Separating the real from the reel:

The neighbors were understandably nervous when they saw two armed, hoodlum-types enter a house. So they phoned police, who dispatched several cars and a helicopter.

What the police (and the alarmed residents) didn’t know was that the interior of the house in the Mid-Wilshire district was being used by independent filmmaker Thomas Rosen for a gangster movie, “Losers Lounge.”

As for Rosen, he didn’t know anyone had phoned the cops. “We didn’t have any permits,” he said, “and when the helicopter said, ‘Surrender,’ I wondered if they always send out this many officers for illegal filmmaking.”

It took a few minutes to straighten out the situation. The fact that the guns were plastic and that the hoodlums wore makeup helped persuade the officers. “The police were very nice,” he said.

Afterward, some of the neighbors were impressed, though confused.

“Once they heard the police say that a movie was being made, some people thought the whole thing [the raid] was part of it,” Rosen said. “They said, ‘Wow, you’re using a helicopter! What is it--a big action movie?’ ”

SURPRISE ENDING: In a sense, filmmaker Rosen’s neighbors weren’t far from wrong about the police raid.

The cops were accompanied by a film crew--for the Channel 13 reality show “LAPD.” Talk about dueling directors . . .

THERE’S WILDLIFE EVERYWHERE: Our colleague John Dart points out that when visitors enter the hiker and equestrian trails in the Porter Ranch area of the San Fernando Valley, signs warn them of rattlesnakes and mountain lions. And when visitors leave the area to return to civilization, signs remind them that there are dangers awaiting them in that direction, too.

BAD TRANSITIONS R US: After receiving a vet’s newsletter for pet owners, Perry Allen suggests that the editor take more care to separate the items so they don’t appear to be part of the same story. For instance, there’s that announcement of one surgeon’s wedding engagement, immediately followed by the line, “Please remember to bring a fecal sample.”

MYSTERY OF THE DAY: We received a call from a driver on Pacific Coast Highway who saw the following marquee at a Malibu mall: “Bob, you forgot our anniversary again. See you in court--Beverly.” The motorist asked us what it meant.

That’s why we’re here. We began sleuthing and found out that it was an ad in the form of a “teaser” concocted by jeweler Ron Goodson. Next week, Goodson said, he plans to put up a new message in which Bob gets out of trouble by buying Beverly some diamond trinkets.

Bob and Beverly, incidentally, are fictional characters. Well, not completely.

“Beverly was the name of a girl I had a fantasy crush on in school years ago,” Goodson said.

miscelLAny:

One of the things that annoys Bennett Mintz of Chatsworth about parking tickets is the terminology used by traffic agencies. “They call them ‘citations,’ ” he said, “like they’re something to be prized.”