After Landing, They Went Out for Frozen Yoda

As his flight headed into L.A. the other night, Hugh Ryono noticed a little girl staring out her window at the metropolis. Suddenly she exclaimed in an English accent, “Mother, it looks like ‘Star Wars.’ ”

“ ‘Star Wars’? “ the mother said. “Why do you say that?”

“Because the lights look like that big round thing in the movie,” she replied. “You know, the Death Star.”

Ryono said it was the first time he had ever heard L.A. compared to a cinematic weapon of destruction. Then again, he added, many would-be directors, screenwriters and actors whose hopes have been dashed here might agree.

WHEN IT’S TIME FOR A WARDROBE CHANGE: L.A. has always been known for its experimental lifestyles, transsexualism among them. Fine, says Dennis Levin, of L.A., who snapped an “Expert Alterations” sign in downtown L.A. “My question,” he asks, “is which is the ‘before’ and which is the ‘after’ in the picture?”

Also on the subject of sex-change operations, Judi Watkins of Glendora and Martin Carlin of Beverly Hills submitted similar shots taken in Mexico. (see photos)

BY ANOTHER NAME: The Rose Bowl, as you may have heard, will commercialize its name next year in order to generate big bucks. As a public service, Paul Ecker of Diamond Bar offers the stadium folks these names:

* 99 Cents Only Rose Bowl.

* Earl Scheib Rose (Or Any Color You Want) Bowl.

* Miracle-Gro Rose Bowl.

* Cal Worthington and His Dog Spot Rose Bowl.

* Smog Pros Rose Bowl.

Some very moving suggestions there. But Ecker apparently hasn’t noticed that the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., just lost its sponsor, one that would fit perfectly out here: The Poulan/Weed Eater Rose Bowl.

VANITY ON WHEELS: Richard Lorentz, continuing my landmark research into the DMV’s new Web site for vanity license plates, found a message that could only belong to a Southland commuter: DAMNFWY.

SOUNDS LIKE . . . (PART 1): The item here about the non-English-speaking man who thought the waitress said “super salad” when she was asking “soup or salad?” reminded Dan Fink of L.A. of an old joke.

It concerns the 80ish man propositioned by a woman who asks, “Super sex?”

He responds: “I’ll take the soup.”

SOUNDS LIKE . . . (PART II): During World War II, Jean Pearson of L.A. writes, her husband was stationed in Denver where she took a job at a newspaper taking classified ads over the phone. One ad was supposed to begin, “Death forces sale . . . “ But, she admits, “I heard and wrote, “Deaf horses for sale . . . “

She didn’t say whether the newspaper received any offers.

miscelLAny

A company called Failure Analysis Associates Inc., which has a strange sense of humor, publishes a “Disaster of the Month” calendar. The January theme, for instance, is “California Flash Floods.” Nearly every day contains an anniversary of a tragedy somewhere in the world, complete with the toll in human lives. April 1, though is an exception--”Failure Analysis Associates 31st Birthday.” Then again, that date could be seen as a disaster for the arbiters of good taste.

Steve Harvey can be reached by phone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com and by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.