Reagan to Inaugurate Hotel’s New Presidential Suite

--Christopher Mander was thrilled to learn that President Reagan was going to stay at his 3-year-old Hotel Inter-Continental in Miami, after a fund-raiser tonight for the reelection bid of Republican Sen. Paula Hawkins of Florida. Then, panic struck. The hotel had no presidential suite. “It was very hectic,” Mander said several round-the-clock workdays and $150,000 later. “Now to the best of my knowledge, this will be the first time in which the first person to stay in a hotel’s presidential suite is the President himself.” Workers installed a Jacuzzi, an oak-paneled bookcase, marble floors, new drapes, new wall coverings and 10 colors of paint. But Mander was advised by the White House advance team to get the painting done quickly, since the President doesn’t like the smell of paint. Reagan’s dinner will be prepared by the White House steward, but the menu is a state secret.

--What the world really needs now, according to Michael S. Cohen, is a publication that will be read in the bathrooms of America. Cohen, 26, of Cleveland, said his Bathroom Journal, which will debut next month, will be slick and bright. The first issue will feature rock superstar Bruce Springsteen, women’s body building and high-tech bathtubs. Cohen, who is touting his behind-closed-doors project as a sort of Reader’s Digest for the upscale restroom, said: “I like to have something to read in that situation, and I think a lot of people do.”

--Venice is fast becoming Italy’s Forbidden City, judging by the actions of Mayor Nereo Laroni, who banned swimming in the city’s canals. But that’s not all. Visitors, starting this week, will not be allowed to change clothes or nap in public places, stroll in the streets in swimsuits or play loud radios in St. Mark’s Square, a favorite haunt of the young. Laroni said the restrictions, which call for fines ranging from $15 to $150, fall under the heading of “comportment that could disturb the tranquility and security of citizens.”

--A study by Connecticut College psychologist Bernard Murstein has found that people with a similar sense of humor are more likely to love each other and want to marry. The study, published in Psychology Today, said that humor is “indicative of many things: values, interests, preoccupations, intelligence, imagination and needs.”