Flirt With Disaster: Order an Unfamiliar Drink

I’ve always been a beer man. It’s an economic issue with me. You get more ounces for the price than you do with mixed drinks.

But while chatting with some bartenders the other night, I learned that a lot of folks here in the entertainment capital order exotic drinks because they’ve seen them mentioned in the movies and on TV -- even if they haven’t a clue what the ingredients are.

They expect the bartenders to know.

One young woman at a Long Beach nightspot -- and that is not a contradiction in terms! -- ordered a Flirtini and when waiter Michael Smalls asked her what that was, she responded: “Don’t you watch ‘Sex and the City’?”

Next round: Another celebrity brew seems to be the mojito, which was served to Halle Berry in the latest James Bond movie.

“It’s very popular, but people don’t know what’s in it,” bartender Monica Fleming said of the rum and mint concoction.

And how do people like it?

“Eight times out of 10, they send it back,” Fleming said.

Can’t remember the last time I sent back a beer.

On the other hand: I admit I do identify with the glamorous inhabitants of Moe’s Tavern hunched over their brews on “The Simpsons.”

Non-physical fitness section: A good transition from a discussion of beer, don’t you think? Anyway, today’s stay-out-of-shape tips (see accompanying) include:

* A sign alongside a jogging path at a Hartselle, Ala., park that gives the best excuse I’ve heard yet for saying, “What the heck, I don’t feel like getting all sweaty today anyway. I think I’ll go get a latte.” (Photo by Ed Middlebrook.)

* A sign at Pomona College that is evidently intended for students who want to take an outdoor snooze. (Photo by Jackson Sleet of Los Angeles, who notes, “I used to sleep IN CLASS.”)

* For the slightly more active, an innovation for the camper who wants to take a walk without getting out of his sleeping bag (Thomas Hawthorne of Canyon Country).

Staying outdoors: Diana Lejins of Long Beach noticed a property for seniors that you would think would be located offshore, not in Bellflower (see accompanying).

miscelLAny: A sign at an L.A. bar said: “Ladies Night Tuesday All Day.” It didn’t look like the kind of place to serve mojitos, either.

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.