Riordan’s honeymoon is over? Less than 24...

Riordan’s honeymoon is over? Less than 24 hours after the mayoral election, Valley resident Janice Lark received a mailer that said: “Don’t buy Dick Riordan’s lies.”

Voters in the Wilshire and Westside areas received anti-Riordan missives from the Democratic National Committee on Wednesday and Thursday.

To which we respond: Now, just a minute! Irrespective of one’s politics, give the new mayor a chance. Why, he hasn’t even taken an overseas junket yet.

It’s hard to believe the 1997 mayoral campaign is under way. Unless . . . do you think those mailers were supposed to arrive before the election?

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Ol’ what’s his name: We don’t know whether you’ve heard--we hate to be the bearer of upsetting news--but Prince, the pop music star, has announced he is no longer Prince. He will henceforth be known by a symbol that combines the male and female designations (see enclosed). No one has yet revealed how to pronounce it.

We just hope that the change doesn’t prompt a lawsuit by the city of Long Beach, which has long used a similar symbol.

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Is this any way to run a garage sale? In “Bugsy’s Baby: The Secret Life of Mob Queen Virginia Hill,” author Andy Edmonds relates that when gangster Bugsy Siegel sold his home on Delfern Drive in Bel-Air, he also had some “old, weather-beaten gardening tools and lawn furniture” to unload. So he directed his buddy, actor George Raft, to buy the stuff for $500.

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Worth more than one of her husband’s haircuts!The jewelry worn by Hillary Rodham Clinton during the presidential inauguration will be on exhibit in “Gems: Voyage from the Mine” at the Media City Shopping Center in Burbank from June 15 to July 5.

Speaking of one of the gems that will be on display at the show, the L.A. County Natural History Museum notes that the word amethyst “comes from the Greek for ‘not drunken.’ It was believed that those who wore amulets containing amethyst were protected from drunkenness. The use of amethyst for this purpose is not recommended by law enforcement agencies.”

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Versatile dummy: We received several phone calls from residents, as well as from Japanese and English newspapers, inquiring about Safe-T-Man, a product intended to discourage carjackers. The dummy, a 5-foot-10 inch, three-pound hunk, looks like a passenger from a distance.

A colleague speculates another reason why it might appeal to motorists. Safe-T-Man would also come in handy in a car-pool lane.

miscelLAny:

The L.A. Conservancy is holding a rally Sunday at noon at the corner of Lakewood Boulevard and Florence Avenue in Downey to show support for “the country’s only remaining golden-arched, red-and-white tiled walk-up McDonald’s.” The company has said it plans to close the antique eatery for financial reasons, which would spell doom for the original McDonald’s mascot, Speedee the chef.