Looking for a Way to Say You’re Sorry

“We’re all familiar with rude gestures indicating disgust,” a Palos Verdes Estates motorist wrote to Avenues, the Auto Club publication, “but has anyone come up with a universally understood hand signal to express apology? It could go a long way to defuse some of the altercations that develop on our roads and freeways.”

Good idea!

As a public service, this column is asking readers to send in photos of themselves making apologetic hand signals (remember, that means more than one finger). Let’s create an official Southern California Sorry About That Gesture.

Let’s eliminate road rage in our lifetime.

At least on the Santa Ana Freeway, which I drive.

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ROADSIDE LUCIFER: Three years ago, a young man in a devil costume was arrested after committing the sin of standing along the Santa Monica Freeway and shaking a pitchfork at passing motorists. Talk about menacing gestures!

The hell-raiser, John Geary, was actually making a video project for a class at UCLA. This weekend, an exhibit of Geary’s “Live Devil” begins a two-week run at Purple Gallery in the City of Angels, specifically Mar Vista.

Geary sees his work as a spoof on the sightings of Bigfoot, Elvis, etc., intended to make people “perceive they had seen the devil and then deal with it.”

His exhibit will include footage shot by newsman Bob Tur from a helicopter during Geary’s arrest. (SatanAlert!)

The show’s reception is Friday night. “I’ll be in civilian clothes,” Geary said.

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SPEAK OF THE DEVIL! Janet Davis of Pacific Palisades found some eternal dueling signs on a visit to Grass Valley, prompting her to comment: “My experience with Calvary Bible church groups in Los Angeles is that they want nothing to do with the devil, in red or any other color” (see photo).

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BIRTHDAY SERENADE: Today is, of course, the 216th anniversary of the founding of L.A. (you didn’t forget to send a card, did you?) In a sentimental mood, this column offers a medley of songs saluting its roadways (performers in parentheses):

* “All the vampires walkin’ through the Valley move west down Ventura Boulevard” (Tom Petty).

* “Victory Boulevard--we love it!” (Randy Newman).

* “All I wanna do is have some fun until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard” (Sheryl Crow).

* “Chance of showers into the afternoon with variable high cloudiness and gusty winds, gusty winds at times around the corner of Sunset and Alvarado” (Tom Waits).

* “Century Boulevard, we love it!” (Randy Newman).

* “La Brea, La Cienega, Cahuenga, Yucca, Vine/ Architects abandoned all aesthetics of design” (Paul Zollo).

* “Pico and Sepulveda! Pico and Sepulveda!” (Felix Figueroa and his orchestra).

* “Santa Monica Freeway sometimes makes a country girl blue-ooh-ooh-ooh” (David Frizzell and Shelly West).

* “6th Street--we love it!” (Randy Newman).

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For those wanting to toast L.A., Michael Raphael of Sherman Oaks found a restaurant offering champagne evidently made from grapes that are still on the vine (see photo).