Angeleno of the Week: "Zoner"

(Pic from the L.A. Times.)

Launching a new Friday feature here at Franklin Avenue: The Angeleno of the Week. It could be a person, a place, an organization, a business... anything that made the week that was... well, the week that was.

And that brings us to teenage tagger "Zoner" (whose real name has been left out of news articles due to his age). The kid's 15 minutes of fame began earlier this week when he scrawled his nickname on a bus -- but not just any old bus.

Nope, Zoner, a Santee High School student, managed to unfortunately pick the bus carrying Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAUSD District Supt. David L. Brewer -- as well as a Los Angeles Times photog, who snapped the above photo. The luminaries were there to tout a new bus stop meant to help Santee students avoid walking through rough neighborhoods.

The irony was rich enough. But what happened after made the week even more bizarre. Zoner suddenly became the hottest commodity in all of local politics. Mayor Villaraigosa first argued that Zoner should suffer the consequences -- then suddenly scrambled to sign up as a mentor to the teen (who wasn't actually consulted on that scenario). The Santee principal was less than thrilled, and said Villaraigosa would have to undergo the same sort of testing and clearance that all mentors go through.

That didn't sit well with Villaraigosa, who suddenly had an itch to mentor Zoner today. The latest is covered by the LA Times here.

Meanwhile, according to the Times, sudden celeb Zoner has become a folk hero to his classmates at Santee. Coming next: A cover story in the L.A. Times' West magazine. (That's a joke. Or is it?)

Congrats to "Zoner," Franklin Avenue's first Angeleno of the Week!