There’s no place like home

Living in Los Angeles creates in nearly every one of its residents a risk analyst who weighs effort versus outcome. We wonder: Is the pleasure of a massage, a manicure or a meal worth the punishment of the traffic en route? Are we so time-starved that we’ll gladly pay someone else to suffer and bring the experience to us?

The answer to the latter question is often yes.

Venturing outside our homes means having to overcome any variety of logistical, financial and emotional hurdles. So, savvy entrepreneurs have tapped into our desire to avoid time-consuming or merely inconvenient tasks by offering mobile services that help us take better care of our bodies, pets, houses, clutter and guests. They’ll give you a spray-on tan, update your wardrobe and pick up after Fido, all with a simple call.

Many of the businesses start out catering to the rich but eventually extend their services to the ordinary public. And though charges can still be steep, if any of the services help save an hour or two of errand time, it’s money well spent -- or so we rationalize.

While at-home services tend to be the province of small businesses, some large grocery and pharmacy chains are making house calls, supplemented by Internet shopping sites that can ease the stress of shopping in person. You don’t have to be Howard Hughes to hate waiting in the pharmacy line behind some pathetic, wheezing soul. And if you’re cooped up recuperating from the flu, waiting for the delivery truck might be the highlight of your day.

On a more indulgent level, personal and grooming services are simply more luxurious, private and comfortable if you can have them under your own roof. To keep your home life running smoothly, you can hire experts to teach you organizational techniques. When you entertain, you can harness the once-secret sources of event planners so that even the do-it-yourself hostess can have an expert bartender add life to the party.

Of course, L.A. isn’t nearly as delivery-dense as Manhattan, where even the corner deli comes to your door. But every day, it seems some ingenious go-getter has solved the tricky delivery route algorithms of this sprawling city and learned to get whatever it is you need whenever it is you want it. If pizza can make the trip, why can’t everything else?

Here’s an eclectic sampling of some of the many ordinary and extraordinary services to keep you happily at home.

ESSENTIALS

Pharm raised

When you’re ill, just getting to the doctor’s office can sap all of your effort and ambition for an entire day. Forget waiting in line at the pharmacy. Seven days a week, more than two dozen Sav-On Drugs pharmacies can arrange to deliver prescriptions. For an additional fee, a delivery service can bring the medicine to your door by 7 p.m. on days that you phone in your prescription by 11 a.m. The service is available in stores concentrated in central Los Angeles, as well as in Santa Monica, Northridge, Beverly Hills, Pacific Palisades and other areas.

Cost: $6.50 for orders placed before 2 p.m., $12.50 after 2 p.m. Delivery is from 3 to 6 p.m. for early orders, by 7 for late.

Contact: www.savon.com

Fast foodstuffs

Having your groceries delivered at home used to be commonplace. These days, you have to think of it as deconstructed catering. Indeed, at gourmet grocer Bristol Farms, the chain’s largest stores deliver groceries via a fleet of catering trucks. Shoppers can go online to see if the grocer delivers in their ZIP Code (they span from Westlake Village to Mission Viejo). You can expect same-day delivery if ordering before 11 a.m.

Cost: $14.99 delivery fee for orders less than $125, or $4.99 for orders more than $125

Contact: (888) 353-2351; www.bristolfarms.com

The grocery delivery services at Albertsons and Vons direct shoppers to online grocery stores divided into aisles. Deliveries are within periods of 1 1/2 to 2 hours, seven days a week. The Vons website advises that pharmacy orders will soon be added to the grocery delivery service.

Cost: Albertsons, $9.95 delivery fee; Vons, $7.95 or $9.95

Contact: www.albertsons.com and www.vons.com

With six locations centered on the Westside and San Fernando Valley, Pink Dot isn’t as large as it once was. But it’s been in the grocery and sundries delivery business for two decades, aiming to deliver within 30 to 45 minutes, between 8 and 3 a.m.

