Costumes

When America declared war after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, the California National Guard was mobilized and called to arms. There was one problem, however: caught without warning, the servicemen had nothing to wear. No cause for alarm. The Western Costume Co. of Hollywood, the vanguard of authentic movie costumes, outfitted the soldiers with uniforms before they set off to guard the state's bridges and other vital installations.

Barney's creators are hoping to make unlicensed costumes styled after the children's figure extinct. Lyons Partnership, the Texas company that licenses an estimated $500 million in trademark Barney gear, has filed federal lawsuits against a handful of costume stores and children's entertainers who are making money from unlicensed costumes. Lyons, like the Walt Disney Co., doesn't license adult costumes.

An $800,000 grant from the Doris Stein Foundation will be used to establish a major costume and textile center at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The center will feature a specially designed storage area for 35,000 items and a library with 4,000 volumes covering the history and technology of costumes and textiles. The museum has a collection of costumes and textiles spanning 240 cultures and time periods. Completion of the center is expected late this year.

Forget the ghouls, ghosts and things that go bump in the night. This Halloween, after more than a year of Al Qaeda attacks, talk of war with Iraq and, most recently, the Washington-area sniper, scary and violent are out. Whimsy and fantasy are in for American trick-or-treaters. Even last year's popular police and firefighter costumes are likely to be more scarce Thursday as cartoon and fantasy characters, musketeers and fairies seek candy on the front stoops of the nation.

First came temporary Christmas tree lots and then part-time pumpkin patches. The latest in seasonal businesses is selling Halloween costumes. One Halloween costume shop has popped up in a former children's apparel store in the Harbor McFadden Center on Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana. Since the store is open only for a few short weeks before trick-or-treat time, the store is sans hangers and racks.

About 25 youths dressed in costumes took nearly $600 in small electronic equipment from a Silver Lake electronic store Tuesday night, but the store manager was unable to describe any of the youths to police because of the disguises. The manager of the Radio Shack store at 3733 Sunset Blvd. told police that the youths came in at 6 p.m. and shouted, "Trick or treat," then dispersed throughout the store and grabbed $580 worth of equipment, including cassettes and cordless phones.

The King could be your cabbie under Seattle's new taxi driver dress code. The City Council voted to approve legislation that would allow drivers to sport rhinestone capes, blue suede shoes or whatever other appropriate costume they wish. Cab driver Dave Groh's case prompted the change to the city's 1997 taxi dress code. Adopting an Elvis look after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in hopes of bringing some levity to the city, Groh in turn drew the ire of inspectors.

Two men wearing animal costumes held up a small-town bank at gunpoint, then escaped in a van painted with teddy bears and storks. The men walked into the County National Bank on Thursday afternoon carrying a sawed-off shotgun and an automatic handgun, state police said. One man wore a gorilla suit and the other had on a wild-boar mask. They took an undetermined amount of money and fled in the painted van.

For those who want to dress up as Santa this season, there are several spots to rent or buy St. Nick suits. Fantasy Costume in Brea rents suits from $35 to $85 a day, depending on the material from which the costume is made. "The less expensive suits are made of red flannel," owner Kathy Herer said. Velvet varieties are the more expensive of the 60 or so costumes she stocks. Velvet or velour, all of the Santa suits go quickly, she said.

A very small survey of SoCal kids tells us that some of the scariest Halloween get-ups will be patterned on what real-life rockers wear (think Spice Girls), and that TV toons have spawned another kind of creepy-crawly costume too (Rugrats, anyone?). Here are the kids' comments on what they'll wear and what treats they hope to get on Fright Night. Amanda Bynes, 12, Ventura, an actress on Nickelodeon's "All That" and "Figure It Out" * Costume: "I'm gonna dress up as a rock star.