If That’s All You See on a Visit to Laguna Beach, Demand Your Money Back
Wicked, wicked Orange County ...
“A visitor told police he brought his wife and three children to Laguna Beach because he heard it was one of the most beautiful places in the world,” the Coastline Pilot reported, “and that he was shocked to find a naked man lying in the grass.” Only one?
A bachelor tryout of sorts: I mentioned the intriguing possibilities for neighborhood purchases on signs advertising yard “seals,” yard “sails,” “yeard” sales, etc. But suppose you don’t want to commit to buying, say, a used blender? Well, there are plenty of items -- and people -- available on a temporary basis (see photos).
El Lay vs. Noo Yawk: Regarding dialects in different regions, Steve Sussman writes: “I’ve noticed that people from the West Coast say ‘waiting IN line’ while people from the East say ‘waiting ON line.’ I never understood the latter. In New York, do they have some kind of imaginary line painted down Broadway on which everyone stands to wait for tickets?”
While you’re pondering that one: In the Palisadian-Post, Gerald McLaughlin detailed some of the differences between L.A. and New York that he observed after moving here from the Big Apple in 1991.
* “Californians use acronyms more than New Yorkers” (i.e. AQMD, PCH and CHP). When I was told to take PCH, I jokingly asked whether it was legal.”
* “L.A. experiences gloom in June, and New York in November. The mayoral election is held in June in L.A. and November in N.Y. I am advised, however, that the timing of these elections does not account for the gloom.”
* “In New York, moviegoers applaud at the end of the movie. In L.A., they applaud at the end of the credits.”
And, finally: McLaughlin, dean emeritus of Loyola Law School, noticed another difference the first time he ordered pizza over the telephone here. He gave the name “McLaughlin” for delivery, as he always did in New York.
“Hey,” he was told by the L.A. shop, “we take only first names here, no last names.”
miscelLAny: Tex Schramm, the onetime Dallas Cowboys executive who died the other day, was born in, you guessed it, San Gabriel (Calif.).
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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.