The Los Angeles Times du lieu suivant : Los Angeles, California • 21

ETRO Coo Angclc (Times Editorial Pages Monday. August 16. 1982 I'jirl II H. Lobby Presses Candidates on Gas Tax Hike nt Mm i Business was not good, but street performers along Ocean Front Walk at Venice Beach did not give up easily. At the top.

Mike Vargas practiced his contortion act even though few spectators were contributing coins which is the reason for all this. Ced-rick Stokes, the one-man band, kept tooting and John Stevens, whose calling is fire-eating, would only swallow swords, the wind being too strong for messing with flames. So, with little income in the till, most of the performers soon gave it up and retired for the night, several of them sleeping outdoors. KEN LUBAS Los Angeles Times Slowdown at Beach Street Shows' Sales Sagging By STEVE HARVEY. Times Staf Writer John Stevens, the resident fire-eater at Venice Beach, glanced at some palm trees fluttering in the breeze, puffed on a cigarette and told a passer-by: "I'll swallow a sword for you but I won't eat fire not with this wind." Up the block Sunday, however, the competition was not so particular.

"Sure I'll swallow some fire," said bearded longhaired Stuartini the Magnificent, in his fourth weekend on the job along Ocean Front Walk. "Like I always say, 'If I can light it. I'll eat it." Stuartini, 36 formerly Knuckles the Clown don't talk about exhibited the enthusiasm common to those in new commercial ventures. But he admitted that his current residence is his Volkswagen. Stevens only scoffed.

Like businessmen everywhere, the street performers in Venice are scrambling for a buck and often coming up short. "You could shoot yourself out of a cannon down here and people wouldn't drop anything into the (donation) box." said Stevens, 23, who is also attending acting school. Disagreeable Sword Grudgingly, he swallowed the sword. It didn't seem to agree with him. He pulled it out.

To the side, Ivan Guillermo, age 9, told Carlos Mancia, 10. "See. I told you." Guillermo explained: "Last weekend I helped the man put the sword down his throat. I told Carlos and he didn't believe me." While Stevens' professionalism was upheld, no one came forth with any contributions. Though it was only 2 p.m., the fire-eater said: "I think I'll close up early today.

The hell with it." Mike Vargas, who is the Rubber Man on Saturdays and the Yoga Man on Sundays, admitted that things could be better, too. He hoped for a $50 daily take. "I hitchhiked out from Milwaukee last November," he said. "Right now I'm sleeping outdoors. When the circus was in town, I went over there but they said they already had a contortionist.

The producer of the movie 'Kung Fu' gave me his business card but I lost it." With a small crowd starting to gather, the Yoga Man really don't know any threw his legs up around his neck and began performing pushups, each hand resting on an upside-down garbage can. The Spectators Nearby, Nick Stein, age 11 months, sitting in a stroller, stuck his foot in his mouth. Of the 21 spectators, three dropped coins into the Yoga Man's box. Vargas in the Vargas said, "Oh, well. It's nice to be able to entertain people.

Nice just to be outdoors I spent too much time in jails." Near the disco-dance roller skate area, a 16-year-old drummer named Robin cradled her head in her hands and said, "I can't believe how bad it (business) is." Robin, who beats a five-gallon pickle jar, a plastic Sparkletts bottle and various pots and pans, held out hope that things would improve when she teamed up with her friend Steve. "He's a performance artist," she explained, "dances with ironing boards, sprays the audience with Glade (air freshener), things like that." One of the few artists who had no complaints was Ce-Please see BEACH, Page 2 By BILL BOYARSKY. Times City-County Bureau Chief A lobbying organization composed of some of California's most powerful businesses is asking gubernatorial candidates Tom Bradley and George Deukmejian whether they will support an increase in the state gasoline tax. The answer to that and other questions posed by the Californians for Better Transit has major implications for metropolitan areas, particularly Los Angeles County, seeking money for rail transit, and Orange County, which is battling for funds for both transit and highways. The transit stands of Democrat Bradley and Republican Deukmejian may be known this week, when aides say the candidates intend to give the Californians for Better Transit their answers.

