Surely a cast of thousands:When we noticed...

Surely a cast of thousands:

When we noticed that “The Dream Team,” starring Michael Keaton, was playing on TV the other night, we wondered if it was another movie capitalizing on the Simpson trial. Then we saw it was about a bunch of psychiatric inmates--and we were sure it was.

EAT YOUR HEART OUT, WOLFGANG PUCK: No doubt you’ve been looking for a really good Spam dish. Well, out at the L.A. County Fair in Pomona, Christopher Lopez of Pasadena finished first in the Spam Luncheon Meat Recipe Contest with his tasty Spam Mincemeat. Runners-up were Louise Jurgens of La Verne (Mexican Spam ‘n’ Cheese Bake) and Geraldine Powell of Azusa (Spam Quiche Ole!).

Still, we don’t see how they can compare with last year’s winning delicacy: Spam Cheesecake.

THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY: We’ve been hit with all sorts of requests from drunken panhandlers. But this was a first. A man listing in the breeze on Spring Street held out his hand as we approached. His hand clutched a $5 bill. “Sir,” he said forlornly, “I would just like to have a drink. Where can I go? Can you tell me?”

TRAPPED IN THE MELTING POT: Two women were mugged in an alley after leaving a Fairfax-area restaurant. Hearing their screams, Justin French and eight other residents in the neighborhood chased the assailant.

“The guy in front had no idea whether [the mugger] had a gun,” French said later. “But we’d had two other violent incidents here and we’re tired of it.”

Other residents, meanwhile, “were on the balcony with their portable phones. The cops said they got seven calls.”

The assailant eventually threw down the women’s purses and was cornered when police arrived.

“The cool thing,” said French, “was that we were really a diverse group. We have Jewish people as well as recent arrivals from Russia on our street. My neighbor is Jewish and Mexican and married to an Irish guy. One of the women who phoned police is black.”

And, French added, “we had some rock-’n’-rollers who play loud music--the sort of people you might think would stay in their apartment. But they were out there, too.”

Now, the residents on French’s street are planning a block party. “We had no idea what an interesting street we had,” French said.

miscelLAny Millions of dollars were spent on improvements for the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but on the steamy afternoon of the USC-San Jose State game Saturday, the stadium clock said 58 degrees. Is this what the Raiders meant about receiving a cool reception when they played there?