For This Utah Motorist, a Farewell to L.A. Has Become the Long Goodbye

For our Mystery of the Day, Tom Greene of L.A. nominates the motorist with the SOLNG LA license plate that he’s noticed several times hereabouts in recent months. It’s a Utah plate.

Greene was reminded of that lyric from the Eagles’ “Hotel California”: “You can check out any time you like but you can never leave.” Then again Greene last saw the plate in a town in Ventura County. So maybe the owner was merely saying so long to L.A. in favor of Moorpark.

Offerings that might give you gas: If you wanted to prove the saying that “you are what you drive,” you could point to the high-powered liquor found by Bob Braley of Bakersfield, the unleaded coffee drink seen by Bob Owens of Camarillo, and the really spicy hot dogs spotted by Rita Singman of Arcadia (see photos).

Back to mysteries: Keith Johnson noticed a warning to buckaroos off Beverly Boulevard in Pan Pacific Park (see photo). So that’s the cause of traffic congestion in L.A. -- horses!

East vs. West: As for our discussion of cultural differences across the country, Bill Bunyan of Venice writes, “When I arrived from the East Coast in 1949, the three things that struck me were: Snow is a location, not an event. (‘We went to the snow last weekend.’) Distance is measured in minutes -- not miles. (‘We live 15 minutes from the beach.’) And any place the other side of Vegas is ‘Back East.’ ”

New England perspective: Ex-Bostonian Karen Spence says she noticed a difference in the way directions are given.

“If I’m asking for directions in Boston, I’ll be told to go straight and then take a ‘right’ on Main Street,” she said.

“Here, I’m told to go straight and then turn ‘west’ on Main Street. Huh? How do I know that? Everyone tells me to just use the ocean as a reference point (no kidding), but that’s just fine if you can see it.”

miscelLAny: As I noted, this column’s readers helped restore the dignity of the artichoke. Snapple’s “Real Fact” series on the inside of its bottles will no longer claim that broccoli and cauliflower are the only vegetables that are flowers.

Bill Hunnell of Sierra Madre points out that the elimination of that snub will be as big in the artichoke archives as the naming of the first Artichoke Festival Queen in Castroville more than half a century ago: Marilyn Monroe.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at steve.harvey@latimes.com.