Even Jokesters Can Only Afford to Use Pennies in These Uncertain Times

A friend informs me that some mischievous office workers in Tarzana have been leaving coins atop the nameplate of a business in their building.

Name of the business: A Center for Change.

Most of the coins are pennies, by the way. No use carrying a joke to extravagant lengths in this uncertain economy.

Speaking of loose change: A panhandler approached Times copy editor Paul Netter and complained, “I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but I’ve come all the way from Georgia, and this is the worst downtown in the country.”

Gee. I can almost hear Gladys Knight & the Pips singing, “L.A. proved too much for the man . . . He’s leavin’ on a midnight train to Georgia.”

Can it skip and jump, too? In Westchester, John Adair of L.A. noticed a restaurant sign that only appeared to refer to a nearby animal (see photo).

It’s a jungle out there: Joe Brito of Baldwin Park saw a real estate ad for a residential complex that sounds like a zoo (see accompanying).

Well, boys will be boys: A startling headline in a Palm Desert publication caught the attention of ViannTaylor of Cathedral City, Carol Orendy of Chatsworth and several other readers (see accompanying).

Trick, treat: You may recall my account of Marie T. Harvey’s battle against fruit-stealing squirrels in her West L.A. backyard. When she opened fire with a Super Soaker cannon on the intruder that she calls Grandpa Squirrel, he merely stood on his hind legs, opened his mouth and gulped down the water.

Well, Harvey (a.k.a. Only in L.A. Moms) says Grandpa was up to new tricks on Halloween night.

She was away but left a basket of candy out for revelers. The next day, she saw Grandpa with a bag of candy in his mouth: M&Ms; (the peanut variety, naturally).

Squirrels 101: While searching the Internet to gain more insight into these creatures, I came upon the “Campus Squirrel Listings” Web site (https://www.gottshall.com).

Compiler Jon Gottshall believes that “squirrels tend to be more friendly at schools that are more interesting and have students hanging around campus more.”

The Web site offers colorful eyewitness accounts of squirrels’ eating habits at such colleges as:

* University of Chicago: One was spotted “dragging off an entire large slice of pizza that someone had tossed in an outdoor wastebasket.”

* Cal State Northridge: “Field correspondent Christianne” says “the critters will approach people for food but [she] warns against trying to grab them [the squirrels, not the people].”

* University of Texas: They “seem to enjoy bagels . . . and French fries.”

* Penn State: “I was sitting on a bike rack talking to some friends when one came up to me from behind and tapped my hand with his paw for a handout.”

* University of Wyoming: “They have become quite tame, even climbing in office windows if they run out of sunflower seeds.”

Sounds like Grandpa Squirrel may have young ones in college.

miscelLAny: John Hendry of Van Nuys says he was surprised that some traffic reporters were abbreviating the name of the founder of California’s missions. More than once, Hendry heard Junipero Serra Road in San Juan Capistrano called “J-Serra.” Sure, it’s hip to refer to actress Jennifer Lopez as “J-Lo” but this . . .

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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., Los Angeles 90012 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.