Birthday Cake

"Sheriff" John Rovick, the beloved Los Angeles children's TV show host whose gentle, fatherly persona made him a welcome guest in homes throughout the 1950s and '60s, died Saturday morning. He was 93. Rovick died in his sleep at a nursing facility in Boise, Idaho, said his wife, Jacqueline. A Toledo, Ohio, native who launched his broadcasting career in radio, Rovick was a newly hired staff announcer at KTTV-TV (Channel 11) when the Los Angeles station first went on the air in 1949.

Re “ Junior's Deli to close at end of year ,” Dec. 27 Junior's is closing? It's like taking away something from your childhood. Junior's means more to me than a landmark in L.A.; it's filled with memories dating back two decades: my girlfriend picking up a birthday cake from the bakery; taking my dad from Brooklyn to dine in one of the booths; and even getting into an altercation with another patron over getting a table on a crowded Sunday...

Ethel Simkins' 107th birthday party was such a hot time it brought the Fire Department to her nursing home after the candles on her cake set off the alarm. Peoria Fire Department officials said last week that the alarm at the Buehler Home went off because of the heat generated by the 107 candles on Simkins' birthday cake. "It was unbelievable," said Battalion Chief Paul Thornton. "It was very humorous.

Sunday would have been the 102nd birthday of John Wooden . At VIP's, his favorite coffee shop in Tarzana, the booth where he used to eat breakfast daily was set up for him, complete with a plate of two slices of bacon, eggs, a plate of muffins, orange juice, hot tea, a bottle of honey, a birthday cake and, most important, the Los Angeles Times Sports section. Family members were expected to drop by later in the day. Wooden died on June 4, 2010, at the age of 99. UCLA will unveil a statue of its legendary basketball coach next week outside Pauley Pavilion.

Judge Lance A. Ito's acceptance of a $75 birthday cake Wednesday from NBC "Today Show" host Katie Couric has generated a bit of controversy. The cake arrived at the same time Ito was considering whether to make KNBC reporter Tracie Savage reveal confidential sources in her coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder case. KNBC is owned and operated by NBC, but KNBC executives said they knew nothing about the cake.

The gig: Owner of Rossmoor Pastries, one of the region's largest independent commercial bakeries. It supplies pastries, cakes and other baked goods to large clients, including Disneyland, Staples Center, Angel Stadium, Universal Studios and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Some big projects : Created a gingerbread version of Staples Center that was rolled out to center court during halftime of a Los Angeles Lakers game. Baked a 5-foot-tall birthday cake for pop star Miley Cyrus.

Keith Miller got a beast of a wake-up call Thursday morning. The 71-year-old had just stepped outside his Altadena home to get the newspaper when he saw "this huge bear, looking like a Volkswagen, staring at me," Miller said. "It ran one way and I ran the other. " Before Miller made it back inside, he turned to see where the bear - which had been snacking on leftover birthday cake tossed in a garbage can - was headed. That's when he saw two cubs scamper up an oak tree in his frontyard.

Behold a scene of lust and betrayal between a young woman and another woman's fiancé, on top of a kitchen table. Make that on top of a birthday cake. On the betrayed woman's birthday. Oh, and the women are roommates. Then discover that it's not only excusable behavior but also actually a kinky act of kindness. And that's just the opening scene of "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23," ABC'ssubversive midseason addition to the quirky-girl comedy trend, which has its season finale Wednesday.

I spent a lot of birthdays with John Rovick, who passed away Saturday at the age of 93, although only a few of them were mine. There was a birthday party every day on "Sheriff John's Lunch Brigade," the Los Angeles kids' show Rovick hosted on KTTV for 17 years (alongside another show, "Sheriff John's Cartoon Time," he hosted for 18), which is to say there were birthday wishes read out to young viewers by name, there was a cake, which never got eaten, and there was a song. That song, which begins "Put another candle on my birthday cake" and ends "I'm another year old today" -- in between there was "pie and sandwiches and chocolate ice cream, too" -- is one of the few things in this world I know by heart.

My daughter celebrated her first birthday not too long ago, and since she's not able to talk much, we decided to let her 3-year-old brother decide what to have for dinner. He picked peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and birthday cake. The wine my wife and I shared with that was a 1985 Charles Heidsieck Rose Champagne. The first birthday is an important one. And, actually, it didn't go too badly.

