Barking up the wrong location:The members of...

Barking up the wrong location:

The members of Adrienne Omansky’s senior commercial acting class gathered at the landmark Tail O’ the Pup hot dog stand in L.A. the other day for a Christmas photo. All but Harry Kaye, a 78-year-old Englishman. He got lost.

“He thought the Tail O’ the Pup was a veterinary hospital,” Omansky explained.

WE RATE HIM OVER COUNTY MAYOR MIKE ANTONOVICH: USC’s football team and UCLA’s basketball team have tumbled from the Top 10 this year. But at least they had their moments of glory. Poor Richard Riordan couldn’t make the Top 25 ranking of U.S. mayors in a survey by Newsweek magazine.

This outrage has not gone unnoticed. Next week, the magazine will publish a letter of protest signed by three prominent Angelenos, movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, developer Eli Broad and law professor Susan Estrich.

We did notice, however, that among the Riordan accomplishments they listed was his “bringing the DreamWorks SKG studio to Los Angeles--the first new studio here in over 60 years.” Actually, there ain’t no studio yet. A year after the ribbon-cutting, construction has yet to begin due to financing problems.

Then again, this is a city of illusion.

We’re sure Newsweek won’t forget to mention Riordan next time--especially if the magazine takes the lead of the sports rankings and tacks on this category to its Top 25: “Others receiving votes.”

NO RESPECT (CONT.): It’s bad enough that comics poke fun at L.A. and that news magazines ignore our statesmen. But the spelling of our communities’ names is continually botched as well.

We’ve related such gems as Manhattan Ditch, Panaroma City, West Ills, Mailbu, Honeyton Beach and Stupid City (for Studio City). Now, David Chan of L.A. noticed a restaurant’s business card that reduced a San Fernando Valley community to a type of meat.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Our colleague Laura Morgan, who took today’s photo, reports that some friends ate at this Eagle Rock restaurant and did get delighted there. Even if the place doesn’t serve Canoga pork.

THANKS FOR THE CLUE, THOUGH: Ike Shatori of Torrance was watching an evening news account of the alleged plot by an Irvine woman to kill her twin sister. The station flashed the photo of the suspect. The anchorman added that the victim didn’t want her face to be shown. He said it with a straight face.

miscelLAny

You know it’s UCLA-USC football week when . . . you see a white Mercedes, with a USC license plate frame, tooling down the road with a Bruin-type teddy bear hanging from the trunk, a noose around its neck.