MEALS & A POOL: Remember that Gargantuan...

MEALS & A POOL: Remember that Gargantuan hilltop house in San Juan Capistrano called Mulberry Castle? It didn’t work out as planned for co-owner Robert Sontag, who had hoped it would be a home to five generations in his family. It didn’t work out as a sale either. At $6.9 million, there were no takers. . . . Now Sontag has another idea: He’s turning it into a senior residence center. It’s got room for six seniors, Sontag says, who are “accustomed to mansion-style surroundings.” Price: $3,800 to $5,000 a month. But you get use of the pool, plus three meals a day.

RE-OIL: There’s a better place to dump your used motor oil than down the storm drain. But officials say that’s where thousands of gallons of it wind up each year in Orange County. Now there’s a new move here, led by the city of Orange, to have people dump their old oil for recycling at a certified collection center. . . . Thanks to a state grant, more than 50 such collection centers will soon be set up locally. Orange spokeswoman Nanci Gee says the problem is “people just don’t know what to do with it.”

HAPPY TRAILS? Ever wonder why some well-known actors haven’t been recognized with a star on Hollywood Boulevard. Former movie bad man Pierce Lyden, 86, of Orange, who’s worked with Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, has been nominated for his own star on the famous sidewalk. But Lyden isn’t too excited about his chances. . . . “They have a waiting list a mile long,” he says. Anyway, Lyden already has one honor he’s proud of: He was voted “Villain of the Year” in a 1944 movie fan poll.

MR. IRRELEVANT: Maybe you won’t find this relevant, but today the Board of Supervisors will honor Marty Moore, a linebacker for the University of Kentucky. He was the last college player selected in the 1994 National Football League draft--which won for him the annual dubious honor of being chosen “Mr. Irrelevant” by a local business group. . . . His reward: He’ll be guest of honor in a Disneyland parade and meet the supervisors.