Telephone Greeting Surely Won’t Whet Appetites of Telemarketers

I suspect that most of us, at one time or another, have felt like answering the phone with the words, “Leave me alone.”

Crystal Kwok responds that way several times a day because that’s the name of the Chinese restaurant she manages in Torrance (see accompanying).

It was chosen, she explained (cheerfully), because “it’s easy to remember and it attracts people’s attention.”

And she added, the place is not just for singles who want some privacy.

It does make for some confusion, though.

Kwok said that when she utters the eatery’s name into the phone, some callers respond with, “What?”

I bet it turns away a few telemarketers, though.

A dining tradition: Leave Me Alone is the latest in a long line of Southern California eateries with oddball names, dating back to Ptomaine Tommy’s in Lincoln Heights before World War II.

More recent examples include La Poubelle (translation: The Garbage Pail) in Hollywood, the Epicentre in the Civic Center, the now-defunct Slander Coffee Shop in Whittier (did it die through bad word of mouth?) and Redondo Beach’s late Killer Grill, which diners also left alone.

The water’s fine--stay out: Moving on to curious restaurant features, Deke Houlgate wrote about Julie’s, the longtime USC hangout with the swimming pool that was closed to the public.

Owner Julie Kohl, who died the other day at the age of 98, had originally planned to build a motel on the property in 1941, Houlgate said. Though she was encountering red tape she had the pool constructed anyway. Then she was denied the permits.

“She not only couldn’t put in the motel, she couldn’t get permission to use the pool when the restaurant was in operation,” he said. “She had to install a rope barricade to discourage guests from using the pool, and the ‘no swimming rule’ was vigorously enforced by her football-playing customers.”

Now that he mentions it, I seem to recall receiving a warning from a hulking gentleman after venturing too close to the pool during my USC days. I didn’t suggest that he leave me alone, either.

A different spin: Regarding the ad for the “spin it” piano--it should have said spinet--Sara Bajkowski of Canoga Park writes: “I can think of two good reasons to have a ‘spin it’ piano. The first is for concerts in a theater in the round. The second is for people who aren’t quite sure they want to learn to play the piano. They can give it a whirl.”

miscelLAny: The other day I mentioned an artist named Nicolino, who had melded more than a thousand brassieres into a “Bra Ball” sculpture in San Francisco.

Robin Lake of Santa Monica was reminded of a presentation by the Troubadour theater group of “Spamlet,” which she described as “a humorous musical, dancing, gymnastic interpretation of Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet.’”

She sent along a snapshot of an actor portraying Fortinbras, whose costume consisted of, well, 14 bras (see photo).

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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.