L.A.’s scariest Halloween party:It took place the...

L.A.’s scariest Halloween party:

It took place the other night at a Beverly Hills mansion owned by a member of the Groman Mortuary family. But that’s not why it was scary. The party drew an estimated 200 people in various blood-curdling costumes. But that’s not why it was scary, either. The estate is for sale for $3.5 million. And the reason the party was scary was that the folks who attended were . . .

Real estate agents!

Doesn’t the very thought send chills down your spine?

CHEAP SHOTS ASIDE: In the spirit of fair play, we’ll throw in a Halloween-themed plug for the mansion, which is in a gated community called the Summit. “It has a killer view,” said a broker for the Prudential-Jon Douglas Co.

HOW ABOUT AN AFTERSHOCK? Rick Tello of Canyon Country, who contributed the accompanying insurance ad, says he’ll pass on the earthquake-availability offer, adding: “I’m still not done with the last one!”

HOLY TOLEDO! We saved the classified ad that Steve Propes of Long Beach found in a weekly awhile back because the error it contained seemed more appropriate for Oct. 31 (see excerpt).

OUT OF THIS WORLD: Kids at Middleton Street Elementary School in Huntington Park and their parents were recently treated to a Family Astronomy Night, viewing the planets and stars through several powerful telescopes. And who was the sponsor? A car dealership--Saturn, of course.

HAS DOLE CONCEDED LONG BEACH? We bring up the question after the Republican nominee failed to show as expected at running mate Jack Kemp’s rally in that city Monday. And, after all, this is the city where Ross Perot’s Reform Party held its landmark convention.

The Long Beach Press Telegram took Dole’s absence in stride, reporting it in a short story on Page 6. We were reminded of a contrasting approach taken by the Daily News of L.A. the time that Hillary Rodham Clinton attended an AIDS fund-raiser in L.A. several days after the Northridge quake. “First Lady in L.A., Skips Valley,” blared the banner headline in the Daily News.

CRITIQUING THE DISNEY HOLE: As you no doubt know, construction of the Walt Disney Concert Hall has been held up indefinitely due to financing problems. But the Walt Disney Concert Hall garage was finished months ago. First things first. What’s more important in L.A. than a parking place?

Anyway, there has been a lot of talk over Frank Gehry’s design of the concert hall. But the Downtown News’ Jon Regardie is the first to review the parking garage. And, let’s end the suspense: He gives the edifice a positive review, a 3-grease spot rating out of a possible 4.

Regardie has an eye for the nuances that appeal to a true connoisseur of car castles. He praises the “neon lime green button reading ‘Press for Ticket.’ ” And he has unconcealed admiration for the lettering of the word “compact” on the spaces, which “varies from other garages, with a stylish gap between halves of the letters ‘o’ ‘p’ and ‘a.’ ”

If his review gives you a yen to take your car down there, Regardie concludes: “The Walt Disney Concert Hall garage continues at the Walt Disney Concert Hall site indefinitely.”

miscelLAny

The latest Beverly Hills collection--Beverly Hills police paraphernalia--can now be viewed on the Guthy-Renker Internet virtual shopping mall. Items range from a “Bed ‘n’ Breakfast Mug” ($8) with a jail-bars motif to a “Beverly Hills Police Car Toy” ($25), which is equipped with “rolling tires, emergency siren and flashing lights, realistic sound and voices. . . . “ But can it say, “OK, Zsa Zsa, pull over?”