Not-So-Elfish Grinch on Roof Causes Such Clatter

Call him the un-Santa.

A 19-year-old man was arrested in Long Beach “on suspicion of burglary at 2 a.m. when he was caught in more ways than one while entering a vacant home via the chimney,” reports Beachcomber columnist Steve Propes.

Neighbors phoned authorities after hearing the chimney captive “screaming.” (And it wasn’t “ho, ho, ho!”) Officers discovered, by the way, two female acquaintances of the intruder on the roof. The un-Santa’s helpers also were arrested.

‘Duh!’ winner: On a package of toilet cleaner, Mary Rodriguez of Sylmar noticed a warning for 4- and 2-footed creatures (see accompanying).

Food for thought: Liz Bernhard of Culver City bought some beef that’s evidently a big hit in one South American country (see accompanying).

And chew on this: While the two geographical locations rhyme, the “Chile” selection should not be confused with a sandwich named after the city of good old Fhiladelphia (see accompanying).

Escape! Sheila Seymour of Tehachapi sent along a police blotter item from the Bear Valley Cub newspaper, which reported the discovery of “a male subject sleeping at the rear of a house on Medicine Bow who stated he was just trying to get away from Arvin.” Who the heck is this guy, Arvin?

Actually, it’s a town near Tehachapi.

Making music: Some factoids related by the publication Rolling Stone along with its picks of the 500 greatest rock songs of all time:

* “Come Together” by John Lennon (No. 211): It came about because Timothy Leary, who was running for governor of California, “asked Lennon to write a campaign song for him.” It didn’t get Leary elected.

* “Peggy Sue” by Buddy Holly (No. 194): Jerry Allison, Holly’s snare drummer, played so loudly he was told to perform in the next room during a recording of a song called “Cindy Lou.” So, Rolling Stone said, “to placate his exiled drummer, Holly changed the title to ‘Peggy Sue,’ after Allison’s girlfriend.”

* “Paranoid Android” by Radiohead (No. 256): Writer/singer Thom Yorke said the tender lyric “squealing Gucci little piggy” referred to “a creepy coked-out woman he once spied at an L.A. bar.”

* “The Loco-Motion” by Little Eva (No. 350): “There never was a dance called the Loco-motion until after it was a hit,” co-writer Carol King told the publication. “Everyone said, ‘How does this dance go?’ So Little Eva had to make up a dance.”

miscelLAny: Rolling Stone ranked the Valley’s love song, “Free Fallin’ ” by Tom Petty at No. 177.

Its lyrics include the lines, “It’s a long day living in Reseda/There’s a freeway runnin’ through the yard,” and, “All the vampires walkin’ through the Valley/Move west down Ventura Boulevard.”

You’ll never hear anyone say that of Arvin.