Certain USC Band Members Were Probably Not Whistling a Happy Tune

USC’s college football opener is near, and the school’s workouts have been grueling. At one point during Wednesday’s practice, four participants were ordered to do push-ups because they were giving less than 100%. I believe one of them was a trombonist.

Oh, yes, I’m speaking here not of the football team, but of the Trojan Marching Band, which also will take the field Monday night during the USC-Auburn game. Band director Arthur Bartner is a disciplinarian, which is why USC’s musicians were ranked among the top eight in the nation by USA Today. If only the football team could fare as well.

Letter imperfect: “I think I may have located Dan Quayle,” quipped David Putnam of KABC-TV. Putnam wondered if the former vice president was behind the botched spelling of one city’s name on press passes issued for a visit by President Bush (see accompanying).

Unreal estate: Ginny Rangel of Torrance didn’t realize the Pacific Ocean laps up on the shores of Pasadena until she read it in a real estate ad (see accompanying).

Bob and Joanne Drake of Brea made the same happy discovery about their hometown (see accompanying).

“Our home should increase in price by at least $100,000,” they wrote.

And Bob Padgett of Manhattan Beach snapped a shot of a real estate sign that seemed to be a lot of talk about nothing (see photo).

Turning to Chavez Ravine’s beach: As if the Dodgers didn’t have enough worries, what with the strike deadline, the team is being bugged by those mischievous 99 Cents Only folks again.

The chain has a sale on the type of ball that Dodger Stadium ushers routinely seize in a (usually vain) effort to keep it from being batted onto the field (see accompanying).

Relations between the Dodgers and 99 Cents Only chilled after the the team’s disastrous 1992 showing of 63 wins and 99 losses. The chain ran newspaper ads that read, “Congratulations, Dodgers, on your 99 losses! You’re just like us. Nothing over 99 ever!”

Yer outta here! the Dodgers replied. The chain was ousted from the team’s annual Fan Appreciation Day giveaway.

Mixed signals: Debby Yates points out that the bar with the “Sorry We’re Open” sign is Blackie’s by the Sea, which is in Newport Beach, but not the Balboa section of the city as I said. (I’m doing my push-ups now.)

She adds that the other side of the sign says: “Glad We’re Closed.”

Cary Stewart, meanwhile, was reminded of a joint called the Hang Tree, which he used to visit in Sun Valley more than 35 years ago.

Its sign advertised tough steaks, warm beer, stale bread and hard butter, Stewart said.

And the menu “offered T-Bones for $0.25 (with meat, $1.25).”

MiscelLAny: When USC’s band marched behind a convertible carrying then-First Lady Pat Nixon in the 1973 Rose Parade, the front row of uniformed, instrument-toting Trojans was actually composed of Secret Service agents.

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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.