Step through the tuna detector again, sir

It was just one of those weird coincidences. A bomb threat was called in to the courthouse in San Fernando recently, and soon afterward a bag was spotted under a bench in front of the building.

The building was locked down, and while everyone awaited the arrival of explosives experts, a man inside the court approached one of the officers and said, “Oh, hey, I left my lunch over there. Can I just go get it real quick?”

Turns out he thought he couldn’t bring his tuna sandwich into the courthouse.

The Star News, an L.A. County Sheriff’s publication, said: “It was suggested that maybe he hit a drive-thru after court next time.”

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Malaprop school of design

In West L.A., Bart Everett noticed a style of furniture I was unfamiliar with (see photo).

It reminded me of another type a reader saw advertised in a shopper -- “chip and dale” furniture.

The latter included a handsome “chester drawers.”

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Heavy

I just finished “The Memory of Running,” Ron McLarty’s very enjoyable novel about a 43-year-old, 279-pound boozer who rides his bicycle from East Providence, R.I., to Venice, finding himself in the process (though losing his bike in Venice).

In contrast to McLarty’s poignant writing, I was struck by the less-than-sensitive category into which the book was placed by the Library of Congress (see accompanying).

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Where the customer is always wrong

In Brazil, Fumi Kimura of Irvine found a store where they don’t exactly put out the welcome mat for shoppers (see photo).

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Dig

Saturday was Groundhog Day, which never gets much attention in these parts. The late Johnny Carson claimed it was “observed only once in L.A. because when the groundhog came out of its hole, it was killed by a mudslide.” (Hey, Ed McMahon laughed.)

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Insulting L.A.

The Carson line is contained in the book, “The 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said,” by Robert Byrne. Some other pot-shots at L.A.:

* “Nothing is wrong with Southern California that a rise in the ocean level wouldn’t cure” (author Ross MacDonald).

* “The difference between L.A. and yogurt is that yogurt has an active, living culture” (anonymous).

* “I shot an arrow in the air and it stuck” (graffito).

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Recount

Actually, the title of the book should be the “2,547 1/2 Best Things Anybody Ever Said” because Byrne leaves out the first sentence of a Neil Simon wisecrack. The complete quote, brought to you at no extra charge by Only in L.A.:

“When it’s 5 below in New York, it’s 78 in Los Angeles, and when it’s 110 in New York, it’s 78 in Los Angeles. There are 2 million interesting people in New York -- and only 78 in Los Angeles.”

I wonder if Simon included himself in the last group when he lived here.

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miscelLAny

Have a bit of indigestion after your Super Bowl party, did you? Well, if it’s any comfort, so did the ticket forgery suspect whose Scottsdale, Ariz., motel room was raided Sunday. The Arizona Republic said the poor fellow was trying to eat five counterfeit tickets when he was arrested. And he had no avocado dip.

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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