Shunning half of Southern California:”No Failed Screenwriters,”...

Shunning half of Southern California:

“No Failed Screenwriters,” said the sign outside Hyperdisc, a CD store/cafe in Santa Monica.

“It was an incentive for others to come inside,” quipped Jennifer Macanufo, assistant manager of Hyperdisc, which stages musical performances and poetry readings.

She admitted that the one-night ban also was a jab at a nearby bookstore/coffee shop “that is sort of the spot where all failed screenwriters go to rest in peace. You see these poor things, sitting with their laptops, staring into space and gesticulating wildly.”

Macanufo says the one-day ban was not challenged by any failed screenwriters. Or, at least, anyone who admitted to being a failed screenwriter.

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BATHROOM HUMOR: Bob Campbell of Desert Hot Springs snapped a shot of a men’s room door that contained some explanatory data (see photo).

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LIST OF THE DAY: Two of the works in the “California Focus” exhibition that caught our eye at the Long Beach Museum of Art:

* “Blue-Eyed Blond House,” by Tony Berlant (1967): A cubic structure “painted pink, yellow and blue to give the indication of a female profile. . . . Berlant is poking fun at the American ideal of femininity--the much-admired blue-eyed blond.”

* “Untitled 1 from the ‘Freeway Series,’ ” by Catherine Opie (1961): A panoramic photo showing the “broad, elegantly graceful sweeps of highway silhouetted against a cloudless sky.” We believe the junction pictured is that of the Santa Monica and San Diego freeways but can’t be sure because it’s devoid of cars. We’re not sure we would recognize it devoid of cars.

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TALK ABOUT BOLD CLAIMS: David Esquith received a flier from an L.A. carpet cleaning company that was so poorly worded it appeared to contain a dire warning (see excerpt).

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OOH L.A. L.A.: After we published a series of photos of European stores with California-type names--i.e., Super Nail of Los Angeles in London--a colleague recalled seeing a hip clothing store in Annency, France, called Westwood Village.

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MYSTERY OF THE WEEK: Val Rodriguez, our Signal Hill bureau chief, reports that while he was aboard a new Long Beach Transit Lines bus, he signaled that he wanted to disembark and, sure enough, a “Stop Requested” message flashed--in French, as well as in English.

“I wouldn’t have thought it unusual if it was also in Spanish, but French?” Rodriguez said. “I asked the driver and he couldn’t explain it except that this bus was manufactured in Canada.”

Maybe, Rodriguez figures, the vehicle was supposed to be delivered to Quebec but made a wrong turn.

In any event, bonjour!

miscelLAny:

“There’s a myth out there that Bob Dole is mean,” the Republican nominee said Wednesday after he referred to Bill Clinton as a “Bozo.” Despite Dole’s denial, this is the second strike against him. He previously said that when it comes to law and order issues, Clinton is a “Barney Fife.” And Dole still has not apologized to Mayberry’s esteemed deputy sheriff.