Into the Trees: The scene: A preview...

Into the Trees: The scene: A preview of the newly reopened Los Angeles Zoo koala house. Who was there: Koalas, schoolkids, media. Entertainment: Not too much, as the residents made themselves scarce. Chow: Tabboo, above, munched privately on branches (B8).

Bird’s Eye: Much has been made about the return of playoff baseball to storied Yankee Stadium (A1, C1). But the ballpark’s lore is all but lost on Richard Daniels, a Valley pilot and crew member for the Goodyear blimp Stars & Stripes, which this week has been flying over the Yankees-Orioles series. . . . “I’m working at an average of 1,300 to 1,500 feet,” Daniels said. “Basically, every stadium looks the same to me.”

Fly Away: Daniels boasts that he was born and raised in “beautiful downtown Burbank,” which seems to be a blimp-free zone. “You haven’t really had any major events, sports-wise, in the Valley,” says one Goodyear official. But stand by: The area could get its first blimp-worthy event in 1998, when the Nissan Open golf tournament moves to the Valencia Country Club.

Blimp Central? Of course, it might have been different. The Valley might have been buzzing with dirigibles and zeppelins if only the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks had heeded a long-ago request to convert the Sepulveda Basin into a blimp-landing pad. . . . The basin has been proposed for everything from housing to a storage area for parade floats. “Every time they see a corner of the property that isn’t being used, we get a request,” says official Dallan Zamrzla.