Sinatra’s Old Prediction About Stormy Weather

While listening to Frank Sinatra’s “The Lady Is a Tramp,” Ellen Straw realized that the half-century-old song predicted El Nino. Yes, long ago, Sinatra was saying of that prescient dame:

She hates California/It’s cold and it’s damp. . .

TRAFFIC OBSTACLE DU JOUR: The makers of the asteroid movie “Armageddon” chose an office building near the junction of the San Diego and Santa Monica freeways--one of the busiest interchanges in the nation--for a disaster mural (see photo).

Naturally, it turned traffic into a disaster on Tuesday. A California Highway Patrol officer said the mural had been ordered taken down.

But, for all you drivers enraged at the “Armageddon” folks, I have some comforting words: “Deep Impact.” That’s the name of the other asteroid movie that was released first and no doubt will cut deeply into the box office of “Armageddon.”

L.A. INSULT OF THE WEEK: John Swallow of Sylmar spotted a magazine ad for Saab Aerospace that begins: “Aug. 17, 2016 . . . A child is born to a computer. . . . Congress is replaced by a television talk show. . . . The last tree in L.A. finally succumbs to smog. . . .”

Succumbs to El Nino, I could understand . . .

PAVED WITH GAMBLING CHIPS: Ray Collins of Sunland sent along a clipping from a Nevada newspaper reporting that the Nevada Transportation Board had voted 6-1 to give Caltrans $10 million.

Why the big-hearted move in these budget-conscious times? Well, the newspaper pointed out that the money will go toward widening Interstate 15 near Barstow “to make it easier for Southern California tourists to visit Las Vegas.”

All the talk of Vegas may have caused Collins to misspell the name of his hometown--or to make a joke about it. He spelled it: Sinland.

LETTER IMPERFECT: Carlo Panno points out that one Eastern critic’s rave about “Godzilla” in the movie’s ads originally called it “the A-ticket ride of the summer.” As in taking the A-train on the subway? It was later changed to the “E-ticket ride.” Goofy, eh?

NIBBLING FOR BUSINESS: Eileen McNulty and Jerry Baker of Montrose found a circular on their windshield from a company that means what it says about insuring anyone (see accompanying).

TECHNICALITIES: One of the reasons I love riding the Metro Blue Line is that it gives you a splendid opportunity to overhear other passengers’ stories. For instance, one day a woman was talking about the raw deal her boyfriend got.

“Police pulled him over for a bad taillight and arrested him,” she said. “Can you believe that?”

“That is strange,” her seatmate said.

“A bad taillight.” the first woman repeated. “How can they arrest a man for that? He was just driving around. He likes to drive around late at night.”

“And he didn’t have anything else on his record?” the seatmate asked.

“Nope,” the first woman said. “Nothing.” Then she added casually, “Oh, the police said something about him being wanted for a burglary. But he said there must have been some kind of a mix-up.”

THE GUEST HOUSE WAS FOR THE HAREM: Paula Van Gelder of L.A. noticed an ad for a Beverly Hills mansion that was described as a “sheik” building.

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I’m surprised that none of those banners promoting L.A. point out that the city is the headquarters of Dumb Inc. And what does Dumb do? It produces the syndicated TV show “America’s Dumbest Criminals.”

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.