Dad Gets Outbid and Upbraided at the School Fund-Raising Auction
Gone are the days when schools were content to raise money with mere bake sales.
I’ve heard of fund-raisers in L.A. where parents placed bids for such items as a cameo in a TV series or an eye job by a cosmetic surgeon. But there are limits.
At a recent school auction, two admissions to a local strip club were offered. A dad signed up. But his wife, who had been on the other side of the room, reacted with horror when she found out a few minutes later. She ordered him to withdraw his bid. “Black it out,” she added, “so no one can read your name.”
In case you’re wondering: I was not that dad.
Singular ad: “Personally,” said Susan Moore of Long Beach, “I prefer my dates to be unconscious because it is easier to steal their wallets.” Moore was wisecracking about a personal ad placed by a person who seemed to claim her vital signs were intact (see above).
Disney, shmisney: A lot of people made jokes about Frank Gehry’s original model of the Disney Concert Hall -- some saying it resembled a shoe box left out in the rain. But I took a walk over to Olive Avenue the other day and wondered what the fuss was all about. The edifice with the concert hall nameplate looks pretty standard to me -- almost like a builder’s bungalow (see photos).
On the road: John Glascock found a hotel in London that is willing to negotiate with customers, under certain conditions (see photo).
The Dodgers and me: KFWB-AM (980), the new radio home of the Dodgers, has been broadcasting the “Dodger memories” of local fans. I haven’t been asked, which is a good thing, because I’d have trouble picking out just one incident.
I remember opening day at Dodger Stadium, 1962, when fans discovered there were no drinking fountains in the joint (the city later ordered them installed). I remember Frank Sinatra going hoarse singing the national anthem at another opening day.
And the night fans poured beer on Cincinnati outfielder Pete Rose, prompting a ban on selling suds in the bleachers that is still in effect. (The Dodgers ignored the fact that several of the miscreants were field-box patrons; no way the club would dare ban the folks in the expensive seats from drinking beer, I guess.)
And there was a media vs. Hollywood stars pre-game exhibition in the late 1960s when a left fielder for the media missed a pop fly because prankish baserunner Pat Boone ran into the outfield to harass him. The crowd of more than 50,000 fans hooted and hollered.
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miscelLAny: I was that laugh-a-minute left fielder.
Steve Harvey can be reached 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.