On the day that Daryl Gates announced...

On the day that Daryl Gates announced his decision to retire, The Times received a request to run a classified ad that begins:

“The City of St. Charles, Mo., seeks a Police Chief. . . .�

Wars, earthquakes, junk-bond kings and motion picture studios come and go. But the painting of the L.A. Convention Center continues--slowly, very slowly.

It began when a light blue “test� stripe was daubed on the south face of the grayish building. Then officials stepped back and studied it for a year or so.

Several weeks ago, a dark blue stripe was daubed alongside the light blue stripe.

“The problem with the light blue,� said one official, “is that it looks great when the sky is clear and blue. But the minute the sky gets gray or smoggy it loses its effectiveness.�

Alas, the darker blue, though handsome, “doesn’t get enough light bounce,� he added.

So, guess what we have to look forward to in 1992?

“We may do one more (stripe),� said our source.

List of the Day:

David Dobrin of Westchester sent along the latest list of state-sanctioned traffic-violator schools. Aside from the stand-up comedy genre (“B-Rake Ya Up Funny Comedians Traffic School�), Dobrin found these varieties:

1--�Finally a Gay Traffic School� (West Hollywood).

2--�Free Pizza School� (Granada Hills).

3--�Free Las Vegas Trip Traffic School� (Inglewood).

4--�L Carro Loco Cheap-O Traffic School� (West Covina).

5--�VIP-Showtime Comedy Films� (Studio City).

It’s no tribute to L.A.’s chefs that you have to go all the way to Stockton to find “Lunch ‘n’ Learn at Fine Restaurants Traffic School.�

While we’re at it, we wonder if the signs designed by the Torrance firm of Edward Carson Beall & Associates for the Seacliff Museum in Huntington Beach will lead to a Feathered-Fliers Violator School.

Your Only in L.A. Ombudsman at Work for You:

A few days ago, we revealed that the locater key for “points of interest� on the RTD’s new San Fernando Valley guide contains numerous mistakes, not the least of which is the placing of Universal Studios in Canoga Park. Well, we’ve learned that, on the remaining copies of the guide in RTD offices, errant Nos. 22-41 of the key have been blacked out. Another “point of interest� that was misplaced, incidentally, was the RTD’s Customer Service Center.

Maybe the guide-maker was partially blinded by light bounce.

miscelLAny:

The guidebook L.A. Access says that the oldest building in the city is the 600-year-old pagoda at the Yamoshiro Restaurant. The pagoda was imported by two art dealers who lived at the Yamoshiro before it became a restaurant.