Gussying Up for Car Chases

The televised car chase, seemingly a daily feature in L.A., has imposed new pressures on Southland cities. Aesthetic pressures.

For instance, the newsletter for Paramount brags that after a carjacker led police on a pursuit through its streets, city officials received several complimentary calls from other areas. The subject? “The pretty trees and grass down the middle of the streets” of Paramount, which were picked up by the cameras of the several helicopters covering the chase.

Note to other mayors: Are your cities ready to be seen on live TV?

STRANGE OFFERS DEPT.: Janda Richmond of Torrance found a fast-food outlet that was apparently having a close-out on 39 tacos while Janet Goff of Cardiff came across a fitness center that seems to be saying it will do strange things to your chin (see photos).

A 1928 FANTASY: Seventy years ago, L.A. Times columnist Lee Shippey wrote about a motorist who jokingly said he had come up with an idea for an invention after running out of gas at 7th Street and Broadway.

“It’s an improvement on the mama-doll idea--you know, how they squeak, ‘Mama, Mama,’ ” the driver told Shippey. “It lies in the bottom of the gas tank and the minute it gets uncovered it begins to holler, ‘Gas! Gas!’ ”

A voice warning system in a car? What a far-fetched idea!

LOW BLOW: The new movie “Twilight,” a potboiler set in the devilish City of Angels, has a running joke about a groin injury. At one point, an LAPD captain asks another cop what his worst fear is.

“Getting shot,” the cop says.

“Getting shot where?” the captain persists.

“Inglewood,” the cop responds.

INGLEWOOD FILM FESTIVAL (CONT.): You may recall mentions of the city in these movies:

* “Double Indemnity” (1944), in a scene in which insurance man Fred MacMurray tries to jog the memory of his boss, Edward G. Robinson, by recalling a bogus claim. “It was the day you had that truck driver from Inglewood in on the carpet,” MacMurray said.

* “Grand Canyon” (1991), in which a very nervous Kevin Kline calls for help when his car breaks down after a Laker game and he is confronted by gang members. “I need road service for, uh, I don’t know, let’s say Inglewood,” he said.

With these less than complimentary references, the city probably wouldn’t mind if Hollywood made the same geographical mistake the Times of London did when it reported Magic Johnson’s first retirement from the Lakers. The British newspaper said the Forum was located in “Inglenook.”

NEEDLING SAN PEDRO: With its waterfront atmosphere, San Pedro has long had a colorful reputation as a tough town. And that image can only be reinforced by a headline that Art Vinsel spotted in a local paper:

“San Pedro School of Music Spring Recital Will Benefit Tattoo Removal.”

Vinsel suspects that the tattoos will be removed from converted gang members, not from the school’s young singers.

miscelLAny:

Rick Weiner suggests that Compton’s Adams Mortuary, whose “Drive-Thru” service sign was mentioned here, adopt the motto: “Remains to be Seen.”

*

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.