Ugly sweepstakes:Critics asserted that the 30-foot-tall, brightly...

Ugly sweepstakes:

Critics asserted that the 30-foot-tall, brightly colored Cuervo statue in West Hollywood was not only unsightly, it was commercial inasmuch as it bore the tequila’s name. So the sculpture’s sponsor agreed to remove it.

But that raises a question. What replaces the Cuervo work as the ugliest sculpture in the Southland?

Yes, it’s time for another Only in L.A. contest, offering all manner of tacky prizes to participating readers.

Let us know your nominee (see address below). Is it Venice’s clown-in-a-tutu? The ungainly Triforium near City Hall? The four metallic figures riddled with bullet holes outside the Roybal Federal Center? We’re sure there are other horrific works out there we’ve been fortunate enough to miss.

THE CANINE LIBERACE: “One-Minute Superstars,” written by Sondra Farrell Bazrod, spotlights some of the unique individuals--humans and critters--who had their moments of fame. Our favorite locals included:

* Arthur Suhr, a conscientious superintendent at the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant in L.A., who established a lost-and-found in the 1970s for all the false teeth that had been flushed down people’s toilets. The book says no choppers were ever reclaimed.

* Jazz, a toy fox terrier trained by Jan and Glen Stewart of Apple Valley, who gave a stunning impersonation of Liberace. The flamboyant hound would appear in a “red velvet cape with gold sequins and a diamond ring on his paw at a small gold piano complete with gold candelabra and framed picture of his mother.”

* Krandel Lee Newton, the “original butt sketch artist,” claimed that in one year he drew 35,000 backsides of people parading by on the Venice boardwalk.

miscelLAny:

Ed de Merlier snapped a display in Long Beach that seemed to team up Talbert Medical Group with a McDonald’s. McDonald’s later moved the sign--at the request of Talbert.

Steve Harvey can be reached by mail at L.A. Times, Metro section, L.A. 90053 or by e-mail at [email protected].