Santa’s Elf, with $10 bills in hand, makes sure the buck doesn’t stop here.

NO RUDOLPH NEEDED: Maybe he prefers a Caddy in Southern California to a sleigh in the North Pole, but the Eldorado Elf has an unmistakable Santa thing going.

The unidentified visitor came through for the homeless again Monday at the Midnight Mission in downtown Los Angeles, cruising up in his red Cadillac Eldorado to hand out about $15,000 in $10 bills to those in need. The act continued a tradition started by Torrance auto dealer Ronald Moran, the original “Cadillac Santa,” who died in 1992 after years of similar random acts of kindness.

The Midnight Mission thought it had seen the last of the wealthy St. Nick in the flashy car. But a friend has kept the holiday tradition alive for the last three years.

“The $10 man is here! The $10 man is here!” were the cries echoing through the alleyways near 4th and Los Angeles streets. Lines formed quickly.

The 50-year-old benefactor, who identifies himself only as “Cadillac Santa’s Elf,” passed on wisdom learned from Moran.

“The Cadillac Santa said there were three stages of wealth,” the benefactor said. “The first stage is when you make it. The second stage is fighting to keep it, and the third stage is when you give it all away.

“That is the most enjoyable stage of wealth.”

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AND THE WINNER IS: . . . Susan Brooks.

At least according to the 1995 World Almanac, which lists her as the victor in the race against Rep. Jane Harman (D-Rolling Hills).

Printed shortly after the election, it shows Republican Brooks as winning with 82,415 votes to Harman’s 82,322 votes.

“Oh good,” Brooks said on hearing about the publication. “Where can I get one?”

After the registrar finished counting absentee votes several weeks later, Harman ended up the victor by 812 votes.

Brooks has not conceded the race, citing discrepancies in the way ballots were cast in some Venice precincts. She has hinted at taking a challenge to the registrar or to the U.S. House of Representatives.

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A.K.A. HOUDINI: A burglary-suspect-cum-contortionist wriggled his still-cuffed hands from behind his back, climbed through the partition of a Torrance police car and drove off, leaving officers Sunday to chase one of their own vehicles.

Michael David Dicksteen, 38, was apprehended with the help of K-9 units several hours later and booked on several charges, including auto theft.

Police began their grueling day, according to Sgt. Ed La Londe, when an officer stopped a blue Ford Bronco about 9:45 a.m. after seeing a man climb a fence with an armload of car stereo equipment and speed off in the vehicle. After pulling the Bronco over near Cabrillo Avenue and Carson Street, the officer found a loaded 9mm handgun between the front seats.

The officer arrested the driver and placed him in the back of his squad car before searching the Bronco with another officer.

While the two officers combed the Bronco, the suspect somehow stepped through his bound hands, “meaning that his hands are now out in front of him,” climbed through an open partition into the front seat and sped away, La Londe said.

Another unit at the scene gave chase and was soon joined by several other police cars.

After crashing the squad car through a chain-link fence in the 20500 block of Denker Avenue, the wily suspect fled on foot, leaving officers and police dogs to search for several hours. Shortly after 2 p.m., Dicksteen was found between bales of cardboard, La Londe said, and taken into custody.

The suspect--determined to be Dicksteen only after police sifted through a pocketful of identification cards listing various names--was arrested on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon, transporting a loaded firearm, possession of stolen property, petty theft and, of course, stealing a police car.

--Compiled by DAVE GRIMM

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I don’t think anybody gives a darn, frankly.”

-- Manhattan Beach City Councilman Jack Cunningham, on residents’ response after the council voted to push back the municipal elections scheduled for April, 1996, giving some council members an extra 11 months in office. J3