As Los Angeles heads into a crucial...

As Los Angeles heads into a crucial period, faced with problems of traffic congestion, air quality and overdevelopment, less than 5% of the population picked the man who will be the city’s mayor for the next four years. (Tom Bradley, the incumbent, in case you hadn’t heard.)

In a city of 3.36 million people, just over 156,000 registered voters cast ballots for Bradley.

How low was His Honor’s vote count? For comparison purposes, the figure would fall short of:

--The crowd for one Hollywood Christmas Parade, two Pink Floyd concerts at the Coliseum or a three-game Mets series at Dodger Stadium.

--The number of people who own water beds in the city (an estimated 225,000).

--The number of dogs registered with the city (230,000).

--The number of vehicles using the Santa Monica Freeway in a 12-hour period (158,000).

--The number of people in the city who say they regularly roller skate (about 400,000).

Some have blamed Mayor Bradley for failing to inspire the electorate with his low-key style. It should be noted, however, that a boisterous style didn’t always work so well for the early leaders of the dusty little pueblo.

The colorful cast of characters has included:

--Los Angeles Mayor Stephen Foster (1854-56), who solidified his law-and-order credentials by resigning from office to help lynch a convicted killer whose execution had been stayed by the state Supreme Court.

--Mayor Damien Marchessault (1859-65), a one-time New Orleans gambler, who culminated a controversy over the city’s faulty wooden water pipes by committing suicide in the City Council chamber.

--Mayor Joel Turner (1868-70), who startled visiting Secretary of State William Seward by “ambushing” his stagecoach near the Cahuenga Pass with a band of troubadours described by one writer of the time as “a barefoot Indian drummer, a ditto fifer, a mestizo flageolet player, an old (man) named Pinacarte with his flute, a skinny fiddler and a fat fellow with an accordion . . . all tricked out in ribbons and spangles in old-time Californian style.”

--And Mayor A.C. Harper (1906-09), who resigned after an investigation into reports that he frequented local brothels and that his aides were involved in a plot to sell the Los Angeles River.

FASHION NOTE: When she accompanied officers on a recent “rock house” raid, Nancy Reagan wore a blue Los Angeles Police Department windbreaker that bore a “Nancy” nameplate. Today, she’s expected to don another personalized blue team jacket, which was presented to her at the White House after last year’s World Series. She’s throwing out the first ball at the Dodgers home opener.

Heard on the Muzak system during an Earthquake Education and Vendor Fair at Arco Plaza, which featured demonstrations and exhibits dedicated to the Big One:

Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move.”

Gasoline isn’t the only increasingly expensive fuel used by commuters.

Winchell’s Donut Shops, sellers of 125,000 cups of coffee per day in Southern California, has reduced the size of its small cups by 16%, to 10 ounces.

“We’d gotten complaints that our small cup was too large,” a spokesman said. “We’d find cups that still had coffee in them in the trash cans.”

The company also increased the price of a small coffee by a nickel to 55 cents, though no one had complained that the price was too low. “Rising costs” was the reason cited.

A typographical error in a newspaper advertisement the other day might have given the impression that the Time of Your Life Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center this weekend is offering instructions on how seniors can form their own “Over-the-Hill Gang.” The truth is, though, the seminar offers a “Crafts” gallery, not a “Grafts” Gallery.