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To honor the Southern California lifestyle, the city of Manhattan Beach bolted a sculpture of dumbbells to a seaside bench last year. Problem is, thieves keep lifting them--most recently the

other night. “This wasn’t a case of them being knocked off by mistake,” said Howard Spector, the city’s public arts administrator. “Not only were they bolted to the bench, they were

epoxied, too.” The 25-pound cast-bronze dumbbells were snatched from the same bench last September. They were returned that time after a local group, the Friends of the Arts, offered a $500

reward, no questions asked. In case the same thieves were thinking of making the sculpture a regular source of income, the Friends are offering no reward this time. The weights, titled (and

spelled) “Ddumbbells” by creator Ann Preston of Santa Monica, cost the city $7,000, which is one reason some citizens have criticized Manhattan Beach’s public arts program as ddumb. If race

car drivers competing against Tim Capaldi are extra careful about careening into him, you can’t blame them. Capaldi’s dragster bears the logo of his sponsor, Legal Rights Defenders, a local

lawyer’s group. Election Day has evolved into something a bit more stately--and even more honest--than it was in 1850s L.A. For one thing, there was no list of registered voters. Pioneer

Harris Newmark recalled how various candidates would round up newly arrived workers “like so many cattle, confine them in corrals (usually in Boyle Heights), keep them in a truly magnificent

state of intoxication until the eventful morning” and then cart them off to the city’s only polling place in stages. Citizens who wanted to cast two (or more) ballots, Newmark added, were

not above voting once and then “cutting off the hair, shaving (the) beard or mustache, re-clothing or otherwise transforming (their) appearance.” At least, there were fewer complaints of

voter apathy. This being Southern California, it was inevitable that our proposed “Malathion Song Book” would attract various ethnic entries. Our favorites so far are Miguel Novelo Jr.’s

“Medfly Nortena” (“Medfly of the North”), which he points out “would go perfect with _ ranchera _ music,” and Ed Bissot’s “Club Medfly,” an original composition with a Caribbean beat and

these lyrics: _ Come to the Club Medfly,_ _Where malathion fills the sky._ _Come to the Club Medfly._ _You can spray, you can pray._ _But the fruit fly won’t die._ _In El Layyyyyyy._ After

reading here that Baskin-Robbins is dedicating its flavor of the month for July to the Soviet president, Ken Freehill of Alhambra wonders why the company isn’t also offering a variety of _

Raisan_ Gorbachocolate. miscelLAny: The 59-year-old Los Angeles Theater was built with a soundproof upper chamber for viewing by children and/or adults--a crying room. MORE TO READ