Director Barry Young, who in the last...

Director Barry Young, who in the last couple of years has made a real splash in the world of television commercials, says he is trying to create “a Los Angeles of the mind . . . a hyper L.A. filled with heightened realism and psychic unconscious.”

When looking for settings, the 40-year-old Riverrun Films director and producer said he tries to paint a picture of Los Angeles that jibes with how Angelenos view their city. He explained: “The reality of Los Angeles is very harsh, awful traffic, a lot of bad architecture, lack of planning. So what sustains people is an internal almost meditative spiritual vision of the city. I’m trying to strike a chord in the psyche, a balance between fantasy and reality.”

For example, he said he might find the perfect 1920s Spanish bungalow, the perfect retail facade on Melrose, a piece of Frank Gehry architecture and blend them together to come up with a dreamscape of Los Angeles that is at once subtropical, futuristic and nostalgic.

Among the commercials Young has put his mark on are the recent Estee Lauder perfume ads and promotions for the CBS fall television lineup. Right now he’s in the midst of filming a commercial for Chevrolet’s Geo, and has filmed on Main Street, at the Los Angeles Coliseum, Hancock Park, Sunset Plaza, Century City and the Santa Monica Airport.

Recently, for a commercial he painted those red zones on curbs pink.

“L.A. is pastel, I see aqua meeting polished aluminum. Instead of red zones, we should have pink zones . . . you can only park in a pink zone if you know somebody--that’s L.A. of the mind.

Comic Marty Brill spotted this sign on a downtown hot-dog peddler’s cart: “Special Attention Given to Out-Going Orders.”

Zsa Zsa Gabor is looking for a few good men, or women, for that matter, to help her out in her “police battering” case. In the past week, a small ad has appeared in a handful of local newspapers: “Any witnesses who saw the interaction of Zsa Zsa Gabor and the Beverly Hills Police Department on June 14, or have knowledge of past misconduct of Officer Paul Kramer, Please contact law offices. . . .”

So what do you get when you combine the area’s hottest bicycle racers with the hottest pasta maker in town?

The Spago-Finlandia Bicycling Racing Team.

When Wolfgang Puck, owner of Spago restaurant, isn’t making pizzas, he likes to go for bicycle rides. So he decided to sponsor a bicycle team with Finlandia Vodka.

Based in Hollywood, the team of 25 professional and amateur athletes include Olive Starr, who finished first at the Ft. Carson Road Race, and Stephen Swart, who placed seventh in the U.S. championships.

So what will the bicyclers bulk up on before the big races? May we suggest the special of the day: Puck’s pesto pasta.