JEWISH-AMERICAN LIFE: A major new museum will...

JEWISH-AMERICAN LIFE: A major new museum will open in the Sepulveda Pass in the spring of 1996. The Hebrew Union College Skirball Cultural Center, celebrating Jewish-American life, was designed by architect Moshe Safdie. The $100-million center will have, among other things, interactive exhibits and locally shot home movies of baby namings and bar mitzvahs.

SAN FERNANDINOS: California was part of New Spain when local San Fernandino Indians painted a Tree of Life and other religious art on the Convento walls at the San Fernando Mission. They used bright paints made from pressed grapes, and traces of the original remain. The Convento was home and office for the padres and a hotel for travelers. It is open daily in Mission Hills.

REPRIEVE: Burbank may not lose its museum-in-a-mall after all. Last week, the Burbank City Council voted to try to retain the Media City Center branch of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, slated to close in January. Administrator Mary Ann Dunn, above, says the museum needs to cure disappointing attendance with “a dynamic permanent exhibit rather than ones that often change.”

MORE THAN CHAPS: Museum officials recently dropped “Gene” from the official name of the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, after the singing cowboy who endowed it. Spokesman Jay Aldrich said officials wanted to avoid the impression that the Griffith Park museum is simply a display of Autry’s personal effects. The museum has a new research center, permanent exhibits and changing shows on all facets of the West.

HART PARK: Newhall’s William S. Hart Park has a museum that is devoted to a Hollywood cowboy. “Two-Gun Bill” Hart gave his 10,000-square-foot Western mansion to the people of Los Angeles County at his death in 1946. The grave of Hart’s favorite horse, Fritz, is a major draw. Also popular are a dozen buffalo, descended from some that appeared in Disney’s “Westward Ho the Wagons!”