Eastern-Style Political Lobbying

The owner of the Hollywood Moguls nightclub, which came under attack by Mayor Riordan for alleged noise and nuisance problems, sent a note to City Council members thanking them for supporting his dance permit. He also invited them to an event at the club, a demonstration of chanting Tibetan monks.

Sounds fascinating, though tough to dance to.

*

SERVING UP SOME GUILT: Sal Lombardo of West L.A. found an eatery where the owner made a personal pitch to passersby (see photo).

*

LIST OF THE DAY: Curious facts that make Southern California so lovable:

* The Long Beach community of Naples has canals, though its Italian counterpart has none.

* Like Venice, Italy, Venice, Calif., has canals; but Venetians fronting the waterways consider gondoliers an intrusion on their privacy and are attempting to have them banned.

* The Foursquare Gospel Church in Echo Park is a circular building.

* The Trojan Horse is the mascot of the USC Trojan football team though the original, wooden Trojan Horse--which was filled with Greek soldiers--was employed to defeat Troy in ancient times.

* There is a Walt Disney Concert Hall Parking Garage, but no Walt Disney Concert Hall.

* Reno, Nev., is west of Los Angeles.

* Wilshire Boulevard--famed for its Miracle Mile shopping area--was founded by a socialist, Gaylord Wilshire. A millionaire socialist.

* Poet John Greenleaf Whittier, the namesake of the Southern California city, was offered a free lot if he would move here from Massachusetts in 1887. He never even visited.

* The L.A.-area office of the National Weather Service is in Oxnard. (Myself, I would have picked Reno.)

*

AND ONE MORE . . . Willard Johnson of Marina del Rey noted that things have calmed down on Speedway--at least, speed-wise--since earlier this century when the street was used for professional road races (see photo).

*

UNHINGED TV ANCHORS: A couple of items about TV news readers sparked notes from newspaper readers.

Elyse Verse was intrigued by the recounting here of one satellite feed played by mischievous Harry Shearer on his “Le Show” radio program on KCRW-FM (89.9). That was an off-camera comment by CBS’ Dan Rather, made to an assistant while he was in South Africa. “Question,” Rather began. “I did not wash my hair last night because sometimes the stiffness helps, but the question now is should I wash it tonight?”

Commented Verse: “Maybe when [Rather] had that incident where the guy asked him, ‘What’s the frequency?’ he was referring to how often he washes his hair.”

As for the L.A. Downtown News’ Worst Anchor survey (won oddly enough by Jerry Springer), Barry Cook recalled a comment by a local anchor at the outset of the O.J. Simpson Bronco chase. The anchor said, “We can now confirm there’s at least one person in the Bronco.”

miscelLAny:

A 1935 photo of California’s first drive-in movie theater--a long-gone attraction at the corner of Westwood and Pico boulevards--is for sale at the Paul Kopeikin Gallery on La Brea Avenue (see accompanying). Price: $2,000. Doesn’t leave you much money left over for popcorn.

*

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.