Don’t cry for me, Southern California:The corner...

Don’t cry for me, Southern California:

The corner of GREGORY (Way) and PECK (Drive) graces the city of Beverly Hills. But Julie Lucido of Lake Forest points out that the Orange County town of Rancho Santa Margarita can boast of a celebrity intersection that is even more topical. This crossroads seems to plug one of the stars of the movie “Evita”--ANTONIO (Parkway) and (Avenida de Las) BANDERAS.

Gregory Peck in Beverly Hills makes sense. But who would have thought that an actor playing Che, the angry revolutionary, would be memorialized in Orange County?

GENE’S TREK: We recently quoted a Belgrade taxi driver telling Times foreign correspondent Tracy Wilkinson that he worked for “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry as a driver until Roddenberry died “and they sent his body into outer space.”

In case you were wondering, the driver had the route correct. After Roddenberry’s death, space shuttle Cmdr. James Wetherbee paid tribute to him by taking along some of his cremated ashes on a 1992 mission. After the shuttle returned, the ashes were returned to Roddenberry’s widow in a private ceremony.

TO LIVE AND DRIVE IN BEVERLY HILLS: Gil Chesterton, a journalism instructor at Beverly Hills High, received a classic tardy excuse from a student. “She said she couldn’t get out of her driveway and down the street because of the mob of press surrounding Frank Sinatra’s home,” Chesterton said. He added: “She said, ‘It was that way when Ringo lived on my street, too.’ ”

AN EXCUSE FOR THE BIRDS--AND BEES: Val Rodriguez, a longtime instructor at Banning High in Wilmington, once told us of a memorable absence excuse from a student. On the form where the young man was supposed to indicate why he missed school, he wrote, “Sex.”

L.A. INSULT OF THE WEEK: “L.A. is the only town where the cops pull you over and read you your syndication rights,” says the star of TV’s “Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher”--a joke printed on posters around town that advertise his show.

L.A. INSULT OF 50 YEARS AGO: During a broadcast of the old mystery series “The Adventures of Philip Marlowe” on KNX radio the other night, the hard-boiled private eye recounts how his car broke down during a chase. Marlowe adds: “A miracle happened. For the first time in my life in L.A., I caught a taxi.”

WHO SAYS L.A. HAS NO TRADITIONS? Sure, the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano every March. But, don’t forget, the falcons attack in Long Beach every June. That was the half-serious warning delivered to juror candidates the other day by Superior Court Judge Arthur Jean in Long Beach.

He noted that in June of 1995 and 1996, a couple of peregrine falcons swooped down on the courthouse patio, harassing jurors. Jean said that “the only people who’ve been attacked . . . are men.” (One man’s forehead was gashed during a 1995 falcon sortie.) Curiously enough, Jean added, the birds only seem to attack pairs of men.

miscelLAny:

Our list of silly warnings on products continues to grow. Dick Tyler of Burbank writes: “I have a sun visor that fits over the inside of the windshield when the car is parked. It carries the warning: ‘Do not drive car when visor is in place.’ ”