The ideal product for the L.A. Basin:...

The ideal product for the L.A. Basin: Impromptu, a Pasadena shop that sells scented candles, reports that one of its most popular fragrances is called “Fresh Air.”

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When the Terminator’s stomach starts to rumble. . . .: Christine and Robb’s Oatmeal Co. received a panicky phone call from a Hollywood studio one evening. “We have this talent and need his oatmeal for tomorrow morning,” the gofer said.

“Oh, it’s Arnold,” guessed owner Christine Bartell.

“Yes--and he needs it at 8 a.m.”

Bartell arranged for a shipment to be sent over to the muscle-bound talent, though it was no simple matter. The company’s located in Stayton, Ore.

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For your dining nostalgia: The days are gone, as author Betty Goodwin notes, when the Cocoanut Grove was decorated with recycled palm trees from the movie, “The Sheik,” when Ava Gardner prepared ice cream sodas behind the counter at Schwab’s and when film stars leaped naked into the lagoon at the Luau restaurant.

But Goodwin brings back much of the color--and the recipes--of famous L.A. haunts in the book, “Hollywood Du Jour.”

She reveals the ingredients for such concoctions as the Moscow Mule at the Cock ‘n’ Bull (its birthplace), the Cobb Salad at the Original Brown Derby (its birthplace) and the malts at Schwab’s (where Lana Turner was not discovered).

The proprietors were as colorful as the celebrity diners--Ernest Beaumont-Gantt (known as Don the Beachcomber), Mama Weiss (who would sing Hungarian lullabies to the diners when she was finished with the cooking) and Prince Romanoff (crowned by Life magazine as “the most wonderful liar in 20th Century U.S.”).

Who cared if the prince was really Harry Gerguson, son of a Cincinnati tailor? He still played polo like a prince.

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Today’s Heidi joke: KTLA-TV’s Lenn Goodside offers this riddle:

Q. How do you rid Hollywood of vice?

A: Use a Fleiss-swatter.

Can we fill in our own--maybe killer bees?In its person-on-the-street poll, the L.A. Downtown News recently asked passersby:

“Which is worse, a flood or an earthquake?”

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Willing to compromise: Not long after we published the photo of the building message that said, “Graffiti No Longer Accepted Here. . . .” Kevin Hollingsworth of San Dimas snapped a picture of a sign that offered another approach.

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What an insult to Tom Foley and Bob Dole!White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers had this to say about Washington to sister Betsy Myers, who is moving to D.C. to work for the Small Business Administration: “You have to be careful there. It’s not like L.A. They don’t have as much of a sense of humor. . . .”

With earthquakes, Sig-Alerts and Heidi, L.A. has to have a sense of humor. Pass the “Fresh Air,” please.

miscelLAny:

The Santa Monica Police Department will play a team of homeless people in a softball game Aug. 31 at 5 p.m. at Clover Park.