Demographics

When the government announced last week that a record 51.7 million American children will be in school this fall--breaking a record that had held for 25 years--dollar signs undoubtedly flashed in some entrepreneurial eyes. The report is a reminder that a new demographic boom is upon us, the "echo" of the post-World War II baby boom: Their children now are crowding into the preteen and teenage groups, with tremendous implications for the economy.

From a distance, they all look the same--endless rows of stucco structures blending into the desert, with their Spanish-style roofs, big picture windows and saplings struggling against the Antelope Valley's harsh seasons. But up close, along some streets of these newer suburban tracts, the contrasts are sharp, the divisions deepening. In this most unlikely place, 70 miles north of Los Angeles' urban core, a class struggle is unfolding, pitting those who have against those who want.

Rural America is once more growing by the millions, but the rebound has little to do with the farm. The boom that began in the 1970s, derailed during the farm crisis and heightened overseas competition of the 1980s, is back on track. A new study shows that rural regions gained 2.6 million residents from April 1990 to July 1995. Of those, 1.6 million moved from metropolitan areas.

A new research center that will provide demographic information for cities, the county and other public agencies opens its doors today. The center, at Cal State Fullerton, will provide the governments with population projections and other forms of data that had been tabulated by the county before its 1994 bankruptcy, which forced officials to close the office. Cal State Fullerton will provide the data for about $275,000, far less than the $800,000 it cost for the county to handle the service.

Graduate students in Pepperdine University's business school will present tonight the results of a study on the correlation between crime and alcohol outlets in Sunland-Tujunga. The study, to be presented at a public meeting, echoes some of the findings presented in a groundbreaking report published last year by USC researchers Richard A. Scribner, David P. MacKinnon and James H. Dwyer.

KLAC-AM (570) exists in the pre-hip, pre-rock universe. And if hip is "dead," as some cultural pundits claim, then the road may be paved for the resurgence of square. KLAC may not embody square as far as its fans are concerned, but it is undeniably in a media world of its own. KLAC plays the "old" music, a format given the bland label of "Adult Standards" by an industry obsessed with crafting labels for every demographic bump, curl and contour as it applies to the money-spending population.

To understand the future of American politics, look closely at Dana Point and at Orange County, a Stanford University professor says, and keep in mind that in a few years whites will cease to be the majority in California. Around the year 2000, the state estimates, whites will make up less than half of California's more than 31 million people.

When advertisers want to know how many eyeballs are glued to a TV show, they look at the Nielsen ratings. And when they want to know how many people are reading a particular magazine or newspaper, they consult the Audit Bureau of Circulations. But in cyberspace, they have nowhere to turn.

The hit play this season is about a community of retirees who struggle to adjust to the loneliness and alienation of old age in a high-rise apartment. "Candied Haw Apple"--featuring a cast in their 60s and 70s--has hit a nerve in a society that long has taken pride in its veneration of age and care of the elderly. In one scene, a bewildered father confronts cellular-telephone-afflicted offspring who worry more about business deals than about him.