-2489.

Santa Monica: no meeting. 1685 Main St. (310) 393-9975.

West Hollywood: 7 p.m. Monday. West Hollywood Park Auditorium, 647 N. San Vicente Blvd. (310) 854-7460.

Staff writers Ken Ellingwood, Lee Harris and Steven Herbert and correspondent G. Jeanette Avent contributed to this story.