People and Events

There are no hoorays for Hollywood, Calif., coming out of Hollywood, Fla., Hollywood, S.C., Hollywood, Ala., or Hollywood, N.M.

The non-Tinsel Towns are upset because the Chamber of Commerce of their California namesake has filed for a trademark to gain commercial control of the name to make sure it gets royalties accruing from Hollywood novelty items.

The trademark proposal specifically exempts sales of Hollywood, Fla., items within that city’s limits. But the Floridians are hardly viewing that as an act of generosity.

“We’re the eighth-largest city in the state,” noted City Manager Irv Rosenbaum. “We should be able to use our name wherever.”

The other Hollywoods don’t know what to think.

“They (Hollywood, Calif.) are concerned with the glitter and the limelight and I’m struggling to get a sewer project through,” said Lela Dickerson, the mayor of Hollywood, S.C. “We have a Hollywood Exchange Club that does things for the community. What if we want to sell Hollywood cups to raise money for charity?”

“We sell some T-shirts that have our town’s name on them,” said City Clerk Lona Bradford of Hollywood, Ala. “We can’t go along with this.”

“Hollywood, Calif.? What are you trying to do, sell me some pornography?” the clerk at the Hollywood, N.M., Food Mart shouted at a reporter before hanging up.

Just another morning rush hour in Los Angeles, with the Pacific Coast Highway jammed up because a motion picture crew was shooting nearby, Pomona Freeway motorists slowing to watch two motorists slugging it out beside their cars and the Hollywood Freeway bogged down by a medical waste spill, which closed down one off-ramp, “needles to say,” punned KNX radio traffic reporter Bill Keene.

At least there was no sign of the sheep that forced the closure of an off-ramp in Calabasas over the weekend when they crossed the Ventura Freeway.

Jan Bradshaw paid $14,000 for her membership at the Yorba Linda Country Club. But because she’s a woman, she can’t tee up at sunrise on Saturday or Sunday. And that tees her off.

So, Bradshaw, 41, owner of her own interior design business, hired the logical pro for such a case--attorney Gloria Allred. They filed a discrimination suit against Santa Monica-based American Golf Corp., which owns and manages the course.

“I couldn’t believe that in 1988 and 1989 this type of practice would be allowed to continue and exist,” Bradshaw said of the club’s policy of giving the male duffers exclusive rights to the course until 11 a.m. on Saturdays and until 9 a.m. on Sundays and holidays.

The guys have the course to themselves three times as much as the gals during the week; couples also have certain special hours, which is another form of discrimination, alleges Bradshaw, who is single.

Loretta Singer, an American Golf lawyer, said the corporation can’t change the club’s rules itself. That power is invested in the club’s all-male board under terms of the contract by which American purchased the course in 1972. And the board has shown no inclination to do so, Singer noted, “though that might change in light of this litigation.”

And the plaintiff’s attorney.

Allred, who has used lawsuits to force several businesses to change discriminatory practices, served notice that she was aiming at American Golf by shouting a one-word warning at the press conference:

“Fore!”

Howard Joseph, an entrant in the March 5 Los Angeles Marathon, wonders how big the turnout will be for the disco dance mentioned in the race literature.

The dance is open “to all marathoners, volunteers and their guests” at the Los Angeles Airport Hilton.

It’s also scheduled the evening of the run.

The jury candidates for a trial in Van Nuys Municipal Court this week were asked by the defense attorney: “If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would it be?”

The answers were not surprising--Mikhail Gorbachev, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, President Bush, ex-President Ronald Reagan--until it was one young man’s turn.

“Clint Eastwood,” he responded.