What was going on when I was born?

WHERE do you go if you live in New York City's suburbs and want to hear some rock-and-roll? Until fairly recently, you would have had two choices. If you were willing to settle for an average suburban rock band, you could probably find one at a nearby watering hole. But if you wanted to hear a band with a reputation - albums in the stores, write-ups in the rock press - you got in your car and drove into Manhattan. Not so any more. Now the suburban rock clubs are not only jumping with big-name talent, they are even attracting a growing number of fans who live in Manhattan. That sort of thing has never happened before; understanding it requires a bit of history.

''Our kids are too old to bring now so we borrow our friends' kids.

An article in yesterday's Times in- correctly stated the interest rate $200 million to be loaned by the Fed- eral Commodity Credit Corporation to finance tobacco purchases. The rate is 14 1/2 percent.

As part of an effort to become more directly involved in running the city's mass-transit system, Mayor Koch plans to name a special assistant for transportation. The Mayor's effort, which will include issuing status reports on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's operations, has been hinted at by Mr. Koch since his re-election. He has said many times that mass transit is a top priority in his new term. The moves planned by the Mayor do not in themselves increase his power with the state-run authority. But city officials, including the Deputy Mayor for Policy, Robert F. Wagner Jr., say they believe that by being more informed and more involved, the Mayor will have greater power to influence the authority's actions.

On the way from New York City to Seoul, South Korea, $2 million was stolen from five money sacks being transferred to the Government-run Korea Exchange Bank. When bank officials in Seoul opened the sacks, which were supposed to have been filled with $100 bills in American currency from the Republic National Bank of New York, they found only blank pieces of paper cut to the size of the bills. Asked about the case, Bill Potts, a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said yesterday, ''All we can say is that there have been no arrests and that the F.B.I. is investigating.''

The State Department has begun asking academic officials to cooperate in imposing security-related restrictions on research done by Chinese scholars studying in the United States. Many scholars from China are working in science and technological research, areas that the State Department says are subject to export control legislation. Altogether about 2,000 Chinese students enter the United States for study each year. The department oversees academic programs for them because of its role in granting entry visas.

This week's move by two big California banks into the exclusive preserve of the securities industry - buying and selling stocks - has drawn a mixture of applause and raised eyebrows from bankers around the nation. Some praise its boldness, and some wonder about its legality. The two institutions - the BankAmerica Corporation, owner of the Bank of America, the largest bank in the United States, and the Security Pacific National Bank, the nation's ninth-largest commercial bank - announced different plans to enter stock trading through ties with brokerage firms. The first step came late Tuesday, when BankAmerica said it planned to acquire Charles Schwab & Company, the nation's largest discount brokerage house, for $53 million. Schwab has 210,000 customers, and its revenues total about $42 million a year. It has 38 offices across the country.

''In 1934, I started my own company,'' recalled Eli Elias, a manufacturer of women's suits and sportswear. ''It was the depth of the Depression. They were selling apples in the streets.'' He paused to emphasize the hardship of those years. ''But December,'' he continued, ''always showed an increase.'' It is perhaps a sign of more affluent times that, these days, they are selling shrimp and live lobster outside 550 Seventh Avenue, the designer building. But the garment district is still clinging to the hope that December will show an increase.

Irvin Hummel, a farm equipment supplier from George, Iowa, drove 1,400 miles in a pickup truck to serve Thanksgiving dinner to more than 200 poor New Yorkers at a church mission off Times Square. Mr. Hummel brought 30 turkeys and two tons of clothing, donated by members of the Church of the Nazarene from small towns in the prosperous farm country of the upper Middle West. Together with other church members and friends from South Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and places in the New York metropolitan area, the 52-year-old Iowan donned a white apron at the festive midday occasion in the former clubhouse of the Lambs on West 44th Street. In 1975, the Kansas City-based church, with a million members in the United States, acquired the clubhouse from the theatrical fraternal organization and kept the name for its mission, which seeks to help the homeless, the poor and troubled teen-agers in the west midtown area.

