Ooh L.A. L.A.! Michael Nytzen notes that...

Ooh L.A. L.A.! Michael Nytzen notes that the newsletter from Maguire Thomas Partners developers says that the new Cafe Pinot Downtown offers a “French brassiere-style” setting. We’re hooked.

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Sticky situation (cont.): After Judge Ito threatened to oust some gum-snapping spectators at the Simpson trial, we mentioned that during our grade school days in the 1950s, kids were told they could chew if they brought enough for everyone.

Dirck Meengs says things were different in the mid-1940s in Elkhart, Ind. “If we got caught chewing gum in class,” he says, “we had to stick it on the end of our nose and keep it there all day long.”

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Some things never change: We turned on the AMC network and were excited to see that the 1940 version of “The Mark of Zorro,” starring Tyrone Power, was set in old Los Angeles. And the place was in an uproar.

The alcalde (mayor) is crooked and his wife says of the city of Angels: “What is there here to interest a woman?” (This was before the advent of brassiere-style settings).

The residents are angry about high taxes and, especially, a new law that decrees: “Raw grapes will no longer be accepted as payment for taxes.”

Fortunately, Zorro overthrows the administration and there is happiness again, as one priest puts it, “from the hills of Verdugo to the shores of Del Rey.”

Hey, isn’t that Jerry Dunphy’s sign-on?

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Invest on for old SC! The Orange County Trojan Club staged its annual summer football banquet at the Irvine Marriott Hotel, and guess who was manning the registration table? None other than Bob Citron, the former treasurer-tax collector who recently pleaded guilty to misappropriating public funds and other felony charges. Citron’s license plate advises: LOV USC.

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Dollars from heaven? Speaking of USC, M.A. Rose of Camarillo was surprised to receive three solicitation letters in one envelope from the school. One was addressed to him. The other two were addressed to other Trojan grads.

On one of the non-Rose letters, the addressee’s name was followed by the notation, “Deceased.” Then came the opening sentence: “It has been more than five years since you last supported USC. . . .”

Maybe the next of kin aren’t forwarding his mail.

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More low finance: A gentleman who describes himself as “a retired Certified Public Accountant who knew how to add” sent us the accompanying dues notice from the California Society of CPAs. Shame on the CPA board members for their arithmetic. They should have wads of gum stuck to their noses for the entire day.

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We’re not often surprised in the news biz. But here’s a stunner. A BMW driver, who read Rich Simon’s Street Smart column about car phones in Monday’s Metro section, called to say he doesn’t own a car phone. The driver could be telling the truth. Simon said he didn’t hear any static on the line.

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Invoice from California Society of CPAs: It doesn’t add up.