It isn't always possible to meet your favorite star. In Los Angeles, you often settle for your star's star instead. When you want to celebrate, when you want to mourn, you commune with your idol's brass and terrazzo stand-in. The lucky stars are there to see their Hollywood Walk of Fame stars unveiled. John Lennon wasn't one of them. Photos: Happy birthday, John Lennon He was shot to death by Mark David Chapman eight years before he got his star - which is on Vine Street, outside Capitol Records.

"Sheriff" John Rovick, the beloved Los Angeles children's TV show host whose gentle, fatherly persona made him a welcome guest in homes throughout the 1950s and '60s, died Saturday morning. He was 93. Rovick died in his sleep at a nursing facility in Boise, Idaho, said his wife, Jacqueline. A Toledo, Ohio, native who launched his broadcasting career in radio, Rovick was a newly hired staff announcer at KTTV-TV (Channel 11) when the Los Angeles station first went on the air in 1949.

I spent a lot of birthdays with John Rovick, who passed away Saturday at the age of 93, although only a few of them were mine. There was a birthday party every day on "Sheriff John's Lunch Brigade," the Los Angeles kids' show Rovick hosted on KTTV for 17 years (alongside another show, "Sheriff John's Cartoon Time," he hosted for 18), which is to say there were birthday wishes read out to young viewers by name, there was a cake, which never got eaten, and there was a song. That song, which begins "Put another candle on my birthday cake" and ends "I'm another year old today" -- in between there was "pie and sandwiches and chocolate ice cream, too" -- is one of the few things in this world I know by heart.

EVENTS The Pasadena Museum of California Art is turning 10 years old and to celebrate it's throwing a party for the people featuring a free beer garden, hands-on workshops, live performances, food trucks including Nom Nom, Cool Haus and Pie and Burger, and an old-fashioned birthday cake. Pasadena Museum of California Art, 490 East Union St., Pasadena. 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sat. Free. (626) 568-3665; http://www.pmcaonline.org.

Harry Nicholas, who celebrates his 90th birthday Saturday, drives round-trip twice a week from southeast of Fresno to Los Angeles area farmers markets, where he is likely the oldest farmer to participate actively. As if that weren't enough, he's got the goofiest, most lovable grin in the markets, he's a snazzy dresser (partial to bolo ties and purple pimp hats) and he grows extraordinary produce. Some of his crops, such as Armenian cucumber, pomegranate and quince, might reflect the influence of his father, Joseph, who emigrated from Lebanon, worked drilling wells and in 1918 bought a ranch in Orange Cove, where he planted a vineyard.

Behold a scene of lust and betrayal between a young woman and another woman's fiancé, on top of a kitchen table. Make that on top of a birthday cake. On the betrayed woman's birthday. Oh, and the women are roommates. Then discover that it's not only excusable behavior but also actually a kinky act of kindness. And that's just the opening scene of "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23," ABC'ssubversive midseason addition to the quirky-girl comedy trend, which has its season finale Wednesday.

Ethel Simkins' 107th birthday party was such a hot time it brought the Fire Department to her nursing home after the candles on her cake set off the alarm. Peoria Fire Department officials said the alarm at the Buehler Home went off Thursday because of the heat generated by the 107 candles on Simkins' birthday cake. No one was evacuated from the home.

Boxes of food, a birthday cake and other supplies were delivered to 20 mostly foreign hostages who have been held by Muslim rebels since April 23 in the dense Philippine jungle, officials said. There still was no indication of when leaders of the extremist Abu Sayyaf group might free their captives. The group was kidnapped from the Malaysian diving resort of Sipadan Island and brought to nearby Jolo Island in the Philippines.

Keith Miller got a beast of a wake-up call Thursday morning. The 71-year-old had just stepped outside his Altadena home to get the newspaper when he saw "this huge bear, looking like a Volkswagen, staring at me," Miller said. "It ran one way and I ran the other. " Before Miller made it back inside, he turned to see where the bear - which had been snacking on leftover birthday cake tossed in a garbage can - was headed. That's when he saw two cubs scamper up an oak tree in his frontyard.

The gig: Owner of Rossmoor Pastries, one of the region's largest independent commercial bakeries. It supplies pastries, cakes and other baked goods to large clients, including Disneyland, Staples Center, Angel Stadium, Universal Studios and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Some big projects : Created a gingerbread version of Staples Center that was rolled out to center court during halftime of a Los Angeles Lakers game. Baked a 5-foot-tall birthday cake for pop star Miley Cyrus.