Don’t Forget: Airport’s Near ‘Beautiful Downtown’

So, it appears that Burbank Airport is going to be named after Bob Hope, which would be a fine gesture except that the wrong entertainer is being honored.

I can’t think of anyone more closely associated with Beautiful Downtown Burbank than Johnny Carson, who was host to the “Tonight Show” from there.

Think of the fun it would be on a flight approaching Carson Airport to have the pilot say, “He-e-e-e-re’s Johnny!” It was Carson, by the way, who once said: “On a daily average, Burbank Airport has 94 departures. No arrivals. Just departures.”

Star ports: Orange County’s airport, of course, is named for John Wayne (though, as a Newport Beach resident, he opposed expansion of the facility when it was smaller).

A couple of years ago Supervisor Mike Antonovich made a proposal to rename L.A. International Airport after actor Jimmy Stewart. (Slogan: “It’s a Wonderful Flight”?)

One column reader said he was happy that idea never got off the ground because he didn’t want outsiders calling the airport ex-LAX.

There’s a lot of love in Long Beach: But David Ross points out that the sign he snapped refers to multi-passenger vehicles (see photo). They aren’t kissing booths.

Still more transportation news: Harriet Ottaviano points out that gasoline is really getting expensive in Reno (see photos).

Such a deal: Speaking of costs, Jackson Henry and a couple other readers noticed a not-so-attractive price adjustment in a blurb that ran in a South Bay newspaper (see accompanying).

Surprise guest: After a resident sighted a bobcat in a Laguna Beach neighborhood, “Orange County Animal Control was contacted,” the city’s News-Post reported. But Animal Control said it doesn’t “respond for healthy wildlife. It suggested the resident make it uncomfortable for the animal to be around.” How? Post National Rifle Assn. stickers around the house?

No offense, Tommy, but ... : In a bookstore, I noticed a copy of an L.A. Dodgers version of “Monopoly.” But I was stunned to see that the Tommy Lasorda, Steve Garvey and Don Drysdale properties were worth more than that of broadcaster Vin Scully.

The Dodgers have had numerous mediocre seasons of late. But, in worth to the franchise, Scully has remained the equivalent of Boardwalk and Park Place combined.

miscelLAny: The photo here of a Why, Ariz., town sign moved Chris Harcourt to write: “On a visit there some years ago, a friend introduced me to what he noted may be the world’s only existential Laundromat: the Why Wash.”

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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.