It was almost four years ago that...

It was almost four years ago that pianist Sandra Tsing Loh serenaded rush-hour drivers from a parking structure near the Harbor Freeway. Next up, a vocalist. At the invitation of a radio station, singer Robert Goulet will croon to L.A. commuters Thursday morning aboard a helicopter fitted with what is described as “a massive public address system.”

In other words, all-news fans, don’t bother to roll up your windows.

The Valentine’s Day performance is the idea of KLOS-FM disc jockeys Brian and Mark, who will oversee L.A. along with Goulet and traffic reporter Scott Reiff from 7:30 to 8:30.

Goulet’s hits, of course, include the classic rush-hour love song to the Santa Ana Freeway:

“If Ever I Would Leave You.”

List of the Day:

In case Goulet hasn’t completed his lineup, we suggest a medley of L.A.’s road songs. Here are excerpts from some real steering-wheel-tappin’ tunes (and their performers):

1--”If I can just get off of that L.A. freeway without getting killed or caught . . .” (Jerry Jeff Walker).

2--”All the vampires walkin’ through the Valley move west down Ventura Boulevard . . .” (Tom Petty).

3--”Santa Monica Freeway sometimes makes a country girl blue-ooh-ooh-ooh . . .” (Shelley West).

4--”Rollin’ down the Imperial Highway with a big nasty redhead at my side . . .” (Randy Newman).

5--”Now the sun’s coming up, I’m riding with Lady Luck, freeway cars and trucks . . .” (Tom Waits).

And, of course, the Angeleno anthem:

6--”L.A. is a great big freeway . . .” (Dionne Warwick).

The strongest 6-year-old in the nation? It could be Shaun Chater of Canoga Park, who recently set an American record in the peewee division of the American Weightlifting Assn.

Shaun hoisted 37 pounds. Not bad, since he tips the scales at 44 pounds.

He’s a veteran at the sport, having started at 4 after witnessing a weightlifting event.

“Weightlifting is 75% muscular coordination,” said his father, Mike, who also participates. “Sometimes, older kids watch him and say, ‘That looks easy.’ But then they try and can’t do it.”

Shaun’s motivation is simple. “It’s fun,” explained the soft-spoken athlete.

In UCLA magazine, the students who portray Joe and Josephine Bruin at athletic contests characterize Oski the Bear, their rival mascot at UC Berkeley, as “not friendly at all. He’s a troublemaker, traditionally.”

Read Only in L.A. for all the mascot gossip.

miscelLAny:

Automobile dealer Earle C. Anthony introduced the first neon display in the United States in 1923 after seeing the eye-dazzling tubes at an exhibition in Paris. He unveiled two blue-bordered signs that spelled PACKARD in orange letters at his dealership on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue.