Coroner’s Office Has Answer to Deadly Dull Gifts

Sales are brisk during the holidays at Skeletons in the Closet, the L.A. County coroner’s gift shop. So it makes perfect sense that the store would introduce a Christmas ornament: a lovely cobalt blue disc with a body outline (see photo).

“We get two different groups of customers,” said James Hazlett, who runs the 12-year-old shop. “Some people like the body outline and some like the official department seal look.”

The biggest seller is a T-shirt that says “L.A. County Coroner” ($18).

“We used to sell windbreakers” with the same logo, Hazlett said, “but we stopped because some people would wear them to try to get into crime scenes.”

Other goodies include toe-tag key chains ($5), mouse pads that say “We’re dying for your business” ($6.50) and cutting mats with a “spare ribs/spare fingers” motif ($6.50) (see photo).

The proceeds go to various youth programs (information: [323] 343-0760), and in-store and online sales have risen to more than $250,000 a year.

Just the other day, Hazlett said, a woman came in to buy a body-outline beach towel. Her last one had been stolen while she was at the beach. “The thief left her purse, her radio and her ice chest,” Hazlett said. “The only thing he took was the towel.”

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Must every activity be regulated? John Granzow of Santa Monica found a restroom at Will Rogers State Beach that may be patrolled by traffic cops (see photo).

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Great Moments in L.A. History: The book, “Duh! The Stupid History of the Human Race” says, “A jury at the Los Angeles County Superior Courthouse got into a fight during a break while they were watching Jerry Springer’s guests fight on TV.” In 1998, officials in L.A. and Long Beach banned the show from the jury assembly rooms. The rule was rescinded the next year when Springer reduced the violence on his show.

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Speaking of “Duh!” My colleague Kendal Pate noticed that the directions for a hot-air hair-styler included one rather common-sensical tip (see accompanying).

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Grin and bare it: One of the cherished traditions at UCLA is the Undie Run, a dash through the Westwood neighborhood by stripped-down students one midnight during each finals week. Alas, the future of the sacred rite seemed in danger after last spring’s event when, as the Daily Bruin wrote, some of the estimated 1,000 participants “started jumping on parked and moving vehicles along the route.”

I’m happy to report that campus police received no complaints after last week’s Undie Run. It came off without a hitch.

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miscelLAny: Unhappy recipients of fruitcakes are advised by Cold Stone Creamery that they may bring them in to any of its shops and “receive a $5 discount off any medium 8-inch ice cream cake.”

The offer goes no matter how many years old the fruitcake is.

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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.