Prime Time for Mature Audiences

I’m not sure whether this falls into the category of wildlife or wild life, or both. The L.A. Zoo, in honor of Valentine’s Day, is hosting an “Adults-Only Prime Mate Party” Saturday evening that will include a slide show “about animal mating habits.” But wait, there’s more: a docent-led tour of the zoo’s “most successful” breeding partners. Price of admission for humans: $60 per couple for zoo members, $70 for nonmembers and $50 for lone wolves.

STRANGE ROAD SIGHTS: Mary Herman of Beverly Hills was crossing a street in London when she saw something that prompted her to order husband Bob, “Get the camera and click! Don’t ask!”

He did as ordered and took a shot of a comfy-looking vehicle that was cruising down the street (see photo). This being England, the driver of the motorized sofa was on the right side. The passenger on the left had a television set in case the trip got boring. Herman apologized that in the excitement her husband failed to fit all of the couch-car into the photo. It has a lamp sticking out the back.

STUPID DRIVING TRICKS: Speaking of odd-looking vehicles, Walter Henry of Downey had an addendum to the items here about Messerschmitt’s 3-wheeled car. That was the airplane-like vehicle with room for a driver in front and a passenger in back. In the 1960s, a car dealer told Henry about a driver of a Messerschmitt who got drunk with a buddy in a bar, hit a slick spot on the way home and flipped upside-down. Henry was told the car landed in a narrow ditch “that just fit the car. Messerschmitts had no doors, just the canopy, which was immovable because of the weight of the car pushing down.” The passengers were upside-down for several hours before they were noticed by officers. Talk about being hung over.

WE CAN’T HELP YOU, HONEST ABE: The folks at Mary Wilson Library in Seal Beach sent along some of the stranger questions they’ve been asked by visitors:

* “Do you have newspaper articles announcing the birth of Jesus?”

* “I need a color photograph of Cleopatra. Everyone says I look like her.”

* “Do you have any information on whether a person’s blood pressure rises when he sees money?”

* “Can you help me find a book I checked out last year? It had a yellow cover.”

* “Do you have a sound recording of Lincoln giving the Gettysburg Address?”

I could have sworn I saw Abe’s recording advertised on EBay.

WHO NEEDS MICHELIN, ANYWAY? Joe Dymkowski of Santa Ana found an eatery that comes highly recommended by a not-completely objective source (see photo). I hear Cleopatra liked it, too.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO: A prowler that broke into Kingsbaker Bros. cigar store turned out to be a monkey that lived at a nearby shooting gallery. “The little beast was not smoking any of the cigars but was having lots of fun in tearing them to pieces,” The Times reported.

After a brief tussle, Officer George Berg was able to carry the small female out in his arms. “The sex of the monkey is believed to have been the cause of her submissiveness,” The Times concluded, “for Officer Berg’s tall and commanding figure and his winning ways make him very popular with the ladies, and his charm did not fail to work in this case.”

miscelLAny:

Writer Scott Harris, my old colleague, points out that “an acronym used often in the energy industry is IOU. It stands for “investor-owned utilities”--a bit ironic since California’s utilities have piled up billions of dollars of debt.

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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, 202 W. 1st St., L.A., 90012 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.