Rent is Great at This Student Pad, but Loud Parties Are Out

A small number of USC students are living on campus in a rent-free residence that is furnished and has plenty of reading material: the school’s Leavey Library.

“At first I thought I was the only one, but there’s like a whole subculture that lives in Leavey,” one senior told the Daily Trojan’s Venus Lee.

The homeless students can’t afford the cost of tuition, housing and transportation (put at more than $40,000 by the newspaper).

“People sleep in a variety of locations and positions, ranging from sitting in a chair to lying on a couch or the floor,” Lee wrote.

In the morning, many go to the campus recreation center to shower and shave.

A library official said there is apparently no law prohibiting students from sleeping there. A head count found an average of 30 students in the library between 4 and 6 a.m. in February.

Library personnel, however, can’t tell how many are bunking there because “it is difficult to distinguish between those who fall asleep studying and those who actually sleep at the library on a regular basis.”

Talk about a low-budget project: “The promise of a fully clothed production might be an irresistible incentive for some,” wrote Tarzana’s Faigy Avnon of one online casting notice. “But it’s hard to believe that things have gotten so bad that filmmakers now have to pay their actors in blood. I can’t help but wonder whose.” (See accompanying).

To live and drive in L.A.: On the Ventura Freeway, Dennis Levin of L.A. wondered just how steep the approaching grade was (see photo).

A case of apples and oranges and ... : “Until I received this flier,” wrote David Johannsen of Torrance, “I hadn’t heard that cows had been genetically engineered to give orange juice” (see accompanying).

No offense, Anaheim: A letter-writer to the Seal Beach Sun says that the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim name was chosen because the “alliteration and assonance” simply work better “for commercial purposes. The letter ‘A’ in Angeles/Angels/Anaheim is the alliteration part and the assonance is in the ending letter ‘S’ in Los/Angeles/Angels.” The writer concluded: “These combined sounds are soothing to the ear.”

I guess that’s why I heard that Los Angeles had barely edged out Azusa.

miscelLAny: Did you see the article about Santa Ana’s new slogan, “Downtown Orange County”? No joke. It’s the most romantic I can remember since Gardena paid tribute to the SigAlert on its city seal (see accompanying). As for Santa Ana, judging from the comment of one resident, a more appropriate slogan would be: “Santa Ana: Where You Go to Pay Your Speeding Tickets.”

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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.