Here’s a Bright Idea for This Company: Hire a Proofreader
Gerry Nacpil saw a newspaper ad placed by a company seeking “electicians” that were “warm, friendly and bright.” Forget about the company. How about the country’s needs? Nacpil says he hopes some bright “electicians” emerge Nov. 2.
Dwell on this: In its “Los Angeles issue,” San Francisco-based Dwell magazine carried a Metro Rail map that had transplanted downtown L.A. to somewhere in the vicinity of Monterey Park, points out Robert Weibezahl of Westlake Village (see accompanying).
Read the small print: Randy Wall noticed that the flier for a $649,900 Mission Viejo home indicated the buyer would have a do-it-yourself project on the floors (see accompanying).
Ah, California the innovator: In Albuquerque, Paul Cate spotted a line of not-so-prestigious clothing identified with the Golden State (see accompanying).
A slam at SoCal? Angelenos and their fitness ideas are considered offbeat elsewhere in the country. So perhaps that wasn’t a malaprop in a health club ad that talked about the latest exercise craze (see accompanying). Or, as Lisa Chattler of Seal Beach surmises, perhaps the club meant to say “intrinsic.”
No jokes about “Mickey Mouse” courses, please: After reading that Cal State Hayward wants to change its name to the more romantic Cal State East Bay, I suggested that perhaps Cal State Fullerton should consider Cal State Disneyland.
Actually, wrote Mark Temple of Huntington Beach, the college “was often called Cal State Disneyland when I went there (1968-72), not so much because of its proximity to Disneyland, but because so many of the students worked there part time.” He added nostalgically: “If we wanted to go on a ride, oftentimes we would know the ticket taker as a fellow student, and get on without paying with an A-E ticket.”
To live and drive in L.A.: Canyon News writer Steve Rosen was stuck in traffic on Sepulveda Boulevard, which in itself wouldn’t have annoyed him.
“Rush-hour jams aren’t so bad as long as we’re all in it together,” he said. “Except, we’re not in it all together in L.A.” Rosen observed other drivers on Sepulveda trying to get ahead by darting in and out of left-turn lanes and curb (or merge) lanes on the right.
Rosen compared it to “roller derby. There was no eye contact, no emotion. Just brazen arrogance.” No wonder, he said, that a Travel and Leisure magazine poll of major cities ranked L.A. 25th (and last) in terms of friendliness.
Rosen’s solution? Deployment of a unit of undercover traffic cops.
“They could catch dangerous drivers in the act far better than stationary cameras or police in marked vehicles,” he said.
It’s a great idea, even if I doubt a unit of undercover traffic cops would inspire a dramatic TV series.
miscelLAny: Will Rogers had a solution for the problem of congested traffic: No one can drive his or her car until it’s paid for.
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.