City Council members on grass: We all...

City Council members on grass: We all know these are budget-cutting times but, still, it was surprising to see two L.A. councilwomen mowing City Hall’s south lawn Friday.

Actually, Joan Milke Flores and Ruth Galanter were temps, pushing the idea of pollution-free, electric lawn mowers during their brief outdoor stints.

That concept does sound more energy-efficient than our idea of having the owners of gasoline-powered lawn mowers ride-share.

*

It must be a comedy: “Smithsonian Institution/ Hall of Achievement” said the movie prop placed over the Spring Street entrance of City Hall (of all places) Friday.

*

The news from L.A. Woebegone: Garrison Keillor, the radio personality and novelist, wrote in the New York Times that he brought his “New York daughter” here to end her bias against L.A. “as the mecca of Spiritual Emptiness at the End of the Road, a place run by guys in golf pants.”

While Keillor said he doesn’t “really trust people who live where there isn’t snow,” he praised several aspects of life in L.A., including one “exuberant and proud salad” that he was served in a restaurant.

And you thought City Hall was L.A.’s only hall of achievement.

Reminders of home: Although she hasn’t visited the L.A. Bar & Grill outside Paris or the L.A. Cafe on the island of Crete, Barbara Murray of Whittier did find a bit of the Southland in China.

While visiting a commune near Beijing, Murray wandered into a kitchen and found a 1993 calendar advertising a Sav-On drugstore on Adams Street in Riverside. The store’s pharmacy shouldn’t expect any calls from commune residents, though--Sav-On forgot to include the area code in its phone number.

*

19th-Century flying machine: We recently mentioned that during the Spanish-American War, The Times blared coded bulletins to passers-by via a whistle set up in the building. Ron Raschke of Studio City wondered about one bulletin category, “Flying squadron.” Said Raschke: “I thought that (flying) was a 20th-Century invention. (Balloons?)”

We consulted archivist Richard Robinson, who told us that “ ‘flying’ referred to fast-moving boats.”

*

Parlay: During an L.A.-Seattle flight (the 20th-Century type), Lee Gruenfeld found two items on his Alaska Airlines lunch tray: (1) an ad for the slot machines at Reno and (2) a card with this biblical quotation: “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving.”

Observed Gruenfeld: “Funny, those are the exact words you use when you tell the Almighty what you’re going to do if He lets you hit the jackpot.”

miscelLAny:

Residents interested in buying an electric lawn mower at a reduced price under a city-sponsored program may phone (818) 854-1426. The offer doesn’t include any guest lawn mowing appearances by Councilwomen Flores or Galanter, however.