Southland Gazette, the Swimsuit Issue

Obviously jealous of Sports Illustrated, this column presents its first annual Swimsuit Issue, packed with stunning black-and-white photos of models taken at clever angles in such romantic locales as downtown L.A. and a plastic toy factory. (Note: If a friend or fellow office worker doesn’t have a copy, please share yours before you clip it out and save it.)

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NOW THAT WOULD STOP TRAFFIC: In the 1930s, the L.A. Chamber of Commerce took gag shots of attractive women in eye-catching circumstances to send to newspapers around the nation to attract tourists. This faux gendarme, in front of a Red Line car, was not wearing the standard police uniform (see photo).

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IN THE MEN’S DIVISION. . . . In 1992, Raiders quarterback Todd Marinovich and ex-Capistrano Valley High star revealed he enjoyed surfing at San Onofre at night while unclothed. This sparked many jokes about the football play known as the naked reverse.

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MOST FAMOUS DOWNTOWN SUNBATHER: Eileen “The Singing Candidate” Anderson danced in a bikini at Temple and Main streets every weekday afternoon for more than a decade in the 1970s and ‘80s (see photo).

The onetime Miss Liverpool was protesting alleged mistreatment by Secret Service agents after she attempted to dance an Irish jig in front of a visiting candidate in 1972.

Anderson, who died in 1993, also ran for political office an estimated 17 times. She eventually gave up the sidewalk dancing after often-traveling Mayor Tom Bradley declined to give her his parking space and the city rejected her proposal to be designated a cultural landmark.

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FABULOUS FLOP: In the mid-1980s, an Irvine firm introduced Nude Beer, with labels bearing photos of women whose bikini tops could be scratched off. The brew failed to sell (I think it was outlawed in Long Beach) but did find a place in the book, “Forgotten Fads and Fabulous Flops.” Cheers!