L.A.’s Sprawling, All Right, but Not Necessarily Onto the Mat

Indefatigable contributor Phil Proctor came across what could be one of the first doomsday warnings for L.A.

A desktop calendar of memorable quotes carried this excerpt of an interview with Italian-born heavyweight champion Primo Carnera in the 1930s:

Reporter: “How do you like Los Angeles?”

Carnera: “I knock him out in two rounds.”

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MORE INSULTS: Richard Deskin of Irvine took a photo of the Irvine Spectrum Center, a business and entertainment complex that doesn’t seem to want any business from across the Orange Curtain (see photo).

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STUPID CRIMINAL TRICKS: LAPD officers had apprehended two men who allegedly tagged an MTA facility when a third man walked up. He didn’t seem to be put off by the fact that two suspects were in handcuffs and that the cops’ badges and radios were visible. In fact, he asked one of the cops if he (the cop) planned to do any tagging. When the cop said no, suspect No. 3 brought out a spray can and allegedly went ahead without him--before he also wound up in cuffs.

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ONE-STOP SHOPPING: Janet Robertson of L.A. noticed that a brochure from the Hairspace salon near Universal City offered services from hair coloring to psychotherapy (see photo). “This salon cares for the total head,” Robertson observed.

I’m reminded that several years ago, several beauticians and barbers in Santa Clarita met with the local City Council. The hair specialists were asked what people in town were talking about. “Everyone talks to their hairdresser,” a city spokesman explained.

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ANOTHER AL DAVIS PLOT? USA Today printed illustrations of all the Super Bowl champion rings, including the Raiders’ ring for 1983-84 season. Only the caption said “Oakland” Raiders. Please, for all the grief owner Al Davis caused us, at least give L.A. its due as the home of that year’s winner.

I knock out USA Today in two rounds.

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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