Rest Easy, That Pirate Flag Doesn’t Mean L.A. Is In for Another Sacking

No need to be alarmed by that pirate flag flying atop a 12-story building in downtown L.A.

“It’s just to make people notice us,” said one of the people involved with the yet-to-be-opened Downtown Standard Hotel at 550 Flower St.

Yes, it’s going to be a hotel. So you can relax. The pirate flag does not--I repeat, does not--indicate that the Raiders and Al Davis have moved back to L.A.

Word imperfect: Writers have long complained that they get no respect in Hollywood. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that when a trade newspaper ran a congratulatory note for author Syd Field, the publication didn’t get the spelling of his specialty, screenwriting, right (see accompanying).

While we’re on the subject: I think it’s a good sign that a student in La Canada Flintridge admits he could use a bit of tutoring--starting, perhaps, with a lesson about the spelling of his school’s name (see accompanying).

No need for pest control: Several readers wrote to identify the “bugs” that Deloris St. John of Laguna Niguel spotted on an Australian menu. (That is, the “bugs” were listed on the menu; they weren’t walking across it.)

“The Bugs are actually ‘Morton Bay Bugs,’ which are a type of lobster,” wrote Gary Johnson of Encino. “They come from Morton Bay, which is near Brisbane. They are similar to what is served here as ‘Australian Lobster Tail.’ ”

Another mystery solved: Phil Harrott and Patrick Mauer, among others, wrote to say that the varmint on the sign posted in Jackson Hole, Wyo., was not the product of a romantic liaison between a collie and a beaver, as I had theorized (see photo).

It is, in fact, a marmot, described as a thick-bodied, gnawing, burrowing rodent. Sounds like it can be as much of a nuisance as Al Davis.

Hi, they’ll be your servers: Labor Day’s not too far off and, unless I get an argument otherwise, I’m going to say that no waitress has labored in this town as long as Alice Broude. She has been serving newspaper folks, lawyers and other questionable characters at the Redwood Saloon (informally known as the Red Dog) on 2nd Street in L.A. since 1952. And she’s been waitressing for 56 years.

I owe her a mention because last time I wrote about a birthday party for her, she complained that it made people think she was retiring. Heck, she’s only 82.

Broude is one of the waitresses profiled in the August issue of Los Angeles magazine, along with Jean Cocchiaro of Canter’s (53 years in the biz) and Netty Carr, owner of Netty’s Cafe in Silver Lake. Carr’s refreshing attitude is: “The customer is usually wrong.”

miscelLAny:

Multitasking has its drawbacks. A burglar entered a Manhattan Beach house but fled after an occupant opened fire with a pistol.

The intruder was in such a hurry to leave, the Beach Reporter noted, that he left behind a bag of stuff stolen in an earlier break-in.

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A., 90012 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.