The Light That Did Not Fail

Pasadena lawyer Diane Corwin was in an Irvine office for a deposition on Tuesday when the lights went out. A transformer failure in an underground vault had knocked out power for 150 customers in the neighborhood.

A search was begun for an alternative site. Luckily, a conference room unaffected by the outage was found across the street--in a Southern California Edison building.

HEADING OFF A BUILDING BOOM: Nao Takasugi, a newly elected Oxnard Harbor District commissioner, was a bit taken aback when he saw the heading on one agenda item:

“Consideration of Building 630 Restrooms Project Completion.”

Takasugi said he was ready to raise these questions: “Where to locate them? Who will use them? Why so many?”

Then he was informed the restrooms were for Building No. 630.

Two restrooms.

WHAT DOES UCLA KNOW? On the Westwood campus, Liza White of West L.A. came across a term from the scary days of the Cold War (see photo). Actually, the place is an eatery.

TALK ABOUT TONE-DEAF: The second item in a “Musical Instruments” section struck Jim Benson of Valencia as a real noisemaker (see accompanying). On second thought, I believe a model like that was used for Tom Jones’ recording of “The Green, Green Grass of Home.”

BENEATH THE SURFACE (CONT.): Gracia Aldrich of Orange saw a listing of a vacation spot for the family that wants to submerge itself (see accompanying).

L.A. INSULT OF THE DAY: A billboard on the San Diego Freeway says:

“Over 250,000 Better Jobs.”

Underneath that, a second line says: “More Jobs Than L.A. Has Therapists.”

SCARY DRIVER SIGHTING: “Coming home from San Diego one day, I caught a glimpse of a vehicle creeping up on my right and almost slammed on my brakes,” said Karen Norman of Monrovia. “I know I took my foot off the gas pedal to get a good look at it.

“It was an airplane, sans wings, military-style, with a pilot in front and co-pilot behind, converted to a three-wheeled car. The driver was in front and his passenger in back was reading a newspaper. “

At least the tail gunner was in a peaceable mood.

POOR ANGLE TO MAKE AN I.D.: The recent driving stories here reminded Dean Terlinden of Long Beach of an experience he had as a substitute teacher at Carnegie Junior High in Carson.

“As I came out of the classroom, a station wagon passed with a couple of kids mooning me,” he said. “I suspected they were from Carson High, which is nearby. After telling this to a teacher in the cafeteria, she asked me if I recognized any of them.”

Terlinden said, from what he saw, no.

miscelLAny:

Harry Hultine of La Canada Flintridge noticed that the plant manager of the Miller Brewing Co. in Irwindale is named Ed Beers.

And Jack Flanagan of Long Beach spotted this Redwood City law firm in an insurance publication:

Low, Ball & Lynch.

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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.