Hey, Mom and Dad, Look Up Here--It’s Your Ever-Loving Highflying Son

The thrilling thing about flying, of course, is having so many fascinating sights spread out below. Kevin Roderick of West L.A. was over the Riverside area aboard a Southwest Airlines jet when a male flight attendant said: “Those of you on the left side of the airplane, if you look directly down, you will see (pause) my parents’ house!”

Not your usual latte crowd: In western Australia, Jackson Sleet saw an explosives warning at a theater that would seem to qualify for a “Duh!” award (see photo).

But Sleet pointed out that it was a drive-in theater in a mining area, and the sign referred to explosives in the back of pickup trucks.

You’ll never see a sign like this in Hollywood, of course, what with all the movies that bomb here.

Speaking of noise: John Heckman of Downey spotted a door to an office whose inhabitants probably couldn’t be awakened by a light knock (see photo).

On a more belligerent note: Norm Anderson of La Mirada saw a store sign (see photo) and observed: “It seems as if we guys are always getting the blame!”

Colorful crime commentary: While police logs at most Southland newspapers stick mostly to the facts, Mel Upp of San Bernardino noticed a more creative approach by the Mountain Messenger of Downieville in Gold Rush country. Some examples:

* “A suspicious white, adult male was reportedly hanging around Downieville’s bank. The list of suspects is huge.”

* “Two out-of-town little darlings were told about the curfew.”

* “A break-in was reported at the Loyalton Post Office. KID: THIS IS A FEDERAL OFFENSE, and usually poor pickins, YOU IDIOT!”

L.A. was a zoo back then: The Buffalo Nights Theatre company has a casting call out for a play about one of the city’s first celebrity criminal defendants: Griffith J. Griffith. He was the wealthy miner who donated the land that became Griffith Park.

Seven years later, he shot his wife in the face during a drunken rampage.

The play, “Crazy Drunk,” was described in Back Stage Weekly as a “darkly comic memory play [that] presents a panorama of the wild events surrounding the trial.” Griffith, who said he believed his wife was an agent of the pope at the time of the shooting, pleaded alcoholic insanity (a new defense at the time). He was convicted and served a year at San Quentin.

His wife, by the way, survived. After his release, they reconciled and he spent the last 14 years of his life with her.

miscelLAny: A photo appeared here of a no-clothes-hanger symbol next to a fire sprinkler in a hotel room. The warning is there for a reason, says Brian Simler of Bakersfield. He was at a business class in Norman, Okla., when a colleague’s wife hung some clothes from such a device. Of the resulting deluge, he said, “What a mess! For three days, a walk down our hallway was like trudging through a Florida swamp.”

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, 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.