NUMBER WHAT? “We’re No. 1!” boast officials...

NUMBER WHAT? “We’re No. 1!” boast officials at Fluor Corp. in Irvine, regarding Fortune magazine’s new list of “America’s Most Admired Corporations.” Actually, Fluor came in 20th--still strong bragging rights--but a tad below AT&T.; . . . Fluor’s No. 1 status comes when the magazine lists companies by category: Fluor leads the eight in engineering & construction. Fortune suggests a rosy future for them all: “Global demand for infrastructure benefits all the players.”

C’EST LA VIE: You can bet they used monogrammed towels at luxury Le Meridien Hotel in Newport Beach. So what happens when you change the hotel’s name to Sutton Place? “You change the towels, lots of them,” says hotel general manager Linda O’Toole. . . . The hotel, where TV legend Steve Allen is scheduled to speak today, had sent advance notice of last month’s name change--caused by a shuffle in ownership--to 15,000 clients in its database. O’Toole says that helped make a smooth change. But, it still has its French chefs. Note: If your initials are “L.M.” O’Toole has some bargain towels for you.

REWRITE TIME: “Lagunatics ‘95,” a musical revue lampooning life in and around Laguna Beach at Laguna Playhouse on Friday and Saturday (F2), was already written before the debacle of Orange County’s bankruptcy. . . . But writers Bree Burgess Rosen, above, and Tim Dey didn’t skip a beat, penning an irreverent, last-minute addition featuring former County Treasurer Robert L. Citron. Says Rosen: “We couldn’t let that get away.”

FUNNY LOVE: They’re doing more than just selling books at the UC Irvine Bookstore at 2 p.m. today. Asian American novelist Shawn Wong, on campus for other business, agreed to stop by and read from his latest work, “American Knees.” It’s described as a funny love story. . . . Wong, who teaches at the University of Washington, is also a candidate for UCI’s director of Asian American Studies.