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What
Do The Mayor of London and They, and the Mayor of Venice, Italy, really, really hate pigeons. In Trafalgar Square, where feeding the pigeons was a life-long pleasure for many, the mayor decided they must be banished. They, poor birds, are simply not sanitary. London recently paid the last remaining Trafalgar Square vendor of bird seed to stop hawking such fare. The mayor of Venice says he'd like the pigeons to get the heck out of St.Marks Square. Well, lately, with Venice sinking and largely flooded, the pigeons may not mind relocating. But, in Beverly Hills, the situation is much different. A few years ago, the city manager, Mark Scott, ordered notices posted on the subject. These brightly painted signs admonished people to cease and desist, actually resist, the all too human impulse to feed the pigeons. The signs were placed in the Crescent Dr. block of Beverly Gardens Park, along Santa Monica Bl, across from our beloved, now closed, historic Post Office. People who never even fed the pigeons complained about the signs. They were unseemly. The city manager was persuaded to have them removed. But, the amazing thing is, the pigeons seemed to have gotten the message. Soon thereafter, nary a pigeon could be seen in Beverly Gardens Park. No, BB guns weren't deployed, nor was ordinary pigeon poison. Very quietly, rice was spread about. When consumed by the poor birds, the rice swells up inside the pigeons and they are dispatched to pigeon heaven, never to be fed again. In honor of Beverly Hills pigeons gone, we herein offer to e-mail our readers an 1856 recipe for pigeon pie. It is taken from "Fashions In Foods In Beverly Hills," published in 1931 by the Beverly Hills Woman's Club and printed by our predecessor, The Beverly Hills Citizen. If you're baking this for Mark Scott, you may want to forgo the instructions to "stick the feet of the birds (nicely cleaned)" in a hole in the center of the top crust of the pigeon pie. So much for wildlife in Beverly Hills. |
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