YEAR IN REVIEW

We first prepared our year-ender eight months ago, after a prediction by psychics that an earthquake would destroy California on May 8 at 7:05 p.m. It didn’t happen, but the oddities kept on coming, as our final wrap-up illustrates:

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Cultural spectacular of the year: A couple made love on a ridge behind the Hollywood Bowl during the June Playboy Jazz Festival, apparently unaware that hundreds of spectators had binoculars trained on them. A witness noted that each time the duo “would change whatever they were doing, people would cheer them on.”

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Your tax dollars at work: David McFadden, a librarian at Southwestern University Law School, wrote to the Los Angeles city clerk’s office, requesting a list of the members of the City Council. Instead, he received a sheet listing the betting spreads for the pro football games of Sept. 26-27.

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Fortunately, he had a civil explanation: Police responded to a report of a man in an Army uniform holding a gun outside a San Fernando Valley elementary school in May. He turned out to be a guest speaker who had brought along a Civil War-era rifle and costume.

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Can you tell us the color of his eyes?During the Woody Allen-Mia Farrow case, Farrow testified that a “former husband” of hers had offered to break Allen’s legs. But the court blocked her from revealing which ex-spouse it was: former L.A. Philharmonic conductor Andre Previn or singer Frank Sinatra.

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Post no scrawls: A neighborhood leader in the Fairfax area spray-painted this message (see photo) on the side of an abandoned building. An unorthodox tactic, perhaps, but you’ll notice that it hasn’t been rubbed out by any rival painters.

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Something for everyone: In February, a Long Beach store called Condom Wrap advertised its selection of “outrageous Valentine, Chinese New Year and Black History condom gifts.”

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How most singles meet in L.A.: California Highway Patrol Officer John Bavetta and Sheriff’s Deputy Candace Dean were married at an intersection in La Canada Flintridge in August--celebrating the fact that it was the spot where the two met during a traffic accident a few months earlier. Dean, who had been slightly injured in the accident, arrived for the nuptials as she had left the accident scene--in an ambulance.

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Scarier than the Big One: Hundreds of panicky residents phoned authorities in March after disc jockey Rick Dees pulled a hoax by announcing that toilets all over the Southland might explode. Dees, who blamed the crisis on a backed-up sewer system, cautioned listeners to put at least 10 pounds of weight on their toilet seats to prevent outbursts.

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We’re surprised the thief didn’t wear a disguise: A Telluride, Colo., newspaper reported in January that a resident claimed her sunglasses were stolen by a woman who “asked her many questions and was wearing a big puffy jacket.” The victim described the suspect as “a Los Angeles-looking woman.”

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Will that be coach or first class, sir?During the standoff involving the followers of David Koresh at the Branch Davidian complex, a stranger ran into a home in Upland and reportedly yelled: “Take me to Waco!”

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He deserved a special Emmy: Santa Monica actor Christopher Cotten was so convincing as a fugitive on an episode of TV’s “America’s Most Wanted” in June that he was detained by Nashville police, who thought he was the bad guy.

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Excuse me, are you going to be on the phone long?Comic Marty Ingels was sentenced to 120 hours of community service after pleading no contest in February to a charge of making annoying phone calls to actress June Allyson. Investigators said Ingels, who claimed that Allyson owed him money, made 138 hang-up calls to her home in one eight-hour period alone. Ingels blamed the hang-ups on a broken auto-dialer.

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Maybe she should have offered him a banana: A man wearing a gorilla mask was caught in the parking lot after robbing a West Covina store in April. Police reported that when one employee yelled at him as he was fleeing, the robber looked at her and “grunted like a gorilla.”

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He had his 15 seconds of fame: In August, Mickey Smith, a salesman for a local elevator company, received a fax from People magazine that said: “We are running a story about you in the next issue of the magazine. We would very much like to interview and photograph you for the story.”

Luckily, before going out to buy a new suit, Smith noticed that People had sent the fax to him by accident. It was addressed to Heidi Fleiss.