INAUGURAL NOTEBOOK : Excuse Me, These Seats Are for Jack, Kim & Co.

If archeologists in the far, far distant future are looking for artifacts of the great cultural and artistic changes sweeping this city with the incoming Administration, they could do worse than to unearth two entries from last weekend’s guest log at the Westin Hotel.

Lisa Marie Presley checked in; Arnold Schwarzenegger checked out.

Hasta la vista, baby.

At Clinton’s swearing-in, the good seats went to the likes of Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Sally Field, Kenny G and Michael Bolton. And for the first time in at least 12 years, people like Charlton Heston and Frank Sinatra watched the festivities on television--if they saw them at all.

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It was celebrity overload in the VIP section at the MTV inaugural ball Wednesday night. There were media celebrities (Woodward and Bernstein, Peter Jennings), Hollywood celebrities (Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, Jack Nicholson, Uma Thurman, Sigourney Weaver, Shirley MacLaine and a significant proportion of every actor and actress under 25) and best of all, political celebrities (Clinton chief spokesman George Stephanopoulos, Texas Gov. Ann Richards, Commerce Secretary-designate Ron Brown).

So dense was the assembled star power that MTV set up a little auxiliary studio to catch the stars for brief interviews as they came by, though the really big stars--like Stephanopoulos--were summoned on stage.

The only glitch was a full-face header that Kathleen Turner--who earlier had shown up at the Inauguration having a bad hair day--took over an inconveniently placed chair.

The consensus entertainment highlight of the evening, Roger Clinton’s singing notwithstanding, was a Michael Stipe-Natalie Merchant duet of “To Sir, With Love.”

The chatter at the tables was filled with baby boomer self-congratulation, but there was the occasional reminder that, young in their own eyes, baby boomers don’t fit that description anymore for everyone.

When Clinton arrived at the party shortly after 9 and the sound system kicked in with a loud rendition of “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow,” one mingler groused, “this is probably the first time in 10 years that MTV has played Fleetwood Mac.” Later, host Dennis Miller sighed: “Thank God he didn’t like Abba.”

It was left to New Yorker executive editor, and former White House speech writer, Hendrik Hertzberg to sum up the evening’s proceedings: “It may have been an MTV party, but it’s a VH-1 Administration.”

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Along with their designer luggage, many of the celebrities carried their favorite liberal causes to Washington. Autograph seekers approaching singer k.d. lang at Dulles Airport got cards admonishing them not to wear fur. Tuesday night, lang was honored at a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals fund-raiser, where she explained, “I’m Canadian, but I love this government. . . . As far as governments go, this one looks good and I feel a really positive vibe in Washington.”

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Pop goddess Aretha Franklin apparently did not get one of lang’s cards. She momentarily stunned the crowd at Sunday’s Lincoln Memorial concert by sweeping across the stage in an unabashedly flashy sable. She also wore fur--indoors, even--for her performance at Tuesday night’s inaugural gala.

Ed Begley Jr., meanwhile, was wearing canvas sneakers with his tuxedo at the Western States inaugural ball Wednesday night. Not as a politically correct statement of concern for animals, but, he said, because they were comfortable.

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Though the whole city is agog over celebrity sightings, few can top the story being told by Mike Hyland, press secretary to Rep. Amo Houghton (R-N.Y.). Hyland and a friend were strolling the Capitol grounds after midnight one night, when they encountered another small group that included someone having second thoughts about venturing that late into one of the most dangerous neighborhoods of this crime-ridden city.

“This is Washington,” he heard actress Kim Basinger say to her boyfriend, actor Alec Baldwin. “I hope we don’t get shot.”

She must have meant it. Startled a moment later upon encountering Hyland in the darkness, she shrieked.

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At 11 a.m. Wednesday, Bill Clinton was at one end of Pennsylvania Avenue preparing to take the oath of office; Bill Carpenter was at the other end, making his pitch to CNN.

“Little Richard was interested in being on Larry King’s show,” Carpenter pleaded into the phone at the Presidential Inaugural Committee’s communications center. “It’s probably too late for tonight, right?” And here was the hook: “He’s performing at a ball.”

King apparently took a pass, but five hours later, the ‘50s icon was on the air with CNN anchor Bernard Shaw, rapturously describing the “tingling feeling” he got when he thought about the change of power that had just occurred.

Sheila Frazier, who ran the inaugural committee’s five-person Office of Celebrity Affairs, was fielding hundreds of calls a day. Mostly, it was reporters seeking interviews with the big-name performers, but just as touchy were the demands of some of the entertainers and their publicists.

“We’ve tried to hammer the message that the Clintons and the Gores are the stars,” she sighed. “How do you tell a publicist that people aren’t interested?”

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At an Emily’s List luncheon honoring successful women candidates, actor Ted Danson was being pressed for his opinions on the issues of the day.

His general state of mind? “Very, very, very excited.”

His thoughts about Emily’s List, and its strategy of providing early financial support for women candidates? “Very smart.”

Wait, maybe that did not seem enthusiastic enough. Quickly amended version: “Very, very, very smart.”

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Monday’s Congressional Arts Caucus reception at the National Museum of American Art drew such luminaries as Harry Belafonte, Kathleen Turner, Lauren Bacall, Christie Brinkley, Richard Dreyfuss and Mary Steenburgen.

Afterward, more than a few of the stars took a tour of the Capitol, guided by Susan O’Neill, daughter of the former Speaker of the House.

Mickey Rooney, given a chance to make a speech on the House floor without the formality of being elected first, made a plea for arts funding.

O’Neill said she was particularly taken by one “very hip-looking, almost disrespectful looking” tourist, who seemed more thrilled than anyone else by a chance to sit in the Speaker’s chair and stand at the podium where Clinton would deliver his inaugural address. Later, her daughter informed her that she had been escorting REM lead singer Michael Stipe.

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At some events, such as Elle magazine’s reception honoring poet Maya Angelou, there were so many celebrities that it seemed fairly safe to assume that anyone with impressive cheekbones and a good haircut was famous. So it was that journalist and author Patricia O’Brien was startled by a stranger who gushed, “I loved you in ‘Dances With Wolves.’ ”

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And who said Albert Gore isn’t a fun guy? As he waited backstage to be introduced at Tuesday’s Kennedy Center “Salute to Youth,” the Vice President-elect tried to impress the host, “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” star Will Smith.

“Can you do this?” Gore asked, then grabbed Smith’s microphone, balanced it on his nose and caught it midair.

Smith was stunned, but a producer helpfully offered to spread the word in Hollywood.

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Self-important quote of the week: “I’d say people in my business have done more to export democracy than a lot of the policy wonks here,” from a television interview with Ron Silver, actor and activist.

Times Staff Writers Alan C. Miller, Elizabeth Mehren, Patt Morrison, Ronald Brownstein, Gebe Martinez and Jeannine Stein contributed to this report.