Nothing but lies

What is the truth?
Could you handle the truth if you knew it?

Would you know the truth if you saw it, heard it, felt it, or smelled it?

Woven into his week’s tapestry of fabrications are some threads of truth, but not many — just seven in all.

There are some items that may or may not be true — pushes that could go either way. If you can convince us that they really are true, then so it will be.

The challenge is to find those items that are true then write to us with the answers to win tickets for you and a friend for dinner and an event of some kind, courtesy of the Pasadena Weekly.

We only have enough tickets for five winners, so you’ll have to hurry up and choose.

Just remember; there are no false truths. In other words, if one part of the statement is false, then the whole thing is false.

For instance, if the statement is “Former PW reporter Carl Kozlowski was named the Funniest Reporter West of the Mississippi,” that would be false. Why? Carl is not a former reporter, well, not yet. Who knows, that one might be true by the time you write in. But that’s how it works.

By the same token, some items are open to interpretation. But if you say something is true — and then swear on a stack of Bibles — hey, who are we to quibble?

So dig in, take the test and tell us just what is true and what is false about your hometown, Pasadena.

1.   Caltech’s Ramo Auditorium is named for a character in the 1984 hip-hop and graffiti culture film “Beat Street.”

2.   In January, the City Council will hear a proposal by former Raymond Theater owners Gene and Marilyn Buchanan to purchase the Pasadena Playhouse and convert it into luxury condos.

3.   Now that he’s been sworn in as a lawyer, Rene Amy is preparing to represent onetime PUSD volunteer-turned-accused serial killer John Whitaker in his upcoming murder trial.

4.   A shipment of 10,000 Bill Bogaard bobble-head dolls produced as part of a deal to bring the China-themed float to the Rose Parade were recalled after it was found they were finished with lead-based paint.

5.   He’s all for gun control now, but when he was young state Sen. Jack Scott shot a neighbor’s dog.

6.   PW writer Carl Kozlowski was recently voted America’s Funniest Reporter.

7.   Pasadena City Councilwoman Jacque Robinson is really only 18 years old.

8.   Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger once attended Caltech as part of an Austrian student exchange established by Albert Einstein.

9.   Before moving to Pasadena, schools critic Mary Dee Romney served as California’s Secretary of Education under Gov. Pete Wilson.

10. Contrary to his subsequent statements, former presidential candidate John Kerry actually did mean to say that without education, you’ll get stuck in Iraq.

11.  He doesn’t talk about it much, but Caltech President Jean-Lou Chameau is actually the brother of French actor Jean Reno.

12. Pasadena Councilman Steve Madison is a lot of fun to hang out with once you get to know him.

13. After being harassed and audited by the IRS, All Saints Church Rector Emeritus George Regas recently declared that GW Bush really is a great president and that war in Iraq was actually a good idea.

14.  Los Angeles Sentinel owner Danny Bakewell is the best qualified developer for the Heritage Square housing project.

15. And speaking of Bakewell, his grandfather was the architect who designed Pasadena City Hall.

16.  Pasadena Magazine is really put together in Pasadena, Texas, and has nothing much to do with Pasadena, Calif.

17.  Pasadena Superintendent of Schools Edwin Diaz is a Rhodes Scholar.

18.  Former Altadena Town Councilman Justin Chapman moved to the Bay Area and now serves on the Berkeley City Council.

19.  Freddie’s 35er bar is so named for the price of a shot of whiskey in the early 1960s.

20. Barney’s restaurant and Barney’s Beanery are both owned by Pasadena Police Chief Bernard “Barney” Melekian. Melekian refuses to be publicly called by that name so people only think of it in reference to his businesses.

21. A portion of the thousands of condos and apartments currently being built in upscale West Pasadena are to be used to house recently released prison inmates.

22. Larry Flynt will be talking to the city next month about purchasing the Crown City Loan and Jewelry pawn shop in Old Pasadena and turning it into a Hustler store.

23. Former PUSD Superintendent Percy Clark became an Episcopal minister and moved to a village in Africa to see for himself how the children are doing.

24. James Macpherson’s Pasadena Now news Web site is produced exclusively in Pasadena.

25. The Rose Bowl was first built to host chariot races for the city’s wealthy residents.

26.  After reading about its new Sunday Night Bowling and Drinking Club in PW, the National Bowling Association decided to have its annual tournament at Eagle Rock’s All Star Lanes.

27.  Hounded from the tri-city airport commission, Glendale Councilman Bob Yousefian quit public life altogether to become a professional ventriloquist.

28. Bliss, PW’s contributing music editor, is a pseudonym. Her real name is Severin Browne, brother of rocker Jackson Browne. Likewise, PW dining critic Erica Wayne is really Carl Kozlowski, as is fellow food scribe Dan O’Heron.

29.  Pasadena impresario Tom Coston recently announced that participants in January’s loony Doo Dah Parade will have to test positive for drug and alcohol use before being allowed to march in the event.

30. After leaving Day One, the anti-drug and alcohol nonprofit organization for teens, Tahra Goraya went into business with legendary pothead Tommy Chong to sell designer pipes and bongs.

31.  The 21 Flavors yogurt shop in Old Pasadena only has 17 flavors.

32.  Pasadena City Councilman Victor Gordo recently fulfilled a lifelong dream and became a firefighter in neighboring Glendale.

33.  Before becoming a year-round Christmas supply store, Stats once served as an equipment warehouse for the LA Dodgers.

34.  Paseo Colorado is owned by a management company controlled by Jennifer Lopez.

35.  Speaking of Lopez, she owns a restaurant in Pasadena called Madre’s.

36. Before it became the Gold Line, the Metro Gold Line was to be called the Blue Line.

37.  Actor Kevin Costner once owned Twin Palms restaurant, but lost the business in a high-stakes poker match at Morongo Casino.

38.  Conservative Republican Congressman David Dreier once dated workout guru Richard Simmons.

39. Pasadena Councilman Steve Haderlein was forced to resign his post with the state marijuana reform campaign because of his refusal to inhale.

40. Peace activist Dick Smoak once broke a man’s nose for laughing at his name.

41. Former state Attorney General John Van De Kamp regularly serves his family’s brand of fish sticks at garden parties held at his Pasadena home.

42. Conservative Pasadena blogger Wayne Lusvardi is actually a registered Democrat.

43. Pasadena Board of Education member Scott Phelps is one of the few remaining members of the Pasadena branch of the John Birch Society.

44.  Pasadena Democratic Assemblyman Anthony Portantino was arrested, along with Congressman Adam Schiff and former state Sen. Tom Hayden, in San Francisco in the 1960s at a meeting of Hayden’s Students for a Democratic Society.

45.  Pasadena City Councilman Sid Tyler was an ace fighter pilot in Vietnam.