The group said the answers will be released to th press. Transportation is not likely to be the central issue of the gubernatorial campaign. As it stands today, economics and crime appear to be more dominant topics. But it will be important because California is on the brink of a major change in transportation policy. Anti-Freeway Policies No matter who wins, Caltrans, the state Transportation Department, is expected to take a major turn away from the anti-freeway policies of Gov.

Edmund G. Brown Jr. and his controversial transportation director, Adriana Gianturco. Bradley made his view clear this month when he announced that he would not reappoint Gianturco. "The morale in her department has suffered and there has been confrontation between the Legislature and the director," the Los Angeles mayor said in Fresno.

"I want cooperation, not confrontation." The fact that Bradley made the statement was viewed by highway experts and some of his aides as a deliberate signal that he favors a change of policy. For it has always been Bradley's practice to avoid commenting on potential gubernatorial appointments. He made the signal even clearer by also telling Fresno residents that he urged completion of that city's Freeway 41. a project Gianturco has opposed. "The completion of Highway 41 is vital to the economy of this community," he said.

Deukmejian's Stand Deukmejian made his pro-highway intentions clear during the primary campaign when he released a position paper that gave top priority to three items favored by highway-oriented groups. The attorney general said he favors much more maintenance and repair of present systems, "closing crucial gaps" in the system and expanding overloaded highways. Bradley has long been identified as a rapid transit backer because of his advocacy of the proposed Wilshire subway and of state and federal aid for local transit projects. Deukmejian, because of the nature of his attorney general's job, has not been heavily involved in transit policy. Aides to Deukmejian and Bradley said more details will be provided when both candidates answer the questionnaire submitted by Californians for Better Transportation.

Some of the people asking the questions are as impor-Please see GAS TAX, Page 6 jj r-Tv rj pJVr Ff MHiLid" fulfill LMM.SMlkr 1'iliiWMTnn' null) Hit-Run Car Kills Boy at Street Racing Scene By ROBERT W. STEWART, Times Staff Writer A Bloom of Gold in Color Consulting JAYNE KAMIN Los Angeles Times Color consultant Lora King drapes different colored fabrics around Rose-Emily Roth-enberg to try to determine what she thinks is the client's most favorable color. By PENELOPE McMILLAN, Times Staff Writer Carol Rischer believed in the blossoming business of "color consulting" seriously enough to open a Fresno boutique, where she sold clothes by her customers' "personal" colors. But even she was surprised at the dedication of one color devotee, a luncheon companion who suddenly announced, "I don't think I can eat here." The restaurant wasn't in "her" color. The woman was one of hundreds of thousands 1 million by some estimates who have paid $25 to $500 to consultants who determine what colors are uniquely "theirs." These are the colors that will dictate not only what clothes, hair color or makeup the customer will buy, but also the color of his or her car, living room furnishings and jewelry all on the theory that certain colors encourage personal beauty and success.

Book Sparks Boom A little -known group even five years ago, the number of personal color consultants has grown to an estimated 4,000 with a recent boom sparked by "Color Me Beautiful," a book published in 1981 that sold more than 950,000 copies. But along with the popularity has come a concern that there may not be enough scientific basis for "personal" colors, and that a consultant's advice may be purely arbitrary. "Like so many other things that become popular enthusiasms, people become readily exploited," said Lois Swernoff, a UCLA art department lecturer who has taught color for 20 years. Swernoff, along with a number of critics, said that it is almost impossible to guarantee any color as "personal" because it can change with the light, with the background used, or even with the cultural experience of the individual looking at it. 'An Unsolved Problem' "The whole thing is completely arbitrary," she said.

"Color is an unsolved problem scientifically We don't know how it works." Swernoff considers her own teaching of it "a matter of developing sensitivity." A speeding car struck and killed a 12-year-old boy on a twisting section of Mulholland Drive early Sunday and then raced away. Police said tlicy have no suspects in the hit-and-run death. Louis Friend was pronounced dead at the scene, a half-mile east of Bowmont Drive, about 1:25 a.m., Los Angeles Police Sgt. John J. Amott said.

