Everyone knows George Washington was the first...

Everyone knows George Washington was the first President. But who was the first honorary mayor?

The latter post, generally ignored by historians, has been thrust into prominence since actor Martin Sheen declared Malibu a sanctuary for illegal aliens and the homeless.

The first honorary mayor appears to date back not to the original Thirteen Colonies but to the original Movie Star Colony--Beverly Hills. It was humorist Will Rogers, who was given the post by the City Council in 1926 to drum up newspaper coverage.

Soon, unincorporated communities in the San Fernando Valley grasped the publicity value of the office as a tool to attract home buyers. Al Jolson became honorary mayor of Encino in 1935. Bing Crosby held the same post in Toluca Lake--until his house burned down and he moved away.

Bud Abbott was honorary mayor of Sherman Oaks in the early 1940s, ably assisted by Honorary Chief of Police Lou Costello, who threatened “to issue a bench warrant to arrest Adolf Hitler as Public Enemy No. 1,” according to Westways magazine.

The closest any honorary mayor came to political controversy until now may have been when Will Rogers declared: “They say I’ll be a comedy mayor. Well, I won’t be the only one. I never saw a mayor yet that wasn’t comical.”

As for real mayors, Los Angeles’ Tom Bradley contends that Caltrans finds cement easier to take care of than trees and seems to be uprooting vegetation alongside roadways.

He’s asked the agency to stop this practice, noting that “urban reforestation has become a major environmental goal, not just in the city of Los Angeles,” but throughout the nation as a means of stemming “the global warming phenomenon.” Imagine--smog, congested freeways and a civic warming phenomenon too.

Waterfront cities like San Diego and Long Beach regularly host such exhibits. But a boat show in land-locked Pomona? Yes, this week at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds. You can get there by sailing east on the San Bernardino Freeway.

This week marks the anniversary of two shoot-outs involving desperadoes.

In 1874, Tiburcio Vasquez, colorful robber and horse thief, was wounded and personally captured by Los Angeles’ chief of police near what is now the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Kings Road in West Hollywood. He was subsequently hanged but a geological formation near Newhall was later named after him--Vasquez Rocks. The area held great sentimental value for Vasquez. It’s where he used to hide from the law.

In 1974, six members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, holed up in a house in South Los Angeles, died in a gun battle with Los Angeles police that was televised live. Christine Lund, then a reporter with KABC, gained a measure of fame by trying to interview the heavily armed terrorists before the shooting started. She walked up to the door of what she thought was the hide-out on East 54th Street and knocked. But she had the wrong address.