Chickens Rule This Roost No Longer

Vivian Ginsburg of Seal Beach phoned daughter Trisha Oksner in Arroyo Grande to kid her about a CNN segment on traffic problems in the Central California town.

Problems caused by jaywalking chickens.

Of course, it was no surprise to Oksner. Her husband, Dave, had earlier mentioned a commute where “cars were stopped in both directions” on the town’s two-lane main street while the feathery interlopers passed.

But the days of PeckAlerts may be over in Arroyo Grande (pop.: 15,851 humans). County Animal Services officers recently rounded up the eight hens who were living downtown and found private homes for them.

“We know a lot of people enjoy having the chickens here,” one official told the San Luis Obispo Tribune. But he said that in addition to causing traffic delays, the animals laid eggs and lived in an area that wasn’t safe for chicks.

I wonder if any of the birds were related to L.A.’s famous “freeway chickens,” the survivors of a poultry crash of more than 25 years ago on the Hollywood Freeway.

Maybe, like a lot of Angelenos, those creatures moved to Central California, having grown tired of life in the fast lane.

Unclear on the concept: At the Art Center Car Classic in Pasadena, Cliff Hutson of Pomona couldn’t imagine very many carpoolers fitting into one vehicle (see photo). Unless they’re chickens.

Come again? On a trip through northern Australia, Jerry Lewine saw a sign warning of, well, more signs ahead (see photo).

Read-the-Big-Print Warning: Bob Sell noticed a clearance sale whose savings weren’t so clear (see photo).

Sure, L.A. is sprawling but ... : Bob Lasher took a look at a New York Times map and wondered if the newspaper had misplaced the City of Angels, not to mention the Golden State Freeway (see map detail).

Actually there is a Los Angeles in Chile, and it is close to the Pan-American Highway, which is Route No. 5 (and probably has fewer SigAlerts than the 5 does up here).

Years ago, singer Frank Black took note of the Dueling L.A. phenomenon with these lyrics:

I wanna live in Los Angeles.

Not the one in Los Angeles.

No, not the one in South

California.

They got one in South

Patagonia.

Yes, but do they have an L.A. River?

miscelLAny: Wait, here’s another L.A. Alan Beauchesne said he and wife Michelle were dining in Santa Barbara, seated near “a group from the South, easily identified by their accent. When the waiter asked the group where they were from, one of the gentlemen replied in a long slow drawl, ‘L.A.’ -- then, after a brief pause, added ‘Lower Alabama.’ ”

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, 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.