DEJA VU: Polly Ward has seen it...

DEJA VU: Polly Ward has seen it all before. Four years ago, developer Ira Smedra overcame neighborhood opposition to replace the landmark Studio City Car Wash with a shopping mall, and now he will do the same with legendary Chasen’s, the famous West Hollywood restaurant (A1). . . . “I feel very sorry for that community,” says Ward, vice president of the Studio City Residents Assn. “I know what they are going through.”

NEW LAWS: You can raise a potbellied pig in Lancaster, but don’t set any coyote traps in Los Angeles. From the practical to the peculiar, new laws for the new year in the San Fernando and neighboring valleys would confuse even Judge Wapner. . . . We can thank Mother Nature for parts of the list. Many of the new laws, on issues from emergency lighting to gas shut-off valves, were inspired by damage caused by the Northridge earthquake. New local laws are listed on B10.

FUTURE SCHLOCK: Could 1995 be worse for the Valley than 1994? This week’s Valley Life! gazes into the future with Angela, the psychic adviser, above, and other mystical methods. . . . But Chaytor Mason, USC psychology professor emeritus, says soothsayers are more soothing than psychic: “If they’re really able to see the future, why aren’t they playing the stock market?”

SUBURBAN SOUND: They don’t sound like the stereotypical Valley girls. But the band known as Scarlett is just a “bunch of suburban California white chicks,” says keyboardist-singer Susie Davis. . . . Four of the five band members are women, and they are stunning audiences in the Valley by playing the soul music dominated by males. See Valley Life! Page 3.

MALL FALL: Burbank police are investigating why a North Hollywood woman fell two stories at the Media City Center. . . . Nelly Carson, 42, suffered a fractured pelvis Thursday after she apparently lost her grip on the handrail of a moving escalator, police said (B2).

* The Top of Today’s News is on A2