FACT FINDING: It’s only 50 pages thick...

FACT FINDING: It’s only 50 pages thick but it offers an illuminating look at the San Fernando Valley’s largest university. It’s Cal State Northridge’s first fact book, a recently published guide to such subjects as student demographics and class size. Among its findings: Graduates from the university typically take five to eight years to obtain their degrees... More on CSUN in today’s Valley Briefing (b2).

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

CSUN Students

The most popular majors at CSUN in 1994:

Business Administration: 1,430

Psychology: 1,347

Accounting Theory: 1,285

Engineering: 1,046

General Biology: 1,002

Sources: Cal State Northridge

BUZZ OFF: With the Christmas season over, shoppers should have no trouble finding elusive toys like the “Star Wars” action figures, Happy Holidays Barbie and the Buzz Lightyear doll, right? Wrong... “This time of year, we don’t get any hot merchandise,” said Herber Gonzales, manager of Toys R Us in Burbank...His advice? Keep waiting--at least another month.

CYBERCULTURE: Valley culture vultures have a new resource for finding the latest chi-chi art shows--the Internet...Located on the World Wide Web, at https://artscenecal.com, Art-Scene magazine offers listings of upcoming fine-art exhibits at such venues as Cal State Northridge, Pierce College and the Autry Western Heritage Museum. Visitors can also sneak an electronic peek at artists’ work.

VALLEY IDYLL: Back at the turn of the century, Tujunga looked like Shangri-La to a hardy band of socialists. They bought little plots for $500 to $800 and turned the pretty valley behind Glendale into a colony they called Utopia... But staff writer Henry Chu reports that well before subdivisions and strip malls came, poor soil and scandal cut short the dream. (B1)

MENENDEZ II: With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, Los Angeles County prosecutor David Conn is zeroing in on the Menendez brothers’ claims of abuse by their father during their retrial on murder charges...The tactic has irritated the young defendants. “Conn is being as abusive and belligerent as Jose Menendez ever was,” says defense lawyer Barry Levin. (B1)

TONIGHT: “Girly Show,” a one-woman comedy, at 7:30 at Two Roads Theater, 4348 Tujunga Ave., Studio City. Tickets: $12.50. Info: (818) 766-9381.

WEATHER: Partly cloudy with highs in the 70s. B10