Colleagues in Court Ken Bernstein, planning director in City Councilwoman Laura Chick’s office, and Rich Mason, attorney for the Los Angeles Unified School District, are seeing a lot of each other in court these days. The two are on opposite sides in the school district’s legal challenge to the environmental impact of the Warner Center expansion plan. But they got a double dose of each other when they showed up to perform their civic duty in November: Mason and Bernstein were in the same jury duty pool. While they were twiddling their thumbs and waiting to be called, Mason and Bernstein finally had a chance to shoot the breeze without the legalese. “It turns out that he’s a nice guy,” Bernstein joked. “Previously, I’d only known him as an adversary.” Talk invariably touched on the lawsuit although, Bernstein is quick to note, the two didn’t negotiate on behalf of either of their parties. Bernstein and Mason were called for jury duty just as their lawsuit moved from the settlement to the appeal stage. The city is currently in the process of appealing the state appellate court ruling in favor of the school district, which essentially nullifies the specific plan for the Woodland Hills office, apartment and hotel development. The two only had one day to talk, though. Mason, the attorney, got bumped from his jury pool while Bernstein spent two weeks on a medical litigation claim. Sayonara to Seinfeld It’s not just fans of the “Seinfeld” gang who will be missing the cast of the highly successful sit-com it’s also the waiters and staff of Jerry’s Famous Deli in Studio City. The restaurant has been a hangout for Seinfeld and his well-heeled co-stars for the past nine seasons. Seinfeld announced last week he is quitting the show taped at the CBS Studio Center in Studio City at the end of this season. “Any time you have high-profile clients and they leave, you are sad to see them go,” said Scott Knigin, the deli chain’s senior purchasing manager. Riordan, Chick in ‘Love’ Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick and Mayor Richard Riordan have clashed on numerous city policy issues over the years. So it comes as a bit of a surprise that the two are scheduled to appear together on Jan. 27 to perform an abridged version of the A.J. Gurney play “Love Letters” at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills. The play, which follows the lifelong romance of a lawyer and an artist, is being performed to raise money for the Madrid Theatre, a 499-seat theater to be built in Canoga Park. The theater site is in Chick’s council district. The event’s 750 seats already have sold out, with more than $300,000 being raised to support performances and audience development at the soon-to-be-opened theater. “Council member Chick and the mayor have disagreed on issues before, but it doesn’t mean that they don’t have a good working relationship,” said Eric Rose, Chick’s district director. “And it also doesn’t mean they can’t both support a worthwhile charity.” Hopping Back Hopalong Cassidy, the 1950s Western television icon who rode in the Rose Parade this year, is back. At least that’s the hope of Joe “Hoppy” Sullivan, a Cassidy lookalike who’s been making public appearances across the nation as the beloved character for the last eight years. Tarzana-based Hopalong Cassidy Enterprises, which holds the rights to the Cassidy name and franchise, is moving ahead with several projects for the coming year, including a movie, according to Steve Gordon of T/G Marketing, which works with the company. “Hopalong was a national hero almost 50 years ago and he is still one of the most loved characters in television history,” Gordon said “I believe that kids and adults are ready for his character to come back.” The King on CD-ROM Elvis fans who want to worship their king but don’t care to drive to Memphis now can visit Graceland from the comfort of their PC terminals courtesy of Total Multimedia Inc., a Camarillo software publisher that is putting out a CD-ROM interactive tour of Elvis’ famed estate. The two-CD set features a complete tour of the Graceland mansion, including areas that are not accessible to “actual” Graceland visitors. The set also includes 350 stories about Presley and the estate as told by some of the King’s closest friends; a tour of Elvis’ car museum; and Elvis’ home movies and photographs. Users also can “play” Presley’s guitar and shoot pool in his famous pool room. The King’s liquor cabinet, medicine chest and refrigerator, however, apparently remain off limits.