Sorry, Wrong Number

Nobody has been able to measure Jerry Brown’s burgeoning presidential campaign quite like Bert Jessup Transportation.

The Gilroy, Calif., flower shipper has a toll-free number used exclusively by its Los Angeles-area supervisor, Graham Lewin, who needs it to stay in contact with the office while traveling.

The problem is that Lewin’s number is one digit away from Brown’s 800 number. As a result, Jessup receives as many as 30 calls a day from political donors who misdial what is possibly America’s most heavily promoted 800 number.

Tracy Cazee, daughter of company founder Bert Jessup, said employees just a few weeks ago could confidently answer the line “Hello, Graham,” knowing who was on the other end. But no more.

“We’re hoping we can deal with this until November, or whenever he (Brown) quits,” Cazee said.

Bragging Rights

The score card-like “L.A. Means Business” ads on the side of RTD buses have been getting a lot of attention lately, but it may be time for a new crop.

The signs, put up by the L.A. County Economic Development Corp., compare Los Angeles to predatory cities that want to steal our business. (One reads: “Universities and Trade Schools: Los Angeles 122, Grand Junction 3.”)

For future consideration, here are potential signs the group may want to consider, targeting some of the cities ranked by Fortune magazine as the nation’s top 10 places to do business:

* Number of Pac 10 football teams: Los Angeles 2, Charlotte 0.

* Number of Wolfgang Puck restaurants: Los Angeles 4, Salt Lake City 0.

* Number of Jane Fondas: Los Angeles 0, Atlanta 1. (This is either a plus or minus depending on your view).

Home Sweet Home

BankAmerica, the state’s largest lender to home buyers, hasn’t owned its own home since 1985. But all that could change by the end of the month.

That’s when a relatively obscure option expires allowing B of A between March 1 and April 30 of this year to buy back a 50% interest in the partnership that owns its world headquarters in San Francisco. The price: a steep $380 million.

The bank sold the 52-story skyscraper and two other buildings seven years ago for $660 million to a group led by San Francisco developer Walter Shorenstein in a deal that at the time symbolized the bank’s financial plight.

B of A has since returned to health. It arranged for the option in 1989.

A BankAmerica spokesman said bank executives are still mulling the purchase.

Should they pass, the contract says, the Shorenstein partnership can in turn require BankAmerica to buy the 50% stake between July 1 and August 31.

Briefly . . .

Where are you going, Joe DiMaggio?: Los Angeles-based H. F. Ahmanson will discontinue using the Yankee Clipper as the spokesman for its Bowery Savings Bank in New York next month after Ahmanson renames the Bowery after its main unit, Home Savings of America . . . No gold watches: A study predicts that today’s college graduates will probably change jobs 10 times during their careers . . . Fed’s World: A report by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on how well Midwest agricultural banks are doing is titled “Weak Farm Banks--Not!”