First Millennium Baby Tooth?

Tom Graner of Hermosa Beach wonders if his 6-year-old daughter, Rose, achieved one of the first milestones of the 2000s.

She “lost a front tooth that had been bothering her for some time at 12:02 a.m. on 1/1/2000,” he wrote. “The first tooth loss of the millennium?”

Could be, though there’s always a chance that some loudmouth lost one in a bar fight at 12:01. (That’s why I stayed home that night.)

*

A NEIGHBORHOOD WITH SOME UNHAPPY FACES: I heard from the owner of the Hancock Park mansion with the smiling, if toothless, faces (see photo).

“When we bought this house it was so serious we couldn’t look at it,” he explained. “We wanted to loosen up the stuffy Hancock Park people. We’re just ex-hippie, regular-type people, but we have four kids and needed a lot of room.”

The owner, a writer who asked that his name not be used, said local kids love the adornments. He estimated that maybe 25% of the neighbors frown over them. Good news for them: The smiles have been wiped off the mansion’s face for now.

They were just a “temporary thing,” the owner said. “We’ve been undergoing renovation, and we have our painter paint the faces on the cement circles for special occasions, like Halloween. Then he paints over them.”

Some neighbors might also be relieved that the owner decided against one alternative to happy faces.

“We had considered Mickey Mouse ears,” he said.

*

HEADING IN: On the Newport Beach pier, resident Valerie Larenne found a pigeon that had temporarily lost its head while trying to get a drink. Perhaps the bird had seen Terry Allen’s sculpture, “Corporate Head,” in downtown L.A.’s Citicorp Plaza (see photos).

*

THANKS FOR THE WARNING! Ray Burns of Palos Verdes Estates found what appears to be the most dangerous crosswalk at LAX (see photo).

*

DEFINITE SIGNS OF LIFE: Remember the photo of the burned-out Signs 4 Success building in Torrance that was pictured in this space? Well, I heard from Mike Luirette Jr., whose family owns the company. And he says it’s open for business--at a temporary site--and moving to a new location on Carson Street on Saturday.

“We’re proud to announce that all orders taken before the fire were completed and we missed only two days of operation,” he said.

The fire, apparently arson-related, began in an adjacent business, and Luirette asks that anyone with information contact Torrance police.

*

FOR ALL YOU SKEPTICS OUT THERE: In Lakewood, I saw a car that displayed a handicapped driver designation along with this explanation:

“My bad ticker got me this sticker.”

No, the driver didn’t look like a UCLA football player.

miscelLAny:

Marie T. Harvey of West L.A. was amused to receive a flier from Bally Total Fitness, which said: “Dance until dawn. Kick up your feet.” Well, maybe dance until just 3 a.m. After all, Harvey (a.k.a. Only in L.A.’s mom) is 87.