The Real Bombs Weren’t Russian

After that ex-Soviet spy’s testimony about Russian operatives allegedly hiding weapons in California for use in a future war, I said I was relieved that Disneyland was declared off-limits to Soviet boss Nikita Khrushchev in 1959.

But a colleague mentions that Mr. K. did visit 20th Century Fox studio on that visit.

And that studio has had more than its share of bombs since then.

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EVIDENCE? While looking through my files, I was stunned to come across an old snapshot of a pavement sign that contained what appeared to be a Cyrillic letter (see photo). Was this a clue I missed? Could there be something buried under that backward “N”? Alas, my records don’t show where in Southern California it was found. How embarrassing if I’m asked to testify.

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FUMBLE! Southwest Airlines is the Official Airline of Super Bowl XXXIV, which is Sunday in Atlanta. But Shelley Singer of Tarzana points out that if you’re taking the Official Airline of Super Bowl XXXIV to Super Bowl XXXIV, you better take a parachute. Southwest doesn’t fly to Atlanta. Or anywhere in Georgia.

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NO CHANCE OF A FENDER BENDER: Switching the subject to another mode of transportation, Singer also submitted a snapshot of a car’s cardboard replacement part that may not last through the next rainstorm (see photo). Talk about built-in obsolescence.

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ON THE ROAD: Jackson Sleet of L.A. stumbled upon an eatery in Las Vegas that presumably offers spinach tacos (see photo). How did Popeye the Sailor Man wind up in Vegas anyway?

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DRINK UP! A study in the Wall Street Journal recently found that Long Beach real estate was the best buy in the nation.

This could be the greatest boon to the city’s economy since a letter written by Wray E. Meyer of Tucson to the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce in 1916.

In the letter, discussed in Claudine Burnett’s new book, “Strange Sea Tales Along the Southern California Coast,” Meyer said he had recently vacationed in the town. And he asked that a 5-gallon jug of Long Beach water be shipped to him each week--no matter the cost.

“It was Meyer’s belief,” Burnett wrote, “that Long Beach water helped cure his wife’s chronic stomach and bowel trouble.”

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT: “I note Winchell’s Donuts has a new offering advertised as ‘Real Bagels for Real People . . . Warm ‘N’ Fresh Since 1948,’ ” wrote Robert Sharp of Pasadena.

“That’s a long time to keep them in the oven.”

miscelLAny:

That wet stuff that fell out of the sky on Tuesday, what do you call it? Anyway, it sure cleanses the sky. On Wednesday I thought of April Smith’s line in the novel “North of Montana”:

“In Los Angeles there are seven days out of the year that are so spectacular you feel lucky to be alive . . . and to own a convertible that is running again.”

But that was written in 1994. There’s less air pollution now. I believe there are at least eight spectacular days in the year.