An unidentified motorist and a CHP officer...

An unidentified motorist and a CHP officer teamed up to rescue the littlest jaywalker of the year on the Harbor Freeway--a kitten.

“I was driving by and I saw the man carrying something and I stopped to help,” said CHP Officer Todd Sturges. “I think someone may have left the kitten there. It was trying to climb over the center divider, and the cars were just whizzing by, as usual.”

Sturges said a fellow officer has adopted the 5-week-old creature.

“I think we’re going to call it ‘Freeway,’ ” Sturges said. “Or maybe CD--for center divider.”

Another heartwarming rescue occurred in Long Beach, where plumber Dan Winder and apartment manager Jim MacDonald cut into a wall and severed a pipe that held a 4-foot boa constrictor. It fell into a duffel bag.

The snake had apparently been wading in one tenant’s toilet bowl when it decided to take a journey through the pipes. Cost of the daylong retrieval was $372, not counting the repair of the wall, Winder said.

The serpent was later collected by its owners, two Navy personnel. MacDonald was unhappy about the incident.

The landlord pointed out that there was a house rule against having snakes.

Now, for what looks like a lost intersection. Gary Shireman of El Monte found it in the front lawn of a nearby residence. It turns out that the city-issued signs were a gift for a worker who retired from the city maintenance department after a long career.

Ever notice how some drivers routinely place sun-blocker placards on their dashboards so that emergency messages are displayed?

Like the Department of Water and Power truck in Van Nuys, whose sign said: “NEED ASSISTANCE.”

There was no emergency. Unless the message was a plea to the public now that at least seven City Council members have vowed to oppose proposed rate hikes by the DWP.

Dueling License Plates on the Pasadena Freeway?

A red convertible (top down) declaring ILOVELA was followed a few cars back by a white Mercedes-Benz proclaiming JOKE LA.

ILOVELA was not the message of the latest poll of the readers of Conde Nast Traveler magazine.

San Francisco was voted the No. 1 city in the world, while L.A. didn’t finish in the Top 40 of the 81 cities on the ballot.

Baghdad by the Bay (or as we say, ‘Frisco) chalked up an 80.4 rating (out of a possible 100), according to the Mark Clements Research firm, which conducted the vote.

L.A. (43.0) finished behind such burgs as Washington (63.0), New York (54.2) and Phoenix (43.4) but came out ahead of Miami (29.0).

The voting was based on five categories: “Cultural enrichment,” “restaurant facilities,” “ambience,” “people” and “environment.”

Too bad a sixth category wasn’t “baseball teams.”

miscelLAny:

L.A. holds the national record for the most holdups ever in a city--750 in 1983.