L.A. insult of the week:Chet Jaeger of...

L.A. insult of the week:

Chet Jaeger of Claremont visited Austin, Texas, and noticed to his surprise that the City of Angels was featured on countless placards for a City Council election--as the villain, of course (see photo).

“Once again,” Jaeger observed, “Los Angeles was used as the paradigm of evil, air pollution, foul water, etc.”

The anti-L.A. candidates, who were pro-environment and anti-development, triumphed, by the way.

On behalf of Los Angeles, we say to the victors: Always glad to lend a helping hand.

BOMBS OVER LYNWOOD: Her neighbors thought it was an earthquake. But, no, it was just a real thorough fumigation effort by a Lynwood woman. What she did was set off seven bug bombs in her apartment kitchen, causing an explosion that resulted in “tremendous amounts of glass and metal” debris being blown out of the building, Lynwood Fire Department officials said.

The resident, who was unhurt, had apparently failed to read instructions on the can that said one bomb would do the job for 625 square feet. Her apartment covered 700 square feet. She also failed to notice instructions to keep the flammable chemical away from any open flame--in her case, the pilot light in the oven.

Now, she has no insects--or windows, for that matter.

SPEAKING OF BUGS: Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the zapping of mobster Benjamin (Don’t Call Me Bugsy) Siegel. He was gunned down while reading a newspaper (if you must know, it was The Times) in the rented home of girlfriend Virginia Hill on North Linden Drive in Beverly Hills. She was not present for the event, having embarked on a vacation to Paris the day before. Hey, being a mob moll is stressful.

SECONDHAND SMOKES: Jennifer Black of Glendora spotted a sign that confessed to the reason a discount store had cigarettes on sale (see photo).

MAYBE THE SCOREBOARD HAS SOME BUGS: The special-guests announcement that drew the biggest laugh on the scoreboard at the Long Beach Ice Dogs game the other night, reports Jeff Bliss, was the one that said:

THE ICE DOGS WELCOME THE MIGHTY DRUNKS OF ANAHEIM.

NEEDLING THE SCHOLARS: On the San Diego Freeway, we spotted a parody of an all-too-common bumper sticker. This one proclaimed, “My Kid Tattooed Your Honor Student.”

NAME GAME, VIA RAPID TRANSIT: “I moved to L.A. . . . in March of 1995 from San Francisco,” writes bank employee Brian McDonald. “There was an individual who worked in [our] branch. . . . His name was Bartholomew Rider. He went by Bart. Guess how he commuted to work?”

MIKE’S LOST WORLD: A press release from Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich on proposals to rebuild County-USC Medical Center contained this rare, mixed archeological metaphor:

“The Building of Pyramids Went Out with the Pharaohs--Large Government Bureaucracies are the Dinosaurs of the Past.”

miscelLAny:

For this week’s class of Laundry Lit 101, Linda Jones of Northridge contributes the following washing instructions, which came with an evening bag that was made in Thailand. “When I become soil,” the instructions said, “press me all over with a loaf of your breakfast (without butter, of course!) and then I will be ready to glamour with you again.” Oddly enough, this was also one of Bugsy Siegel’s favorite sayings.