Billboard mania:We mentioned the appearance of a...
Billboard mania:
We mentioned the appearance of a sign advertising the Topless Driving School (“a clean record is only a lap dance away”). Then Ken Rosenhek of Beverly Hills spotted a billboard that declared, “High colonics in the comfort of your own car. Drive your colon clean!” And Liz Maleski of Venice saw still another billboard that advertised the Beverly Hills Shopping Camp (“August session still available!”).
What was going on? Had the recent heat wave fried the brains of some would-be entrepreneurs? One clue was that all the blurbs bore the same phone number. It was busy each time we dialed. But a billboard rep confessed that the ads were all “teasers” for the first phase of a magazine’s ad campaign. The name of the publication? We could say, but why spoil its editors’ fun?
WHAT IS THE FOURTH OF JULY FAMOUS FOR? Store sales, for one thing. But Pat Cooper of Downey found one retailer who is making a most ordinary claim (see photo). It seems to have plenty of items that are less than $1. And plenty that are more than $1.
THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COAST: The recent stories of intrigue involving the White House reminded us of an experience involving Leonard Bernstein, owner of the Caravan Book Store in downtown L.A., a decade ago.
“These two Neanderthal types show up in the store and ask me to work with them to accommodate someone important,” Bernstein recalled. “They don’t tell me who or when. They say they’ll get back to me. It was like they were the Mafia. I was concerned. Other people in the store who heard them warned me to be careful.” A few days later, Bernstein received a call from one of the men.
“He said a member of the president’s Cabinet wanted to visit the store,” Bernstein said. “He said that they’d be there Friday at 8 or 9. I said I closed at 6. I told them I needed to see some credentials. He said he’d get back to me.”
Bernstein contacted the media, who knew of no visiting Cabinet members. The State Department assured Bernstein they didn’t “do business that way.”
The same man called Friday afternoon. He said they would be there at 7. Bernstein asked a beefy maintenance worker to stick around after-hours.
At 7, two limos pulled up. As several people stepped out, one of the Neanderthals asked Bernstein, “Do you need some ID now?”
Bernstein said no--he recognized William Casey, the CIA chief. Casey, he would soon learn, was also a big fan of books about the Revolutionary War.
WHITE HOUSE FRIENDS LIST: The story doesn’t end there. Some days later, an employee of the Music Center shopped a bit longer than she had planned at Bernstein’s store and showed up late for work. Security was heavy because the Bolshoi Ballet was at the Music Center (the Cold War was still on). A suspicious State Department type asked her where she had been. She told him and he made a call. “Then,” Bernstein said, “he let her in. She heard him say that I was OK.”
miscelLAny
We’re titling the accompanying flying saucer shot “Independence Day.” The photog who faked the shot told us he placed the extraterrestrials near the Griffith Observatory because he’s always found it curious that UFO sightings are invariably in deserts or mountains rather than near scientific facilities.
