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# Fool’s gold? Residents take issue
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/fools-gold-residents-take-issue/
- Published: 2004-04-02T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:08:15.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Community, Main St, #archive-import, Homeless

*APRIL FOOL’S, from page 1 Transients look to ‘settle’ up*

It was a joke. Some people found yesterday’s news hilarious, while others did not.

In case some of our readers missed it, the April 1 edition of the Santa Monica Daily Press was entirely made up and, while most of the reaction from the community was positive, there were a handful of people who called our office in disgust. We’re sorry if we offended you... it was just a joke.

Those who were upset mostly complained of the lead story — “Palisades Bluffs crumble; PCH closes.” One reader, who works on Main Street, said it was appalling that we would use a tragedy to get a laugh. The story, which pointed out that no one was injured in the fake disaster, was intended to “fool” readers into thinking big news happened on Wednesday.

Another reader e-mailed this message: “Your editorial today is a travesty of newspaper publishing. If you had any history in Santa Monica you would know that the possibility of the bluffs crumbling is no laughing matter and has indeed happened. You should be ashamed of yourself. You are the joke.”

But others called commending the SMDP for making them, well... feel like fools. One reader said he was fooled for about 10 seconds, but then realized that the photo of the rubble on the PCH was obviously fake. But his girlfriend, who lives in Malibu, called him in a panic, wondering when she would ever see her love again because the PCH was closed. His response to those upset was “Lighten up, it’s a joke.” He added that his girlfriend called two colleagues who commute from the north and told them to go a different way to get to Santa Monica because she thought the PCH was closed.

City officials — who appreciated the humor, much of which was at their expense — said they were inundated on Thursday with transients who believed that City Hall really did settle a $57 million lawsuit with a homeless group, and came in to City Hall looking for their money. There is no money and there is no settlement. Sorry for the confusion.

One reader called in and expressed her angst, explaining her neighborhood nearly gave her notice to her landlord when she learned that nickel parking meters were going to be installed on every street in Santa Monica.

“There was no humor in your paper at all today. If you are going to do this you should tell people,” she said. “This isn’t funny. This is a newspaper. It’s supposed to be real.”

Several readers were in agreement when they said they thought Santa Monica needs a sense of humor every once in a while.

We concur.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 2, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/040204.pdf?ref=smdp.com)