Next time, use bread crumbs:Several small piles...

Next time, use bread crumbs:

Several small piles of white powder recently found on streets from San Marino to Pasadena had authorities worried. Residents were warned to keep their pets away. A hazardous materials team spent six hours cleaning the stuff up. And what was the substance? Ordinary baking flour, used to mark a trail for a running club’s event.

CITY HALL SCUM: No, we’re not getting personal. We’re talking about the smelly pool of dirty water that has blocked part of one walkway on the south side of City Hall for several days. Hardly a welcome mat for visitors.

Peering into the dirty water, we were able to make out some old newspapers, one T-shirt, a cookie wrapper and a memo asking someone to drop off a package “down the street.” Let’s think positively: Perhaps the unsightly pool is there for the filming of a movie--one set in a swamp, we assume.

TODAY’S PUZZLER: Last year, Bill Hawk of Arcadia sent us a mysterious photo of a sign in Pasadena that said “moose parts available.” It turned out to be for an antique store that sold (old) moose heads, among other things.

Now, Hawk has come up with another mystery--a collection box on the campus of Redlands University bearing labels that say what it is not (see photo).

But what is it? “I asked students, faculty and fellow alums and remain uninformed,” Hawk said.

Marshaling the resources of Only in L.A., we contacted a nearby library on campus and found the answer. It’s for newspapers mailed to the school. Obviously, the school didn’t want the receptacle’s label to reveal the valuable contents.

LETTER IMPERFECT: Looking over Moorpark College’s fall schedule, Chris Dieterle of Thousand Oaks commented, “Maybe the person typing the schedule should attend this class.” (see enclosed)

OFF-THE-FIELD ACTION: Don’t know if you’ve heard, but a minor league team in Palm Springs has invited fans to attend a July 8 game in the nude. The naked spectators will be placed inside a large tent near the left field line to keep from offending the clothed ones. “I’ve gotten calls from Jay Leno’s producer and radio producers all over the country,” team president Don DiCarlo said.

The all-star break hasn’t even arrived yet, but there have already been an unusual number of offbeat fan stories in Southern California. For example:

* A Burbank couple were convicted of lewd conduct for having sex at their seats in Dodger Stadium during the seventh-inning stretch. They were banned from the stadium for two years.

* Hoping to catch a home run ball, actor Charlie Sheen bought $5,000 worth of tickets for an Angels-Detroit game so he and a few friends could have the left field stands in Anaheim Stadium to themselves. Alas, no home runs landed there.

* And, most distressing of all, San Diego Padres fans threw promotional license plate frames onto the field during one tirade. Hey, have a little respect for Southern California’s car culture!

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ABC’s Barbara Walters is famous for what you might call participatory journalism. She has danced with Patrick Swayze and Clint Eastwood during interviews. She rode a motorcycle with Sylvester Stallone on another assignment. No word on whether she’ll do anything dramatic on an upcoming interview with a couple of well-known brothers: Erik and Lyle Menendez.