Daughter Leaves Dear Old Dad High and Dry, but Comfy, in Back of Pickup

Oh Dad, poor Dad: A resident was suspicious of “a man in a baseball cap” who was “lying in the back of a red pickup truck with a sleeping bag and pillow for several hours,” the Rancho Santa Margarita News reported.

Officers found the vehicle on a street near Oneill Regional Park and were told by the owner that his “daughter had left with his car keys by mistake, and he was waiting for her to return so he could drive home.”

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Now for an unsolved mystery: A Laguna Hills man approached another vehicle parked for several hours on his street, at which point “the driver slightly rolled down the window and said he was a pet detective looking for a stolen Dalmatian,” the Saddleback Valley News said. The resident commented “that he has not seen a Dalmatian in the neighborhood in the past 10 years.” I believe I have seen this plot in a movie, though.

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Unreal estate: Today’s showings (see accompanying) include:

* A house with a discarded ceiling (thanks for the warning!), submitted by Dick Harmon of San Juan Capistrano.

* A townhome that Barbara Bava of La Canada jokes would be a “great gift for the new mom or a great starter home.”

* A residence at which guests are apparently expected to water the lawn (from Kenneth Roos of Culver City).

* And, finally, a house with a shower that should attract buyers unfamiliar with the movie “Psycho” (from Michele Saldonis of Redondo Beach).

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Write on the blackboard 100 times ... : The HOLLYWOOD sign has been altered numerous times over the years. But Helen Jackson of San Clemente recalled a time that the name was misspelled in an educational setting--at the graduation exercises of her son Robert in 1961 (see photo).

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Slow news day in Dana Point, I guess: Resident Hope Luedeke spotted this bulletin in the police log of the Dana Point News: “Monarch Beach: Someone reported finding a nude doll.”

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On second thought: I assume the found item was a toy. Then again, if it was the sighting of the kind of doll celebrated by Damon Runyan, that would be a more interesting story.

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On the road: Bill Howes of Seal Beach was traveling in Ohio when he saw this item in a Dover newspaper:

“An employee at a West High Avenue gas station reported Sunday night that a man comes there twice a week wearing a bra and it makes the employees uncomfortable.”

Commented Howes: “Obviously the employees have never been to California.”

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East is East but Western is Western: Art Vinsel of San Pedro noticed that the Croatian Cultural Center of Greater Los Angeles has a sign up in the window announcing a new class: “Country and Western Dance.”

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miscelLAny: One anonymous reader left a phone message saying he had never seen cannibalism promoted in a commercial until one restaurant chain began showing Miss Piggy ordering bacon at breakfast. I dunno if I’m that offended. Reader sounded like sort of an Oscar the Grouch type to me.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, ext. 77083; by fax at (213) 237-4712; by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012; and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.