A Boost for L.A.’s Top Spectator Sport

On her drive to work, Lorri Weber noticed this sign painted on the window of a Hermosa Beach bar called Critters:

“Happy hour prices during all car chases.”

Hope the place doesn’t go out of business giving away all those discounted drinks.

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WHICH REMINDS ME: Watching the big police chase of the suspected car thief who changed vehicles in mid-pursuit the other day, I realized this was a desperate man when he took an extraordinary gamble: He briefly entered a mini-mall parking lot.

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AND THE ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST ANACHRONISM . . . I have two nominations for scenes in which Hollywood shows 1990s-type behavior in period movies.

First, I find it hard to believe that an upper-crust young woman in the year 1912 would give the one-finger salute to an adult, as Kate Winslet does in “Titanic.”

But even more out of place is the reaction of attorney Matthew McConaughey upon winning a court case in “Amistad” in the 1830s. He thrusts his fist in the air and exclaims, “Yesssss!” A perfect imitation of Macaulay Culkin in the “Home Alone” movies.

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ONLY IN L.A. DINING GUIDE: Our theme for Valentine’s Day is . . . tasty body parts on menus (see accompanying), ranging from the baked green muscles spotted by M.L. Siemons in the San Fernando Valley, the “severed” chicken that Greg Bryce found in West L.A. and the tasty intestines that Judy Griswold observed in the San Gabriel Valley. Yesssss!

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ANGELENOS ON THE ROAD: Gareth Osborn of Manhattan Beach chanced upon this newspaper ad in a little town in Maine--”Repairs--We can fix anything . . . stop at 555 Main Street . . . knock hard on the door . . . the bell doesn’t work.”

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TEN YEARS AGO TODAY: When his specially ordered hamburger came without a bun, an American Airlines passenger cursed the flight attendant, then threw his plate and utensils at her. The New York man was arrested upon arrival at LAX. “We tried to get him a roll from first class, but that didn’t please him either,” said an airline spokesman.

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NOW THESE PASSENGERS HAD A LEGITIMATE COMPLAINT: In the movie “The Replacement Killers,” a couple of hit men fly into Los Angeles--and are next seen walking with their luggage through the Union Station train terminal.

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MR. BADWRENCH: “I was confronted with a notice from the DMV that a Smog Check was due with the registration renewal on my Porsche 928,” writes Ron Keyson of Big Bear.

Keyson researched the area and was told that a guy at a nearby garage could do the job.

“He said, ‘Yeah, I know all about them cars,’ ” Keyson related. “When I arrived at his workplace, he scanned the car and asked, ‘Where’s the engine, front or back?’ ”

miscelLAny:

Our Valentine’s Day story for today is courtesy of Edith Smith of Palos Verdes, who found herself in possession of a $20 bill that contained a love letter written around the margins. It said: “Fernando, I love you with all my heart and soul. We are bound together forever. Eternally yours, Kathy.” Commented Smith: “She pledged eternal love but he spent the money!”

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Steve Harvey can be reached by phone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com and by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.