1900 Year

The massive tax bill that appears headed for certain enactment contains an unpleasant surprise for parents: It requires that all children who are at least 5 years old next year have Social Security cards by 1988 if their parents claim them as dependents on their federal tax returns.

Whoever wins the city attorney's race will be little more than a caretaker of Los Angeles' legal affairs unless he can persuade the mayor and the City Council to pay for bringing the office into the late 20th century. So far, that has not been an easy task. Ted Stein, who is challenging 12-year incumbent James K. Hahn, has railed at the increase in liability claims paid out by the city. But he hasn't mentioned the fact that many of the claims were meritorious.

Her auburn hair has turned white, and her pink cheeks have gone pale. At 81, with weary eyes and deep creases in her sagging flesh, she appears tired, perhaps resigned. Yet elegantly dressed in black satin and lace, she remains a powerful presence. She is England's Queen Victoria, in 1900, a year before her death. Actually, she's a one-quarter life-size figure of Victoria, standing in a case at the Ventura County Museum of History and Art.

Before they became among the best their sports had ever seen, Pete Sampras and Tiger Woods were Southern California teenagers performing in old, venerable tournaments that had been around since the turn of the 20th century. Before the first Rose Bowl was played in Pasadena in 1902, tennis was played in Ojai. Before the first Santa Anita Handicap was run in 1935, golf was played at country clubs all around Los Angeles. And before the CIF State track meet started in 1915, Carpinteria played host to hosted its first track meet.

In 1900, the year "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was published, L. Frank Baum released another book as well -- one that has long been forgotten by most of those who ever knew of it and that was utterly eclipsed many years ago by the story of Dorothy and her three comrades.

Guess which movie is being discussed: --"A direct attack on Jesus Christ . . . in such a way as to destroy the whole basis of Christian faith." --"Blasphemous" . . ."vicious" . . . "immoral." --"The portrayal of Christ shows him as a weakling--terrified, uncertain, searching, meditative, mystical, a guru-type Jesus--definitely not the strong Christ of the Scriptures."

The parent of Imperial Savings, one of California's largest thrifts, was ordered Friday to halt all new lending and investment activity while regulators decide if the ailing institution can meet tough new federal standards for savings and loans. The restrictions on Imperial Corp.

Suppose you decided to visit a remote outpost in a country whose language was utterly foreign to you. If you hired a guide, you'd surely want this person to be able to communicate with you, even if only in rudimentary sign language. For most viewers, conceptual art is about as "foreign" as art gets. It's one thing for a commercial gallery exhibit to murmur inscrutably to a coterie of knowledgeable followers.

Officials have begun proceedings to dismiss the popular administrator of the Paramount adult school and the school's vice principal amid investigations by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and private investigators. The Paramount Unified school board voted 4 to 1 in closed session Tuesday to place adult school director Ed Quesada and Vice Principal Luther Martinez on unpaid leave while the district begins dismissal proceedings.

Inside the Great Hall of the People, it's all canned speeches and stilted words of praise for the Chinese Communist Party. Yes, it's the annual National People's Congress. Yawn. But take a step outside. There, it's pot-bellied paparazzi chasing after celebrity delegates and more costume changes than a Vegas diva. Think Democratic National Convention (or Republican, if they're the party in power) meets the Academy Awards. The term "rubber stamp" accompanies references to the congress in Western news reports often enough to be an epithet.