Snapshots of life in the Golden State : Rocked by Troubles, but Stanford’s Looking Good

Stanford University, rocked recently by a series of high-profile controversies, finally has a reason to rejoice.

A new book on the aesthetics of American college campuses rates the Northern California institution the nation’s best from the standpoints of architecture, landscaping and physical organization.

Stanford’s original quadrangle is “an arcade of sublime repose, a Mediterranean court in America” with “a true sense of place,” writes architect Thomas A. Gaines in “The Campus as a Work of Art.”

One of the few criticisms may bring comfort to campus liberals who resent the presence of the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank. Stanford would be better off without the Art Moderne-style Hoover Tower, Gaines writes, because the structure “conceptually and stylistically interfere(s) with the systematic rhythms of the campus.”

Gaines also has high praise for the Hearst Mining Building at UC Berkeley and Royce Hall at UCLA. But many structures constructed since World War II “have played havoc with the (two) campus(es),” he concludes.

POLITICAL INSIDER

The greening of California: Democratic and Republican party officials are closely watching the activities of the environmentally conscious Green Party, which has registered 77.5% of the 78,992 members it needs by Dec. 31 to qualify for the 1992 primary election ballot.

The Greens picked up 11,279 new members last month to boost their ranks to 61,273. “It’s nail-biting time,” said Kent Smith, state chairperson. “But I’m convinced we’re going to make it.”

Smith acknowledges that the grass-roots party is likely to win support from longtime Democrats who believe that the Democratic Party “is no longer the party of the people.” But he added that some progressive Republicans also might rally to the Green cause.

For comparison’s sake, the American Independent Party currently has 155,571 members, the Peace and Freedom Party 54,792 members and the Libertarian Party 52,291 members.

SECURITY WATCH

Bug off: When the modular office buildings from Richard Nixon’s old Western White House were declared government surplus, the Apple Valley Unified School District purchased them and moved them from San Clemente to the Inland Empire.

So the reaction of Apple Valley officials was not all that surprising last month when mysterious electronic interference repeatedly fouled up a school district videotape being shot in the office of Supt. Dean Hane--previously the office of Nixon’s chief of staff, later convicted Watergate felon, H. R. (Bob) Haldeman.

“This being the old Western White House,” Hane says, “naturally our eyes got big and we decided we better check it out.”

Alas, Hane says, an electronics firm hired to investigate the audio gap reported that it was caused by the building’s current security system--and not a Nixon-era electronic bug.

TRENDS

Unlikely source: In an era of recession, one of the few new California-made products to have taken off sales-wise has been the latest in designer water--”Avalon Desalinated.”

Twelve-ounce bottles from Catalina Island’s $3-million plant, the first to supply a Golden State municipality with drinking water that originated in the ocean, are virtually sold out at $1 a pop.

However, there are no plans to market more of the offshore aqua, a promotional gimmick sold for charitable purposes by the island’s Rotary Club.

Thus the bottles are bound to turn into a collector’s item rather than (with apologies to Steve Martin) the raw ingredient for a new coffee delicacy on hoity-toity Los Angeles menus--decaf, desal cappuccino.

EXIT LINE

“You could go broke going to all the retirement and going-away parties for people around here.”

--A state Department of Health Services staffer, commenting on the rash of departures of longtime state employees in the midst of the lingering Sacramento budget crisis.

California Dateline appears every other Monday.

Presidential Holiday Shopping With nine shopping days left to Christmas, the gift shops at California’s two presidential museums offer novel alternatives to those all-too-predictable ties and fruitcakes. Below are some items available to the discriminating shopper.

REAGAN LIBRARY Item: Autographed copy of Reagan’s book “Speaking My Mind” Cost: $50.00 ($25 without an autograph) Item: Pewter spoon Cost: $6.50 Item: Reagan playing cards Cost: $5.00 Item: Slivers of the Berlin Wall Cost: $4.50 each Item: Jelly beans Cost: $2.60 ($11.75 for a bottle festooned with American flag.) Item: Reagan’s White House yo yo (in red, white or blue) Cost: $1.50 Item: Postcard of Reagan shaking hands with the Pope. Cost: 25 NIXON LIBRARY Item: Leather-bound autographed copy of Nixon’s book “In the Arena” Cost: $150.00 ($15 without autograph and leather cover.) Item: Silver-plated spoon Cost: $5.65 Item: Nixon playing cards Cost: $5.25 Item: Elephant statues from China, in brass, glass, stone or wood Cost: $3.25 to $30.00 each Item: Milky Way candy bars Cost: 65 each (No American flag included.) Item: Nixon Frisbee (white with red, white and blue library logo.) Cost: $3.25 Item: Postcard of Nixon shaking hands with the King, Elvis Presley. Cost: 75 Source: Library staffs Compiled by researcher Tracy Thomas