At This Halloween Bash, You Supply the Face, They’ll Supply the Mask

A colleague received an invite from R & R Studios, which is throwing a “Halloween Botox Party” on Oct. 17--on the Westside, of course. There’ll be free drinks and hors d’oeuvres. And, yes, a plastic surgeon will be on hand for the Halloween bash. For a price, he’ll supply the cosmetic masks.

The new models are coming out! Former City Council aide Eric Rose drove by Beverly Hills High the other day and noticed that the California flag was flying upside down. An upside-down flag is, of course, the international distress signal. Then again this is Beverly Hills, so the “distress” could have been over something as simple as all the BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes being delayed by the port shutdown.

I predict the owners don’t notice: Steve Durgin of L.A. came upon a sign showing a pesky spelling problem that hadn’t been overcome (see photo).

19th century hunks: The L.A. Police Department has long taken pride in the physical fitness of its officers. In fact, the department’s historical society has a shot of an “LAPD Strong Men” team that dates back more than a century (see photo). The big men, with their big mustaches, participated in boxing, wrestling and weight-lifting competitions.

Then again ... : A much more recent snapshot by Fred Wallace of L.A. is a reminder there is one sugar-laden snack that is associated with cops everywhere, even in L.A.

Annals of strange crimes: The police log of the Los Alamitos News-Enterprise recorded a complaint from a resident who charged “that someone she knew kept leaving insects on her car.”

Attention, screenwriters: Secession backers promise that if the measure passes, a Valley film office will be formed separate from the movie promotion agency in Los Angeles that is now under investigation.

If so, I hope the Valleyites do a better job of protecting the region’s image. No more insulting dialogue like this in “Pulp Fiction”:

Hit man Samuel Jackson: “I’m calling my partner in Toluca Lake.”

Partner John Travolta: “Where’s Toluca Lake?”

Or that scene in “2 Days in the Valley,” where a cop tells his partner: “I know we’re Valley detectives, so we’re not all that bright but ... “

Or another scene in the same movie where a fistfight breaks out in an apartment and a 60-ish resident next door tells his wife: “Maybe that’s how they make love in Tarzana.”

MiscelLAny: To your list of appropriately named weathercasters, such as Johnny Mountain and Dallas Raines, Cliff Dektar of Studio City suggests that you add a Weather Channel reporter--name of Ken Weathers.

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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 or by e-mail at steve. harvey@latimes.com.