God’s Presence in Tinseltown

God is with us--Southern California, I mean.

If you’ll recall, I mentioned that in the early 1990s, DMV records showed there was an L.A. man whose driver’s license identified him simply as “God.”

The DMV declined to say whether God’s still battling the freeways hereabout, but the Times library did find a God registered to vote in L.A. County in the 2000 election (see accompanying).

It should come as no surprise that God has a pipeline to Tinseltown. Nor that he belongs to a party that has a lot of hard-liners.

MORE BAD NEWS FOR THE DEMOCRATS: The Times also found three Jesus Christs registered to vote in Southern California. Two declined to state their party affiliation on their forms but the third Christ identified himself as a Republican.

SUCH A DEAL DEPT.: Ruth Adams spotted a seasonal piece of furniture for sale--it may really have been an ottoman--while Miriam Ferguson alerted me about a moving sale whose organizers seemed determined to get rid of the goods (see accompanying).

WE’LL GET BACK TO YOU: The Los Alamitos News-Enterprise reported that a person entered that city’s Police Department “and said she is a manic-depressive, bipolar undercover cop from Ann Arbor, Mich., and she wanted to apply for a job, saying she’s ‘a doctor by day and prostitute by night.’ ”

LET’S GET TO THE IMPORTANT STUFF: Regarding the Frank Gehry sketch of the Disney Concert Hall, Wayne Parks of Long Beach pointed out: “That blank space just below it--that’s a $50-million parking structure! Welcome to L.A.”

Yes, and one thing we can all point to with pride is that while the construction of the concert hall is seemingly taking forever, its parking garage below opened in 1996, on schedule. Tentative opening date of the concert hall: fall of 2003.

The parking structure (it actually cost $100 million) was known for years as the Topless Disney Parking Garage.

Although not designed by Gehry, it is impressive (as parking structures go). A music critic for the L.A. Downtown News, lacking a concert to attend there, instead reviewed the facility and gave it a high rating--three grease spots out of a possible four.

MAYOR ‘N’ LIBRARIAN: Whether you’re for or against having the L.A. Central Library named after Richard Riordan, you have to admit that the mayor has had some administrative experience in this area.

When Immaculate Heart College closed its doors a couple of decades ago, Riordan purchased the school’s entire 36,000-volume library, including the card catalog, for his Brentwood mansion. The books still have the Immaculate Heart pockets and file cards inside.

I understand that the mayor will waive the fines for any Immaculate Heart grads who have overdue books.

THE NEW NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH: My colleague Shelby Grad had just returned to his car in L.A.’s Larchmont Village when a woman with a cell phone ran up. She asked him if he was leaving. He said he was, whereupon she made a call on the phone. Moments later, a friend of the caller peeled up in a car and pulled into the treasured spot.

miscelLAny:

The good news for Long Beach is that the May 7 issue of Newsweek contains a two-page pictorial of the city. The not-so-good news is that the photo shows the city shrouded in smoke from a refinery fire in Carson.

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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.