Fountains

Like the figure it celebrates, the tribute to Princess Diana is already wrapped in controversy. The memorial fountain dedicated to Britain's beloved princess, expected to be one of London's most popular family attractions, has temporarily closed just weeks after its inauguration by Queen Elizabeth II. First, unseasonal gales and rainstorms the day after the July 6 opening clogged the fountain's filters with leaves, its stream was flooded, and it became a marsh until repairs were made.

The story of the fountain is common-speak around Walt Disney Concert Hall. How Frank Gehry, meeting Lillian Disney at her home to discuss plans for the hall, noticed her china cabinet. The china looked chintzy -- out of place in the lavish Disney abode. Gehry's curiosity got the better of him. He had to ask. Disney smiled. As it turns out, she and Walt loved to travel, and while waiting for flights they took to buying the chintzy Delft knockoffs that inevitably litter airport gift shops.

Maybe he should have used his spear to defend himself. During his nearly 70 years on the Palos Verdes Peninsula he has reacted with stone-faced stoicism at being splashed with paint, black ink and motor oil and at having his head yanked loose, his feet stolen and his fingers chopped off. Of course, thugs keep swiping the sharp-tipped trident he cradles in one arm too.

Your article on courtyards ("Courts of Appeal," June 16) was very charming. But to us as architects it is annoying to have designed the buildings, courtyards, pergolas, fountains, pavings and everything but the pots--and receive no mention. Peter Choate Choate Associates

In many California school cafeterias, there's no free water to drink. Surprised? "Everyone I talked to says, 'You're kidding,' " said state Sen. Mark Leno (D- San Francisco). Leno has introduced legislation to change that. His bill requiring schools to offer drinking water at no charge to students has passed the Senate and Assembly and awaits the governor's signature — a fairly sure thing because the governor sponsored the bill. "As we all know, young people are constantly bombarded by advertisements and pressure from their peers to consume junk beverages that are high in calories and sugar.

When Samuel Drake played minor league baseball in Macon, Ga., in 1955, he was called unspeakable, unprintable things simply because of the color of his skin. "And these are my home fans," he once said. "I'm not talking about when I would be traveling to Savannah and all these other Southern cities." Drake persevered, reached the major leagues in 1960 and became part of baseball history with his brother, Solomon Drake, as the first African American siblings to play in the majors.

When world-renowned Seattle glass artist Dale Chihuly discovered that a koi pond was planned for the floor of his art collector-client's dining room in Indian Wells, he suggested an array of his colorful Sea Form sculptures instead. Now more than 150 of his handblown glass pieces lie atop a bed of white rocks and sand in a 21/2-by-55-foot runnel that bisects the dining room and connects two outdoor fountains.

THE holidays, mercifully, are over. It's time to unclench that vise wrapped around your chest that made you think you were having a heart attack at the mall. And to pack up your pogo-stick reaction whenever a co-worker poked, "What fun plans do you have for New Year's?" Yes. It's time to get off your go-go, sleep-deprived track of caffeine and Visine and r-e-l-a-x.

Made for the Los Angeles Public Library's Central Library, Loretta Livingston's new dance, "Read the Bones," is a quiet, thoughtful piece inspired by Jud Fine's fountain work outside the library's Flower Street entrance. So many people enter the downtown library from the parking lot, traveling by internal staircase or elevator practically right to the library's doorstep, that they miss the fountains and the Maguire Gardens. This is a huge mistake of public planning.