Volunteers Fish 29 Tons of Trash From Ballona Creek

Ahhh, the urban mosaic.

Soggy clothes, thousands of cigarette butts, countless plastic bags, a 20-foot hunk of tarpaulin and six bullets were among the nearly 29 tons of trash that Westsiders pulled from Ballona Creek during last weekend’s Coastal Cleanup Day.

The event Saturday brought about 200 local residents out to help clean up the Culver City section of the creek and its immediate surroundings. As some volunteers donned wading boots and used rakes to pull trash from the water, others applied 100 gallons of paint to the creek’s concrete walls to cover up graffiti.

Plastic foam cups and containers, which typically dot the creek, were the most prevalent pollutants.

“Cleaning it up has saved the lives of fish and birds who are known to strangle on this kind of stuff,” said Joan Satt, the city’s waste reduction coordinator.

No one, however, thinks the creek will stay clean for long. The next cleanup is scheduled for April 22--Earth Day, Satt said.

“It’s kind of like washing dishes,” she said. “You never seem to get done.”

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INSIDE JOB: Police reported that on Sept. 16, Adam Leslie, a 38-year-old Los Angeles comedian, allegedly stole a gold-and-diamond pendant from a jewelry display case in the Neiman-Marcus department store in Beverly Hills--then swallowed it.

A security guard confronted Leslie as he tried to leave the upscale store, police said. Leslie confessed to ingesting the tiny, $2,600 pendant, they reported, which was less than an inch high and shaped like the numeral 5.

Leslie attempted to regurgitate the pendant for the guard, authorities said, but was unable to do so. Beverly Hills police then reportedly took him to the hospital for X-rays, which revealed the pendant.

Police said Leslie pleaded with them, saying he would return the pendant if they would let him off. The return was easily arranged: He was given a laxative and taken to the Beverly Hills jail, where . . . Let’s just say the pendant appeared. Leslie was booked on a charge of grand theft and released on his own recognizance.

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DADDY & ME: Jay Goldinger is not pleased. Kids, he complains, “always think of Mommy when they’re growing up.”

So Goldinger, owner of a Beverly Hills bond brokerage firm, is starting “Daddy & Me” classes. The two-hour classes, being organized with the help of a psychologist, will include play time, story time, snack time, swimming, park visits and other activities.

The key challenge, Goldinger says, is to keep the dads interested. To do so, he plans to have the fathers host the classes on a rotating basis. Dads, he figures, will want to attend the classes organized by others to ensure enough people will come to their own.

Still, recruiting fathers has not been easy.

“This has been tougher than trading bonds,” he said last week. “Dads just aren’t used to this. Some of these guys’ wives faxed in the applications, and when I called the dads about signing up they said, ‘What? I did?’ ”

But Goldinger says he has managed to stir enough interest to go forward with the project. The secret?

“You get down on your knees and beg,” he said.