WATCH THE BIRDIE: What a deal. You...

WATCH THE BIRDIE: What a deal. You buy a $60,000 pair of ostriches and they pump out chicks that provide beef-like, low-cholesterol meat and skins that cowboy boot makers pay fortunes for. Interest in getting rich off the big birds is booming. . . . But in a Valley Interview (B5), ostrich meat importer Keith Bell throws cold water on the economics and warns that there are many drawbacks to raising the “bizarre birds”--such as they sometimes kill their masters.

BACK TO THE FUTURE: Cellular phones, which long ago (as local time is measured) swept L. A., are getting a rival: two-way radios, like ancient car phones or those of taxi dispatchers. These will be digitally improved--maybe including faxes and stock quotes. . . . A Woodland Hills company staked its fortunes on the gamble that reborn radio will displace cellular. See Valley Business, Page 4

TOUGH AUDIENCE: Give author Chaim Potok (“The Chosen,” “The Promise”) credit for courage. He tested his first attempt at a children’s book by reading it in Northridge to several hundred children (B2). Their parents were thrilled . . . but many of the kids fidgeted.

FANCY FOOTWEAR: L. A. Gear founder Robert Greenberg sold nearly $1 billion of snazzy sneakers before he was forced out in 1990. Now the Hidden Hills resident is capitalizing on the grunge trend with Skechers, his new Manhattan Beach-based company that distributes the ugly, but mysteriously popular, Dr. Martens work boots. See Valley Business, Page 3

SMALL WONDERS: Brick Price builds models of everything from space shuttles to two-foot-long black ants. The creations of his Canoga Park firm, WonderWorks, usually wind up in museums or on movie screens as special effects. Small doesn’t mean cheap; a tiny car can cost as much as the real thing. See Valley Business, Page 9