GRAND WHAT? It’s an annual problem, how...

GRAND WHAT? It’s an annual problem, how to get a wide variety of people--meaning in age and ethnicity--to give a year of their lives for grand jury service. But the Orange County Grand Jurors Assn. and the Superior Court have come up with a new way to attract recruits: An orientation breakfast for potential jurors, Wednesday at 8 at the Crown Sterling Suites hotel in Santa Ana. . . . Says recruiter Jodie Harrod: “This is the first time we’ve tried this. It’s for people who might want to apply, but don’t know enough about what a grand juror does.”

CRABBY ATTITUDE? How’s this for a California landmark: You enter a seafood restaurant within the claws of a giant crab--17 feet tall. Gary Coburn is planning the crab-designed awning for Joe’s Crab Shack, to open soon at 2607 W. Coast Highway in Newport Beach. . . . One sticky problem: city planning commissioner Anne Gifford felt the crab would be a sign, violating the city’s ordinance against signs that size. But the other commissioners liked the crab, and voted her down. Commissioner Tod Ridgeway chided her playfully: “I hope that crab bites you.”

REALLY LIVE: Cable TV live interviewer Larry King will be among those inducted Saturday into the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim. He’ll have some heavyweight company: Art Linkletter, the McGuire Sisters, Ted Turner and local radio personalities Gary Owens and Robert W. Morgan. . . . Ronald Reagan makes it too, based on his early sports broadcasting stint in Iowa. He won’t attend, but he’s sending a taped acceptance.

MAD COMEDY: And you thought vaudeville was dead . . . the Brea Improv is accepting auditions from just about anyone for its “Absolute Madness” skits. It’s a pro-am comedy-variety the Improv is calling “the new vaudeville.” Brea Improv manager Robert Hartman says he’ll look at anyone with an “oddity” talent. The skits are running Wednesday through Sunday through the end of the month.