Down Huntington Beach Alley, It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like ... May Day

The police log of the Huntington Beach Wave carried this alarming item: “April 21, England Street, 1100 block, city ordinance violation: Someone dumped a Christmas tree in an alley.� Don’t even ask if he’s taken down his outdoor Christmas lights yet.

Claptrap and Clapsaddle: “L.A. Exposed,� a new book by Paul Young, explores some of the offbeat legends of the devilish City of Angels, including these:

* “A group of Hollywood actors stole John Barrymore’s corpse from a funeral parlor, set it up in a chair and threw a party in his honor.� (False, though Barrymore probably would have approved of the idea.)

“Fidel Castro appeared in numerous Hollywood movies before his career as Cuba’s communist dictator ... all with his Cuban compatriot, bandleader Xavier Cugat.� (Unlikely, unless Castro stuck his face into a crowd scene in one of the movies filmed in Mexico during his stay there.)

* “The basement of Mann’s Chinese Theater is full of footprints of actors and actresses deemed ‘not worthy enough’ to be in front of the theater.� (False, though a theater spokesman admitted that the rumor is so strong that Mann’s occasionally receives phone calls from people “planning to fly to L.A. for a vacation and they want to know if they can get a tour to see the other footprints.�)

* “W.C. Fields used a fake name on his tombstone at Forest Lawn.� (False, including the rumor that he was buried under the name of a real-life bank clerk whose name he admired: Mabel Clapsaddle.)

And, oh yes, his marker does not say he’d rather be in Philadelphia.

L.A. legends (cont.): Oddly enough, Young’s book contains a snapshot of a star-struck intersection in Beverly Hills (see photo). But the book doesn’t discuss two legends that it has spawned.

One is that the street corner was named after the star of “To Kill a Mockingbird� and other movies (false; it bears the last names of two early residents).

And, second, that the actor took his name from the intersection upon arriving in L.A. (also false; he was born Gregory Peck).

Low finance: Michael Devine of Hollywood says he’s heard of people getting in their two cents, but figures his landlord must have been affected by inflation (see accompanying).

Low finance (II): When Drusilla Khan of Culver City saw an odd statement on Wells Fargo Online (see accompanying), she quipped, “Fortunately, I can’t see how much I’m overdrawn.�

Two Kobes are better than one? ESPN radio surveyed listeners about “the most annoying things in sports,� and one complaint involved adults who wear facsimile uniforms of athletes they don’t resemble.

Said one anguished fan: “The other day at a mall, I saw a 350-pound guy in a Kobe Bryant jersey.�

That’s why I played it safe. I plan to gradually fill out my Shaq jersey over the years.

miscelLAny: Bruce Phillips sent along an item making the rounds of the Internet: a photo of a toaster that someone was trying to sell on eBay. What stands out in the photo, which we can’t show you, is the reflection of the person snapping the shot. He has no clothes on. And, as for his body ... let’s just say he could be the guy in the Kobe jersey.

*

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 [email protected].