Parks Is a Top Gun in Poll by Magazine

Beautiful people occasionally get arrested by L.A. police but that’s been about the extent of the department’s involvement with that group. Now, for the first time, a local cop has been named one of the 50 “most beautiful people in the world,” as rated by People magazine.

It’s the chief himself--Bernard C. Parks.

Glamour is not usually a word you associate with LAPD honchos, although two ex-chiefs had flings with the media (Tom Reddin as a TV news anchor and Daryl Gates as a radio shock jock).

When the magazine first contacted the department about Parks, Lt. Anthony Alba, a police spokesman, said he had to “make sure it wasn’t a joke or prank.”

Then Parks had to be persuaded by his family to accept the honor.

What’s next, a “Bernard Parks Calendar”? “We’re contemplating that option,” Alba quipped.

THE INJUSTICE OF IT ALL: A few weeks ago, this column published a snapshot that showed a shed in Topanga topped by the sign, “Los Angeles Municipal Courts” (see photo). I figured it was another example of government cutbacks. But, to tell the truth, I never could find anyone who served jury duty there.

Well, it turns out it’s not a courtroom, after all. A city employee phoned to say the sign was apparently filched from a court parking lot.

BLASTING OFF INTO THE 1940s: Growing up on the Westside in the 1950s, I always felt comforted that no matter how tense the Cold War became, our neighborhood was protected by a huge red rocket on Sepulveda Boulevard. (see photo)

As I got older, I found out that the projectile (never launched) was actually promoting the Rocket 88 engine that Oldsmobiles once carried. The missile turns 50 in December and some sort of celebration will be held.

“My wife wants to have a Santa Claus climbing up the side,” said Bruce Albertson, president of the Culver City dealership.

The rocket is mentioned in “Don’t Tell Dad,” the new autobiography of actor Peter Fonda, who recounts how it was filmed as a backdrop in the 1969 movie “Easy Rider.” Alas, the scene got cut. Well, it was a motorcycle movie.

THE SIDEWALK CAST: My recollections of colorful street characters in L.A.--such as the religious zealot who preached with a cup of water on his head--brought forth memories from several readers.

John K. recalled a long-haired, “Buffalo Bill type” who would strut down Hollywood Boulevard in a buckskin outfit. Norm Marshank remembered a man, said to be an American Indian who had made a fortune in oil, who would occasionally direct traffic on Wilshire Boulevard in mid-L.A. years ago. “For some reason,” Marshank said, “the police never bothered him.”

As for “Gen. Hershy Bar”--the antiwar figure who wore a mock military uniform--several readers pointed out his sobriquet was partly a pun on the name of Gen. Lewis Hershey, who headed the draft in the Vietnam era.

And Marie Anderson said she used to enjoy seeing the general in the lobby of the federal courthouse, “handing out literature and welcoming people to ‘this top secret elevator meeting.’ ” That was Gen. Hershy Bar, of course, not Hershey.

miscelLAny:

This make some of you feel old? When Disneyland’s Tomorrowland was built in 1955, it was meant to resemble the ever-so-distant 1980s.

Steve Harvey can be reached by phone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com and by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.