Alex Trebek, modern-day Nostradamus: The 1994 “Jeopardy”...

Alex Trebek, modern-day Nostradamus: The 1994 “Jeopardy” desk calendar, which has a stumper for each day of the year, offered this quiz answer on the page devoted to last Monday: “In the lyrics that end, ‘Ring-around-the-rosy,’ this occurs.”

And, the question: “What is: ‘We all fall down’?”

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Thank you, looters: Seventeen years ago, Carol Schatz bought a Japanese-style house in Beverly Hills that came with two stone Buddhas in the front yard. She had thought of removing the figures but decided they were so heavy it wasn’t worth the trouble.

Then the quake struck, knocking one of the Buddhas down a hill and into the street where it struck the car of her husband, Fred. He left the statue sitting on the curb. “Within an hour,” he said, “someone had stolen it.”

He said he’s considering moving the other Buddha to the same spot.

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When opportunity comes crashing: Robert Scott of Las Vegas had come to L.A. to sell Martin Luther King T-shirts on Monday. The King shirts didn’t sell well, what with all the chaos. But, Scott said, sales have been better for a second T-shirt he printed up: “Thank God I Survived California’s 6.6 Quake.”

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Out-of-Power Rangers: Just because the quake struck at 4:31 a.m. you probably thought there were no large gatherings at the time. Not true.

A store at Santa Monica’s mall, The Place, had previously announced that at 8 a.m. that day, 10,000 figurines from the animated children’s TV show “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” would go on sale--the first availability of the popular teen-age superheroes in several weeks.

Attorney Paul Mones, who arrived at 3:55 a.m. to make a buy for his son, said there were about 150 people standing outside the building when the quake struck.

“I looked up and could see the Santa Monica Place sign swaying, hear glass exploding and bricks falling within 15 feet of us,” Mones said. “Kids were screaming and there was a mad rush for the center of the street.”

Though Mones dislocated his shoulder in the wild scramble, he reflected on how fortunate he was: “It could have been the last toy I ever went to buy.”

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A discordant note: Nina Murphy phoned Redondo Beach police to offer her services for the city’s earthquake aid program. She was put on hold. “The Muzak pealed forth loudly,” she said. “It was the Beach Boys’ rendition of ‘Good Vibrations.’ ”

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Tonight’s morning: Comic Jay Leno said on his show: “I woke up at 4:30 in the morning, doors slamming, dishes breaking . . . I thought: ‘How did Shannen Doherty get into my house?’ ”

miscelLAny:

Despite the breakfast-time disaster Monday, the 70-year-old Original Pantry Cafe on Figueroa Street lived up to its motto: “We Never Close. Never Without a Customer.” Cashier Laura Parra said that when the lights went out, employees lit candles and continued serving breakfasts and pouring coffee--carefully. No doubt, such initiative pleased the owner--Mayor Richard Riordan.