The boy suffered massive head and body injuries, Amott said. The boy and two older youths-one 16 and the other 18 had driven to the area in a pickup truck Saturday night, police said, apparently to watch young drivers race cars along what has become an illegal nighttime speedway on Mulholland between Coldwater Canyon and Laurel Canyon boulevards. Attempted to Cross Road Friend was hit after he jumped from the back of the truck, which had parked along the south side of Mulholland, and attempted to run across the road, police said. It was not clear whether the car that struck the boy was racing. Police said witnesses did not see any other cars immediately ahead of or behind the hit-and-run driver.

Family and friends gathered Sunday afternoon at Friend's home on Devista Drive in the Hollywood Hills, less than four miles from the spot where he died. His father, Murray G. Friend, said he had warned his son to stay away from Mulholland Drive because of the dangers associated with racing. "If it helps one person not to go there, not to get hurt, not to get killed, then I guess it's worth my crying to a stranger," Friend told a reporter. "People should know.

That place should be closed, even if they have to do it with guns," he said. Friend, a retired Air Force officer, owns a department store in Gardena. He said his son had gone out with friends early Saturday evening and failed to return. Friend said he was waiting up for his son when police arrived at 4:30 a.m. and told him the boy was dead.

The City Council Committee on Transportation and Traffic last week endorsed a measure that would give police authority to periodically block off sections of Mulholland between the San Diego and Hollywood freeways to curb night racing. The ordinance is expected to go to the full council this week. Jerry Greenfield, president of the Laurel Hills Homeowners said the death of Louis Friend underscores the need for a barricade ordinance. "I personally will see that the council members are informed of this tragedy," he said. The Laurel Hills neighborhood is at the east end of the racing ai oa.

about a half-mile from the accident scene. Along with other community residents, Greenfield has fought for several months to give police authority to barricade the road. First Recent Death "As far as I know, this is the first death we've had in quite some time involving the Mulholland race situation," Amott said. "We've had people go over the side, and people crash and a lot of property damage, but usually it was a situation where it was minimal as far as injury." Between Jan. 1.

1980, and the middle of last month, police recorded 135 major traffic accidents, resulting in four deaths and 140 injuries, on the 2.7-mile stretch of Mulholland that racers frequent. That is a far higher accident rate than is common along other two-lane, residential streets, police said. Louis Friend would have begun the eighth grade next month at Bancroft Junior High School, said his married sister. Barbara Kaufman, the oldest of four Friend children. Police said that anyone having information about the boy's death should telephone the West Traffic Division at 393-9931.

extension 545. "It's buyer beware," said Marge Swenson, co-founder of the Fashion Academy in Costa Mesa, who suggested that color consumers are apt to receive conflicting advice. For example, Claudine Grace, a corporate assistant from Arcadia, spent $1,500 toward a new wardrobe based on the advice of a consultant who said she should wear "autumn" colors of rust, oranges and browns only to have another consultant say that she should wear blue-toned "winter-like" colors of red, green and gray. A Times reporter paid a total of $180 for three sets of "personal" colors suggested by a trio of consultants, but few of the colors in the sets were similar, and there was no way of knowing which, if any, were correct. 'Still an Art' "It's still an art," explained Steve Dianto-nio, chief operating officer of Color Me Beautiful in McClean, Va.

a business headed by Carol Jackson, author of the popular book by the same name. His company gives potential consultants eight days of color training for $2,500. As a business, the fad has spawned three other book (with an additional two in preparation), a record album and personal cloth ing boutiques. "There's no end," Diantonio said. "We've just scratched the surface." An eyeglass frame manufacturer, a cosmetics company and even a sheet, towel and pillowcase manufacturer have all been negotiating to license the Color Me Beautiful name, he said.

Started Long Ago The business seems to have started at least 42 years ago, when Suzanne Caygill of San Francisco started one venture after what she describes as a "revelation." Now 70, Caygill believes that she was the first to divide cool (blue-based) and warm (yellow-based) colors into "season" categoriessummer, winter, spring and fall and to advise clients accordingly. Over the years, the business was spread largely by word-of-mouth among women on a grass-roots level outside the fashion, design and cosmetics industries that traditionally dictate color trends. Helping women fight the fashion industry's dictates is the most positive effect of the color-consulting businesses, said Lora King, co-owner of a Keys to Vogue color-consulting franchise in Los Angeles. Please see COLOR, Page 6.