J Paul Getty Center

Seeking to appease neighbors around the newly opened Getty Center, Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Feuer has proposed continuing parking restrictions in the neighborhood around the mountaintop museum until the end of the year. The council agreed last month to temporary parking restrictions around the popular museum complex after neighbors complained that parking in the residential area had become so bad that some could not pull out of their driveways.

The Getty Center occupies an intense site. Perched high atop a hill, just a few miles from the ocean, it has an unusually extreme degree of exposure to the elements. It's an unlikely spot for a fragile outdoor sculpture, yet this is where Robert Irwin--an artist known for ethereal installations fashioned out of manipulated light--has executed the most ambitious project of his career: the Getty's Central Garden. And he's still working on it, returning regularly to fine-tune and add new plants.

The Getty Center is packing up its togas and Trojan horses and hitting the road for a free family festival Saturday at Storyopolis. This first-ever "Getty 2 You" event brings elements from the museum's monthly family series to locations around L.A. Storyopolis will transform its store and courtyard area into a Grecian village to showcase the current Getty exhibition "Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood From the Classical Past."

Lending new meaning to the phrase "site specific" is "Building Music," an ongoing project of the Getty and the Los Angeles Philharmonic examining the relationship between music and architecture. The musical performance portion is underway with concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall and Brentwood's Getty Center, some of which include world premiere compositions inspired by architectural sites -- including Disney Hall and the Getty Center.

Oldest title in Research Institute: "Speculum vitae humanae," by Rodrigo Sanchez de Arevalo, 1475 Robert James Waller titles in collection: 0 Periodicals in Research Institute: 133,032 Photographs in museum collection: 2 million Smallest piece of art on display: Gold ring, date and artist unknown, in "Beyond Beauty: Antiquities as Evidence," in Temporary Exhibits Largest piece of art on display: An entire French paneled room, circa 1755, in Decorative Arts Oldest piece of art on display: Bronze

There are four dining options at the Getty: * The high-end Restaurant at the Getty Center offers a blend of California, Mediterranean and Asian cuisine. The restaurant has a full bar, a spectacular view and a mural by L.A.-based artist Alexis Smith. Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and weekends, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday and Friday; tea, cocktails and appetizers 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, and 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. weekends; dinner 5 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday.

The Getty opens today in Brentwood. Its hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday. It's closed on Mondays and major holidays. If you're coming by car, you need a reservation for one of the 1,200 parking spaces. Call the 24-hour reservation line at (310) 440-7300 or, for the hearing-impaired, (310) 440-7305. Information is provided in English and Spanish.

"It's crunch time," says Curtis D. Williams, director of construction and facilities for the $1-billion Getty Center in Brentwood. With less than two months to go before the Getty's gleaming new palace opens to the public on Dec. 16, he's not kidding. A cool guy in a hot seat, Williams might be expected to downplay his dilemma with an obvious understatement. But any visitor to the six-building, 110-acre cultural complex can see that this is Stress Central. Nearly 16 years since the J.

Getty Center, new $1-billion home of the J. Paul Getty Trust in Brentwood Look for: Public opening Dec. 16. But plan now: Required parking reservations will be taken in advance, beginning Monday for groups and Sept. 28 for single cars: (310) 440-7300. Why it matters: With its $4.2-billion endowment, the Getty has had a global impact while buying rare artworks, libraries and archives; saving cultural monuments; enhancing public school art education; and helping the art community get wired.