The San Diego Chicken has not been...

The San Diego Chicken has not been ruled out as a suspect: In a story headlined, “Bird Alert,” the South Pasadena Review reports:

“The city’s official ostrich costume has disappeared. If you know of its whereabouts, please call Betty at 818-799-6374.”

*

You didn’t think we’d let it end there, did you? We phoned Betty Gunveur in South Pasadena and she confirmed the ostrich costume calamity.

The city has revered the long-necked birds since the days of the world-famous Cawston Ostrich Farm early this century. It was there that delighted tourists could hop aboard stuffed creatures (see photo) or feed the live ones whole oranges.

The farm closed in 1934. And now that era’s symbol is gone as well. The costume disappeared from a storeroom in Orange Grove Park, said Gunveur. “No one knows when. Perhaps a resident only borrowed it. . . .”

What she does know is she needs to have the costume for the city’s Fourth of July Parade. “One of our commission members had planned to wear it,” explained Gunveur referring, of course, to the city’s Animal Commission.

*

Meanwhile, look who’s back: We’re not sure if this is related to the assertion by a New Jersey-based Vampire Research Center last year that L.A. is the world leader in that category. But the Department of Animal Regulation says it recently impounded two greater western mastiff bats (Eumops perotis californicus) , which have not been seen in L.A. since the 1930s. Good news, right?

And it doesn’t even include output of screenplays! Next time someone says L.A. is superficial you point out that the publication, The Scientist, lists it No. 7 among cities with the greatest output of research papers. (We can’t be No. 1 in everything.)

One tiny footnote to the rankings in The Scientist: L.A. was defined to include Pasadena. You could say we’re feeding off Caltech.

*

Perhaps the sign-painter caught a bit too much sun: Gerald Jones snapped today’s proofreading quiz at an L.A. store.

*

A Quayle back in the news: A 70-year-old Yucca Valley woman has sued Marilyn Quayle and the Secret Service in U.S. District Court in L.A., claiming she was assaulted and illegally arrested.

The incident occurred during a visit to Yucca Valley by Mrs. Quayle after the Twin Temblors of June, 1992. The suit claims the woman, Florence Billings, was forcibly taken into custody while she “was merely standing at the roadside with a sign that said: “If you want to see real disaster, go to Washington, D.C.”

You know, that sign has a bipartisan ring of truth to it.

*

We’ve always considered it part of Eastern California: The book, “The 776 Stupidest Things Ever Said” includes this from ex-Vice President Dan Quayle on a visit to the Southland:

“I love California. I grew up in Phoenix.”

miscelLAny:

Of the decline in ostrich farms, author Kerry Tucker (“Greetings From L.A.”) notes that some historians believe “the feathers, which tore off easily in the wind, lost favor with the fashionable when the automobile grew popular.”