December 11, 1986

Eighth Avenue's identity crisis is growing acute. Its name conjures images of doorways where drug dealers and prostitutes seek business, where drunks and addicts seek shelter. It usually does not conjure images of a residential street with plain and gentle rows of Federal-style houses from the 1800's. But they are there, although disappearing.

Crude oil production in the United States will decline on an annual basis this year for the first time since 1980, according to newly available data. And it is expected to fall even more in 1987, raising concerns that the country's already-growing dependency on oil imports could create an ''oil shock'' in the 1990's as great as those of the 1970's. ''We're falling into the same trap of vulnerability,'' said Charles J. DiBona, president of the American Petroleum Institute, an oil industry association, referring to the supply disruptions and oil price surges of 1973 and 1979. ''The less oil we produce, the more we'll have to import, and the less control we'll have over both supply and price.'' Industry executives are not the only ones to express that view: Federal energy officials have begun to voice concern about the growth of imports and the possible consequences. They note that the downturn in domestic production this year came despite a 2.5 percent rise in demand for oil in the United States.

Frederick A. Wang bristled visibly at the inevitable request: to contrast his management style with that of his father, An Wang, the computer pioneer, philanthropist and founder of Wang Laboratories Inc. ''I'm the product of a Yankee environment; he is not,'' said the junior Mr. Wang, 36 years old, who was named last month to succeed his Chinese-born father as president, giving him control over most of the company's operations. ''Wang is rich with vision, and it is my job to implement,'' he added. ''We're going to hit solid singles rather than swing for home runs.'' A Critical Time For Wang, a maker of computers and word-processing equipment, the succession could not have come at a more critical time. The company, based here, has been battered by steep losses, product delays, layoffs and an exodus of top-level executives.

THOUGH most people live with a smattering of furniture from different eras - an 80's camelback sofa mixed with 60's directors' chairs and an 1890's grandfather clock, for example - a handful of dedicated collectors live surrounded by furniture of only one design period. Their finds become their furnishings and set their decorating styles. Terry Koppel and his wife, Susan Welti, live in an 1890's brownstone in Brooklyn filled with Moderne furniture of the 30's and 40's. Gerald Plano has more than 50 pieces of turn-of-the-century bamboo in his modern East Side apartment and Jed Johnson's 1905 West Side duplex is a natural setting for his Arts and Crafts furniture and bibelots.

THE American farm family is undergoing dramatic changes as increasing numbers of wives take jobs off the farm to keep their families from losing their legacy and their way of life. In some cases the wife's paycheck supplements the family's income; in others it has become essential to economic survival. ''There was a cancer ravaging our family - the anguish about will we be here tomorrow, how will we meet our expenses,'' said Phillip Therell, a farmer in Wausa, Neb., whose wife, Jane, a social worker, recently returned to work, ''We were at an emotional low point at this time last year Wanda Oller, 47 years old, of Taylorville, Ill., said, ''I knew it was time for me to get a job'' when she overheard her husband questioning a life insurance company about whether it paid on a suicide. ''I thought there were at least two occasions when he was going to do it,'' she said. ''I knew he was near ready to lose his mind.''