Still miffed at the Colonies:Tom Bratter of...

Still miffed at the Colonies:

Tom Bratter of West L.A. saw an article in the Financial Times of London that complained about British art treasures winding up overseas in such places as “the Getty museum, to be gazed at by Californian barbarians.”

MAYBE WE NEED A DEPARTMENT OF SURFER VEHICLES (DSV): No doubt influenced by violent incidents among surfers at Malibu and Palos Verdes’ Lunada Bay beaches, among others, Santa Cruz has posted a code of conduct for its own wave-riders.

Bev Dyc, manager of the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum, said territorial battles in the waters seem most numerous in Southern California.

“It’s because there are so many people who surf down there--it’s unbelievable,” she said.

The surfers’ credo:

* First surfer on a wave has the right of way.

* Paddle around a wave, not through it.

* Hang on to your board.

* Help other surfers.

Come on, you local moon-doggers. Let’s make the waves safe again. After all, it’s not as though you’re barbarians.

PARKING PRIMER: Still another sign of Southern California’s amazing diversity, readers John Salazar, Paul Kikuchi and Michael Saltzman sent us evidence of personalized parking for priests (Boyle Heights), pregnant women (South Pasadena) and, of course, bagels (West L.A.).

OLYMPICS FLASHBACK: Here are some off-beat moments of L.A.’s 1932 Games, as recounted in David Wallechinsky’s “Complete Book of the Olympics.” (We’d play the Olympic theme but we’re tired of hearing it.)

* India, which had won a gold medal in field hockey in 1928, was short of funds for the 1932 Games. When a journalist representing the Indian Hockey Federation asked Mahatma Gandhi to issue an appeal for donations, Gandhi replied: “What’s hockey?” (India did participate--and again won the gold.)

* Prohibition was in effect that year but one foreign delegation received permission to bring along several thousand bottles of wine, saying it “was an essential part” of the team’s diet. The country: France (but you guessed that).

* Bertil Sandstrom of Sweden was stripped of his silver medal in the equestrian competition for a rules violation--”encouraging his horse, Kreta, by making clicking noises. He claimed that the noises were actually made by a creaking saddle, but the Jury of Appeal was not convinced.”

Making clicking noises! Now that’s barbaric.

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You’ve no doubt heard that Disneyland intends to replace its parking lot with a theme park called Disney’s California Adventure. We wonder if the project will inspire a protest by the landmark-conscious: “Save the Disneyland Parking Lot!” After all, the chunk of asphalt is 41 years old. In Southern California terms, that makes it practically as old--relatively speaking--as one of those British art treasures in the Getty.