Snapshots of life in the Golden State : Indoor Plumbing Lacks the Aesthetics of Outhouses

Things must be going into the . . . well, you be the judge. First, San Francisco installed its first coin-operated self-cleaning sidewalk toilet, which was front-page news there. Now comes the tale of Sandy Hoiles, the self-proclaimed “Outhouse Queen of San Joaquin.”

She and husband Doug have decorated their turn-of-the-century home in Lodi with seven outhouses, including a two-holer decorated with a stuffed skunk that now acts as a changing room for the couple’s outdoor spa.

“Every once in a while you hear a car driving down the road stop and back up to get a better look,” Hoiles said proudly, during a tour of her collection. “But I don’t think my neighbors are too thrilled and my kids don’t think my hobby is in very good taste.”

Hoiles said her fascination with outhouses began in 1985, when she was living in Sunnyvale and a nearby abandoned farm was slated to be developed. When the couple started poking around the property, they discovered an outhouse.

She was recently taken for a county health inspector when she inquired about an outhouse sitting in the back yard of a Stockton home.

“This woman kept telling me they didn’t use it anymore and then when I told her what I wanted, she got a little skeptical,” she said. “For some people their outhouse is just like having a picture of the family. It has a lot of memories.”

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Corridor buzz: In the halls of the state Capitol, there’s no easier target than a politico who can’t win the big one. So it is with Republican Leader Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga, who recently lost a second try to become Assembly Speaker.

A flyer with the David Letterman-like Top 10 reasons why the 300-pound-plus Brulte lost is being passed out or faxed to just about anybody in the know in Sacramento. Among the tongue-in-cheek reasons listed for his failure: Can’t break away from watching the O.J. trial; hasn’t finished reading House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s plan on how to take over a house of government; trying too hard to find out what Oprah’s diet secrets are.

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Popular guys: Since his death in 1993, farm worker leader Cesar Chavez has been a popular choice for the naming of schools, parks and the like in the Golden State. In California four streets, 18 schools, five libraries, six parks, two plazas and four city and county holidays have been named in his honor.

That doesn’t even include the bridge in East Chicago, Ill., or the street in Tepaneca, Nicaragua.

But those numbers don’t come close to the two big winners in this state--George Washington (at least 37 schools and, among many other things, the Washington Lateral Canal in Merced) and Abraham Lincoln (20 streets in Greater Los Angeles and the Lincoln Rodeo Grounds in Placer County).

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Reading material: Parents in the Fresno County town of Clovis have been given the right to decide what books their kids can read in high school English classes. The school board made the decision this week after some parents objected to Maya Angelou’s autobiographical book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” because it describes a rape.

Parents and students now will receive a short description of every required book for high school English classes. Children of parents who oppose any of the books will be given alternate choices to select from.

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Otter-sight plates: A proposed California license plate, showing a cute sea otter swimming in a bed of kelp, is proving to be so popular that a 24-hour telephone hot line has been set up to handle requests. “Our phone has been coming off the hook since we announced the availability of the plate last week,” said Nick Papadakis, executive director of the Assn. of Monterey Bay Area Governments.

The plate pays tribute to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, which stretches offshore from San Francisco to San Simeon. If supporters get 5,000 or more paid orders by the end of the year, the Department of Motor Vehicles will begin to produce the plates.

The money raised would be for sanctuary education programs and a state fund for restoration of endangered species habitat.

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EXIT LINE

“Welcome home, baby. All is forgiven!”

--An exuberant Ricky Ricardo Jr. at his San Leandro sports bar, a hangout for die-hard Raiders fans, upon hearing reports that the football team may be returning to Oakland.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Dads on Their Own

Although the majority of single-parent families still tend to be headed by mothers, the percentage of families with children headed by fathers jumped from 1.6% in 1970 to more than 6% by 1990.

Here is the number of all families with children in California and the percentage headed by fathers:

FAMILIES WITH % HEADED BY YEAR CHILDREN* FATHER ONLY 1993 4,289,700 6.35% 1990 3,828,115 6.59% 1980 3,217,400 4.40% 1970 2,450,600 1.63%

* Includes married couple families and single-parent families headed by a mother or a father.

Source: State Department of Finance demographic unit

Researched by TRACY THOMAS / Los Angeles Times

California Dateline appears every other Friday.