STREET SMART / HENRY CHU : Automobile Club’s Consumer Mag Subscribes to Future Shock

There are no crystal balls in Gail Harrington’s office, no Ouija boards, no Tarot cards. She holds meetings, not seances. She and her colleagues fall into discussions rather than trances.

But these days you would be excused for thinking that Harrington--editor in chief of Avenues, the Automobile Club of Southern California’s bimonthly magazine--is gifted with some kind of second sight.

Just take a glance at the cover of the magazine’s January-February issue, which reached 2.6 million households by the second week of the new year. “Quake Safe: Secure your home and prepare your family before the next big one,” it proclaimed.

We all know how this story ends. On Jan. 17, just a few days after Avenues was stuffed into mailboxes across the Southland with a raft of tips on earthquake preparedness, Angelenos were jolted out of bed by the biggest temblor ever recorded in the city.

Harrington had some explaining to do.

“May I ask what you have planned for the March-April issue?” inquired reader Sandra A. Smith of Camarillo in a letter to Harrington after the Northridge earthquake. “I’d like to get prepared. Does it have anything to do with locusts?”

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Such correspondence triggers chuckles in Harrington’s Downtown office on Figueroa Street,where Avenues’ writers and editors still shake their heads in amazement at the timing of the quake safety article.

Not that there isn’t a precedent for such prescience at the magazine, or from Harrington as its relatively new editor in chief.

Last year, when Avenues was called Auto Club News and the emphasis of the journal lay on automotive subjects, Harrington decided that her inaugural issue would focus on carjacking--a rising problem but not yet a major concern in the Los Angeles area. For an author, she appealed to free-lance writer Bob Howells.

Howells’ article appeared, strangely enough, in the January-February, 1993, issue. Within three months, Southern California witnessed a rash of such crimes--some of them fatal--prompting Gov. Pete Wilson to call on lawmakers to enact tougher penalties for convicted carjackers.

“I look at it in that it was excellent timing--more people knew about it and knew what to do--rather than any causal relation” between the article and the spate of carjackings, Howells said in a glass-is-half-full tone of voice.

Later in 1993, Harrington was back on Howells’ doorstep, proposing a cover story on earthquake preparedness. The article would be in line with the redesigned journal’s new philosophy of providing a consumer-oriented piece (not necessarily car-related) in every edition.

The rest is history.

“The day of the quake my boss called me at home,” Harrington recalled, “and he said: ‘Whatever it is you’re planning to do next January and February, forget it.’ ”

Almost immediately, calls and letters began streaming in from organizations and readers who wanted reprints or had testimonials to give.

“It was a miracle,” said Richard Tobin, a longtime auto club member who lives in Hollywood. “On Friday before the quake, I got the magazine. TV sucks on Friday night, so I said, ‘Why don’t I check this out?’ ”

A home inventory showed that his radio batteries were dead, his bottled water supply was low and his canned food stock was dwindling.

That Sunday, Tobin went shopping, bringing home cartons of juice, some Spam, an extra flashlight, and a makeshift portable toilet. He refilled some prescription drugs, put gas in his car and carefully stowed his shoes beneath his bed that night.

Then came 4:31 a.m. Monday. “Thank God . . . I had everything,” Tobin said. “Neighbors all said, ‘What do we do?’ I just sat there smiling.”

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Howells is happy that his list of helpful hints came in handy for some readers. True to the automotive roots of the magazine, his article also furnished tips on what to do if an earthquake strikes while you are on the road.

For the record, motorists caught in a temblor should slow down and pull over to the side, but should not stop on or below an overpass or bridge. Steer clear of power lines and buildings. Remain in the car until the shaking stops, and do not start driving again until it appears safe, still avoiding overpasses and bridges, which may have weakened.

Always keep a survival kit in the car, including bottled water, first-aid items, flashlight, blankets and extra clothes.

Also for the record, the March-April issue of Avenues focuses on recycling, and has nothing to do with locusts, pestilence or any other natural disaster.

But what about January-February, 1995?

Howells has been pressing Harrington to let him write about “killer fog,” the thick, pea-soup kind that causes major highway accidents.

Harrington has yet to take Howells up on his offer . . . which may be just as well for the rest of us.