Wax On, Wax Off

Jared Cowan's story about The Karate Kid turning 30 — and particularly his online gallery of photos comparing its Valley locations in 1984 and today — was an online smash (“How a Movie Shot in the San Fernando Valley Made Us All The Karate Kid,” June 20).

Reader JustaGuy remembers one location well, writing, “In about 1985, a couple years after the movie came out, I was called to repair the plumbing at this very same house where Miyagi lived in the film, and I remember saying that it seemed a little unusual — and why the crappy fake pond with no water in the front? The guy told me that this house was in a movie and that was left over from the movie set and nobody really tried to keep it up. After watching the movie, I can say that the set people sure did a nice job turning that pile-of-crap house into something that looked so good in the movie. After the movie, most of the fake improvements were removed and it was back to looking like a dump.”

Alex Volz wasn't enjoying the walk down memory lane. He writes, “This article should have been a paragraph at most. I can't believe this was a cover story. Also, Henry Rollins' column is as terrible as it's ever been. I would rather read a column from an interesting person with unique perspectives, even if he or she isn't famous. But I love L.A. Weekly!!!!” Well, gee, Alex, with friends like you…

The Uses of Money

Speaking of Henry Rollins, Greg Dahlen of Glendale feels that his most recent column missed the point (“Money Talks,” June 20).

“I believe Henry may have a misunderstanding of what it means to say someone is worth several billion dollars,” he writes. “I don't think it means, as he seems to, that they simply have enormous amounts of paper money hidden in a private vault somewhere, and the money is not being used to do anything.

“It more means that they own a part, or whole, of businesses providing goods and services, and their stake in the business is worth a great deal of money. I don't think anyone could simply hide $30 billion. Even if a billionaire somehow could let billions of dollars just sit in a bank, the bank would then be investing the money in businesses that provide goods and services, so the money would still be doing useful things.”

The Drones Are Coming

Rick Anderson's report on LAPD's newly acquired drones also had people talking (“Game of Drones,” June 20). “I'm all for it,” Nikbuckingham writes. “Get rid of the noisy helicopters.“

Steve agrees, listing all the things drones could be used for: “Searching for earthquake survivors, searching for Amber Alert suspects, monitoring wildfires, providing livestream traffic info, etc.”

“The problem isn't the drones themselves, which could be put to very good use,” desiwill3 counters. “The problem is with the LAPD, which has proven on numerous occasions that it can't be trusted.“

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