A Really Long Arm of the Law
One part of the graduation ceremony at the Los Angeles Police Academy is the inspection of the officers-to-be. Dean Hansell, an L.A. police commissioner, had the following conversation with a nervous but eager young rookie whose family had immigrated to this country.
Hansell: Good morning.
Officer: Good morning, sir!
H: Congratulations.
O: Thank you, sir!
H: Where will you be stationed?
O: Hollenbeck [station], sir!
H: And where do you live?
O: Romania, sir!
H: Should be quite a commute.
O: Yes, sir!
SPEAKING OF THE COPS: “While going through a 72-page catalog put out by Western Auto Supply in 1920, I ran across an item that indicates that detecting police officers before you get a ticket is not a new idea,” wrote Jim Benson of Valencia (see accompanying).
“And I thought the rear-view mirror might have something to do with safety,” Benson added. “Foolish me!”
The Cop-Spotter Mirror--that was its brand name--cost $3.25. Apparently, it wasn’t standard equipment back then. Guess there weren’t enough cops around to make it worthwhile.
DRIVE-BY ART: A while back I mentioned the shame I felt when the nation’s first drive-through art gallery opened, not in L.A., but in Salt Lake City. I mean, this is L.A.! City of Headlights! City of the Big Freeway Shoulders!
Fortunately, some pride has been restored here with the L.A. County Museum of Art’s “Windows on Wilshire” installation in the display windows of the former May Co. building.
Artworks include “In Vogue” by Terry Braunstein, a two-part exhibit that shows Boticelli’s “Venus” (see photo) and Michelangelo’s “David,” each being studied by a cut-out photograph of “a person in typical American garb.”
And, perhaps, you’ll also be able to see a reflection of a typical American driver--yourself--stuck in Wilshire Boulevard traffic.
TO DIE FOR: In a survey in the Long Beach Press-Telegram, readers voted Forest Lawn as the most popular mortuary, followed by Luyben Family Mortuary and Dilday-Mottell.
GOING FOR THE CLASS RING: Jeff Barris, armed with a metal detector, was scanning an old swimming hole in Glassboro, N.J., when he found a 1938 high school class ring bearing the initials “A.C.”
Barris searched the 1938 yearbook of nearby Pitman High and found the name Agnes Copeland. Then he looked up the tax records and found that her brother, H. George Copeland, had bought the ring for her.
She’s now Agnes Copeland Trader, an L.A. resident, and Barris mailed her the ring. Trader couldn’t remember how she lost it, only that she hadn’t seen it in 50 years.
“This is the first successful return I’ve ever had,” said Barris, vice president of the South Jersey Metal Detector’s Club.
Trader sent Barris a check for $50 but he returned it, saying he was just happy to do a good turn.
You have to admire Barris when you consider how long it would take him to find $50 in pennies, nickels and dimes.
miscelLAny
Laguna Hills resident Nick Peviani, age 13, was awarded a $500 prize by actor Ted Danson in Santa Monica for finding the most unusual item on a beach during California Coastal Cleanup Day. Nick and his mother found a small coffin for a rat named Jack. Wonder if Jack would have voted for Forest Lawn instead.
