Bit of Foolishness in Dream Resort

For a small publication, the Reef Seeker newsletter comes up with some stunning exclusives this time of year.

Take the piece headlined, “Club Med to Build on Santa Barbara Island.”

The newsletter, published by Reef Seekers Dive Co. of Beverly Hills, reported that an agreement “has been reached between Club Med and the Channel Islands National Park” to build a resort that would include a helipad and a water slide.

One aspect of the resort that could cause controversy, the newsletter said, was Club Med’s plan to train “many of the sea lions to bring drinks to the guests.”

I don’t want to brag, but I was the only L.A. journalist given an advance look at the article in this April 1 edition.

A WORD OF WARNING: Not to question the reporting of another publication, but I should add that a fair number of the past exclusives in the Reef Seeker have failed to materialize.

There was the bombshell that Rupert Murdoch planned to buy Santa Catalina Island and make it off limits to the general public.

The newsletter also announced a “Dive Disneyland Day,” in which patrons would pay $40 to explore the lagoons in the Submarine Ride area (for $10 extra, Splash Mountain would be included). That event never came off, nor did “Dive the Tar Pits Day.”

All in all, I’d say you have to be somewhat skeptical about scoops in the newsletter’s April 1 editions.

HAPPY APRIL FOOL’S DAY: To celebrate, I present two memorable pranks (see accompanying).

In 1990, someone put out a notice on seemingly authentic school stationery saying that Bart Simpson would deliver the commencement address at Loyola Marymount University.

And, as Claudine Burnett recounted in her book, “Strange Sea Tales,” the old Long Beach Independent newspaper published a story in 1949 about a “prehistoric sea monster” that caused some residents to have a cow.

L.A.--IT’S EVERYWHERE! Regarding the discussion here of distant businesses with Southland names, a reader accuses me of implying that all cafes, etc., with “Los Angeles” in the title refer to the California city.

“I happen to come from a city in Mexico called Puebla de Los Angeles, which was founded in the 16th century, and I don’t think that the founders had in mind Los Angeles, Calif., when they named the city,” the reader wrote.

True, though I’m pretty sure that some of the places I’ve mentioned were named for Los Angeles, Calif.

Eurodisney’s L.A. Bar and Grill, for instance.

AND, SOUTH, SOUTH OF THE BORDER: I was a big fan of singer Frank Black’s deceptively titled “Los Angeles,” whose lyrics include:

“I wanna live in Los Angeles/Not the one in Los Angeles/ No, not the one in South California/They got one in South Patagonia . . . “

Black was singing about the Chilean town of Los Angeles.

With a population of fewer than than 100,000, it’s free of many of the problems of South California’s L.A., though it shares one nuisance. According to one encyclopedia, Chile’s L.A. “has suffered earthquake damage repeatedly.”

Small world.

miscelLAny:

The spring issue of City View, the newsletter of Covina, has a section titled “Public Works” in big letters. Only there’s a crucial letter missing in the word “Public.” I don’t think it was meant as a joke.