The crew filming the TV pilot of...

The crew filming the TV pilot of “Parker Kane” on Terminal Island was surprised when a county health inspector showed up to inspect the cuisine in The Standing Eight cafe.

After all, The Standing Eight was not a real diner, but a set for the private-eye movie.

“Apparently, some of the local fishermen weren’t so thrilled with our presence,” said Paul Hargrave, the location manager. “Someone called up the county and told them we were serving bad food and people were getting sick.”

The inspector peered inside The Standing Eight and saw “some doughnuts and a bowl of chili that had been out four days” while one scene was being shot, Hargrave said.

To their amazement, a citation was written and turned over to the Harbor Department despite the film crew’s explanations (and laughter).

Asked about the incident, a harbor spokeswoman said: “I can’t discuss that.”

Hargrave said he’s heard nothing more, leading him to believe the citation “landed in the circular file.”

The Standing Eight, meanwhile, will stay in business if the pilot is succeeded by a series. So its future is in the hands of NBC, not the county.

Another sign that summer is coming:

Jeff Stanton is back at his stand on Ocean Front Walk, hawking his picture postcards as well as his 6-year-old Forbidden Map of Venice on weekend afternoons.

The cartoon map is unique because, in addition to listing Venice’s performers, landmarks and restaurants, Stanton and co-creator Mia McCroskey depicted a gang fight, a mugging, prostitutes on a bench, and a drug deal involving a trenchcoat-clad man in a phone booth.

Stanton explained that the seamier aspects were “based on incidents that actually happened. Also, I had to fill up space on the map.”

The stubborn author said that most merchants refused to sell it and some threatened him if he tried to do so. He has sold about 1,000 of the guides. In retrospect, he joked, he could have avoided the controversy by depicting a movie crew at each violent scene.

After Only in L.A. ran a photo of the Martian mountain dubbed the Face on Mars, a caller phoned to report having seen an image of Bigfoot in the satellite photo on The Times weather page.

The same Mars item was accompanied by a photo of a man picketing Only in L.A. for making fun of the Face. He was pictured speaking to the author of Only, whose bald dome was gleaming in the sun.

A few days later, we received a letter about a Montebello seminar for men who have lost their hair.

miscelLAny:

The Brown Derby restaurant on Wilshire Boulevard is gone, but the plaster hat itself survives, though reduced in size. It now houses the Via Mare eatery in a nearby mini-mall. The rounded ceiling is covered by a map of Magellan’s voyage around the world. Talk about unusual hatbands.