It’s heartening to see that L.A. residents...

It’s heartening to see that L.A. residents and businesses have cut back water usage by 13%. More hopeful signs abound, too. Mayor Tom Bradley promises that his gardeners won’t water so much. And the Department of Water and Power has surrendered one of its treasured perks.

The DWP has agreed to share with city firefighters the “gate keys” needed to turn off broken fire hydrants. In the past when firefighters responded to a burst hydrant, they had to wait for a DWP rep to arrive. Last year, about 1,300 hydrants burst in L.A., losing about 292 million gallons of water (enough to serve 3,200 households a year, or 3,199 if you include Bradley’s).

Some saw the DWP’s past refusal to allow firefighters to deactivate hydrants as bureaucratic rivalry. The DWP maintained that the task required “specialized training.”

The other day, at a press conference, two firefighters demonstrated how to turn off a hydrant. They fit a T-shaped pole over the hydrant’s valve. They grasped opposite sides of the “T.” They turned it. The flow ceased.

The “specialization” was apparent: They had to remember to turn the “T” in the same direction.

The Raiders, who open against Denver on Sunday in the L.A. Coliseum (their home this week), also kicked off the season in L.A. against the Broncos last year. They drew more than 90,000 fans for that game.

Speculating on Sunday’s turnout, USA Today columnist Tom Weir wrote: “Even in sprawling L.A., can there be that many suckers left?”

L.A. often seems too freeway-busy to think about its past. But there is some history back there. Filmmaker Ken Burns recently visited the Drum Barracks Museum in Wilmington to present a copy of his forthcoming PBS series on the Civil War.

A few thousand Union troops were stationed at the barracks during the conflict, partly out of fears that Confederate sympathizers in L.A. might lead a revolt.

The barracks was also the home for about 80 camels imported from Egypt for use in the Southwest desert. Despite their strength and stamina, the humpbacks got only mixed reviews.

“They’d scare the horses and the neighborhood kids would laugh,” said Marge O’Brien, the museum director. “One Army commander wrote that the camels ruined military dignity.”

After the war, many of the dromedaries were turned loose in the desert, where one named Topsy was reportedly found as late as 1934.

Alas, a publicist for the PBS series says that neither the Drum Barracks nor the Camel Corps made the PBS series. Once again, L.A.’s history has been left on the cutting room floor.

A true lounge lizard:

A 2-foot-long iguana was stolen from Hermosa Beach, Officer Charles Wilhite reported, after thieves “cut through a screen on a kitchen window and apparently coaxed the uncaged victim out of his home.”

For its “back-to-school sale,” the downtown California Mart is advertising such items as fashion jewelry, lingerie and evening wear. The last is obviously for night students.

miscelLAny:

Gen. Thaddeus Kosciuszko Way, the street with the longest name in L.A., runs for two blocks.