Lighting Moscow’s fire: The most popular current...

Lighting Moscow’s fire: The most popular current recording in Russia is Billy Idol’s version of “L.A. Woman,” National Public Radio reports. We feel proud, but we hear that hard-line Communists still prefer “Back in the U.S.S.R.”

The Doors’ problem with windows: “L.A. Woman,” was, of course, first recorded by The Doors more than two decades ago--at a time when lead singer Jim Morrison was observed walking with a limp that he had picked up on the Sunset Strip.

“He (Morrison) said he got it at the Chateau Marmont,” a band member reveals in John Densmore’s “Riders on the Storm.”

“He has a room there on the second floor, and he was playing Tarzan and tried to swing into his room off the rain gutter. He bounced off the roof of the shed attached to his cottage and hit his back on the railing.”

Previewing a tabloid exclusive! Yoram Kahana of Shooting Star, a stock photo agency in Hollywood, passes along a recent request from a Florida scandal sheet for the following shots:

1. “Loch Ness . . . with or without monster is OK.”

2. “Single alligator or crocodile. . . .”

3. “1960 Corvette. . . .”

4. “The Devil . . . anything. . . .”

OK, yes, we can envision the story, except, well, where does Elvis fit in?

Balancing act: Passers-by often poke their heads into the West L.A. cafe Twopart and tell owner Chris Fang that some customers left drinks on the board outside (see photo). Fang responds that the containers are part of the sign--in fact, they’re attached to it. All except one coffee cup, which was ripped loose by a street person the other day. He evidently had a real caffeine fit.

Listen up, Sacramento: Two months ago, we reported the sad demise of the ficus trees that flanked the bust of Ronald Reagan in downtown L.A.

In the atrium of the Ronald Reagan State Building, of all places.

State lumberjacks were summoned to remove the trees. Two yellow cones were set in their places, like tombstones. They’re still there.

The other day, an office worker spotted a state landscaper and asked when the Reagan trees would be replaced. “We can’t do anything without a budget,” the landscaper said.

Do we need a more heartfelt reason to end the deadlock in the Capitol?

Da wrong Vinci: A friend of ours, who recently became a mother, said she was heartened to hear some kids at a park saluting Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael as their idols. Then, someone told her that those are the names of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

miscelLAny:

You may recall that the New York-based Vampire Research Center reported that L.A. has the most vampires of any city. Eddie Cress of L.A. says that it’s appropriate, then, that cinematic vampire Bela Lugosi is buried here--in Holy Cross Cemetery in West L.A. According to author Ken Schessler, Lugosi was buried, per the actor’s request, in his favorite Dracula cape.