A 50-Year Love-Hate Job at the Redwood

I shouldn’t have allowed Labor Day to pass without noting that Alice Broude recently celebrated her 50th year as a waitress at the Redwood Saloon on 2nd Street near The Times. During a ceremony in her honor, she was asked to sing something.

She answered: “I’ve got two songs in mind, ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ and ‘Take This Job and Shove It.’ But I can’t decide which one, so I better not sing at all.”

Saloon attendance: When I ran into Alice, she said, “Steve! You never come in anymore.” (I’m only printing this item so my boss will see it).

Follow these simple instructions: Today’s exhibits (see accompanying) include:

* A men’s room that requires a map (photo by Jackson Sleet);

* A road not taken for a lot of reasons in northern England (photo by Dave Newton);

* A shop with a complicated open-door policy (photo by Joe Dymkowski);

* And finally, a coupon offer that’s tough to navigate (submitted by Jeff Carruthers).

Boob tube beginnings: The 75th anniversary of the first successful demonstration of television just fast-forwarded by. On Sept. 7, 1927, Philo T. Farnsworth, the all-but-forgotten inventor of the magic box, “transmitted the image of a horizontal line to a receiver in the next room,” the Associated Press said.

Afterward, Farnsworth wired one of his backers in Los Angeles: “The damned thing works!”

I can just imagine the backer’s response: “But is there cable?”

Serpent privacy issues: Firefighter John Wade of Newbury Park notes that “with the influx of new residential building, rattlesnakes and humans often get too close to each other. Firefighters are usually the nearest local agency trained to handle the close encounter.”

But the firehouse recently received a first-of-a-kind report from a dispatcher: “Two large rattlers engaging in indiscretions by the reporting party’s waterfall in RP’s backyard.”

Said Wade: “It’s not too often that we are laughing as we head towards a couple of very large rattlesnakes.”

He added that the critters “were not too pleased to be interrupted in the middle of their family planning session.”

Patriotism, within limits: In fashion conscious Newport Beach, a sign at one health-care center said: “In observance of September 11, 2001, staff, residents, and family members are encouraged to wear red, white, and blue on Wednesday, September 11, 2002. (No blue jeans, please).”

miscelLAny: Some folks in Huntington Beach, determined to perform random acts of kindness on the 9/11 anniversary, handed out roses to passersby on Wednesday. They were a bit surprised at some of the reactions. Some people refused the flowers, apparently thinking they had to pay for them. Others accepted them but tried to pay.

Commented KFWB-AM (980) newsman Bill Cooper: “Perhaps the concept of ‘random acts of kindness’ is easier to accept on a bumper sticker.”

*

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.