Cost: $3.50 delivery fee

Contact: www.pinkdot.com

Kosher express

The rabbi would approve. In fact, the Rabbinical Council of California has given its stamp of approval to Kosher on Wheels, a nationwide kosher foods delivery service. The company does local delivery as well as Federal Express delivery of frozen edibles in all 50 states. Favorites like bagels and white fish, and potato knishes are on the menu. But this kosher food service also offers untraditional items like BBQ chicken wings, stuffed grape leaves and teriyaki beef skewers. Don’t judge a book by its cover or (as reads the menu) a hot dog by its “blanket.”

Cost: platters, $2.95 to $45. Delivery fees start at $6 and vary depending on location.

Contact: (323) 933-0089; www.kosheronwheels.com

Gourmet goodies

Should you find yourself in the middle of party preparations but desperately short of some rare ingredient or cooking supply, the folks at Surfas Gourmet Food Supplies in Culver City can deliver. Just about anything they stock -- French cornichons, chafing dish fuel, Vermont butter -- can be delivered for $20 within a 10-mile radius. Orders placed early in the morning can be delivered the same day.

Cost: $20 delivery; outlying areas extra.

Contact: (310) 559-4770; www.surfasonline.com

Forks in the road

Though the name sounds like a listing of drive-in restaurants, Freeway Food is actually a restaurant meal delivery service. Based in the San Fernando Valley, it offers delivery of items from nearly 60 restaurants, including Senor Fred, Good Earth, Cha Cha Cha and the Cedar House Cafe. While delivery is concentrated in the Valley and Pasadena, the cuisine spans the world: Thai, Indian, Greek, Caribbean, Italian, Mexican as well as burgers, steaks and seafood.

Cost: Lunch delivery, $3.99; dinner delivery $5.99; with a $15 minimum order

Contact: (818) 386-5555; www.freewayfood.com

Sweet treats

Milk and cookies can conjure such sweet memories from childhood. Thanks to Deluscious Cookies, a walk down memory lane is just a phone call away. With a day’s notice, drivers will deliver fresh-baked cookies by the dozen and milk in glass bottles. Customers beyond driving range receive a FedEx package of cookies (milk is not available for this service). The treats come in 24 flavors and are hand-scooped and hand-baked. Deluscious has dropped in on TV sets, film studios and UCLA dorm rooms.

Cost: $33.95 to $43.95, cookies and milk; $10 local delivery fee

Contact: (323) 460-2370; www.delusciouscookies.com

SERVICES

Getting a glow on

Not only is the sun now unnecessary to achieve a tan, so is stepping outdoors. This summer, Ona Spa began Tan on Wheels, a portable self-tanning service. Spa technician Juliette Pernes packs up her special spray-on solution and a portable spray gun, and travels to your home. After assessing your complexion and desired darkness, Pernes sprays your body, front and back. In 15 minutes of spraying and 15 minutes of drying, you’re the bronzed god or goddess of your sun-damage-free dreams.

Cost: $110

Contact: (323) 931-4442; www.onaspa.com

Pamper away

Spaah on Location brings a 36-foot mobile day spa RV to customers’ homes for treatments including massages, waxing, spray tanning, facials, manicures and pedicures. The same-day service comes with music, candles, flowers and chocolate-covered strawberries. But one of its more popular and affordable services, sans RV, is the “Let’s Face It” party. An aesthetician makes a house call and teaches skincare for 15 minutes, then guides attendees to a table of homemade masks that they can mix and experiment with. Ingredients -- coconut milk and avocado among them -- are edible.

Cost: RV, $1,250 for four hours; “Let’s Face It,” $150 per hour; spray tanning, $45 per spray

Contact: (310) 497-1607; www.spaahonlocation.com

Straightening up

When you’ve promised yourself to clean out the garage, your closets and your papers, sometimes you need a professional organizer to get you started. The Assn. of Professional Organizers lists Los Angeles members at www.napola.org.

