Pickets to the Rescue in Robbery

Today’s stupid-criminals-trick lesson is: Don’t try to pull off a robbery near a group of bystanders who are out of work, bored and generally discontented.

A 24-year-old man learned this after he grabbed a woman’s purse from her grocery cart inside an Albertsons market in Long Beach and fled.

Alerted by the victim’s screams, several picketing market employees, aided by two armored car guards, chased and held him for police.

The purse was returned to the woman intact.

“It was not known,” the Long Beach Press Telegram said, “if she crossed the picket line a second time to finish her shopping.”

Guide to adventurous dining: Today’s items du column (see accompanying) include:

* A restaurant that seems to think the “regular price” is a bargain (from Stan Sieger).

* A gravity lesson that wasn’t sugarcoated (from Elaine Ziskind).

* An unclear-on-the-concept omelet recipe -- made in jest, I hope (from Sheila Weinberg).

* And, finally, a grocery clerk’s confession about her name (from Lela Rodriguez). What the heck. The clerk’s only following in the tradition of generations of show-biz folks.

Maybe Jimmy Carter could negotiate a settlement: You think people don’t have problems in Pacific Palisades? A letter to the Palisadian-Post from one resident said: “To the neighbor who writes anonymous messages: If you are bothered by the noise our pool heater makes, just call us. We are reasonable adults. Aren’t you?”

Attn. Disney Hall visitors: For those who are unfamiliar with the sequence of the streets of downtown L.A., Edna Mae Babcock, age 95, offers this ancient ditty:

From Main we Spring to Broadway.

Over the Hill to Olive.

Wouldn’t it be Grand

If we could Hope

To pick a Flower on Figueroa?

Arthur Manask, Edna Mae’s son-in-law, commented: “Maybe it should be added to Thomas Bros. Maps books.” I’m not sure Thomas Bros. wants this secret out. Its sales could plummet 25% in the L.A. area alone.

miscelLAny: You never know what someone’s going to leave behind on a golf course. “Lost Pet Tortoise,” says a notice in the clubhouse of the Bixby Village course in Long Beach. “Please pick up and turn in to front desk ... 15 pounds ... Size of dinner plate.” Hope it hasn’t landed in the soup.

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, Ext. 77083, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.