Tight seal:We knew cities were becoming creative...

Tight seal:

We knew cities were becoming creative in raising revenue but we didn’t know how creative until we showed up at the day-care class of our daughter, Sarah. She and the other kids were swimming in a municipal pool in Seal Beach. Fully dressed, we asked a lifeguard if we could sit in the poolside bleachers. “Sure,” she said. “Admission is $1.25.”

Luckily, Sarah doesn’t get a cut of the gate receipts. We’d hate to have her lose her collegiate eligibility at the age of 7.

QUIT SPLASHING IN MY SPACE!Considering the heat, we winced when we saw the sign that Ed London snapped at an apartment complex. Perhaps during 90-plus heat, management will ease the restriction to one bather per 10 square feet.

UNFORTUNATE TIMING DEPT.: A press conference on Wednesday will announce the debut of the latest reality TV series--”LAPD.” The “Cops”-type show, which premieres Sept. 11 at 11:30 p.m. on Channel 13, is being produced with the cooperation of the LAPD. Interestingly enough, the press conference will be held in Santa Monica.

WE THINK THEY’VE UPDATED THE PRICES: David Gorney of North Hollywood walked into Jean’s Blue Room in Sherman Oaks and was reassured to see a positive restaurant review on the wall. Sort of reassured. It was written in 1951.

ATTN. BOB DOLE: We came upon a 1995 newsletter headlined, “Have a [Dirty] Good Laugh,” which details how one dramatist filled his works with “dirty jokes,” “jabs at flatulence,” “scatological references” and “rampant sexual vocabulary.” The newsletter was from the Pacific Shakespeare Company of Santa Monica. Yup, the scandalous dramatist was old Will.

REFRESHING TWIST: It seemed like one of those all-too-frequent urban scenes. A man walked into a fast-food eatery in Paramount, furtively pulled a cup out of a trash can and then crept over to a dispenser and filled it with water. We felt better when we saw him walk back to his car and hold the cup out for his dog.

THE QUEEN MARY’S PREVIOUS LIFE: Today being the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II with Japan’s formal surrender aboard the battleship Missouri, we bring you this anecdote from Arthur Verge’s book, “Paradise Transformed: Los Angeles During the Second World War.”

On the night France and Britain declared war on Germany in 1939, Bob Hope was sailing on the Queen Mary (the very one that now sits in Long Beach). Told that the other passengers were beginning to panic because they feared an attack by German U-boats, Hope staged an early hour show. It included special verses for his signature song:

Thanks for the memory,

Some folks slept on the floor,

Some in the corridor;

But I was more exclusive,

My room had “Gentlemen”

Above the door.

Ah! Thank you so much.

miscelLAny Passersby used to seeing risque movie titles at the Pussycat Theater in Santa Monica might have been momentarily confused if they saw the marquee recently. The building has a new renter and X-rated movies are out while foreign movies are in. Hence, the non-risque title of the Iranian movie currently playing: “Mother.”