Pasadena--we’re shocked!The Pasadena Weekly recently ran the...
Pasadena--we’re shocked!The Pasadena Weekly recently ran the results of its annual reader poll on life in the Crown City, including our favorite category, Most Overpriced Thing. The winner: popcorn at the movies.
Another category was Best Cheap Date. The response caused Jim Laris, the newspaper’s editor, to wisecrack: “You people are sick. We were looking for inexpensive ways to pass a romantic evening, not the names of people guaranteed to . . . “
Stop right there, Jim.
*
Don’t do as we do . . . You may recall that just the other day, auditors found that, because of lax controls, transportation contracts with L.A. County increased an average of 388% after they were awarded. Unexpected expenses, you know.
Now, for Part II. The two auditing firms that conducted the study want their contracts increased. Ernst & Young is asking for another $27,000 and Wilfred Copemand wants another $3,000. The requests will be voted on Wednesday by the MTA board “as reimbursement for additional work conducted as a result of scope changes.”
*
More fallout from the Heidi chronicles?Douglas Lyon noticed that the help wanted ads in Daily Variety include one that isn’t the usual casting call. It’s for an “Internal Revenue Agent-Examination Industry Specialist with emphasis in the entertainment industry.” Yup, the IRS wants a new snoop “to identify events, conditions and trends that warrant . . . review.”
Like deductions for “pool parties” in Benedict Canyon?
*
Stimulus for an agreement: We’ve previously mentioned one local judge whose office furnishings include a whip, which he cracks during settlement conferences. (Just to break the tension.) Another judge pulls out a crystal ball at settlement conferences to get a few laughs and bring the combatants together.
Superior Court Judge Eric Younger has tried yet a third route. He has posted a sign decreeing an “Enlightened Beverage Policy” in his courtroom.
“As part of our desire to be an informal, friendly and productive courtroom,” it says, “we offer coffee and offer hot drinks which may be consumed any time there is no jury in the box. Drinks are a quarter to jurors and a buck with four refills to others.”
But here’s the punch line:
The beverages, Younger has decreed in capital letters, are “FREE ON THE DAY YOU SETTLE!”
*
Time to unpack those beach umbrellas: “I need to stock up on sunscreen,” wrote Brad Johnson of Santa Monica after noticing the announcement on his drugstore receipt the other day.
*
Not that they don’t trust you . . . El Chavo restaurant on Sunset Boulevard displays this sign: “We cash personal checks up to a maximum of $20 if you have six pieces of I.D. and leave a $50 cash deposit until the check clears.”
miscelLAny:
Before he became a local sportscaster, Gil Stratton had major acting roles in the movies “Stalag 17” and “The Wild One,” and once worked as an umpire in Pacific Coast League baseball games.