It was a smashing preview of the greenery to come

TRAIN A COMIN’: Los Angeles County officials stood idly by while bottles were smashed against train No. 160 on the Metro Green Line. But it was all in good fun.

The breakaway bottles, a facsimile of real champagne bottles, were part of a christening ceremony for Green Line trains held Monday at the Marine Avenue station in Hawthorne.

The Green Line, expected to open this summer, is a 20-mile, aboveground rail system that will zip people from Norwalk to El Segundo in about 35 minutes.

The train was originally expected to carry 100,000 people a day but that estimate has fallen to 10,000, due in large part to the South Bay’s evaporating aerospace industry.

Monday’s ceremony, and others like it, are part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s crusade to let the public know that the $717.8-million rail system is coming soon, and to attract at least 10,000 riders a day.

“This is their tax dollars,” said James Smart, an MTA spokesman, “and we want them to get out and ride it.”

The Green Line trains were named after the areas they will pass through, which include the cities of Hawthorne, Redondo Beach and El Segundo. The Hawthorne train, for example, will hum through town sporting a small plaque inside with a brief history of Hawthorne.

Just before the christening, Hawthorne Mayor Larry Guidi sounded a heavenly theme. Calling it a much-needed boost for the financially troubled city, he greeted the Green Line this way: “Hawthorne is truly blessed.”

PLAN A RECOUNT: The four candidates for mayor of San Pedro are taking a rather modern approach to the upcoming election--wildly selling their votes in plain sight to anyone they can find.

But before you scream to your congressman about election fraud and spearhead a grass-roots movement to investigate, consider this: The election is for honorary mayor, and the proceeds go to charity.

The event, sponsored every other year by the Chamber of Commerce, pits “candidates” against each other for the privilege of subbing in for the real mayor at some of the more ceremonial functions. But there is a more important perk at stake, said chamber Executive Director Shamy Turner: bragging rights.

“It’s amazing to see how hard everybody is working in vying for the title,” she said.

The one who raises the most money, usually by selling “vote tickets,” ascends to the throne.

The candidates--Bill Brownell, Irene Chavira McCarthy, Kathi Wolfrum and Father Norbert Wood--are likely to raise about $17,000 each, Turner said.

The race ends tonight with a 6 p.m. banquet at Meridian restaurant in San Pedro. Admission is $25, and the event is open to the public.

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HOOP DREAMER: The stats on basketball champ Mallory Ellis may not seem impressive. Height: Almost 5 feet, 2 inches. Age: 9. Medical conditions: Asthma.

But among other 8- and 9-year-old girls in the West, Mallory tosses the meanest free-throw around.

After winning a string of local and regional contests sponsored by the Elks Club, the Rancho Palos Verdes resident is going after the national title on April 29, in Indianapolis.

Mallory and 10 other girls from around the country will try to sink the most shots out of 25. If there is a tie, the girls shoot another round, and the best of five wins.

“I think I’m gonna win,” says Mallory, “because I’m good.”

The girls stand 11 feet away from the net rather than the regulation 15 feet. But the basket is a regulation 10 feet high.

The winner gets no prize money, but her name is placed on a trophy in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, alongside the likes of Bill Russell and Jerry West.

Mallory may have picked up basketball fever from her dad--an admitted hoop junkie who plays every Sunday and began tossing Mallory balls when she was 3.

Mallory also has a good luck charm: an 11-year-old buddy who attends all her contests.

“He’s like my brother,” she says.

--Compiled by DAVE GRIMM