Check-out time--noon, 1997In a poll of reader...

Check-out time--noon, 1997

In a poll of reader favorites by the Pasadena Weekly, the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel was voted No. 1 in a new category:

“Best Place to be Sequestered.”

Something for Judge Ito to keep in mind in case . . . oh, we don’t even want to say it.

CAN’T WE ALL GET ALONG?We hate to dish the dirt, but once staid Pasadena is the scene of a feud between the feisty Weekly and the Pasadena Star-News, a metropolitan daily. The Weekly’s slogan, printed on Page One, is: “The Pasadena Paper People Actually Read.” In a letter to the Weekly, a Star-News editor retaliated by proudly referring to her paper as, “The Pasadena paper people can laugh with, not at.” Maybe the editors should be sequestered until a peace settlement can be worked out.

LIST OF THE DAY: “Strange Days,” a coming movie about L.A., stars Ralph Fiennes and is set in the final hours of 1999 as the city is ravaged by riots. Say, isn’t this nightmare scenario for the future getting a bit old?

A blurb for the movie also says, “The only positive thing you can say about Los Angeles, 1999, is that the city is still standing. The long awaited Big One hasn’t hit yet . . . “

No Big One? Hey, that’s a heckuva positive note as far as we’re concerned. In fact, it inspired us to search for other reassuring film and literary prophecies about L.A.

* “Bladerunner” (movie, set in 2019): Great advances in the construction of human-like androids. So what if a few become killers? Their trials raise fascinating new legal issues.

* “Parable of the Sower” (novel, 2024): Because of fuel shortages, freeways are practically empty and SigAlerts are nonexistent.

* “Demolition Man” (movie, 2032): San Angeles (the former L.A.) has an Arnold Schwarzenegger Presidential Museum.

* “Sirens of Titan” (novel, circa 2060): The Martians invade Earth--but they’re wimps and are wiped out; the only temporary Martian success is the capture of a meat market in Basel, Switzerland. Hollywood (there’ll always be a Hollywood) is undamaged.

* “Judge Dredd,” (novel, 2091): L.A.’s growth rate is so formidable it’s now called Mega City 2. Every citizen is “entitled to free health care, including the necessary genetic correction procedures to assure the elimination of those traits undesirable to contemporary society.”

There now--don’t you feel better about the future?

STREET MUSIC 101: Ever wonder how panhandler/musicians get started? You know, the performers who station themselves on street corners, beach walkways and at malls. We wondered, too, until we saw a course in “Guitar (Beg)” offered by the Long Beach Parks, Recreation and Marine Department. We suppose the first session will involve the most advantageous place to set out a hat for tips.

miscelLAny Other classes offered by the Long Beach parks people include “Abs, Thighs and Buns,” “Law Enforcement Spanish,” “Fencing for Kids” and “Women’s Full Moonwalk.” There’s also “Supersitters,” a baby-sitting class for teen-agers. Those signing up for “Supersitters” are instructed to “bring lunch.” (No raiding someone else’s refrigerator until you actually get a job as a sitter.)