Just in Time for the Holiday: a Magazine for the Ex-Generation

Southern California’s Divorce Magazine (yes, there is such a publication) reports that a recent divorce party included “a breakup cake” (like a wedding cake, but each side is entitled only to half).”

So big is the divorce biz these days that a Web site called lastwordcards.com offers a selection of announcements that will inform a special someone that it’s all over.

Example: “All the world’s a stage. Time for you to make your exit.”

And happy un-Valentine’s Day.

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PERFECT CASTING?: Mention was made here of Dean Koontz’s new thriller, “False Memory,” in which a roofer in Newport Beach says he has seen “the angel of death”--and it looks like Billy Crystal.

“It really shouldn’t come as a surprise,” commented Tim Melnarik of Burbank. “After all, Billy Crystal has already been the devil in Woody Allen’s movie, ‘Deconstructing Harry.’ ”

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT: You’ve heard of a “baron” of beef. Well, Julie Singer of Seal Beach spotted a restaurant offering something “barren” of beef (see photo). Commented Times Food Editor Russ Parsons: “Maybe it’s tofu.”

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ON THE SINGLES CIRCUIT: Judy Sims says she’s “very happily married, but I may pass this personal ad on to my single girlfriends.” It’s from the Mountain News of Lake Arrowhead and begins:

“SINGLE WHITE MALE, 42, 6-1, 180 lbs., looks OK after a few drinks, attorney, financially secure, enjoys hiking, music and cultural events, fireside chats and tailgating flatlanders. . . .”

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BAH HA: Alaster McKay, a writer for a Scottish newspaper, paid a visit to Southern California and dismissed L.A. as “a good place to get lost, a bad place to find yourself. It is a place to go, but not to stop.”

At one point he referred to a hotel called the Hacienda near LAX “on a soul-less highway in a Mexican suburb of Los Angeles.”

In case you’re wondering, Daily Breeze columnist John Bogert found the “Mexican suburb” where the Hacienda is located.

It’s El Segundo.

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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.