July 20, 1984

Andre Kertesz celebrated his 90 birthday this month, and he did not celebrate alone. In addition to a surprise party on a Fifth Avenue rooftop with photography's elite in attendance, a book was published to honor the artist that interweaves written tributes to his achievements with reproductions of many of his most wonderful photographs. Published in England, which in the last four years has very nearly made Mr. Kertesz an honorary citizen, the book contains contributions by his British and American friends. These include Weston Naef, new curator of photography at the Getty Museum in Malibu, Calif,; Charles Harbutt, one of the master's younger compatriots, and Harold Riley, the English artist who edited and designed the book.

Now, when days are hot and nights are soft, is the season that draws New Yorkers to water's edge. Not for more than a century perhaps have weekend strollers been able to stretch their legs and imaginations on more shoreline, along waterfronts that were once cut off by the barrier of piers and warehouses that symbolized the city's commerce. And yet, a fascination with the water has always stirred the restless mind in New York, sometimes tranquilizing it, sometimes spurring it to new adventure. Herman Melville caught the flavor in a passage in ''Moby-Dick,'' when he urged the reader to ''circumambulate the city on a dreamy Sabbath afternoon.'' Melville, who often went to New York's waterside, found thousands there fixed in reveries. ''Nothing,'' he wrote, ''will content them but the extremest limit of land.''

Companies David H. Murdock sold his 5 percent interest in Occidental Petroleum back to the company at more than $12 a share above the current market price and resigned from the board. Sources close to the situation attributed the move to conflicts between the Los Angeles businessman and Armand Hammer, Occidental's 80-year-old chairman. (Page D1.) The F.D.I.C. is quickly assembling management, legal and financial teams to assist in the takeover of Continental Illinois. Morgan Stanley has been hired, and reportedly also the New York law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. Meanwhile, the names of several prominent bankers have surfaced as possible heads for the new Continental. (D1.)

Later this summer divers hope to begin unlocking the secrets of the Sindia, a four-masted ship that sank near shore here in 1901. The salvage crew - headed by two commercial divers, Edward R. Michaud and Michael Kenney - says the 329-foot Sindia is loaded with valuable contraband not listed on the ship's manifest. Mr. Michaud said today that the ship, returning to New York from Japan when she went aground, had been carrying cargo that might be worth $10 million to $30 million. The salvagers cleared a legal hurdle this week by offering a share in anything they found to beachfront property owners near the wreck who claim ownership of the Sindia.

Technicians and nurses in critical- care units at several New York City hospitals stopped working yesterday as the pressure increased for a settlement in the strike at hospitals and nursing homes. Technicians withdrew from several kidney dialysis centers and nurses stopped working at a Brooklyn hospital's operating rooms and intensive- care unit. The strike against most of the city's private, nonprofit hospitals, which enters its eighth day today, showed no sign of a settlement, with both sides far apart. The striking union, District 1199 of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, A.F.L.-C.I.O., had agreed to keep its members working in critical, life-sustaining jobs and to send in nurses or technicians in emergencies.