Years ago, Angelenos prided themselves on their...

Years ago, Angelenos prided themselves on their driving skills (honed on the demanding freeways, so the theory went) as well as on their courtesy behind the wheel.

The outside world--if not current local residents--disputes that image. A poll by a subsidiary of the Ashland Oil Co. ranked L.A. drivers as the second-worst in the nation.

No. 1 was New York, which drew 30% of the votes, compared to 10% for L.A.

Support for L.A. figures to grow. After all, an estimated 9,000 New Yorkers move here each year.

Only in L.A. Real Estate Listing of the Week, courtesy of Petrick & Associates:

“Is it a house? Is it a lot? A barely inhabitable 1-bedroom home on a desirable lot with alley access in an up-and-coming part of Venice.”

Price: $295,000 (which some might term barely palatable).

Our reports on the vanity license-plate competition inspired Dean Terlinden of Long Beach to write:

“Personal car plates are mostly cutesy and forgettable but I did see one a few weeks ago which was humorous. An older couple in a 20-year-old car had: ‘WE USED 2.’

“HOKP2E, which has been parked in our neighborhood several days, has a meaning for me. Fifty years ago at Carroll College (Wisc.), I had a professor, Doc Richardson, who would pull out his handkerchief and ‘hockptooey’ each time he cleared his throat. He didn’t pay any attention to the students in the front row who automatically ducked. . . .”

Kenneth Zimmerman of Cypress contributes this poetic solution for two current nuisances:

If they dropped malathion

Over Iraq instead of

The Golden State,

It would generate

Enthusiastic support

Instead of anger and hate.

Those ever-present Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles swooped down on Centinela Hospital in Inglewood the other day to help kick off a monthlong program of free immunizations against childhood diseases. For more information, call 213-419-8636.

One gag item at the recent California Gift Show here was Preparation Z, which founder Frank Halstead touts as a “breakthrough” for men with a receding hairline. Not that it grows or restores hair. Instead, Halstead says, Preparation Z shrinks the user’s head to a size more “consistent with the existing hair.”

miscelLAny:

Locals ranked among the nation’s top 100 independent restaurants in sales for 1989 were Jerry’s Famous Deli (No. 19), Cheesecake Factory (No. 22), Canter’s (No. 45), Jimmy’s (No. 58), and DC3 (No. 59), according to a survey by Restaurants and Institutions magazine.