Southern California needs rain, sure. It’s just...

Southern California needs rain, sure. It’s just that sometimes we have to pay a pretty stiff price for it. On Monday, for instance, L.A. Zoo officials sadly announced that a scheduled showing of six orangutans wearing edible Easter bonnets had been postponed on account of the weather.

One San Fernando Valley publication devoted entirely to singles ads might consider taking on an additional copy editor.

A recent issue quotes one man as saying he’s “sincere, romantic, honest, sweatier . . . .” (Sweeter, perhaps?) Another bachelor says he’s into boxing- marital arts. And a businessman is accidentally listed in the women’s section, which explains why mustache is included in the physical description.

An artsy billboard by Mark Heckman (see photo), which opened last week at the Pacific Design Center, protests the destruction of rain forests with a message that spoofs beauty pageants.

List of the Day:

The National Weather Service recently admitted that its leaky gauge has under-reported rainfall at the Civic Center by about 40% since last July. And you thought George Fischbeck was the only wacky weather guy. We’re ranking the gauge gaffe along with these historical goofs:

1. General Telephone is forced to paste over covers featuring Olympic rings on 250,000 L.A.-area directories after the U.S. Olympic Committee threatens to sue (1983).

2. Caltrans admits it was “estimating” when it said the Ventura Freeway was the world’s busiest thoroughfare; its traffic counters on the Santa Monica, which is No. 1, were broken (1988).

3. Callers phoning the information line of the California Lottery instead get a dial-a-porn recording (1987).

4. County health inspector tickets cafe on Terminal Island for unhealthful conditions; it isn’t a real cafe at all, but a movie prop (1990).

5. After a disastrous storm, two huge cranes are placed near the end of Santa Monica Pier to retrieve lost portions of pier. A new storm knocks the cranes into the ocean (1983).

6. About 40,000 ballots in a municipal election are defective--punch-out portions fail to fall, delaying results for days (1981).

7. City of Irwindale flies Hungarian flags to celebrate Mexico’s Independence Day (1989).

8. Inspector places Medfly trap on tree of Torrance man, which is barren except for plastic fruits and vegetables placed there as a joke (1981).

9. Courthouses in Torrance and Encino run out of paper because of dispute with supplier, making some judges very unhappy (1988).

10. Only in L.A. column identifies a 22-pound dog as a cockatoo, instead of a cockapoo (1989).

miscelLAny:

Before self-serve: In 1926, a gas station opened on Slauson Avenue in Compton, where young ladies on roller skates pumped the gas.