South Bay Pavilion finds an outlet for its environmentalism.

MALL WARS: Just a little over a year ago, developers of the South Bay Pavilion in Carson were getting all the attention.

Ikea, the home furnishing giant, opened in the former Broadway store in what was a big boost to revitalizing the mall. The city, in fact, chipped in an $8.9-million loan to help the retailer remodel its new digs.

Things aren’t so peachy anymore.

The city has its sights on the Metro 2000 project, a 180-store outlet mall planned just across the San Diego Freeway from the South Bay Pavilion. The city will contribute some of its sales tax revenue.

Late last month Carson Mall Partners, owners of the South Bay Pavilion, filed suit to stop the project.

“They contend that the environmental impact report was not complete in dealing with the traffic concerns that they have expressed,” said City Atty. Glenn Watson, who received a copy of the complaint two weeks ago.

At outlet malls, stores feature brand-name products at discount prices. A shopper might be able to get a pair of loafers much less expensively at Metro 2000 than the South Bay Pavilion.

But the lawsuit has nothing to do with competition, said Carson Mall Partners attorney Patrick Breen.

His clients want to make sure there’s money to cover cleaning up the former landfill site, as well as ways to prevent potential traffic problems. In fact, Breen said, outlet centers have been shown to have a positive effect on other malls.

“These things can feed off of each other,” Breen said.

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SCAVENGER HUNT: Relics from Abalone Cove on the Palos Verdes Peninsula are still turning up.

A longtime resident gave the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council an ancient Indian fishhook last week. The item will be turned over to the Point Vicente Interpretive Center, which plans to have the item verified and dated with the help of the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History.

But it seems not all donations to councils remain genuine. Up in Rolling Hills, council members were preparing a field trip to inspect a rug that one resident wanted to give when the offer was suddenly withdrawn. . . . Perhaps he discovered a hidden value.

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SHIP SHAPE: It didn’t get any attention from the media, but the Jan. 17 earthquake caused about a dozen shipwrecks in San Pedro.

Fortunately, there were no casualties and all it will take to repair the damaged ships is a little glue.

The ships are models of old sailing vessels on display at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum on Harbor Boulevard. The temblor shook loose the tops of the glass display cases the models are kept in, breaking a few spars and the rigging on a dozen models of 19th-Century square-riggers and schooners.

Some of the models are more than half a century old and range in value from $4,500 to $10,000. Museum curator Sheli Smith estimated the damage at about $1,000 per model.

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TORCHES IN TORRANCE: Every once in a while, Torrance residents are reminded that one of their neighbors is, in fact, the Mobil Oil Refinery.

Flames shot up from a torch-like smokestack on Monday and Tuesday, filling the air with black smoke.

But it was not an industrial accident; the burn was intentional. On Monday afternoon, two power interruptions forced the refinery to burn off chemicals for about 70 minutes to relieve pressure on its systems.

The discharge, commonly referred to as “flaring,” “is supposed to happen,” said Mobil spokesman Barry Engelberg. “They’re basically like pilot lights on a gas stove.”

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“In a wharf fire, you have to bring the boat in right next to the wharf, so you’re right in the center of the fire, with the smoke all around you. You can imagine, it’s a little difficult.”

--Capt. Robert M. Brewis, a commander of Boat 2, which for nearly 70 years has been guarding the Port of Los Angeles, ready to fight fire on water.