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Devilish critic of the City of Angels:With...

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Devilish critic of the City of Angels:

With the death of San Francisco columnist Herb Caen, L.A. has lost one of its greatest needlers. Or, rather, Lozangeles has. That’s the way he referred to this city.

Caen, who mischievously perpetuated the Ess Eff vs. El Lay rivalry with the help of The Times’ Jack Smith, understood that Southern Californians take a perverse delight in being kidded.

“Knock San Francisco to a San Franciscan and you’re starting a fight,” Caenonce said. “Knock Los Angeles to an Angeleno and you’re starting a conversation.”

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And knock he did.

Caen liked to relate how he came down here to write a story about Los Angeles “but couldn’t find it.”

When a Stockton newspaper ran a headline that said, “Crooked Cop Gets 5 Years in L.A.,” he cracked: “That’ll show the mizzerable creep.”

Over time, Caen admitted that some of his notions about L.A. had become outdated.

Years ago, for instance, he described the typical Angeleno as “a well-preserved, middle-aged, middle-class, 2-door Chevrolet sedan.”

Hogwash. Today the typical Angeleno would be a Toyota.

OFF-RAMP NEGOTIATIONS: While exiting the 101 Freeway downtown in our middle-aged Mazda, who should we bump into (figuratively speaking) but one of the would-be buyers of the Dodgers. This bidder informed us that in our previous mention of him we had misquoted his sign, so we took a photo of it to make sure we got it right. He declined to give us his name, by the way. Financiers can be so secretive.

FIRST HINT OF TROUBLE? The possible availability of Dodger Stadium was advertised a couple of years ago by the Short Stop, a Sunset Boulevard bar near Chavez Ravine, during the baseball strike.

BAD CONNECTION: The telephone recording for the Job Hotline at El Camino College in Torrance says: “Please do not leave a message on this line.”

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Then, another recorded voice adds: “You may start your message now.”

THIS MONTH IN HISTORY: Rhino Records’ calendar notes that on Feb. 15, 1979, the Temple City Kazoo Orchestra closed TV’s “Mike Douglas Show” by “performing Mike’s theme with support from guest kazooers David Brenner, Cheryl Tiegs, Lee Grant and Lou (the Hulk) Ferrigno.”

Geez. Now we’ll be humming Mike’s theme the rest of the day.

miscelLAny

At least we know how they wound up there--the Northridge Moving and Storage Co. is based in . . . Chatsworth.

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