Talk About Crowded Operating Rooms. . .

The Looney Lawsuit of the Month Award, announced by Torrance-based Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, goes to a woman who said she had 12 personalities before undergoing shoulder surgery. She sued the anesthesiologist (unsuccessfully) for “stabbing her” and causing her to take on an additional five personalities.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: In this week’s dining guide, we bring you some $39 tacos spotted by Betti Sternberg of Northridge (must be tacos with everything), some undercooked fowl noticed by Trudi Mennen of Tujunga and, for the very adventurous, some beef “ticks” offered in Long Beach (see accompanying). Bon appetit!

NAME GAME: An interoffice memo sent by the L.A. Unified School District to members of the L.A. Board of Education contained good news--none of the ground beef recently recalled in the Midwest because of fears of contamination had been shipped to California. Board members were told that if they had questions they could contact the school district’s director of food services--Robert Hamm.

IT’S ENOUGH TO TEST YOUR FAITH: In his new book, “An Automobile Tour Through Hollywood,” historian Ken Schessler says that Father Junipero Serra performed a blessing of what is now Hollywood in the 1700s. Obviously, that didn’t work. Perhaps an exorcism would be more effective.

LIST OF THE DAY: Other startling tidbits from Schessler’s book:

* The ghost of horror movie star Lon Chaney sat on a public bench on the northeast corner of Hollywood and Vine--until 1942, when the bench was replaced.

* Movie idol Clark Gable had false teeth, which were made at the Taft Building on the southeast corner of Hollywood and Vine (wonder if Lon Chaney’s ghost was shocked?).

* When a Hollywood director’s girlfriend married someone else, he was so overcome with grief that he “put his head in the toilet of his house” on Franklin Avenue in an attempt to kill himself. Instead, he got stuck. “A plumber was called to remove the toilet seat to release him,” Schessler writes.

NO THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: You’ve undoubtedly read how Rich Sybert, a Republican Assembly candidate, was videotaped at 3 a.m. while in the act of removing the campaign signs of a rival in Thousand Oaks. This after Sybert had indignantly denied rumors of such behavior.

Sybert, who will not be prosecuted, said he’s sorry and claims the matter is closed.

But this dirty-tricks-in-the-moonlight operation brings up a pollution problem.

I swear I’ll vote for any candidate who promises to remove his own campaign signs--and those of his opponents--after the election.

A SLIGHT CASE OF WAXY BUILDUP: The mention here of the giant 50-year-old rocket outside Albertson’s Oldsmobile in Culver City moved Marty Harris to recall a visit to the dealership.

“In 1951, my family went to purchase a new silver Oldsmobile Rocket 88,” he said. “The car gleamed, chrome sparkled, and my brother and I couldn’t stand the excitement. He was 8 and I was 10. While waiting for the deal to be completed, I accidentally knocked over a display of car waxes and polishes in the showroom. . . . I thought jail was impending!

“After the hubbub was over, I saw my dad shaking his head, saying the deal is off, he would not pay for all of the spilled bottles. As it turns out, the extra $10 or $20 he saw on the contract was for some extra he wanted on the car and not the result of my accident. Ten minutes later we drove off in our new Rocket 88.”

The dealer was no doubt relieved the Harris boys hadn’t knocked over the rocket.

miscelLAny

Robin Lake writes that a shop that sells used kids’ clothes on Ocean Park Boulevard is called Oohs and Oz while a billboard for the La Brea Tar Pits is headlined, “Ooze and Ahs.” A bachelor friend of mine says he’d hate to get stuck in either place.

*

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.