Only in L.A.

The war has permeated our minds to such an extent that in at least two recent cases--a thunderstorm in L.A. and an earthquake in Cleveland--residents phoned police fearing that the United States had been bombed by Iraq.

On the other hand . . . if you think you saw a pickup truck carrying a 7-foot-long mounted missile with the name “Patriot” on the side, you weren’t hallucinating.

The idea of Tom Salvatore of Granada Hills, it’s a fiberglass model of the 18-foot-long, real-life nemesis of Iraq’s Scud missiles.

Salvatore, a plant manager for a Simi Valley bathtub manufacturer, had the mock missile built by his maintenance chief, Mike Macek.

“It’s my way of showing support for our troops,” said Salvatore, 28. “I’ve gotten a very positive reaction from other drivers, horns honking, thumbs up. . . .”

His bosses have backed him, to a point. But Salvatore said they did ask him to remove the Patriot from its original position--atop the company’s roof.

Pedaler Beware:

The Southland edition of January’s California Bicyclist magazine contains four display ads by attorneys who specialize in bicycle-injury cases.

List of the Day:

Oddities and ironies abound in author Kenneth Schessler’s “This is Hollywood: An Unusual Movieland Guide.”

1. One-time Tujunga resident Drexel Truitt, an actor whose stage name was David Ward, bore such a resemblance to George Washington that he--Truitt--was used as the model for the head on the 25-cent piece.

2. Tom Mix’s horse, Old Blue, is buried under a parking lot at the one-time location of the Mixville Movie Studio on Glendale Boulevard.

3. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald and comedienne Lucille Ball lived in the same apartment complex at the same time on Laurel Avenue in West Hollywood.

4. Retired gunfighter Wyatt Earp died in 1929 at the age of 81--with his boots off--in a bungalow near the corner of Crenshaw and Adams boulevards. It’s now a parking lot.

5. Legend has it that Sister Aimee Semple McPherson, a famous L.A. evangelist, was buried with a live telephone beside her in the coffin.

William Beaver of Lancaster is pleased to report that he noticed a man who recently entered into “the business of selling homes in an honest and forthright manner.” Beaver noticed that, in front of his home, the businessman placed a “new, neatly painted sign” that listed his last name followed by the word, “REALITY.”

miscelLAny:

The 55-year-old Crossroads of the World, a series of European-type shops off Sunset Boulevard crowned by a 60-foot-tall spinning globe, was Southern California’s first shopping mall.