As a 27-year resident of L.A., Michael...

As a 27-year resident of L.A., Michael Bank writes that he was “amazed” to learn that the city could still hold any “first-time experiences” for him. It did.

Bank says he was enjoying a “three-course businessman’s lunch with two other coarse businessmen” in West L.A. when he realized that the time had expired on his parking meter. He ran outside, only to spot the tell-tale notice under his windshield wiper.

Figuring he might as well get the most out of his parking ticket, he left it there and resumed lunching for another 40 minutes. Imagine his surprise, then, when he returned to his car to find a second notice on the windshield. This one was the parking citation.

And the initial notice? It was an offer from an automotive detailer--”Satisfaction Guaranteed--Or It’s FREE!”

Unfortunately, the city’s Parking Violations Bureau doesn’t make the same offer.

The community of Beverly Hills Adjacent--that’s real estate agent talk for any part of L.A. within several miles of B.H.--isn’t the only area in Southern California that displays a squirrel-crossing sign.

Responding to our recent photo of a critter-crossing on La Peer Drive, Barbara Hunt of Idyllwild sent us a photo of the roadside warning in that mountain community, located southwest of Palm Springs.

Idyllwild’s signpost strikes us as the more idyllic.

List of the Week:

When a smallpox epidemic broke out in L.A. in 1844, the City Council issued several regulations, author James Guinn noted. Among them:

1. People were forbidden “from eating peppers and spices which stimulate the blood.”

2. “All residents were to burn sulfur on a hot iron in their houses for fumigation.”

3. “All travelers on inland roads were to halt at the distance of four leagues from the towns and wash their clothes.”

4. “All residents in good health were to bathe and cleanse themselves (at least) once in eight days.”

Talk about hot pursuits. A four-man CHP team--on foot--won the Law Enforcement Relay in the Sunkist Indoor Invitational at the Sports Arena the other night. An LAPD team was second. Finishing last, we were a bit surprised to note, was a foursome from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Meet director Al Franken, who inaugurated the event this year, said: “Next year, we’re going to ask them to run with nightsticks instead of batons.”

miscelLAny:

The current favorite models of car thieves in L.A. are the 1988 Hyundai Excel, the 1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass and the 1978, 1979 and 1980 Toyota Celicas. “There are more of them out there,” pointed out LAPD Lt. Bob Stemples. “And they are reliable transportation.”