A Hitchhiker Who Finned a Ride

Debbe Behr was kayaking off Malibu the other day when she noticed that another kayak had an unexpected passenger--a sea lion (see photo).

“There used to be a floating barge in the area,” Behr said. “But it’s gone and I guess there’s no place for the sea lions to sun themselves.”

Behr, who was armed with a camera, learned that the creature had followed kayakers Steffanie and Robert Stoker for several minutes “before it became their boat’s figurehead.”

The kayak was built for two (humans) but, Behr said, Steffanie pulled in her knees to give the sea lion room. The stowaway “seemed content to let them paddle him around while he basked in the rays,” Behr said.

Even after nearly half an hour in the vessel, the sea lion seemed reluctant to leave. When the Stokers beached the rented craft, the interloper stayed aboard a few moments longer before departing.

A BAD TIME TO STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES: A Mobil Oil tanker driver said it with flowers on Valentine’s Day--but he didn’t know it would be more than $3,000 worth of flowers.

The driver was cited last February after an L.A. city police officer spotted his empty rig, with its motor running, outside a flower shop. He pleaded no contest to two charges, the city attorney’s office said Friday: Leaving a running motor vehicle unattended on a roadway and parking within 15 feet of a fire hydrant. He was ordered to pay $540 in fines.

The driver’s company was also fined--$2,700--for violating a hazardous materials transportation safety law.

Love on the run can be expensive.

GLENDALE FILM FESTIVAL: On the third day of this column’s tribute to John Gloske’s collection of Glendale film clips, we look in on “Days of Thunder” (1990), as Randy Quaid is asked the hometown of stock car driver Tom Cruise.

“Eagle Rock,” Quaid responds.

“It’s up around Wilkesboro isn’t it?”

“No, Glendale,” Quaid says. “California,” he adds.

“He’s a Yankee?”

“Not exactly,” Quaid says. “If you’re from California, you’re not a Yankee. You’re not really anything.”

(This exchange, by the way, also represents an entire Eagle Rock Film Festival.)

LIST OF THE NEXT CENTURY: Responding to this column’s plea to name the next decade--the successor to the ‘90s--public-spirited readers came up with these suggestions:

* “The Cheery-Os,” says Christopher Smith, “since everybody is sure to be happier in the next century.”

* “The Terrible Twos,” says, Barbara Thuet, “since things seem to be going from bad to worse.”

* “The Tooties” (as in “Two Thousands”), says Steve Kinder.

* “The Zeros,” says Richard Main.

* “The Onesies,” says Michael Chanslor, adding, “My wife prefers ‘The Thousands,’ since she’s certain we’ll all succumb to the inflation pressures of the millennium.”

miscelLAny:

The photographer who took the photo of the impossible-to-pronounce 111st Street sign (see photo) was misidentified here the other day. It was taken by Santa Maria resident Michael Tscheekar. The since-removed sign was near LAX--and, obviously, between 110st and 112st Streets.