Wrong pair:Nissen Davis of Rancho Palos Verdes...

Wrong pair:

Nissen Davis of Rancho Palos Verdes says that when he ran a classified ad for an au pair to assist with child care, he received a call from a retiree. The latter wanted the job for himself and his wife. Informed that the Davises were seeking a young foreign student, the caller asked: “Then why advertise for an old pair?”

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EVER ON SUNDAY?There was also a bit of confusion in Ventura, where Jerry Mets snapped some dueling store hours (see photo).

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LIST OF THE DAY: The L.A. Downtown News, in an article on myths about buried treasure in L.A., asked its readers to vote on the best places to find hidden caches of riches.

Some nominees:

* “The Jewelry Mart.”

* “Under the area where Angel’s Flight [trolley] once stood--almost 50 years of coins have fallen there.”

* “The Red Line project--there’s gold in that dirt if you can get a contract to dig.”

* “Under City Hall.”

* “O.J.’s jail cell.”

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CAFE AU L.A.: With the 214th birthday of the City of Angels approaching Sept. 4, the French Consulate sent us a history of the sometimes-overlooked role of that country’s natives here.

We were particularly impressed with the story of courageous Antoine Robidoux, who aided the American cause in California during the Mexican War--and did so in a style that one would associate with a Frenchman.

After one battle, a comrade wrote in his diary, “Robidoux, a thin man of 55, slept next to me. The loss of blood from his wounds, added to the coldness of the night, 28 degrees, made me think he would never see daylight, but I was mistaken. He woke me to ask if I did not smell coffee and expressed the belief that a cup of that beverage would save his life, and that nothing else would.”

Some assumed he was hallucinating in the wilderness, but Robidoux’s Gallic nose had not failed him. Coffee was being heated over a nearby campfire and “the precious draft [was poured] into the waning body of our friend. . . . His warmth returned.”

The diarist does not record whether Robidoux was asked if he would rather have a double-mocha decaf.

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SHE’D HAVE SETTLED FOR “OCCUPANT”: You think it’s dehumanizing to be listed as a number? Susan Tellem of Beverly Hills received a bill from her allergist that identified her as “NO NAME.”

miscelLAny Early this century, Culver City’s Fire Department was an all-volunteer force with one truck, the starting of which was described “as a major feat” by a contemporary. The volunteers weren’t so quick in responding to emergencies. They were replaced by a full-time force in 1922--soon after Mayor Clyde Slater’s house burned down.