A Sampling of Signs Shows the Media Focuses on More Than Just Bad News

Some people tell me that newspapers carry mostly gloomy stuff. Just to prove it ain’t so, I’m starting off this column’s week with a festival of positive items (see accompanying), including:

* A teriyaki joint with a sunny disposition (from Rich Molony).

* A chicken with a good attitude, especially considering its fate (Bill Fawcett).

And, if that isn’t enough, I’m throwing in a couple of my file items:

* An L.A. mansion whose owner was, perhaps, making a comment on the real estate market (E.F. Parsons).

* And, a beauty salon, where, I presume, you won’t hear a negative word (Nola Jones).

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OK, now let’s get to the dissing of San Diego: A current Nextel TV ad shows some execs, barking into cell phones at each other.

“New plant location?” asks one.

“San Diego,” suggests another.

“The ocean,” someone says in agreement.

“The sun,” another exec points out.

“Problem,” someone else says. “Prices.”

“Big problem,” someone agrees.

“Solution?” the boss asks.

“Pittsburgh,” someone says.

Pittsburgh, it is.

It was probably nothing personal, Reint Reinders (of the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau) told columnist Diane Bell of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

But Reinders wondered one thing: Why Nextel was airing the ad in San Diego, where it presumably would like to add a few customers.

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The BofA way: At least when Bank of America posted a recent ad mocking an “I Love L.A.” hat, it confined the spot to San Francisco.

I can’t get angry about it because the depressed Bay Area needs all the laughs it can get with the recent collapse of the Giants, A’s, 49ers and Raiders.

I hope there’s a Happy Teriyaki place up there.

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miscelLAny: “There’s still time to purchase your Raiders Victory Balloon, a Christmas tree ornament featuring the pirate logo and a tiny Santa passenger (hostage?),” confided columnist Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle. “I assume the Victory Balloon comes with a patch kit.”

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Steve Harvey can be reached by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.