Parky wouldn’t put up with our garbage

A volunteer cleanup crew picked up 80,000 pounds of litter across L.A. County on one recent day. Artist Lloyd Wilkinson of Corona figures that littering would be less of a problem if the L.A. Recreation and Parks Department brought back Parky, his kangaroo cartoon figure (see accompanying).

Wilkinson, now 83, won a contest in 1952 to see who could create the best cleanup symbol for the department. Soon, his responsible ‘roo could be seen on trash cans, trash trucks and billboards.

But in the 1970s, hard-working Parky was axed, deemed politically incorrect by the department. “I don’t think the animal rights people would appreciate him having trash in his pouch,” a spokesman explained in all seriousness. (It was a double insult -- Parky’s a she.)

Oddly enough, Parky started popping up in other places, much to the surprise of Wilkinson, whose only compensation from the city (or anyone else) was a three-day vacation in Mammoth Lakes.

There were sightings of anti-littering Parky signs in Canada, on golf courses in New York and on highways in Kansas, where some survive.

Wilkinson has asked Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas to help make Parky a national symbol (a la Smokey Bear). Brownback has not responded.

If nothing else, I’d like to see Recreation and Parks bring Parky back, and I have a compromise solution. Put a trash-can liner in her pouch.

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When you don’t quite love L.A.

For those who take pride in merely surviving here, a business called Twee Things is offering “I (Stomach) L.A.” T-shirts (see photo). At first I thought it was “I (Italy) L.A.”

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For a motorist in need, confusion indeed

On a desert highway in the eastern part of the state, Cynthia Prieto of Palm Springs found the world’s most indecipherable gasoline-ahead sign, made worse by the addition of graffiti (see photo).

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Another blond Spice Girl?

A reporter on Channel 9 was announcing the playing dates of the reunited Spice Girls when, all of a sudden, the audio went silent and a photo of a polar bear appeared on the screen. Pat Harvey, the unflappable anchor, quipped that the excitement seemed to be getting to everyone.

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Speaking of a new look

I just had my white beard trimmed, as I do every December. My family has never let me forget the time I put off a haircut and a little girl walked up to me in a Big Bear hotel and said in wonderment, “Santa.”

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miscelLAny

A story in the Palisadian-Post said residents of Las Pulgas Canyon “fear potential development.” I know a way to discourage folks from moving in. Start calling the canyon by its English name. Who’d want to live in Fleas Canyon?

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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