Self-Employed, and Benefits Too!
Hey, everybody needs an occasional break from the daily routine.
Lynn Warner of Coronado noticed that a panhandler left untended a large, empty plastic cup with a slit in the lid on a bench in a fashionable shopping area of Riverside.
Looking closer, Warner saw that the guy had written his name on the cup and had attached a Post-it note that said: “Back in 15 mins.”
MYSTERIOUS SIGNS (CONT.): First, there was the reader’s photo of a Parisian sign that showed a slash mark through an adult holding a child’s hand. Then there was Canadian sign that seemed to show a person floating above a bicycle.
Now we come to still another vacation shot, taken in Pisa, Italy, by Frank Smith of Santa Monica (see photo). Smith is puzzled. No, not by what the sign bans. That’s easy to figure out. What puzzles Smith is why an Italian bank robber would wear something as unfashionable as a plaid jacket.
SUCH A DEAL: Doris Bates of Marina del Rey never realized what a saving she could make by buying potato chips, milk, cole slaw and a few other items at a supermarket (see accompanying).
WELCOME TO FILLMORE! DUCK! Lizz Lynch of North Hollywood wonders if there’s a subtle message involving the cannon that is aimed at visitors to Fillmore (see photo).
TEN YEARS AGO: You want hot? During a spell of 100-plus-degree days in June 1990, this columnist noted that the all-time high at L.A.’s Civic Center (110) hadn’t been equaled. The next day it was 112. “Don’t ever again publish record temperatures,” chided reader Glen George of Pasadena. “You probably should avoid earthquake information while you’re at it.”
L.A. WAS IN THE DARK: Johnie’s, a landmark coffee shop on Wilshire Boulevard, just closed after 40 years, but at least it had its moment of glory (several, actually) in the 1989 movie “Miracle Mile.”
In one creepy scene, star Anthony Edwards answers a pay phone outside Johnie’s at 4 a.m. and hears a man claim that he’s at a missile silo and that the U.S. has launched a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union.
When Edwards asks how he reached the pay phone number, the man says, “You’re in Orange County, I’m in North Dakota.” Then, the caller, realizing he hadn’t reached the person he wanted, says, “Is this 714? Did I dial 213?”
L.A. apparently was only kept informed on a need-to-know basis.
CARBOHYDRATE INTERCHANGE: On the lighter side, “Miracle Mile” also offered one of the most unusual Southland freeway guides ever concocted.
When a customer at Johnie’s says that Panorama City is the home of a good barbecue joint, her seatmate at the counter says, “Where the hell is that?”
“Here, hand me your noodles,” the woman responds, and begins to rearrange them. “This is the Golden State, this is the Ventura, this is the 101 and this is Hogly-Wogly’s Tyler, Texas, Barbecue.”
The seatmate points to his plate and responds, “Yeah, but what is this then if this is the Golden State and this is the 101?”
“I don’t know,” the woman responds. “That’s your noodle. I didn’t put it there.”
miscelLAny:
If this column seems shorter than usual it’s because I decided to heed the request of Southern California Edison and conserve my energy.
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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.
