Older Ironman to Flex His Marketing Muscle Locally

A 48-year-old man may soon be moving in near you.

Be nice: He’s a 48-year-old man with 20-inch biceps, a 52-inch chest, a 28-inch waist, 29-inch thighs and 19-inch calves.

Robby Robinson, winner of the first-ever Master’s (40 and over) Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition in Atlanta in September, says he is moving to the Westside from Norway, his home for the past decade.

Robinson, 48, plans to endorse health and fitness products, film how-to videos, and conduct exhibitions and seminars across the country. He comes to town in the wake of a Master’s win over such rivals as Lou Ferrigno of “Incredible Hulk” fame.

Ferrigno, eight years Robinson’s junior, had to settle for second place. Says Robinson: “You’re never too old to build muscle.”

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SAFE CARNAVAL: There’s an awful lot of coffee in Brazil, but what about condoms? There aren’t very many, and many Brazilians can’t afford to buy them regularly.

So Venice resident Lori Miller has taken it upon herself to preach the gospel of safe sex during that most unsafe of times--the Carnaval season in Salvador, a steamy city in the state of Bahia on Brazil’s poor but scenic northeast coast.

Her teaching tool is a colorful bracelet made of ribbons, paper and condoms, together with illustrations and instructions in Portuguese.

Made by volunteers in the Los Angeles area, 10,000 of the bracelets were distributed by public health organizations and music and dance groups in Bahia during Carnaval earlier this year. Plans are under way to double that number in 1995.

“People let go of their inhibitions then (the weeklong celebration comes before the beginning of Lent), and there are not a lot of messages for safe sex,” said Miller, 27, who lived in Bahia when she was teaching English in 1982.

Upon her return to Los Angeles, where she works for the Los Angeles Regional Family Planning Council, she, together with friend Rhonda Brown, came up with the idea of the condom bracelets.

Even though the relative cost of condoms is high--one-third of the average Bahia household’s income if used as a regular form of birth control--Miller said she hopes to get the word out in hopes of seeing the price reduced in the future.

“Everybody there was incredibly receptive,” Miller said. “Everybody from very old people to very young people. They want us to bring more. They put it on prime time TV. We hear this year they’re having a Carnaval song to use a condom.”

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AHOY: It was a mighty flotilla that drifted down the Venice waterways Sunday night, competing for prizes in the Venice Canals Assn.’s 13th annual boat parade.

Twelve slightly off-key carolers attempted to keep their balance on one raft. A Snoopy Red Baron was towed in a multicolored biplane. A fire-breathing dragon with a butane flame and torches rocked unsteadily on barrels, flipped over, but was eventually righted.

A Santa Claus barge wasn’t so fortunate: It sank in the Howland Canal and couldn’t complete the route.

The award for funniest float went to an eight-foot, hinged snowman that performed a back-bending limbo to pass beneath each canal bridge.

“This is the best one we’ve ever had,” said Henry Coleman, a member of the sponsoring association. “The boats are more elaborate, there are more of them, and we’ve got hundreds of spectators.”