A Little L.A. Celebrity Goes a Long, Long Way

It’s just what you’d expect to find on the drink menu at a place called the L.A. Restaurant -- an L.A. Colada (with Malibu rum), a Beverly Sling, a Tequila Sunrise, even a drink called the Terminator III (see accompanying).

Of course, this L.A. Restaurant is in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia. Now you know why people describe Los Angeles as “sprawling.�

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L.A. Restaurant (cont).: My informant, Nik Trendowski, tells me that, while California’s governor inspired one of those drinks, an ex-president has a dish named after him.

“A friend of mine had the Clintonove Tajomstvo,� Trendowski said, “which was a traditional Slovak dish -- fried cheese -- but inside a potato pancake.�

Clintonove Tajomstvo, by the way, translates as “Clinton’s Secret.�

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Car-culture innovations: Win Hainbuch of Lake Arrowhead spotted what I believe is the first drive-in of its type (see photo).

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Suitable business: West Hollywood City Councilman Jeffrey Prang pointed out that his city has a travel agency where you might pick up a garment -- unless you were going to Alaska (see photo).

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False advertising? A panhandler in the median of a Huntington Beach roadway displayed a tattered sign that said, “Food God Bless.� When a motorist stopped to offer her a banana and two granola bars, she shook her head and asked for, well, money. I like to think her sign was telling the truth and she simply didn’t like the driver’s selections.

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Snack attack: I was reminded of the time a sidewalk moocher in L.A. asked Paul Williams for a handout, saying he hadn’t eaten in three days and just wanted enough money to buy a bag of Cheetos.

So Williams went next door and bought a bag of Cheetos.

“I handed them to him,� Williams told me. “He opened the bag and poured them in my lap.�

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miscelLAny: Hank Rosenfeld was in a car wash in West L.A. that was equipped with a machine that sprays a fragrance into your jalopy for an additional buck. The smells included “Jasmine,� “Vanilla� and “New Car� (which I believe would be quickly neutralized by my 1996 Honda).

Another variety of eau d’auto was “Pina Colada.� Can’t you imagine a motorist, pulled over by a cop, saying: “Honest, officer, I haven’t been drinking -- that’s not my breath, that’s the car fragrance.�

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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 [email protected].