L.A. street life was soft back in the day

As The Times reported the other day, it would take 83 years to fix the L.A.’s backlog of broken sidewalks. (Honest.) Pavement, broken or missing, has long been an issue in the city.

In 1888, Ralph Hoyt wrote to The Times: “Much grumbling is heard on account of the muddy condition of our unpaved streets. (But) our mud is a blessing in disguise.... Today we read that a prominent citizen who was thrown from his buggy, on 1st Street, escaped uninjured ... because he came down on the soft ... mud.” So, Hoyt concluded, “Let there be no more grumbling about our blessed street mud. It is a beneficent municipal arrangement, appreciated by those who fall into its soft embrace.”

I think the lesson is clear: The sidewalks need to be ripped out so we can go back to mud, which never needs to be fixed. And let’s rip up the streets, too. Think how such a change would reduce speeding.

Sounding off (cont.): Mr. Hoyt would no doubt be surprised to learn that his above missive will be read by an actor in a production at Cal State L.A.’s Arena Theatre, Nov. 2 to 4.

It will be part of a staged reading called “Letters From the People,” with the script taken word for word from letters written to The Times.

The project was conducted by emeritus history professor Ralph Shaffer.

Oh, yes, if you’ve sent a few rants to The Times, don’t expect to hear them in this performance. The letters cover the years 1880 through 1889.

Speaking of pavement problems: Connie Fairbanks chanced upon a Westside street where dueling detour signs had been set out just in case the situation wasn’t already confusing enough (see photo).

Lights! Camera! Arrest! B. Young of Malibu spotted a handwritten addendum to a local sign that stirred memories of such noted arrestees as Mel Gibson and Nick Nolte (see photo).

The “Dietrich” signature was, of course, a joking reference to the man that Swedish businessman Bo Stefan Eriksson claimed was driving the million-dollar Ferrari when he crashed it on Pacific Coast Highway at 162 mph (believed to be a course record) earlier this year.

Reality check, please: Kirk Biglione and several other readers noticed that a well-known liberal seemed to have jumped sides (see photo).

miscelLAny: In “Echo Park,” mystery novelist Michael Connelly describes that community as “the only place in the city where the air could be split by the sound of gang gunfire, the cheers for a home-run ball, and the baying of the hillside coyotes -- all in the same hour.”

That’s during baseball season, of course. Since the Dodgers didn’t make it into the World Series you can forget about hearing cheers for home-run balls there for a while.

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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.