It Happens During Stage 1 Smog Alerts

OK, the Southland still has smog problems but Dana Insana of L.A. thinks the “Air Out of Order” sign she encountered was overstating the case (see photo).

AND THEN THERE’S THE POLLUTION ON TV: A new television drama called “Hyperion Bay” is scheduled to debut Sept. 21 on the WB network. Obviously, WB did a lot of research before deciding on such a romantic title. It’s a name that will be familiar to Southland residents who drive by L.A.’s Hyperion sewage treatment plant near El Segundo. I can see the first episode now . . . lovers running hand in hand into the ocean, the moonlight illuminating the sludge . . .

YOU SEE SYSTEM: I confess I didn’t realize the number of UC schools in the Southland. This column mentioned that John Vrsalovich recalled growing up in Downey “where we dreamed of going to UCLA--University of Cerritos, Left at Alondra.”

Which prompted another reader to remember talk of Orange County’s UCSB--”the University of California at Seventeenth and Bristol”--also known as Santa Ana College.

And Greg Reese of Altadena phoned to say, “I went to UCB here in Pasadena--we called it the University of Colorado Boulevard,” sometimes referred to as Pasadena City College.

OBVIOUSLY, A UC GRAD: Bob Holmes of West L.A. came across a magazine ad placed by a man who would appear to be any woman’s fantasy--adept at “painting, plumbing, carpentry, electrical . . . “ (see accompanying).

FOR AN OUTDOOR HONEYMOON? Marty Kreta of Corona wondered after finding a store that specialized in dress jackets, tuxedos and camping gear (see photo). Of course, penguins wear them in the outdoors all the time. . . .

THIS JUST IN: Jesus Christ will be allowed to stay on the Walk of Faith.

The Oasis Christian Center, which recently honored Christ with a sidewalk star on Wilshire Boulevard, got to keep it there by promising the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce that its future plaques would be no more than half the size of Hollywood’s trademarked Walk of Fame tributes.

Christ’s star features a sword in front of an open book and the words, “The Son of God.” Director Cecil B. DeMille, who performed God’s narration in one movie, was sometimes accused of acting as though he deserved this title, but that’s another story.

MORE DRAMA IN HOLLYWOOD: The intersection of Hollywood and Vine has been torn up--and not by the MTA. My source is Nikki Finke, the West Coast editor of New York magazine. But she’s talking about the corner of Hollywood Road and Vine Road in Alaska. Specifically, in the town of Big Lake, which is probably nicknamed Tundratown.

Finke learned from a resident, Annette Stevenson, that Hollywood and Vine was repaved.

“One street over and parallel to Hollywood is Sunset Avenue,” Finke added. “Obviously, someone up there has a sense of humor.”

What next? A Walk of Frost?

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The 1998 Fiske Guide to Colleges says that while most Pepperdine students seem satisfied with the “people-oriented education” that they receive, they nevertheless “love to tease this well-groomed university with shirts proclaiming, ‘Pepperdine. 8-Month Party. 20-K Cover Charge.’ ” Tuition is considerably lower at the University of Colorado Boulevard.

Steve Harvey can be reached by phone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com and by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.