No Way to Drop In for Some Doughnuts

Did you hear about the adventure of a helicopter from radio station KIIS-FM that plopped down at the opening of a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop in Van Nuys? It was promptly ticketed by the city Fire Department. The official reason was that the chopper had no permit to land in the neighborhood. But I suspect also that firefighters, like cops, don’t like anyone cutting in front of them for doughnuts.

IT’S BEING MADE INTO A MOVIE: Two executives with the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. began feuding, the Hollywood Reporter writes, after one accused the other of “harassing him with an endless spate of phone calls.”

Then the real villain was revealed: an out-of-control fax machine.

DIGITALLY DECEASED: After this column printed the sad photo of a “dead” parking meter (see photo), some readers wondered what that designation meant and whether it was safe to dock your car by such a machine.

“Dead” means that the battery needs replacing, said James Sherman, the city parking administrator. No ticket would be issued to a car in that situation--even if the machine was repaired while the car was there, he added.

In fact, Sherman said, the attendants are instructed to “put time on the meter” in such situations to cover the time limit for that space.

Who says parking attendants don’t have a heart?

NOW THERE’S A SALE: Tom Miller of Torrance found evidence that the tobacco industry is growing increasingly desperate (see photo).

SPEAKING OF STEALS: Bruce and Donna Greene noticed the sale of a watch that has a suspicious past (see accompanying).

IF IT’S NOT THE CRIPS, IT’S THE GRIPS: An apartment owner in the MacArthur Park area caught some well-dressed types spray-painting graffiti on her building. When she confronted them, she said, she was told that they were making a movie and had obtained permission. She disagreed. It turned out that the ponytailed movie vandals were supposed to be at the building next door.

WHICH REMINDS ME: One of the all-time goofs on a movie location is said to have occurred during the making of the 1929 Laurel and Hardy film “Big Business.” The boys played door-to-door Christmas tree salesman who get into a brawl with one resistant home owner and wind up leveling the man’s abode.

The studio had contracted with a couple on Dunleer Drive in West L.A. to knock down their house while they were on vacation, according to Kevin Brownlow’s “Hollywood, The Pioneers.” Alas, the film folks knocked down the wrong house. The owners arrived in time to find their place devastated.

That’s a wrap!

miscelLAny:

I noticed this bumper sticker on the Santa Ana Freeway at rush hour: “Hang Up and Drive!” And I just want to say that you’ll never see me talking on a car phone while commuting. Under my cellular agreement, I only get free calling time on the weekends.

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.