Angelic invasion: A few years ago when...

Angelic invasion: A few years ago when emcee Kathleen Turner mentioned the play “City of Angels” during the Tony awards show, she felt it necessary to explain that the title referred to Los Angeles.

Artist Jill D’Agnenica is making the point in another way. She’s setting out nine-inch magenta cherubs all over the city--4,687 of the little plaster guys.

“The idea came to me after the riots,” D’Agnenica said. She purchased a cherub, painted it magenta and thought “he looked so good I wanted to see him everywhere.”

A $4,500 grant from L.A. Contemporary Exhibitions is financing her sprawling artwork.

So far, 500 angels have been set out in public places but few have been visible for long because they’re free for the taking. Several of the takers have been alarmed security guards.

“I put some out at 2 a.m. at City Hall and by 5 a.m. they were all collected,” D’Agnenica said. “Later, I was able to retrieve them from a storage room. I call them my fallen angels.”

When Mayor Richard Riordan learned of the project, he complimented her on the figurines. Maybe the mayor should adopt some of the magenta sentries in case he can’t get all those black-and-whites that he promised.

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Is the Doo Dah a dodo? It began more than a decade ago, we all know, as a good-natured alternative to the staid Rose Parade. Then, this year, there were the protests over the decision to fence off the Doo Dah and charge $10 at the gate. Attendance declined sharply. Is it time for an alternative to the alternative? Perhaps, a No Dough Parade.

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List of the Day: T. K. Nagano, who edits the newsletter of the L.A. River Artists and Business Assn., ticks off these advantages of living Downtown:

* “Only place in the U.S. where you can practice speaking any foreign language.”

* “Very early previews of movie car chases and explosions.”

* “Create art without being harassed by dealers, collectors or patrons.”

* “For a quarter, ride one of the shortest and most expensively built subways in the world.”

* So quiet on Sundays and holidays, some call it Mayberry.”

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Nearly all the amenities: Gene deRuelle saw a sign for a San Fernando Valley apartment that is touted as “contemporary”--though the wording gives the impression that “19th Century” would be a more accurate description of the plumbing.

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An overlooked clue? Preben Sorensen of L.A. thinks he’s figured out where singer Michael Jackson plans to live. “Why,” asks Sorensen, “do you think he’s been practicing his moonwalk all these years?”

miscelLAny:

Colonial Honda of Glendale has a radio ad in which it describes what its stars and stripes stand for--the latter, it says, “represent Richard Nixon’s cabinet.”