For example, Diane Ridley of Pasadena-based Home in Harmony comes to the wreckage site, helping people purge themselves of extraneous stuff and setting up an organizational system using drawers, containers, filing cabinets and closet systems. Sessions, which last from five hours to five weeks, are then set up. In one of Ridley’s more challenging jobs, she ended up doing 20 loads of laundry. But typically she does not do housecleaning (or windows).

Cost: $75 for initial consultation; $75 an hour thereafter (minimum five hours)

Contact: (626) 799-7003; homeinhearthlink.net

Waxing rhapsodic

In a town where a car is a home away from home, the preference is not to have to leave either. So, auto detailers do make house calls. For example, the folks at Flawless Finish offer an at-home full service that includes a wash, wax or paint sealant, and detailing. They specialize in oversized wheels, servicing a large amount of Bentleys and Porsches, and seem to be a favorite with the high-end rapper crowd.

Cost: $150 to $300

Contact: (310) 433-1292; www.flawless-finish.net

Designated drivers

When Easy Riders become more like Queasy Riders, Home James is there to pick up the pieces. The company’s goal is to minimize drunken driving fatalities by offering a stylish motorcycle pickup service. Actor-model chauffeurs will show up just about anywhere, clad in mod-style suits on Italian portable bikes that can be quickly collapsed. The chauffeur temporarily disposes of the bike in the client’s car and drives him or her home.

Cost: $30 and up

Contact: (866) 26-JAMES; www.homejamesusa.com

Signed, sealed ...

Sure, you say that’s your signature, but until it’s verified by a notary, those documents are worthless. Southern California is served by a broad network of traveling notary public officers who can come directly to you. Many are available 24 hours for emergencies. Access to the network’s website will help you target the traveling notary closest to your home and therefore reduce fees.

Cost: $39 and up per trip. Each notarized signature is $10 additional.

Contact: (800) 266-8279; 1800anotary.com

Oh, baby

Cloth diapers may have once seemed old-fashioned, but because of a wave of ecological friendliness they are back. Enter Dy-Dee Diapers, a diaper pickup service that has been helping mothers since 1938. The company provides cloth diapers, diaper covers and diaper containers. Once a week they come by, pick up dirty diapers, wash them and return them in clean condition. Dy-Dee services Los Angeles, San Bernardino and parts of Orange counties.

Cost: $18 per week for a newborn (about 80 diapers per week)

Contact: (626) 792-6183; www.dy-dee.com

Pooper scoopers

South Bay-based Doody Dude Neil Ward makes pets’ business his business. His company offers weekly, biweekly and five-day-a-week pet-dropping removal service, serving homes from Newport Beach to Echo Park. Generally, he and his team clean dog and cat “product,” but he tries not to discriminate. In six years, the Doody Dude has cleaned up after a wide range of animals, including goats, rabbits and potbellied pigs.

Cost: Ranges from $9 per dog or cat per week (once a week) to $35 per dog or cat per week (five days a week).

Contact: (866) 888-POOP; www.doodydude.com

Animal dentistry

Now that you’ve cleaned up after Fido, it’s time to take care of his doggy breath. For nearly 15 years, Holistic Pet Care’s Letisha Boyle has offered in-home basic pet dental care without anesthesia for cats and dogs (a vet referral is required). She uses massage, music and patience so that Fido and Fluffy relax and allow Boyle to remove tartar, polish their teeth and administer an antibacterial rinse.

Cost: $95 to $110

Contact: (800) 329-5495; www.catdrinkswater.com

ENTERTAINING

Tea time

Anglophiles and fans of Merchant Ivory productions might look to Anyone for Tea? for a spot. Operated by former “Days of Our Lives” villainess Jane Windsor, the company brings the British high tea experience home. The crew arrives with scones, sandwiches, tea, shabby-chic china, flowers and antique linens, then sets up and serves. Windsor has organized tea parties for 150 down to an intimate tea for two. But their most unusual service was a party at which everything -- china, flowers, etc. -- had to be white.

