Crime Against Good Housekeeping May Have Been Self-Inflicted
Sounds like an inside job to me. The crime log of the Los Alamitos News-Enterprise reported that a Cypress resident “returned home to find the house was ransacked but nothing seemed to be missing.” And the solution to the mystery? “Police determined the apartment was just a mess and was not ransacked.”
Name game: On an airline menu, Terence O’Brien of West L.A. noticed a wine consultant who was born for the job (see accompanying).
Name game, part 2: My colleague Mike Wyma points out that the acting director of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is, appropriately, Jerry Jolly.
This has nothing to do with becoming too jolly: No, the laundry product that Tom Armor of L.A. spotted in Baku, Azerbaijan, is just another example of a name that doesn’t travel well (see accompanying).
Also not traveling well: At Ontario Airport, Craig Smith of San Jacinto snapped a shot of some “fragile” luggage that, as he put it, “looked like it was tied to the landing gear” (see photo).
Jolly pedestrian dept.: An apparently inebriated 19-year-old had an open bottle of Bacardi Gold Rum in his back pocket when he was stopped by officers on an Isla Vista street, said UC Santa Barbara’s Daily Nexus newspaper. Asked why he had the open container, he responded: “I picked it up off the ground because it’s a collector’s item.” He was arrested. Still, it does seem like you can sell almost anything on EBay these days.
Ah, that Mideast mystique: Doris Blackburn of L.A. noticed an ad for some exotic furniture (see accompanying).
Water calm, residents not: The breakwater construction that long ago turned Long Beach’s once heavy surf into a bay still rankles many locals who have seen Huntington Beach, Seal Beach and other coastal towns with actual waves become tourist draws.
A letter writer to the Long Beach Press-Telegram indirectly brought up the subject this way: “I don’t have a problem with the [new] dog beach in Long Beach but one of the council members said it’s the only one in Southern California. No kidding! All of these other communities have people who use the beach.”
miscelLAny: Arnold’s the governor now, but what of the other major figure in the whole recall drama? I mean, of course, Gary Coleman, the former child star.
Well, he’s become a pitchman for a loan company.
In one commercial, he says his company will “get you $10,000 faster than the state Legislature can agree on the day of the week.” Maybe he can arrange a much bigger loan for the state of California.
Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATimes, 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.