Headed for Catalina Island? Better Make Sure Your Passport Is in Order

Twenty-six miles across the sea, Santa Catalina is the place for ... dumb questions from summertime visitors.

“Here’s one I’ve been asked by multiple people,” says Jeff Myers, a waiter at the Landing Bar & Grill in Avalon: ‘Is it [the island] always off Long Beach? Is it ever off San Diego? Does it move?’ They think it floats!”

Some of the tourists’ farewell lines are memorable, too.

“People will say, ‘We’re going back to America today,’ ” Myers said. “Or, ‘We’re going back to California.’ They can hardly believe it when they find out we’re part of L.A. County.”

Harvey’s Hall of Wonders: Today’s exhibits (see accompanying) include:

* A building where the walls evidently do talk (photo by Brian Cuff of Long Beach).

* An auto shop where the workers apparently go by more than intuition (photo by Gerald Jones of L.A.).

* And, finally, evidence of the increasing traffic in spare parts for humans: a business sign (snapped by Marvin Popkin of Laguna Woods) and a private offering (spotted by Kenneth Hyams of Cathedral City).

Freeways by the number: Apart from why Southern Californians put the article “the” before freeway numbers, David Hendon, a native of Louisville (“pronounced Luavull”), writes: “The real curiosity is the inconsistency of names and numbers....

“The Ventura Freeway includes both the 134 and the 101, which becomes the Hollywood Freeway, which also consists of the 170.

“The 10, more or less stays the 10 through L.A. but can’t decide if it should be the San Bernardino or the Santa Monica Freeway.”

Hendon, a Simi Valley resident, said the confusion even extends to surface streets. Los Angeles Avenue, for instance, changes names in his town, he said.

One can only wonder how L.A. Avenue wound up in a Ventura County city? Maybe it floated there, Catalina-style.

miscelLAny: If you’re not adventurous enough for an overseas journey to Avalon, you can always consider the mainland beaches discussed in the 1946 movie, “The Blue Dahlia.” Driver Virginia Lake mentions to hitchhiker Alan Ladd the reason she’s driving to Malibu.

Lake: “I flipped a coin. Heads I go to Malibu, tails I go to Laguna.” Ladd: “And what if the coin rolls under the davenport?” Lake: “I go to Long Beach.”

*

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.