Who’d Want Dessert at This Lunch?

A press release for a media event at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel in Pasadena said, “While you dine you’ll have the opportunity to hear the seven featured speakers from the World Congress on Liposuction Surgery.”

I can hear my stomach growling already.

MORE FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Some people eat too much. For numerous sea lion pups that washed ashore during El Nino, the problem was the opposite. Many were so young that the volunteer workers at the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro had to feed them a “fish milkshake” of gruel. Worker Hugh Ryono devised a hat so that the volunteers would have “something to remember for all the hard work they put in for the sake of the El Nino babies” (see photo).

FIX BAYONETS! I’d hate to be around when a crusty drill sergeant noticed how “Marine” was spelled on the watch in this magazine ad, which was spotted by W.C. Currlin of Cerritos (see accompanying).

COLLEGE CONFIDENTIAL: Lately, several UCLA wannabes have been published here, such as the University of Cerritos, left at Alondra (a.k.a. Cerritos College).

But what of USC imitators? Well, Ken Reed says the University of South Colton (Avenue) is also known as Redlands University. And Dr. Franklin Drucker points out that a university on Figueroa Street uses the USC initials but is just a “copycat” of his alma mater, the 195-year-old University of South Carolina.

ANGELENOS ON THE ROAD: On a visit to Savannah, Ga., Mark Suveg of Culver City noticed an appropriately named intersection of Congress and Bull streets.

ROCK LANDMARKS: Author Art Fein has updated his “L.A. Musical History Tour” guide, adding such sacred shrines as:

* The strip club “where Courtney Love allegedly danced topless when she first moved to L.A.”

* The residence where a 1973 concert was held to raise money “after the arrest of road manager Phil Kaufman and partner Michael Martin for stealing Gram Parsons’ body from LAX and immolating it . . . in Joshua Tree National Forest.” Parsons had always said he wanted to be buried there; eventually the ashes were interred in New Orleans as per the wishes of family members.

* The downtown Morrison Hotel, whose owner refused a request for The Doors to be photographed there for the cover of their 1969 album “Morrison Hotel.” The Doors charged into the hotel anyway and had the picture taken.

* Rancho Music in West L.A., where, to the amusement of some, a clerk set out a jar on the counter and asked people to submit names for his band. The laughing stopped when Canned Heat began making hits.

* Millie’s Restaurant in Silver Lake, an unofficial employment agency for musicians. “The running joke,” Fein wrote, “is that to work here you must have been dropped by a major label.”

LETTER IMPERFECT: Alan Morse noticed a Monrovia flier with a disclaimer that needed no explanation (see accompanying).

ONLY IN L.A. MEETS PUNK: Fein also includes the old Atomic Cafe on East 1st Street, a punk hangout before it became a fish restaurant in 1990. On my only visit to the Atomic, I asked a waitress what flavors of jello were served.

“Red and green,” she replied.

miscelLAny:

So which City Council member do you think was invited to meet Matt Towery, the author of the book “Powerchicks”? Why, Laura Chick, of course.

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.