Solana Beach

As the '90s opened, Johnny Clegg watched in awe at the radical changes in the world around him--the kind of changes that politically active musicians such as himself often cry out for, but all too rarely witness in their lifetimes.

Nature of business: Parent company of Chart House and Islands restaurants. Total employees: 5,400 In San Diego County: 846 Stock listing in The Times: On NASDAQ as "ChtHou" Ticker symbol: "CHT" Friday's stock close: $7.63 One-week change: Up $0.62 Analyst review: "Chart House Enterprises is surfacing from a deep recession and a $3.6 million write-down from its unsuccessful Mango's concept.

The great ideals of academia seldom find their parallels in the real life of the academics themselves. It's a truth that Richard Nelson spears mercilessly in "Some Americans Abroad," his play about American professors in England now in a San Diego area premiere at the North Coast Repertory Theatre through May 23. The piece had its U.S. debut at New York's Lincoln Center Theatre in 1990.

It all started with an ice-cream cone. In 1981, Olive Blakistone and her husband, Tom, stopped for ice cream at the Lomas Sante Fe shopping center near their home here, in north San Diego County. They noticed several empty spaces and pondered the possibility of starting a theater. They began with a $13,000 bare-bones investment, opening the North Coast Repertory Theatre on May 21, 1982.

I sing of slow wits and weak will, And poor Leonard Tose fills the bill. To learn it was risky To mix cards and whiskey Tuition cost him fifteen mil. He now seeks his fortune restored With lawyers none else could afford. But like a casino In Jersey or Reno, They'll soon have the rest of his hoard. STEPHEN BAIRD Solana Beach

An 11-year-old boy who survived a tractor-trailer crash in Solana Beach Sunday morning is reported in serious but stable condition at Children's Hospital, a hospital spokesman said. The truck driver, Richard Allen Schmelter, 46, of Corona, was pronounced dead at the crash scene, officials said. Schmelter and the boy were reportedly neighbors in Corona, said spokesman Mark Morelli.

What's in a name? Enough, apparently, to offend the sensibilities of one northern San Diego County town known for its snooty zoning and patrician self-image. Recently, the discount clothing store Ross Dress for Less chose a bustling Solana Beach shopping center as the site of one of the most recent links in its 225-store chain. A handful of residents immediately set off an indignant outcry about the "tackiness" of having such an unabashed discounter in their midst.

Fifty years ago, as its sons were being called to fight in World War II, the families of the Mexican-American community of Eden Gardens in Solana Beach decided to build a church. The war had brought new urgency to the need for a spiritual center for their community. The church--which they named for St. Leo--had its first real home in a converted barracks; its first pastor was an Army chaplain. In the half a century since, St.