California Museum Of Science And Industry

This will be the year Southern Californians can view a new version of the future from Disney, walk among sharks at a world-class aquarium, ride a high-wire bicycle without fear of falling and dance again to big-band music at classy nightclubs, including one that was a hangout for spies during World War II.

Federal auditors have raised questions about more than $207,000 in grant money intended for use in developing a major premier exhibit for the California Museum of Science and Industry--construction of which is now two years behind schedule.

LIVE THEATER The Loretta Theater, which will include a 99-seat and a 65-seat theater at 2437 Main St. in Santa Monica, is scheduled to open in late July. The theater will be housed in a Frank Gehry-designed building in the city's Ocean Park district. The board of directors includes playwright Beth Henley, who received the Pulitzer Prize in drama and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for best American play for "Crimes of the Heart," as well as Ed Harris, Holly Hunter and Amy Madigan.

With its lines of visiting children, campus-like layout and exhibits bearing such titles as "Wheels of Change" and "The Energy Experience," the California Museum of Science and Industry gives off a deceptively tranquil air. In fact, it is an institution in turmoil. For months, the museum has been embroiled in conflict. On one side are state officials who operate and oversee the facility, located in Los Angeles' Exposition Park.

A Superior Court judge refused Tuesday to order resumption of demolition of the historic Ahmanson Building at the Museum of Science and Industry in Los Angeles, but set a hearing Feb. 7 for further arguments. The ruling by Judge Roger K. Warren represented a win for preservationists and a setback for museum officials and others who want the demolition and expansion project to proceed without delay.

Spokesmen for the Los Angeles Coliseum complex and the business partnership that is proposed to run the facilities are calling unacceptable a request from the state Museum of Science and Industry for partial veto power over events at the Coliseum and Sports Arena. Museum officials have expressed concern that a private Coliseum manager might schedule so many events that traffic jams and lack of parking could adversely affect attendance at the adjacent Exposition Park museums.

A Sacramento judge Tuesday refused to block demolition work on a building at the Museum of Science and Industry in Los Angeles, dealing a blow to preservationists who contended that the structure's architecture should be saved because of its historical importance. At the conclusion of a two-hour hearing, Superior Court Judge Roger Warren agreed only to grant a two-day stay during which those trying to block the further demolition of the Ahmanson Building may file an appeal.

First off, you've got to take into consideration you're talking a Disneyland-jaded generation of SoCal children: E-ticket babies who, even back in the '60s and '70s, were weaned on "animatronics" and something that we could crudely refer to as first-generation "interactive" (pop-up books and help-our-hero by drawing-on-the-TV-screen cartoons like "Winky Dink and You"). So a trip to the Science and Industry museum went head-to-head with all that the land of alternative leisure had to offer.

Since November, 1986, an estimated 48,000 moderate-to-serious earthquakes have rumbled across one little corner of South Los Angeles. And the level of seismic activity at the Museum of Science and Industry in Exposition Park increased even more Friday. That's because the museum's popular earthquake exhibit, which includes a quake simulator, has expanded. The free hands-on display makes it clear why and how a high-rise must wobble during a temblor so it won't fall down.

A major flap over the funding of a $45-million construction project at the Museum of Science and Industry was resolved for the time being Monday when state legislators voted to let the plan go forward by simply switching the source of much of the money.