Freeway obstacle du jour:The morning rush-hour was...

Freeway obstacle du jour:

The morning rush-hour was worse than usual Friday, and the weather was the culprit. The good weather. There was too much sunshine.

“We call it sun-glare slow-down,” explained KNX traffic reporter Jim Thornton. “And because we’re at critical mass out there on the freeways, once you have slowing, it lasts the entire morning.”

He philosophized: “It’s either rain slowing down people or sunshine slowing down people. We can’t win.”

ANOTHER ODD SUN-TRAFFIC CONNECTION:

A poll of ex-L.A. and Orange County residents in a seniors’ community in Riverside County said the No. 1 reason they moved there was: Traffic. And the name of the community: Sun City Palm Desert.

Apparently sun-glare slow-down isn’t as much of an inconvenience there.

The poll, by the way, may have been invalidated by an article in Friday’s Times, citing another advantage of life out that way. We refer to the finding that cows in the Inland Empire emit just 20 pounds of ammonia into the air per year, about 73% less than previously estimated.

THE GHOSTS OF FATHER’S DAYS PAST: Celebrating the fact there are no ties in International Hockey League play, our own L.A. Ice Dogs held a sartorial promotion at a recent game: Each fan bringing a necktie was admitted free.

More than 700 pieces of neckwear were deposited at the Sports Arena. As you can see from the accompanying photo, the designs ranged from the merely gaudy to the ungodly. One tie still had a garage-sale tag on it, which wasn’t a surprise. Except that it cost $3.

The Ice Dogs, who are moving to Long Beach next year, plan to give the garments “to a charity--if they’ll take them,” spokeswoman Ann Victor said.

Nice gesture, Ice Dogs. Just don’t leave them in L.A. when you move.

JUDGE WAPNER--CANDIDATE: Yes, that famous name is on the Superior Court judges’ ballot for the March 26 primary. But, it belongs to the son of Joseph Wapner, the retired judge who became a star on TV’s “People’s Court.”

The candidate is Municipal Judge Frederick Wapner. He was previously an L.A. County deputy district attorney, during which time he won a murder conviction against Joe Hunt, the founder of the so-called Billionaire Boys Club.

Wapner, incidentally, is running unopposed. We suspect the only candidate who would stand a chance against him would be one whose last name was Ito.

POP MUSIC MILESTONES: Monday marks the 22nd anniversary of a Rhino Records reverse promotion of sorts involving a one-time child star of the “Partridge Family” TV series.

As the company’s calendar memorializes it, “March 11, 1974: The Rhino store creates a new way to get rid of non-selling albums; it pays people 5 cents to take home Danny Bonaduce’s album.”

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The grunion have shore leave this weekend, prompting Long Beach’s Grunion Gazette to issue its traditional request: “Please allow the grunion to finish mating before you catch them. They’d do it for you!” At least the fish are smart enough to make their appearance when there’s no chance of being hampered by sun-glare slow-down.