Great Caesar’s ghost! The 1992 telephone directory...

Great Caesar’s ghost! The 1992 telephone directory of Brisbane, Australia, contains a C. Kent on Krypton Street and an L. Lane on Planet Street. But before their boss, Perry White, blows his top, we want him to know that it’s a mistake.

The Brisbane publisher says that a worker made fictitious listings for telephone numbers that had not been assigned and then forgot to remove them from the computer files.

Obviously, living in Brisbane would make for an impossible commute for Clark and Lois--well, for Lois anyway. The two reporters work in a bureau in the L.A. County Courthouse, according to the building’s directory (see excerpt). And their home base, as any fan of the “Superman” TV series knows, is the Daily Planet, located a few blocks east, in City Hall.

The following is not a paid political announcement: City Councilman Nate Holden’s decision to run for mayor next year calls to mind his dramatic attempt to unseat Tom Bradley in 1989. That race was filled with memorable moments, but here are three of our favorites:

* A campaigning Bradley, standing mostly ignored outside a yogurt shop in Century City, is approached by an elderly woman who says: “Mayor! Are you lost?”

* After the final results are announced, Holden threatens to demand a recount because of some “inconsistencies in the returns.” The returns showed that he received 28% of the vote while Bradley received 52%. Ultimately, Holden decides against asking for a recount.

* Noting that the citywide turnout was 23%--meaning Bradley received the mandate of about 12% of the electorate--comic Johnny Carson cracks afterward: “Chicago gets a bigger turnout from the dead.”

With Bradley retiring, perhaps L.A.’s 1993 election will attract a bigger turnout from the living.

Negative review?One fast-food eatery in Woodland Hills should fix its lighted sign, which currently has four letters darkened. It gave off this message over the weekend:

UCKY FRIED CHICKEN.

Smoke gets in our eyes: Ralph Shaffer’s history class at Cal Poly Pomona is perusing letters written to The Times, and one of his students, Laurie Weber, came upon a diatribe entitled, “The Smoke Nuisance.”

The writer, J.H. McBride of Pasadena, complained that “Los Angeles is becoming a smoke-making center of large proportions” and that often “the smoke comes this way about 8 a.m. in a great black cloud and by 10 a.m. the country hereabouts is practically shut out from view.”

McBride attributed the smoke problem to its “chimneys and smokestacks.” He couldn’t very well blame automobiles. The year was 1902.

miscelLAny:

The first honorary mayor of a community was Will Rogers, who was given the post by Beverly Hills in 1926 for publicity purposes. When someone pointed out that he was a humorist and not a politician, Rogers replied: “I never saw a mayor yet that wasn’t comical.”

Los Angeles Times