Showroom

The challenge of how a bookcase can fit into a 90-degree corner is solved by a shelf system appropriately labeled the "Corner." Designed by Italian artist Marvello Marcello Morandini for Rosenthal, the shelves, as they address the corner, are subtly angled, creating some interesting and useful nooks and crannies. It was displayed in the Massini showroom.

Livingston Bramble, World Boxing Assn. lightweight champion, will defend his title against top-ranked Tyrone Crawley here Oct. 12. The fight will be staged in the 4,940-seat showroom of the MGM Grand hotel-casino.

Reggie Jackson's career as a Berkeley car dealer has apparently ended. His block-long Chevrolet sales showroom, which opened near the University of California amid much fanfare less than a year ago, has been closed. Whether Jackson has sold his dealership is not known, and Jackson had no comment. He continues to operate a Nissan-Volkswagen dealership in Palo Alto and a Ford agency in the Sierra Nevada town of Quincy.

A Santa Monica Mercedes-Benz dealer is removing the charred debris from the site of a fire that demolished the firm's showroom on Wilshire Boulevard and ruined 21 new cars valued at nearly $1 million. W. I. Simonson Inc.'s general manager, Elvira Reed, said the company expects the loss from last Thursday's fire to total $3 million to $4 million. All 21 luxury cars suffered extensive fire damage, but could all be driven out of the showroom during the clean-up, Reed said.

When potential clients call interior design firm Bobi Leonard Interiors Inc., they want to speak to Bobi herself. Never mind that the Santa Monica company has a team of designers with a slew of successful projects under its belt, Leonard's high profile means she is the firm in the public's eye. Leonard is proud of her success, of course.

SURELY, the interior designers attending Designer's Saturday, the big New York City trade show held in October, are the most jaded chair-sitters in the country. But they knew something was up at the Nienkamper showroom when they spied the smug expressions on the faces of company honchos debuting the Billow chair. "What's all the fuss about?" they wondered as they regarded the innocuous-looking chair (so-named for the profile of its seat and back, which resembles a billowing sail).

The Hancock Motors building at 500 E. Anaheim St. was the first Art Deco building in Long Beach. Designed by Cecil Schilling in 1928, it now faces demolition because the earthquake reinforcement mandated by the city has not been completed. Its owners have filed for bankruptcy. It is in receivership now, and the building will be repossessed by its lenders on Dec. 15. They hope to sell the building to someone who will comply with the city code. But if no buyers are forthcoming, they will demolish it. The Hancock Motors building has been designated as a Long Beach landmark by the Cultural Heritage Commission.

At Chef Franco, the chicken parmigiana is $7.95, fully loaded. There is no low, low financing. No salesman will use your first name half a dozen times every 90 seconds to say things like, "Steve, we're gonna put you in a brand-new chicken parmigiana . . . today!" or "Steve, when it comes to your family and chicken parmigiana, what kind of price can you put on safety?" But even without the standard sales lines, Chef Franco offers the ultimate in the Italo-automotive dining experience.