Letters: Readers sound off on New York theater and car rental agencies

New York theaters

The theater piece was a reminder of my good old days in New York [“Spirits of Theater Stir,” by Kelly Merritt, Dec. 22]. The Beacon was my neighborhood movie theater, changing double bills twice a week (before round-the-clock TV), and the Hudson, home of the NBC late show with Steve Allen (with Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme making out in the balcony, and the “man on the street” interviews out the back entrance).Those were the days when theaters, refurbished or not, were always busy, and you could sit in the balcony for $4.80, where I saw Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, Shirley Booth, Bert Lahr, Kim Stanley, Ethel Merman, Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin, Robert Preston and Yul Brynner, Zero Mostel, Gwen Verdon, Judy Holliday. Those were theater times when anyone could afford to go.

Werner Haas

West Hollywood

Likes this Enterprise

Regarding On the Spot of Dec. 15 [“Car Rentals and the Honor System,” by Catharine Hamm]: I wanted to respond to the info about Enterprise and its travel boundaries. I have nothing but praise for Enterprise. When I needed a pickup truck to deliver my son and his dirt bike to Colorado, Enterprise said it couldn’t let me go that far but did agree to let me go as far as St. George, Utah, a halfway point where I could arrange the handoff with the other parent.

It made all the difference in the world. I did this several times a year for many years with great success. Be reminded of this in all things: It never hurts to ask. I have been loyal to Enterprise ever since.

Gretchen Renata

Tujunga

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Car rental woes seem to have hit a nerve with readers, judging by the series of letters continuing this hot topic. None, however, have mentioned the importance of giving your rental vehicle a “walkaround” with the rental agent present, before jumping in and driving off, excited to finally be at one’s vacation destination. (We’ve all done that, haven’t we?)

Arriving late and tired, and selecting a dark-colored vehicle is another challenge, as door dings and other blemishes aren’t as easily seen. It is tricky enough to safely master the operation of a frost-encased, unfamiliar car in a cold, dark parking lot, disorienting as jet lag and extreme weather changes can be. Most car rental agreements have a detailed outline of the car where slight damage can be documented, usually with the agent initialing specific dents. It takes two minutes.

These diagrams are especially invaluable when returning the car, proving the renter didn’t just damage what could easily be a $20,000, almost new roadster.

A word to the wise from a seasoned traveler: Worry less about the rigid obligation to return a car fully refueled and more about the ugly scene that could result if an unnoticed door ding is blamed on you.

Kyle Kimbrell

Playa del Rey

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I rented a minivan in Pittsburgh recently and was surprised to find when I returned the car to the airport I was charged $11.16. Even though the attendant did a visual inspection of the gas gauge and determined that it read full, the car was equipped with an electronic sensor that said the gas tank was missing 1.2 gallons of gas. I had filled the tank in Pittsburgh and had driven 25 minutes to the airport. The attendant told me that in order to avoid the fuel service charge I needed to fill the tank within five miles of the airport. I was not told this at the desk when I picked up the car, nor was I given a list of gas stations that are within five miles of the airport. It seems desperate and slimy for a company not to inform its customers upfront about this policy. How is someone who is not from the area supposed to know where the gas stations are and also know which ones are within five miles of the airport? It seems Budget is trying to be anything but transparent.

Debbie Smith

Pacific Palisades

Travel tips

I travel fairly often and am fully versed in the benefits of TSA PreCheck. It would be worth noting in Letters or in a future article that some PreCheck passengers may still need to remove their shoes because they tend to set off the scanners. To avoid being asked to go back, remove them and go through the scanner a second time. This happens with my favorite, most comfortable travel shoes, and they are easy to take off. Although I am not removing other items, well-meaning strangers slow me down by trying to explain TSA PreCheck to me.

Diana Yu Rewinski

Palos Verdes Estates

Regarding Catharine Hamm’s Dec. 22 On the Spot column that mentioned gift wrapping and air travel.

Solution: gift bags, a package of colored tissue and labels. No scissors, so safe for your carry-on. Ten minutes at your final destination and your gifts will be ready to go under the tree.

Too late for this Christmas, but …

Barbara Chapman

San Dimas