At least they’re unlikely to bump into...

At least they’re unlikely to bump into another tour group there: The American Institute of Architects convention, to be held in L.A. in May, will offer several “professional tours,” including one called, “The Real L.A.” One of the stops on that jaunt will be “the flash point of the 1992 riots.”

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Freeways we hate and the motorists who use them: A colleague saw a license plate that declared HATE 405--on the Golden State Freeway. Meanwhile, we saw where former President Richard Nixon recently said of the traffic in Moscow: “It’s worse than the Santa Ana Freeway.” Moving on to surface streets, it seems as though UCLA has some nerve-racking stretches, too, judging from the photo taken by Martin Waterman of Eagle Rock.

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Built-in problem: One small cause of concern at the convention of the Anxiety Disorders Assn. of America will be the meeting site, Loew’s Santa Monica Beach Hotel. It has a large central atrium ringed by five floors of guest and meeting rooms.

“The ADAA meeting draws not only researchers and clinicians but also people who suffer from anxiety disorders, such as fear of heights,” explained Robert Finn, spokesman for the Thursday-through-Sunday event.

In fact, he pointed out, ADAA founder Jerilyn Ross, director of the Ross Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders in Washington D.C., “is herself bothered by heights,” Finn added. “But ADAA volunteers will be roaming the halls, ready to assist anyone who may be experiencing panic attacks while at the conference.”

Needless to say, the ADAA will not be visiting the corner of Florence and Normandie.

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Cloud fallout: The winning letter in our Mystery Photo contest came from Cecil Rose of Carson, who correctly identified the model of the never-built Steel Cloud. That’s the sculpture that was supposed to be installed Downtown--over Nixon’s favorite freeway.

Rose’s entry was among several correct ones that were postmarked the morning of March 8. (Unfortunately, postmarks no longer record the time that letters are received--just “A.M.” or “P.M.”) Only in L.A.’s judges, a trusting group, pointed out that Rose had the earliest time typed on his letter (6:51 a.m.).

He receives from our Cave of Wonders one never-before-used media freebie--a “Car-Pool Survival Kit” from a West Hollywood company called Urban Inversion. The contents include air and breath fresheners and, to combat that inveterate talker in your car pool, aspirins and earplugs.

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Another dangerous side effect of television: Noelia Rodriguez was at her first event as Mayor Richard Riordan’s press secretary--a round-table discussion at Reseda High School--when she was struck in the head by a television crew’s camera. She was so dazed that she was treated at a hospital as a precaution. Rodriguez, who formerly worked for Southern California Edison, said: “I might have to start wearing my old hard hat to work.”

miscelLAny:

Barbie turned 35 on March 9, but an official with El Segundo-based Mattel told Reuters that the company doesn’t use the word “birthday” in connection with the perky blonde. “She’s whatever age a child wants her to be,” the official said. That’s the same policy Only in L.A. observes when our 5-year-old daughter guesses that we’re 35.