FIDDLING AROUND: With the L.A. Phil so...

FIDDLING AROUND: With the L.A. Phil so far away and so expensive, communities from Topanga Canyon to Santa Clarita are beefing up their home-grown orchestras and packing in the audiences (F1A). . . . Myrtle Toothaker, above, tunes up for a concert of the Symphony of the Canyons in Valencia. “When you have a symphony orchestra . . . you can look to it as, ‘See, we have culture here,’ ” said conductor Robert Lawson.

UNPOPPED: It hasn’t been a good year for poppies, and festivities planned at the California Poppy Reserve were a bit of a bust (F1B). . . . “It’s not good,” said one sad volunteer. “I’ve been here 22 years and I’ve never seen anything like this.” The culprit: a warm winter that provided little of the cool weather needed for growing poppies.

IDEA MAN: Castaic resident Harvey Johnson won the attention of L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan with his plan for saving money in the Public Works Department. . . . Johnson, an employee in public works, said the city could save about $750,000 a year by enrolling all its vehicles in AAA instead of sending its own mechanics out on routine vehicle problems. Riordan mentioned the idea in his State of the City speech Tuesday.

CLEAN CRICKET: One of Pinocchio’s pals may soon make his debut as a graffiti buster. . . . The Walt Disney Co. and Los Angeles Beautiful are donating a “mobile anti-graffiti trailer” with Jiminy Cricket painted on the side to the city’s main graffiti cleanup program. The trailer will be used to teach graffiti-fighting techniques.