You may recall the Freeway Chickens, who...

You may recall the Freeway Chickens, who survived a poultry-truck crash on the 101 near Universal City 20 years ago and pecked away for years on the side of the road.

Now come the Freeway Tomatoes, spotted by Andrea Martin of Laguna Niguel on the 110, north of Florence Avenue.

“Every day we see the two plants in the center divider, and there are tomatoes on each,” said Martin, who car pools into L.A. “They must be darn hardy. What’s amazing is that they’re about two miles apart.”

No one knows whether the Freeway Tomatoes resulted from a truck spill, like the Freeway Chickens, or were perhaps the product of a Johnny Tomatoseed. Martin said she wasn’t sure whether she’d want to sample the Freeway Tomatoes, considering all the car fumes they’ve inhaled.

But she added: “You have to smile when you see them. They’re about the only thing that’s nice about the drive.”

Just Another Day in L.A.:

Michael Cannon says he was sitting in his car in the Wilshire district, waiting for his girlfriend, when a disheveled man approached him with outstretched hand.

“I thought he was going to ask for a handout,” Cannon related, “but he had some coins in his hand. Instead, he said, ‘Need any spare change, man?’ I said no, so he said, ‘Stupid Angelenos,’ and gave me a tap on the chin.

“He walked down to the guy parked in front of me. That guy did take the money. And he didn’t get hit.”

Supervisor Kenneth Hahn recently suggested that the Pacific Northwest act like a “good neighbor” and channel some water down to drought-stricken Southern California. “You’ve got to be kidding,” responded one Oregon official, summing up the Northwest’s reaction.

But now there’s a billboard advertisement on Figueroa Street that says “IDAH20.” It turns out that Idahoans want us to sample their water, after all. But they want us to go up there to do it. It’s a pitch for white-water rafting vacations.

Hooray for What Wood?

Mary Webb of North Hollywood saw a shuttle bus carrying a notice that it was donated by county Supervisor Ed Edelman and listing several destinations, including “Hoolywood.”

Banning High teacher Val Rodriguez recently retired after what he describes as “32 years in front of the blackboard.” He sent us one of his cherished mementoes, the most unusual illness excuse from a student that he ever saw.

In the box on the form where the “reason” for the absence is supposed to be filled in, there was one word: “Sex.”

miscelLAny:

No. 71 in the “Downtown Points of Interest” listed in the 1990 Thomas Bros. Maps guide for L.A. is . . . “Thomas Bros. Maps Store.”