Memories are made of this:An internal MTA...

Memories are made of this:

An internal MTA staff document indicates that the agency plans to bury a time capsule outside its posh new headquarters. This is a ceremony that just begs for an Only in L.A. reader contest. What should go inside that capsule to symbolize the MTA? Let us know (see our addresses at end of column).

We’ll start things off by suggesting the TV special on Metro Rail construction (or is it deconstruction?) by the show “60 Minutes.”

Note: There probably wouldn’t be room for Thelma and Louise, the MTA’s two tunnel-digging machines famed for getting stuck in an MTA tunnel.

FOR BETTER OR VERSE: You never know where you’re going to find poetry here in the motion picture capital. Mary Jean Tacal of Paramount (the city, not the studio) found a bit of doggerel on a tag on her shorts (see accompanying).

NOT MUCH OF A CONVERSATIONALIST, THOUGH: We expect to hear an announcement any day now that “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” has booked America’s most talked about champion--Deep Blue, the IBM supercomputer.

HERE’S ONE ARMY ARCHERD MISSED: Author Marcia Clark, the retired prosecutor, is mentioned along with Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Larry King among others in the “Celebrity Sightings” column of Noah’s News. You know--the newsletter for Noah’s Bagels.

LAST JOB: Stan Kelton of Lakewood snapped a shot of the final bit of workmanship by a window-lettering firm that went out of business (see photo).

SOME STRAIGHT SHOOTERS What kind of event would bring together such TV cops as Dennis Franz (“NYPD Blue”) and Ron Masak (“Murder, She Wrote”) and cinematic bad guys Joe Pesci (“8 Heads in a Duffel Bag”) and Joe Mantegna (“The Last Don”)? It’s the annual Los Angeles Police-Celebrity Golf Tournament, a fund-raiser for injured LAPD officers and their families, at Rancho Park May 17. (Information: (213) 485-3281.) Another player, by the way, will be actor-director Billy Bob Thornton (“Sling Blade”), who is said to be a hacker on the course, as well as on the screen.

YOU’VE HEARD OF THE BRONCO CHASE . . . : Now comes the steer chase. An escaped 600-pounder was herded through the city streets of El Monte by police Monday while they awaited help from area cowboys.

“It was kind of funny,” said Police Lt. Ken Jeske. “The steer kept running through intersections. So we had one patrol car ahead of him to keep traffic from hitting him, and three following him.”

The owner’s hired hands finally showed up and guided the critter into a trailer. The beast had escaped from an auction. You can’t really blame him.

“I imagine the steer is carne asada by now,” joked Jeske.

miscelLAny:

Venice’s Sidewalk Cafe, which is attached to a bookstore, has menu items named after writers ranging from Charles Dickens and Jane Austen to Joan Didion, Sue Grafton and Mario Puzo. And then there’s an item named for your manuscript--the one you could never finish or sell. It’s called “Fiasco.”

Steve Harvey can be reached by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at [email protected] and by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, L.A. 90053.