As part of a civics exercise, students...

As part of a civics exercise, students at an adult school in Paramount were asked to send letters to the City Council to lobby for a loading and unloading zone in front.

“English is a second language for many of these students,” explained Assistant City Manager Pat West, “so the teachers wrote out the letter on the bulletin board. But there was a little confusion because we received more than a hundred that were signed the same way:

“Sincerely yours,

“Your name here.”

Artist Dominic Stefano, doing his part to ease the drought, came up with a way to make his front yard green again in the process. He had five tons of gravel dyed that color and spread over his brown lawn.

Sort of calls to mind that melancholy Tom Jones ballad, “The Green, Green Gravel of Home.”

Stefano insists that the irregular surface resembles lush grass, not Astroturf or painted concrete.

“It looks just like dichondra,” agreed Lillie Jackson, a neighbor of Stefano in View Heights, near Inglewood. She had her lawn flooded with green gravel, too. Three other front yards in the area have also sprouted green pebbles. Said a proud Stefano: “It’s a grass-roots movement.”

Following recent reports of a flute-playing driver on Pacific Coast Highway and a trumpet-wielding motorist on the Ventura Freeway, we’ve now received a sighting of a driver pumping iron on the San Diego Freeway. He was exercising with only one barbell, though. After all, he had to keep his other hand free in case his cellular phone rang.

List of the Day:

Freeway-fitness nuts who prefer not to lift weights behind the wheel can always turn to the classic tome, “Commuter Calisthenics” by Keith and Bruce Andrews, which contains these recommended routines:

1--”Steering-Wheel Pull: Hands at 9:00 and 3:00 on the steering wheel. . . . Keeping arms parallel to one another, pull with arms toward sides of car for 10 seconds.”

2--”Safety Belt Sit-Ups: Push your torso against the shoulder harness for 10 seconds. Don’t pull with arms.”

3--”Shoulder Swivel: With both hands on the steering wheel . . . turn the upper torso as far to the left (or right) as possible without lifting your buttocks off the seat.”

4--”Neck Rolls: Slowly roll head to the right (or left) until it comes as close to the right shoulder as possible.” The authors caution against “taking eyes off the road.”

5--”Face and Neck Tones: Contract your face and neck muscles by making grimaces.”

Of course, with all the tailgaters, three-lane-at-a-time-changers and 40 m.p.h. cellular-phone chatter bugs on the freeways, Southern California drivers have long been practicing No. 5 involuntarily.

To: The Beverly Hills Hotel.

Subject: A press conference regarding the hotel’s 100th birthday gala on May 2, 2012.

Is May 2, 2012, a Tuesday? Oh, it’s a Wednesday. Sorry, but we’re busy.

miscelLAny:

The house where the title character in “E.T.” takes up residence after dropping in from outer space is in Tujunga.