J B Nethercutt

Deep in the San Fernando Valley lies the automobile and musical instrument lover's answer to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory: sibling collections of vintage cars and antique mechanical musical instruments amassed by J.B. Nethercutt, the 89-year-old scion of Merle Norman Cosmetics. The good news is you don't need a golden ticket to get into the Nethercutt Museum of cars or San Sylmar, which houses the instruments and more automotive artifacts.

Los Angeles has MoCA, New York has the Met and Washington has the Smithsonian. Impressive. But do they have a Tower of Beauty, a turn-of-the-century hotel complete with period kitchen implements, a silent-film star's rancho and a tribute to the dentist who founded a city? To see these homespun museums, you need go no further than the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys. Western Hotel/Museum 557 W. Lancaster Blvd., Lancaster Hours: noon to 4 p.m., Fridays through Sundays.

He came to the car-collecting world in a roundabout fashion, but Richard Nolind was a significant figure in the car culture. As president of the Sylmar-based Nethercutt Collection, Nolind worked with his boss and close friend, Merle Norman Cosmetics Chairman J.B. Nethercutt, to build one of the finest collections of classic automobiles in the world.

Even when shopping for a new car, most people dump the advertising brochure as soon as the salesman turns his back. But the late David R. Holls, a well-known car designer, was an avid collector of car-related materials. Ten thousand of Holls' catalogs, owner's manuals, pamphlets, brochures, clippings and other items have been acquired by the Nethercutt Collection and Museum, along with more than 9,000 of his car-related photos.

The 51st Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance--and the attendant frenzied weekend of classic and collector car auctions, parties, vintage car racing and auto manufacturer news making--is history, although a goodly number of the 100,000 or so souls who crowded the Monterey Peninsula may still be wending their ways home. Sylmar car collector and auto museum benefactor J.B.

Once upon a time, a trip was something to get excited about. Automobiles meant an adventure, not a traffic snarl. Trains signified cross-country journeys, not commuting from the suburbs. And planes embodied the cachet of the jet set, not some long-overdue flight at Los Angeles International Airport. This weekend, taste the thrill of old-style travel without ever leaving town.

The sun'll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow--there'll be sun! --Martin Charnin, "Annie" If the Orangewood Foundation has its way, the sun'll come out tomorrow for abused and neglected children and keep coming out in years to come. "Helping build Orangewood Children's Home was the first phase of the foundation's work," said Gen.

Extraordinary excitement about the 36th annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on Aug. 24 at the Lodge at Pebble Beach is drifting southward. Most particularly, the most elegant of Mercedes-Benzes will be in a glimmering light that weekend on the Monterey Peninsula, inasmuch as the event will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the invention of the automobile and of the Mercedes.