Who started the vicious rumor that Southern...

Who started the vicious rumor that Southern Californians don’t go anywhere on foot? An office-retail complex, advertising in the Downtown News, says that “studies show 60% of downtown employees will walk three blocks or more” to shop.

Since Venus was the Roman goddess of love and beauty, NASA plans to name features found on the surface of that planet after notable women on Earth. And they have invited the public to send suggestions to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

Only in L.A. nominates these locals for future consideration:

1--Kimberly Conrad Hefner--The woman who persuaded Hef to give up playboying.

2--Zsa Zsa Gabor--Actress, talk-show guest, motorist.

3--Angelyne--Famous billboard subject, still waiting for that big break.

4--Gloria Allred--Feminist attorney, panelist on “To Tell the Truth” TV show.

5--Valley Girl--One of L.A.’s most famous products; who cares if the term was rejected by the Third College Edition of Webster’s New World Dictionary?

6--Eileen Anderson--Perennial “singing candidate” for mayor; once suggested blowing smog into tunnels dug in mountains.

7--Georgia Frontiere--Former singer, now owner of the Los Angeles Rams.

8--Sandra Tsing Loh--Pianist who has serenaded Malibu Beach grunion and downtown motorists from parking structure along Harbor Freeway.

9--Edy Williams--Actress and famous spectator, known for disrobing at sports events.

10--Your choice.

We suspect that the South Bay cleaning service in the accompanying photo receives more requests for people who vacuum and shampoo than for those who mope. But we’re just guessing.

A 40th birthday can be a traumatic event. Perhaps that’s why no celebration is planned in Downey to mark the March 11, 1951, debut of Dennis the Menace in the comics. Downey became a shrine of sorts to the snotty kid in the late 1950s, when he was the subject of a TV show. So popular was the program that the city unveiled a children’s playground named Dennis the Menace Park.

In our discussion of dogs with real L.A. monikers, we mentioned that 150 in the city are named Freeway. But Ritchie Montgomery points out we forgot to mention how many canines have Hollywood for a handle. The answer is 12. But that doesn’t include Montgomery’s hound, whose name is Hollywood. Reason: Montgomery’s Hollywood lives in Santa Monica.

MiscelLAny:

The Peter Strauss Ranch, a 65-acre recreation center in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, is named for the actor (“Rich Man, Poor Man”) who was the previous owner.