Were Frat Pledges Learning the Ropes?

Bill Givens, author of the book, “Film Flubs 1999,” sent along an interesting correction that appeared in in USC’s Daily Trojan. It said, “The article, ‘DPS Accuses Fraternity of Secret Hazing,’ in the Jan. 20 issue of the Daily Trojan should have read that ropes were only tied around the pledges’ necks.” Commented Givens: “What did we miss?”

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PHANTOM INTERSECTION: Irwindale must really be growing fast. If you drive down the 4600 block of Nora Avenue, you’ll come across a signpost for about a dozen streets (see photo). Funny, when I looked at my Thomas Guide, I couldn’t find those streets listed in that San Gabriel Valley city. Then again, I only have the 1997 edition.

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GATHERING SPOT FOR THE “IN” HERD: Gina Longo-Parkes of L.A. found a parking lot where things with wheels seem to be banned (see photo). Are there spaces set aside for animals with compact antlers?

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NOT TO BE UNKIND, BUT . . . Bruce Richie of Bellflower wondered if the product he saw featured in an ad was some sort of hair-brained idea (see accompanying).

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IF YOU THINK DRIVING CONDITIONS ARE TOUGH NOW: Cal Poly Pomona historian Ralph Shaffer passed along a Jan. 14, 1882, L.A. Times story about a remarkable snowstorm in Southern California.

Stage driver S.A. Van Baker reported the white stuff was from 6 to 10 feet deep on the road from Calabasas to Ventura. “The driver and passengers had to get out and shovel it away,” the article said. “Van Baker is an old driver and says that he never heard of anything like it before. There were two men and a lady on board, who suffered very much from the cold.”

The stage made it to Ventura--arriving 24 hours late.

TRASH TALK: A different kind of inundation--fast-food debris--is flooding the streets Fast-food debris is “inundating” the streets, says L.A. City Councilman Nate Holden. So he has proposed that the city raise the sales tax for fast-food joints by a half-cent to finance the cleanup. The problem is, such establishments would then raise their own prices. Would that lead to fast-food fans slipping across L.A.’s borders to buy Big Macs in Monrovia, Whoppers in Westminster, Gorditas in Gardena? Something to chew on. . . .

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FREEWAY MASCOT: The traffic is unpredictable, of course, but one thing Ventura Freeway commuters have come to depend on, says Mike Leviton, is the teddy bear dangling from a wire just east of the San Diego Freeway.

Leviton, who has nicknamed the creature Ventubear, says it is wearing a bright red shirt and blue pants. Neither rain nor wind have been able to dislodge it over the last several weeks.

It isn’t clear yet whether it is the victim of a USC fraternity hazing exercise.

miscelLAny:

Among the nominees for the 1999 Razzie awards for inept acting performances are Leonardo DiCaprio as Worst Screen Couple (he portrays twins in “The Man in the Iron Mask”), Sylvester Stallone as Worst Supporting Actor (he unconvincingly plays himself in “An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn!”) and Barney as Worst New Star (for “Barney’s Big Adventure”).

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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 carrier pigeon at L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.