But Why No Cat in the Hat at Zoo?
L.A. City Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo brought along an appropriate book for the Community Read-Aloud program at Cleminson Elementary School in Temple City.
The title: “If I Ran the Zoo,” by Dr. Seuss.
“My secretary gave it to me a couple of years ago,” Mollinedo explained. “She said, ‘Some day, you’re going to need this book.’ ”
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IT’S A JUNGLE IN BRENTWOOD: Richard Riordan, the mayor of L.A. (and thus a higher-ranking zookeeper than Mollinedo) has been limping around with a broken toe lately. Asked on Wednesday what happened, the mayor told a Times reporter that he slipped at home on the bathroom tile where his dog had peed.
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NOSTALGIA AIN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE: Matthew Berkley of Pasadena attempted a Yahoo computer search for material about L.A.’s past, but found that the City of Angels has no history (see accompanying).
Which is ridiculous.
Just the other day I saw a restaurant in town with a historical marker that said, “Proudly Serving You Since 1992.”
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AND HERE’S MORE L.A. HISTORY: Forty years ago today, L.A. police issued a warrant for the arrest of ex-trolley worker Francis A. Van Wie, 69, who was on probation for bigamy. Authorities learned he had married a 73-year-old woman and then left her. She was the 17th wife Van Wie had deserted--a statistic made even more remarkable by the fact that he had never bothered to obtain a divorce from any of them.
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PRESERVING THE LA-LA-LAND IMAGE: Pick any stereotype about L.A. and chances are you’ll find that it’s the subject of a class at the good old Learning Annex night school. Consider these titles:
* “How to Break into Adult Video”
* “Making a Living Without a Job”
* “How to Work a Room (Master the Art of Schmoozing to Get Ahead)”
* “How to Open and Run a Nightclub/Bar (Create the Hottest Place in Town)”
* “Reinventing Yourself (How to Become the Person You’ve Always Wanted to Be)”
That last class comes as no surprise in L.A., sometimes called The City of the Second Chance. Or, in the case of Francis A. Van Wie, The City of the 17th Chance.
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HARD DRIVE DEPT.: Richard Harer of Woodland Hills spotted what could be a virtual parking place (see photo).
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A DIFFERENT KIND OF APATHY PROBLEM: Thomas Parker of Montrose noticed a clever headline in the newsletter of an Eagle Rock residents’ association:
“Too Many Candidates! March 9 Forum Canceled for Lack of Apathy.”
What happened was that, after Councilman Richard Alatorre decided not to run for reelection, 18 candidates filed for his seat (of which 13 qualified for the ballot). And the association couldn’t accommodate all of them in its previously scheduled forum. You just never know when a lack of apathy is going to occur.
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RAINY-DAY MESS: I knew the commute was going to be ugly Wednesday morning when KNX-AM (1070) relayed a traffic tip from listener Freeway Frank. Freeway Frank said he was driving to work on surface streets.
miscelLAny:
Long Beach’s aquarium issued a press release about the city’s coming sports car race, which carried this startling headline: “The Aquarium of the Pacific Now Part of Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Race Course.”
Gentlemen, don your wetsuits!
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 L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.