This Shelf System Is a Washout
Dr. Mark Roberts, a South Bay dentist, couldn’t find any Water Piks in a local drugstore until he happened to notice them in the camera department.
“All I can figure is that someone entered them in the computer as Water Piks--spelled p-i-c-s,” he said.
Yes, the water pics were next to the underwater cameras.
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MAYBE REDONDO BEACH HAS ITS OWN TIME ZONE: Bob Brigham points out that one street sign in Redondo Beach could have caused some real confusion among gunslingers who had scheduled a shootout at “high noon” (see photo).
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CLARIFYING CLAREMONT: In last week’s episode, you may recall, I corrected my error that Claremont McKenna College is in Pomona. It’s in Claremont, of all places.
No sooner was that confusion cleared up, though, than I read in Andy Dougan’s biography of Claremont McKenna alumnus Robin Williams that Claremont is located “some 35 miles north of Los Angeles.” Methinks Dougan meant “east.”
Dougan, incidentally, writes that the budding comedian had a unique response to one essay question in a macroeconomics course: “I really don’t know, sir.”
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UNCONTROLLED URBAN SPRAWL: “I find it difficult enough competing for jobs with everyone in Southern California,” said Ishmael Escobar of Moreno Valley. “And now we must compete with more than a billion Chinese that have been annexed into the Inland Empire, as well?”
Escobar was referring to an ad for a job fair that placed China in the Inland Empire (see accompanying). Historically, I believe China considered itself the Middle Kingdom. It’s across the Pacific Ocean from Claremont.
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DUELING CULTURES: Visiting New Yorkers Penny Kemp and Linda Falk were driving to Malibu when they saw a car with the license plate OYGRWUP.
“Hey, Linda, look!” said Kemp, according to the New York Times. “That license plate says, ‘Oy, Grow Up.’ ”
“We’re in California, not New York,” Falk replied. “It says, ‘Oh, why grow up?’ ”
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L.A.’S THE PLACE? Not that you asked, but a couple of columnists have put out the welcome wagon on behalf of L.A. for a couple of celebrities.
Rob Morse of the San Francisco Examiner suggests that now would be a perfect time for Bill Clinton to resign so he can take up residence here “and hang out with Barbra and the gang.” Morse writes that if he did, Clinton wouldn’t “be known for Monica but for his sudden move to Santa Monica.”
And USA Today’s Jon Saraceno says Dennis Rodman, supposedly about to become a Los Angeles Laker, would be a perfect fit here “among Hollywood’s melange, particularly around the freakazoid element at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and La Brea.”
Oy!
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L.A. MILESTONES: Wednesday marks the 19th anniversary of Laker fan Jack Nicholson’s greatest performance at the Forum--the day he and Washington Bullets coach Dick Motta had a “finger-pointing, abuse-hurling dialogue,” in the words of one reporter.
Nicholson had screamed to the officials from his front-row seat that Motta should be assessed a technical foul for leaving the designated area for coaches to argue a referee’s call.
Later, Motta said: “He grabbed my leg. I don’t need that. . . . I asked him if he wanted to be one of my assistant coaches and he said he’d like that.”
Advice to Rodman: Stay on Nicholson’s good side.
miscelLAny:
There are all sorts of ways to resolve conflicts. So Marty Rauch of L.A. notes that it isn’t necessarily inappropriate that a firm called Conflict Resolution Unlimited is on Thrasher Avenue.