Sydney Knott of Malibu points out that...

Sydney Knott of Malibu points out that the new Santa Monica Bank billboard on city buses seems to represent “a step backward for ride-sharing proponents.”

The snooty ad says: “Someone tell the people on this bus we have car loans.”

Yes, then maybe thousands more cars can take to the freeways and further congest traffic.

List of the Day:

Reference works on L.A. don’t, of course, provide tips for finding the city’s brothels. However, in 1897, when the City of Angels was anything but heavenly, such a guide was openly distributed during the city’s annual fiesta.

Its purpose was “not for glory or renown,” said the anonymous editors with some understatement, “but for the sake of those strangers who visit our fair city.”

The guide, included by historian W.W. Robinson in his book “Tarnished Angels,” offered such endorsements as: “Madame Weir needs no introduction to the sportively inclined people of L.A. as she is the most popular landlady on the coast.”

The roster of brothels, most located north of what is now City Hall, included:

1. Madame Van, 327 1/2 New High St.

2. Madame Weir, 312 N. Alameda St.

3. Lena Shepard, 316 N. Alameda St.

4. The Little Brick, 435 N. Alameda St.

5. Miss Gracie, Rooms 7 and 8, 327 S. Main St.

In 1909, a reform administration eliminated the brothels, more or less.

Step outside at your own risk:

“Los Angelinos (sic),” reports the 1990 Universal Almanac, “live with daily problems of smog, traffic jams, spectacular traffic accidents, and the ever-present threats of mudslides, fires, floods, high winds and earthquakes. But the year-round sunshine, and the number of beaches and mountain areas, all within an easy drive, tend to ameliorate one’s anxiety.”

Funny, after reading that, our anxiety isn’t completely ameliorated.

A car parked on Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach bore a printed sticker on its side window that said: “Attention, Thieves: No Radio in Car.” It suggested that potential burglars get a job, get off drugs, etc.

Next to the sticker was a smaller one attached to the window. Scrawled on the second sticker was: “OK.”

miscelLAny:

One stretch of Mulholland Drive in Woodland Hills is intersected, from west to east, by Cezanne, Da Vinci, Gauguin, Michelangelo, Matisse, Picasso and Monet avenues. Rembrandt Street is about 50 miles to the northeast, in Lancaster.