Still Working Bugs Out of Misspelling

It wouldn’t be right to let the 50th anniversary of Bugsy Siegel’s slaying in Beverly Hills pass without noting that there’s a street named after him in Las Vegas.

At first we thought maybe it was a different Bugsy because it’s spelled Bugsy Siegal Circle.

But co-developer Barbara Shapiro told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the honoree in the tony neighborhood was definitely the mobster, the guy who founded the Flamingo Hotel and “made Las Vegas,” in her words, “what it was today.”

Originally, she and her husband, Raymond, wanted to christen the 4-year-old street Bree’s Way, after their daughter. But the city turned them down because it was too close to the already existing Breeze Way and might have confused authorities responding to an emergency.

So if the couple couldn’t name it for their daughter, they turned to Bugsy. The movie “Bugsy” was playing at the time, Barbara Shapiro said.

And the signs were in place before anyone noticed the spelling error. Siegel has been the victim of such problems before. After he was killed, his toe tag in the morgue said Seigel.

EAU DE FUMES: The juxtaposition of signs in Tarzana seems to suggest a new fragrance (see photo). On the other hand, you can breathe it on the freeway any day.

THROW ANOTHER BROCCOLI ON THE BARBIE! L.A. has been the birthplace of numerous words, chief among them “SigAlert” (eau de fumes time). What could be a new one is mentioned in a bulletin put out by the Southern California Online Users Group. The bulletin refers to an “evening poolside barbecue or vegeque.”

BABY STRIDES: Kim Connelly won the women’s 10K division of the fourth annual Keep L.A. Running event at Playa del Rey--although she didn’t actually cross the finish line first.

No, it wasn’t another race with a disputed result.

Connelly’s infant son, Bryan, whom she was pushing, finished one baby-stroller-length in front of her.

NO ONE WAS TAILGATING HIM, EITHER: A car spotted on the San Bernardino Freeway displayed a license plate frame that said “Disgruntled Postal Worker.”

FOR BOGEY MEN AND WOMEN: Mike Hix of Redlands found an ad for some sports equipment that was obviously designed for the less skilled (see excerpt).

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: A sign on a recovery center for addicts in Long Beach said “Slightly Better Times Ahead.”

LYRICAL NAMES DEPT.: “I am a retired FBI agent residing at Del Webb Sun City, Palm Desert,” writes Ted A’Hearn. “My daughter-in-law, Tracy, refers to me as ‘Ted the Fed from Del Webb.’ ”

Del Webb, you may recall, handled the construction of the Flamingo for Siegel the Bug.

miscelLAny:

“All right everyone, chill!” orders Arnold Schwarzenegger as the mad scientist Freeze in the new “Batman & Robin” movie. Apart from being a bad pun, it’s passe. It was out of date in 1992 when hip guy Bill Clinton told Jerry Brown, a rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, “Chill out. You’re from California. Chill out.” Then, again, I guess Freeze couldn’t very well throw a vegeque.

Steve Harvey can be reached by phone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at [email protected] and by mail at Metro, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.