They Surf in New York, Don’t They?

You know how difficult it is for New Yorkers who move to Southern California--they don’t like the bagels here, or the pastrami, or the freeways, etc., etc. Well, here’s another complaint those East Coast newcomers have about Southern California. San Clemente-based Surfing magazine reports that long-boarders with New York accents are derided by Californians who figure they must be beginners.

Yo! Well, if you don’t like it, you can always paddle back to Manhattan--and I don’t mean, Manhattan Beach.

AND DON’T FORGET TO BUY A THANKSGIVING TREE: I’ve placed a “Christmas decoration” in today’s column (see photo) as a subtle reminder that the holidays are here. It’s time to start your Thanksgiving gift shopping.

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THE MOST INEXPENSIVE DIET YET: The syndicated “News of the World” column says that an Australian woman is preaching the doctrine of “breatharianism”--that is, encouraging her subjects to abstain from all food and liquids. Breathing is enough, she maintains in her speeches (she charges $2,000 per).

Like many offbeat movements, this one may have had its roots in California. In 1983, 47-year-old breatharian leader Wiley Brooks was proclaiming--at one-day seminars costing $100 per person--that all foods and liquids are poisonous.

But the local chapter broke up after Brooks was allegedly seen ordering chicken pot pie and biscuits in a hotel and later observed leaving a 7-Eleven store with a bag of groceries. Brooks claimed at the time that he only visited the 7-Eleven stores to buy magazines.

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@ latimes.com.