Here’s the beef:A few weeks ago, a...

Here’s the beef:

A few weeks ago, a letter arrived from Louis G., who asked us to settle a bet involving himself and several other inmates at the L.A. County Jail. Their question: What was the location of the first McDonald’s stand?

He explained that the stakes were high--”there are approximately 17 Snickers candy bars (now the standard jailhouse currency) on the line.”

We wrote him that the honor goes to a 1940 McDonald’s in San Bernardino. And we asked him to let us know who won.

Now, Louis G. writes back: “The first person to bring up the subject was from Chicago, and he thought it was there. I, from Bellflower, believed it to be the one that still stands in Downey (I was wrong--so arrest me). This started a flurry of others who believed their town to be the one. Unfortunately, nobody lived in or around San Bernardino, so nobody won the bet.”

He added: “Of course, by then it didn’t matter ‘cause everyone had eaten their candy.”

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THE CITY’S OLDEST SIGN? We think it’s the “Do Not Pick Flower” notice in Exposition Park. Our theory is that it dates back to the establishment of the Rose Garden in the mid-1920s when it apparently contained only one flower. And, now, the sign stands as a reminder of the growth of the Rose Garden, which contains more than 15,000 rosebushes.

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THE NAME FITS: Blain Skinner points out that the library programs administrator in the city of Torrance is named Norm Reeder.

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FROM REEDER TO VIEWER: Film buff Lee Harris of Burbank sent in some local geographical gems from movies to add to our list.

* “This is KTTV studios in Hollywood--to Mt. Wilson. We are being attacked by the Slime People”--Robert Hutton in “The Slime People” (1960).

* “People turning south on the freeway were startled to see three flying saucers, high over Hollywood Boulevard.”--Narrator Criswell in “Plan 9 From Outer Space” (1959).

* “It was one of those California Spanish houses everyone was nuts about. This one must have cost somebody about thirty thousand bucks”--Fred MacMurray, describing an L.A. mansion in “Double Indemnity” (1944).

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SEQUEL: And here are a few more local movie references that we dug up.

* “From the hills of Verdugo to the shores of del Rey”--Narrator describing old L.A. in “Mark of Zorro” (1940).

* “We’re going to have a low coming in over Pa Sad Na--sorry, that’s Pasadena”--Inept weathercaster Steve Martin in “L.A. Story” (1991).

* “Call Victorville and tell them we want the fastest plane they’ve got”--Desperate Army commander during flying saucer invasion in “The War of the Worlds” (1953). (And bring back some McDonald’s burgers from San Bernardino while you’re at it.)

miscelLAny:

“I’m serving on jury duty in the Beverly Hills Municipal Courthouse,” writes Valerie Fields. “The hot-drink vending machine offers French Vanilla coffee or cappuccino. Do you suppose they put that machine in when Zsa Zsa was being tried there?” We’ll try to find out. But first, we have to find out how the “The Slime People” came out.