What was going on when I was born?

Victor Posner entered the bidding for City Investing, offering $52.50 a share for the conglomerate, compared with the $50 offered by a management group last week. The Posner group's bid totals $2.4 billion. City Investing said the offer would be studied. (D1.) Continental Illinois used some of its emergency credit line, but it was unclear whether the bank had succeeded in stopping a run on deposits. It would not say how much it had borrowed from the $4.5 billion credit offered by 16 banks or whether it had borrowed from the Federal Reserve. (D1.)

LITTLE more than a generation ago in New York, when big bands swayed through the night and every man wore a hat, some of the best dining in the city was found in hotels. The Ambassador, the Plaza, the Sherry-Netherland, the St. Regis, the Waldorf- Astoria and the old Ritz-Carlton, where the chef Louis Diat invented vichyssoise - those were the places you went for memorable meals. After World War II, however, grand hotel dining slowly went the way of glamorous passenger ships. Perhaps it was because jet-age travelers began treating hotels as little more than expensive pillows, whizzing through town too quickly to enjoy leisurely meals. Or maybe the hotel chains that gobbled up so many independents decided haute cuisine was a dispensable frill. For whatever reason, Recipes are on page C8. hotel cooking sank like a fallen souffle. The term ''hotel food'' became synonymous with gray meat and wizened baked potatoes.

With the banking industry's largest rescue package arranged, David G. Taylor, the chairman and chief executive officer of the beleaguered Continental Illinois Corporation, is clearly the man on the spot in the banking industry. He is in the somewhat delicate position of a doctor whose cure turns into a new ailment. Mr. Taylor, elevated to his present job last February to help rescue the bank holding company and its flagship bank, the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company, did so partly through an injection of funds from Europe and the Far East. Now it is those depositors who, having become skittish over rumors that the bank's financial position had worsened, have caused a new cash squeeze by withdrawing their money. Fortunately for Continental Illinois and Mr. Taylor, American banks stepped in Monday with a $4.5 billion line of credit. The bank is still not in the clear, however. Its new financial backing lasts for just 30 days, after which it will be reviewed. Thus Mr. Taylor has been given time to try to convince depositors that Continental will remain solvent. Continental Illinois first got into serious trouble two years ago after it took over a number of energy-related loans that the Penn Square Bank of Oklahoma City had originated. Penn Square collapsed in July 1982, and many of the loans turned out to be bad.

Hotel restaurants strivingC1 A little respect for rhubarbC1 Wine Talk: CabernetC1 Frying authentic johnnycakeC3 The 60-Minute GourmetC3 A wine writer's palateC4 Food adventures in ChinaC6 Food NotesC9 Living Metropolitan DiaryC2 Jewish students say they want to have familiesC7 DiscoveriesC14 Arts/EntertainmentSchool of American Ballet in three performancesC17Tom Stoppard's "Real Thing" voted best new playC18Fiction award thrusts John Edgar Wideman into limelightC19Mirror Repertory revives "The Hasty Heart"C21Zappa," a Danish film about delinquencyC24Kim," a movie about British India on CBSC24 Sports PagesOilers rout Islanders, 7-2, and take 2-1 lead in finalB11Yankees outslug A's, 9-6B11Celtics rout Bucks, 119-96, in opener of conference finalB11Johnson sets assists mark as Lakers win and take 2-0 leadB11Van Berg's best horse is offbeatB11Clippers move from San Diego to Los AngelesB12Dave Anderson on Dr. Jeykll and Mr. KingmanB13Holmes-Coetzee fight called offB13Plays: Line drive takes funny bounce and becomes an outB13

-Mexico disagreements over Central America were expressed by President Reagan and President Miguel de la Madrid at a White House welcoming ceremony. The Mexican leader warned that the ''risk of a generalized war'' was growing in the region. Mr. Reagan said that responsible governments ''cannot afford to close their eyes to what is happening or be lulled by unrealistic optimism.'' (Page A1, Column 6.) Opponents of Ferdinand E. Marcos appeared to be on the way to winning a larger bloc of seats in the Philippines's new National Assembly than had been expected before Monday's elections. (A1:5.)

A report in the Company Briefs column in Business Day yesterday incorrectly described an agreement between National Shoes Inc. and the Butler Shoe Corporation. Butler Shoe will buy 115 shoe stores from National Shoes for $21 million.

Features/NotesMan in the News: David George Taylor, Chicago bankerD1

An article in Science Times April 17 misidentified a school that has established a core curriculum based on a specific list of great books. It is St. John's College in Maryland.

WHAT rhubarb needs is an agent. Someone to give it cachet, like kiwis or fiddlehead ferns. As it stands now rhubarb's place in the culinary pecking order is somewhere above baked apples and below poached pears. With the current interest in old- fashioned regional foods it is surprising that rhubarb is so hard to find in restaurants that consider themselves exponents of American cooking. What is even more curious is how few shops make pies or crisps or tarts with rhubarb. Of the 15 such places in New York that were checked last week, only one, Balducci's, sells a rhubarb crisp, and then only occasionally. Yet properly prepared young rhubarb, in season from February until the end of June, has a beautiful rosy color, an unusual tart-sweet taste and a pleasant tender crunch, qualities that can be put to subtle and interesting uses. A random check of restaurants resulted in findings almost as paltry. Among the few places in town that serve rhubarb desserts, La Louisiana, Texarkana and Bridge Cafe make it in a pie, with strawberries. At Chanterelle, it is served as a sauce with ice cream, not unlike old-fashioned stewed rhubarb. At Hubert's it is turned into a sherbet with sweet wine.

At the London economic summit meeting next month, the Reagan Administration wants to negotiate curbs on government subsidies to exporters that the United States and other countries have adopted to support their farms and industries. Washington also wants to curb the spread of trade protectionism in trade, Treasury Secretary Donald T. Regan said today, adding that the seven nations participating would also ''at least ruminate'' about a new multiyear series of discussions to liberalize world trade. Another crucial issue, the Secretary said in an interview, was the difficulty faced by developing countries in repaying their heavy debts. In discussing the conference, to be held from June 7 to 9, Mr. Regan and White House sources also said they expected President Reagan to be criticized on the American budget deficit, to which other countries attribute high interest rates.

The House of Representatives today narrowly defeated legislation that would have made it possible for students in public high schools to meet voluntarily in free time in school for religious purposes. The vote was 270 to 151 in favor of the bill, but that was 11 short of the two-thirds majority needed to approve it under the special procedure used today. The procedure, a motion to suspend the rules and adopt the bill, permitted only 40 minutes of debate and precluded amendments. The legislation was supported by 123 Democrats and 147 Republicans. Voting against it were 134 Democrats and 17 Republicans.

FRANCIS X. CLINES WASHINGTON, May 15 - President Reagan and President Miguel de la Madrid of Mexico used a White House welcoming ceremony today to voice their disagreement over Central America. The Mexican President cautioned that the ''risk of a generalized war, the scope and duration of which no one can foresee,'' was growing in Central America. President Reagan, showing no less candor, told Mr. de la Madrid that ''responsible governments of this hemisphere cannot afford to close their eyes to what is happening or be lulled by unrealistic optimism'' in Central America. The flags of both nations snapped in a strong breeze outside the White House as the two leaders shook hands, surveyed the attendant array of diplomats and then punctuated what is normally a ceremony of gentle greeting with a blunt exchange of their differences.