Hold your horses!”In Memory of Traveler IV,”...

Hold your horses!

“In Memory of Traveler IV,” mourned the full-page ad in USC’s Daily Trojan. “May his Trojan spirit rest in peace--1977-1997.”

Students were invited to attend a memorial vigil for the celebrated equine mascot and several hundred showed up, most unaware that they were the victims of a prank of Skull and Dagger, USC’s secret honor society.

Student body President Dave Gabler--an S & G member--and others eulogized Traveler. Then USC’s fight song was played and a covered trailer supposedly containing the mascot’s successor, Traveler V, was solemnly wheeled into Hahn Plaza.

The students’ cheers died when a donkey emerged, draped in a cloth banner that read, “Traveler IV is alive. Don’t you feel like an ass?”

“The purpose was to have fun,” Gabler said afterward. “No harm was done.”

Nevertheless, an official with the school’s Recreation and Intramurals Office--USC’s liaison to the real, breathing Traveler IV--refused to reveal the horse’s whereabouts for fear of other tricks.

DAZE OF THE WEEK: Inge Johnson of Richmond, Calif., a recent visitor to L.A., wrote: “Having lived and traveled extensively in other countries where English is a second language, I have often noticed odd spellings. Therefore, I was really surprised when I saw the parking sign, not in some foreign country, but in Beverly Hills!” (see photo)

Johnson sent us “TUSDAY,” which we couldn’t resist pairing with a golden oldie photo from the L.A. area.

AERIAL DISPLAY: Pam Ryono and her students at Richman Elementary School in Fullerton witnessed an unexpected spectacle when they made a whalewatching trip to Palos Verdes.

Ryono, who has a marine biology degree, pointed out whales from the bus on the way and coordinated the visit so the class would be at the viewing area at Point Vicente Interpretive Center as the behemoths passed by.

One whale, in fact, momentarily leaped clear of the water for all to see. The docent there remarked: “What a teacher! She brings her own whales with her, and then even gets them to breach!”

ONCE AN ANGELENO . . . : When Roy Harris moved from West L.A. to the Boston area recently, he found a house he loved in the old Puritan town of Hingham (founded 1635). Harris was surprised to learn that it had been for sale for several months. After all, he said, it was “a kind of ski lodge with beamed cathedral ceilings and a hot tub on the deck, overlooking a one-acre lot, only a few hundred yards from the sea.”

What was the house’s problem? People in the area prefer Colonial-style architecture, his real estate agent said, adding, “This is a California house.”

DISASTER MOVIE: When Hillcrest Landmark Cinema in San Diego showed “Secrets & Lies” recently, its marquee bragged, “The Heaven’s Gate cult’s movie of choice,” the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Cult records showed that the members had gone to see the film earlier this year, spending $75 on soft drinks.

miscelLAny:

Did you hear about that scale model of the Titanic at the Carole and Barry Kaye Museum of Miniatures? It’s made of 75,000 toothpicks. Imagine the patience needed to construct the model. The meticulous craftsmanship. The 75,000 restaurant dinners.