Don’t All Vehicles Come With a Dangling Gas Hose as Standard Equipment?

Did the driver claim it was a standard feature on her car? “Report of a verbal dispute between a female customer and a station attendant,” began a police log item spotted by reader Mary Beth Crispino. “The woman drove off with the gas hose still attached to her vehicle and did some damage to the pump,” continued the account in the San Clemente Sun Post-News. “She reportedly refused to give the attendant any information about herself.”

The Who where? While L.A. Mayor James Hahn is struggling to keep Hollywood from defecting, it looks like he’s lost the Hollywood Bowl to Orange County (see accompanying). At least that’s the conclusion you could reach by reading Entertainment Weekly’s Web site report about the Who, as Mark Geisert did. “I like Irvine. I went to school in Irvine,” Geisert said. “But Irvine’s no Hollywood.”

Precedent? The Hollywood Bowl wouldn’t really be that out of place in Irvine. After all, Hollywood Park is in Inglewood.

Second lives: Just the other day, I mentioned the Straw Hat pizzeria that became a Raw Hat pizzeria (before the Straw Hat folks raised objections). Business signs are sort of like studio props in Southern California. They’re often recycled, sometimes with subtle changes, as in the case of the landmark Spanish Kitchen restaurant turned Ona Spa on Beverly Boulevard (see before and after photos by yours truly and Phil Proctor).

I’m reminded of one Denny’s that became a Penny’s, a Ship’s restaurant that became a Ship’s truck rental, and, my favorite, a Westside store whose DRUGS sign was changed to RUGS by the new owner.

Talk about a long wait for a table ... : Getting back to the old Spanish Kitchen, you may recall it was the site of one of L.A.’s longest-running urban folk tales.

It was a gathering spot for stars until one day in 1961, when a “Closed for Vacation” notice appeared. It never reopened.

But the interior remained virtually unchanged for more than a quarter century, table settings intact, salt and pepper shakers in place. One rumor held that the owner’s husband had been murdered inside and that she wouldn’t reopen it until the killer was found. The old “Lou Grant” TV show featured the mystery in an episode.

Later, a rock group took the name Spanish Kitchen and posed under the sign on its Web site.

The real story was that the owner’s husband had died and she was simply too distraught to operate the restaurant or dispose of it.

So, the eatery’s a spa now, with new owners. No telling whether the Spanish Kitchen rock group will change its name to Ona Spa.

MiscelLAny: Marvin Chandler of Carmel notes that a high jumper who just captured first place in the USA Track and Field Championships with a mark of 7 feet, 7 1/4 inches is named, naturally enough, Nathan Leeper.

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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 [email protected].