If a poll were ever taken to...

If a poll were ever taken to determine the most despised freeway in L.A., there might be a gridlock of voters waiting to cast ballots for the 405.

Certainly, it’s ahead in our unofficial license plate survey. Not long after we reported the existence of a HATE405 plate, Scott Hopkinson of Long Beach told us he sighted a GDDM405.

We phoned the Department of Motor Vehicles to verify the irreverent message. “Oh, I don’t think that one would be allowed,” a clerk said before beginning a computer search. But, a few keyboard clicks later, she said: “There it is--’89 Toyota truck. I don’t see how that one slipped through the cracks.”

Perhaps the DMV censor has also been trapped on the South Bay Curve at 8 a.m.

You know times are tough when street people aren’t the only ones taking it upon themselves to wash windshields downtown. A visitor to First Interstate World Center found the accompanying card when she returned to her car. It turns out that Maguire Thomas Partners, the company that left the message, wasn’t trying to pick up extra change. It was only trying to engender goodwill among customers of the 73-floor tower, which Maguire Thomas manages.

We mentioned that the new KCBS-TV billboard, “Killer Storms--Yes, Killer Tomatoes--No,” drew a mock protest from the cast of the “Tomatoes” movies. But there have been sincere complaints from the Duke Ellington Society of Southern California over a different billboard campaign blared by KQLZ-FM (Pirate Radio).

The Pirate Radio message: “Less Music by Dead Guys.”

List of the Day:

The Richard Nixon Library is in Orange County, the Ronald Reagan Library is in Ventura County, and who’s presidential library is in L.A. County? Nobody’s, that’s who’s. Luckily for L.A., the National Archives says that official presidential libraries date back only to Herbert Hoover, meaning there are plenty of eligible candidates for a similar monument here.

Here’s our “short list,” with their L.A. connections:

1--Millard B. Fillmore: A fitting tribute because a San Fernando Valley group, headed by a Panorama City pediatrician, is already making big plans to hold a Millard Fillmore Bicentennial. As everyone knows, the 200th anniversary of Fillmore’s birthday is Jan. 7, 2000.

2--Rutherford B. Hayes: A natural because he became the first President to visit L.A. in 1880 (the previous 18 having passed up the chance). Mayor James Toberman committed the social gaffe of the year in those innocent times when he inadvertently ushered Mrs. Hayes into a men’s clothing store.

3--Teddy Roosevelt: During a 1903 visit, Ol’ Rough and Ready cleared up any lingering confusion among Easterners over how to pronounce the city’s name. He called it Loss-AN-gee-lees.

As for the Reagan Library dedication, we didn’t think CNN executed the most graceful transition after showing all five presidents walking in. The network then switched to a commercial for a hearing aid.

miscelLAny:

By the time he was jailed on murder charges in L.A. in 1874, desperado Tiburcio Vasquez had become such a celebrity that a local merchant took out newspaper ads declaring: “Tiburcio Vasquez says that Mendell Meyer has the finest and most complete stock of dry goods and clothing.” Vasquez was hanged a few months later, ending his career as a product-endorser.