Thieves take a shine to art center’s 12-foot armored knight.

ROUND-TABLE RIP-OFF: Don’t look for any knights in shining armor in Rancho Palos Verdes.

The city used to have one--12 feet high, made of sheet metal and sporting a gleaming coat of gold paint--but he has reportedly disappeared into the night.

Before Jan. 27, the knight stood upright with his shield, lording over his domain outside the Palos Verdes Art Center. But someone made off with the fearsome warrior, cutting him from his single restraining wire and spiriting him off, art center officials say.

Art center volunteer Vicki Schoenfeld said she did not know how much the statue weighs, but she said at least two people are needed to move it. She said the statue, which served to inspire children working on art projects with British themes, is worth about $500.

Schoenfeld speculated that local college or high school students may have seen the statue as something they just couldn’t do without. But it is probably not on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, she said, because someone would surely have recognized the area landmark.

For anyone who might stumble across a suspicious 12-foot golden knight and wonder if it is perhaps some other 12-foot golden knight, there is an additional identifying feature, Schoenfeld said: Our guy has a rusted right foot.

“He can’t stand on his own,” Schoenfeld added. “He looks a little tipsy.”

Before it moved to the art center in October, the statue guarded the lawn of Palos Verdes Estates residents Tom and Mary Allen, who had kept the statue since 1983. Mary said her husband, an attorney, received the statue as a gift from a client.

“The client said my husband was his knight in shining armor,” Mary Allen said.

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BEAN COUNTERS: We can see it now: teen-agers in goatees, reading “On the Road” and sipping java . . . at the Torrance Civic Center.

The City Council is considering a plan to place an espresso cart just outside the main library. While such a cart would hardly hold the same attraction as a Starbucks, city officials say it could have a captive audience among the 60,000 or so patrons who visit the library each month.

“They could check out a book, peruse it and drink their coffee,” said Gary Flod, Torrance senior management assistant.

The city could gain $15,000 to $20,000 a year from the cart, and the money could be used to restore cuts in the library’s budget for audio and visual materials.

The city is drawing up guidelines for potential vendors, who would then submit proposals. The winning cart operator will be responsible for the costs of operating the cart.

A few kinks still have to be worked out. The city has rejected requests by PACE/Sam’s Club and Mervyn’s department store to operate carts at their stores, a potential double standard. “That issue has not been resolved,” Flod said.

--Compiled by DAVE GRIMM