Cost: $22 to $38 per person

Contact: (310) 924-1341; www.anyonefortea.net

Song and dance

Imagine Charo strumming guitar on your patio. Or Lionel Richie belting out “Hello” at the top of your staircase. Johnson Edwards Entertainment can make these and other doorstep entertainment dreams happen. Though name acts cost a bundle, the company brings many forms of live musical entertainment to people’s homes, including Latin jazz trios, solo pianists, professional Broadway musicians, bagpipe players and Celtic harpists.

Cost: starts at $500

Contact: (310) 550-0902; www.johnsonedwards.com

Cheesy affairs

Just say cheese ... and wine, and before you know it, the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills will be at your home setting up a tasting party for the gourmet items. First, specialty wines are brought out with their companion cheeses. For dinner parties, the folks from the Cheese Shop leave during the main course and return to serve dessert wines and cheeses. Shop owner Norbert Wabnig recalls one of their more exotic events, for which a prosciutto machine from Lake Como, Italy, was brought in to slice up specialty meats as well.

Cost: $50 and up per person

Contact: (310) 278-2855; www.cheesestorebh.com

Walk this way

The view of L.A. is great from where Trey Knight stands. That’s because he offers home-delivered stilt walking and dancing instruction to adventurous Angelenos. With work for Cirque du Soleil under his belt, Knight provides instruction in using 2-foot-high stilts, while customers provide a safe open area in their homes. He begins with simple walking and builds to a full set warmup and, eventually, choreographed dancing to music.

Cost: individual, $50 to $150; in groups of five or more, $10 to $20 per person

Contact: (323) 630-4805

Roll your own

Sushi Girl Nikki Gilbert gives new meaning to the term “California roll,” wheeling on over with the raw ingredients to create your own homemade sushi. You provide the knives, cutting board, location, guests and bandanas. More of a cooking party than a class, the Sushi Girl experience lasts two to three hours, and people eat as they roll. Gilbert has done events as diverse as bachelorette get-togethers and communion parties. But she says her most memorable session was at a firehouse, teaching a group of firefighters.

Cost: $55 per person (10-person minimum)

Contact: (310) 880-4010; www.thesushigirl.com

Kitchen magician

Once again proving that nothing in this town is what you think it is, Cafe Renee’s ghost cooking service comes to your home, cooks a meal for your party, teaches you about the meal and its ingredients and then leaves so you can take the credit. Alternately, says chef Devin Alexander, she can stay at the event and “pretend to be a friend.” The menu can consist of just about anything. She was even once asked to ghost-cater a chili and cornbread party.

Cost: $100 for instruction; $400 and up for catering

Contact: (310) 466-5430; www.devinalexander.com

Bean counter

Brian Brady of the Last Detail gourmet coffee service caters to latte Lotharios. He comes to their homes with cappuccino machines, grinders, blenders, brewers and decorative brass domes, ready to serve coffee, cappuccino, hot tea, hot chocolate and smoothies in disposable cups. He admits to being frequently called upon in the middle of the night, especially by film folk, and recalls on one occasion having been summoned to coffee-cater at a graveyard. Yet his most unusual request was to serve flaming coffee drinks. Now that’s hot coffee.

Cost: $375 and up for two hours

Contact: (213) 910-0980

Karma klatch

If you’re a social butterfly with a penchant for the lotus pose, Yoga to Go has the answer: Throw a yoga party. The company offers private and group yoga instruction at home. But director Julie Adler thought it would be a good idea to mix home socializing with the yoga lifestyle too. You provide the location and food, and she provides the Hatha yoga instruction, typically at the beginning of the event, for 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. Live classical guitar or Indian sitar music is available for an additional fee.

Cost: $250 base rate for a yoga party.

Contact: (323) 662-4683; www.yogatogo2000.com