NEW BEACH BOYS: The county’s Salomon Bros....

NEW BEACH BOYS: The county’s Salomon Bros. bankruptcy recovery team has packed up its calculators and moved to the beach for July. At $3,400 a month, their three-bedroom Newport Beach house is considerably cheaper than the Westin South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, where the New York-based financial advisers have perched since the county’s bankruptcy filing last December. Plus, analyst Justin Bailes is doing the cooking. . . . “We’re going to save the county a lot of money,” says Salomon team leader Chris Varelas. “Juice from the store is a lot cheaper than juice from the mini-bar.”

FARM FAMILY: The selection of four Angels to the American League All-Star squad this week isn’t quite a team record, but it’s close. The Angels haven’t had this many players picked since 1983, when five were chosen. Their largest All-Star contingent was 1979, with six. . . . One big difference this season: Jim Edmonds, Gary DiSarcina and Chuck Finley are products of the Angels’ farm system. Only relief ace Lee Smith started elsewhere. By comparison, its 1983 All-Stars all started with other teams.

HOOP DREAMS? Eric Wersching was a track star at Ocean View High in Huntington Beach. But he’s going to UCLA in the fall on a basketball scholarship, without even lacing up his sneakers. . . . He won the top award--$20,000 to a top student--at a recent UCLA freshman scholarship competition. Wersching’s scholarship is provided by Sears, in honor of UCLA’s 1995 NCAA men’s basketball champions. Wersching’s stated goal to the judges: to someday be secretary of state.

SECRETS: A new book by Michael Ryan, UC Irvine’s award-winning poet (E1), is due in bookstores next week and could cause a stir. “Secret Life” details Ryan’s sexual addiction, which led him into bed with several of his students while teaching at Princeton. . . . That’s all behind him now, he says: “The book has a happy ending.” A movie version in store? “Sure, right,” cracks Ryan. “Starring Pee-wee Herman.”