Lucite

Twenty works of sculptor Frederick E. Hart, who is best known for his works in Lucite, are on display at Galerie Michael in B$SYSTEM SYSTEM WIREOUT A022789 3/10/89 16:09:43 ; the other four will be rendered in Lucite. "Sculpting with Lucite is sculpting with light," said Hart, who last year created "Fidelia," an all-Lucite sculpture of a woman inspired by Beethoven's opera "Fidelio."

DIPPED in a garish green rubbery coating, the ornate Louis-style dining chairs from Six Inch of Belgium looked like irradiated doggy chew toys. The white fiberglass centipede reared on its legs was really Scolopendra, a 7-foot floor lamp made by Site Specific Design in Brooklyn. And the beanpole clad in fluorescent pink?

It is a rare quiet day at the Santa Monica villa of computer software king Peter Norton and his wife, Eileen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has recently come and gone, as have William Gray, head of the United Negro College Fund, a group of 800 looky-loos on a garden tour and the guests at a preschool fund raiser. The Nortons are hanging out at the kitchen table. Their butler, who used to work for Malcolm Forbes, hovers discreetly. "We're ordinary.

The recipe rarely changes: Buy a property, invite high-profile designers to tackle specific spaces, create a publicity phenom and sprinkle the entire endeavor with a healthy dose of feel-good charity appeal. Voilà , another showcase house is born when the House of Rock launches in Santa Monica on Saturday night. There may be no better attention-getting way to flip a property like the 1926 that designer Elaine Culotti purchased two years ago. The 10,000-square-foot home, on almost 2 acres of golf-course-adjacent real estate, was designed by Elmer Grey (architect of the Beverly Hills Hotel, among other places)

A stroll through Old Towne Orange feels like a tour of the movie set for "Back to the Future." The cluster of historic buildings and quaint storefronts is home to what the district bills as "the antique capital of California." The stores -- some better than others -- offer antiques and other items, including architectural salvage items (like a vintage Lucite and steel banister by L.A. architect Paul Williams), early American furniture, vintage records, jewelry and clothing.

Crocker National Bank had but three weeks to live, and its employees were not about to let it die without a proper send-off. So they organized a wake at a downtown San Francisco hotel two weeks ago, complete with miniature Lucite tombstones as party favors and the consecration of a Crocker "time capsule" to carry the bank's memory into the vault of history.

Re " 'Do you know who I am?' " editorial, Jan. 22 I fail to see the big deal in holding a badge that is only provided in return for political favors. Other than the examples of misuse you cited, what does one do with such a badge? I carried a real badge and credentials for most of the 28 years I served as a special agent for a branch of the Department of Defense, and if I wasn't on official business, both remained in my desk at the office. I suggest that if a badge is given out, it be encased in Lucite and accompanied by a suitably inscribed plaque for open display.

Silver medallions to be presented to Muhammad Ali and other top U.S. athletes at Statue of Liberty celebrations were stolen and officials say there is not enough time to mint new ones before the ceremonies begin. The 40 medallions, worth nearly $2,400, were taken Thursday afternoon from a delivery van outside the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, police said.