It was 6:45 pm and I didn’t want to be late for my 7 pm screening of Aaron and Adam Nee’s The Lost City (Paramount, 3.25). But the traffic along Santa Monica Blvd. near Beverly Hills City Hall was just inching along. After a block or two I read a sign: cops were checking for driver’s licenses and to see if anyone had been drinking.

Who gets shit-faced before 7 pm on a Thursday evening? And if the bulls want to spot-check drivers, why fuck with people during rush hour? Why not do it starting around 9 or 10 pm?

You know what I did? Hung a right on Foothill, left on Carmelita, drove seven or eight blocks, left (south) on Walden, right on SM Blvd. and over to Century City…checkpoint dodge! And I don’t even drink.