In India, Pakistan breeds curi- osity and contempt A2 Spanish senate backs NATO entry A3 Schmidt cautious on arms talks A3 Israeli opposition to European units in Sinai expected A4 Around the World A7 Seychelles Govenment reports repulsing a mercenary attack A9 For foes of South African "home- lands," funerals and protests A11 U.S. study says Soviet living standard still lags A13 Government/Politics Richard Allen defends the sale of his consulting firm A10 Gov. Carey to name special panel on toxic wastes B9 Reagan cites 'trying times,' but urges thanks B12 "Reaganville" camp erected in park near White House B14 Washington Talk Briefing B10 Former diplomats: how much should they tell? B10 Iowa Congressman to become a critic of Reagan budget B10 Washington Follow-Up B10 General Around the Nation A16 Thanksgiving in an Indiana town of thousands of jobless A16 Two Chicago police officers sus- pended in rape case A19 Two priests await sentencing over Cuban boatlift A25 Traffic clogs roads in New York metropolitan area B3 Milk production rises despite price support freeze B19 Cargo ship with 24 aboard feared sinking off Bermuda B25 Industry/Labor Burning of PCB on ship off Texas tests disposal cost A23 Phone company upheld in suit over deferral of Federal taxes B6 Weekend Events: Weekender Guide C1 Theater: Broadway C2 "A Soldier's Play" from Negro Ensemble Company C3 Tom Lehrer songs at Top of the Gate C3 "Side Street Scenes," Off Off Broadway musical C10 Screen: At the movies C10 Elizabeth McGovern of "Rag- time" C8 Music: Rock action draws even Manhattanites to suburbs C1 Two operatic novelties in town C13 Kai Winding at Blue Note C15 Art: Berenice Abbott show at Photography Center C1 "Art of Archaic Indonesians" in Brooklyn C19 Auctions C20 17 Rufino Tamayo canvases at Marlborough C20 Show from Matta's early years at gallery C22 Books: Publishing C25 "Damballah" and "Hiding Place" by John Edgar Wide- man reviewed C23 Restaurants C16 TV Weekend C26 Style The evening hours B26 A city social tradition: support for service clubs B26 Food corporations help feed eld- erly B26 Health/Science Californians fight 'Valley Fever,' a regional disease A20 Alabama boy, 12, undergoes heart transplant surgery A21 Education/Welfare Carnegie study finds colleges suf- fering a direction loss B16 Sports French Cut, a long shot, wins Queens County at Aqueduct D10 St. John's and Fordham are favorites in Lapchick tourney D10 Islanders drub Blues, 9-2, as Trot- tier scores 3 D11 Cowboys, with White hurt, rally to beat Bears, 10-9 D11 Lions defeat Chiefs by 27-10 D11 High school football D12 Red Smith on Ali's Thanksgiving D15 Texas downs Texas A & M, 21-13 D15 Features/Notes Sports People D10 Notes on People D26 Obituaries Dr. John E. Pomfret, ex-presi- dent of William and Mary D27 Doris Chanin Freedman, chair- man of Public Art Fund D27 Dr. Oliver W. Holmes, 79, archiv- ist D27 News Analysis John Kifner on the failure of the Arab League conference A1 Adam Clymer on G.O.P chances Adam Clymer on G.O.P chances for gain after redistricting A17 Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials A26 High interest rates Keeping track of missing kids New York's dog deal Roger Starr: fair weather Letters A26 Tom Wicker: a threatened har- vest (2) A27 Flora Lewis: a Soviet-German watershed A27 Dennis H. Wrong: Democrats serve old backers, but ... A27 Harold Jackson: Johnny. Mr. Dixie A27

Widespread evasion of state taxes by boat buyers has been uncovered in the New York City area, according to the State Commission of Investigation. An unspecified number of boat dealers and boat-documentation companies - concerns that help boat owners obtain state and Federal authorization to sail the vessels - have participated in a scheme in which buyers evaded taxes by falsely representing that the boats were delivered in Delaware, the commission said in court documents. Delaware does not have a state sales tax. The commission also said it was focusing on the possible laxity of two New York State agencies responsible for collecting taxes on boats, the Department of Taxation and Finance and the Department of Motor Vehicles. The state is losing at least $4 million a year because of the practice, law enforcement and boat industry officials said.

The nation's retailers, seeking to prevail in what promises to be an unusually difficult holiday sales season, are planning a flurry of price reductions, catalogue promotions, changes in advertising and increased community tie-ins. A common factor in the plans of retailers surveyed in 10 cities is an attempt to assure shoppers that values exist despite inflation. The job will not be easy. Prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index have risen 10.2 percent since October 1980, and the nation's unemployment in October climbed to 8 percent, the highest level in almost six years. In addition, the economy has slid into a recession that some economists say will be deep.