June 9, 1996

ALL SUMMER LONG, STREAMS OF people -- hundreds of thousands if the past is any guide -- will trek to the top of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's grand staircase and bear left. There, in the museum's most prestigious galleries, "Winslow Homer" will be on display. From June 20 through Sept. 22, visitors will see Homer's hallmark seascapes as well as an ample sampling of his Civil War paintings, his scenes of rural America, his picturesque images of seaside and mountain life, his pensive portrayals of women, children and blacks and his final bold works -- some 200 pieces in all -- arrayed on walls painted to match hues of the Homer palette.

HE is not only the best player, but he is the most ambitious player, and in this regard, it is not even close. To quote the sound-bite people broadcasting these N.B.A. finals in two dozen languages to 175 countries and assorted uncharted frontiers, Michael Jordan wants it more. That is obvious to everyone, even stubborn old Celtics raised on classic, 1980's propaganda that nobody -- I mean nobody! -- wanted it more than Larry Bird.

IN 1896, two brothers, Charles and Frank Duryea, built 13 two-passenger, two-cylinder runabouts in Springfield, Mass. From this humble beginning, the American automotive industry was born. "It was the first time that an automobile company was organized and produced more than one car from a single design," said Prof. Richard P. Scharchburg, the author of "Carriages Without Horses" (Society of Automotive Engineers, 1993).

Within the next two weeks, the New York Palace Hotel's 1,050 available guest rooms will temporarily be reduced by half, construction workers will be knocking down partitions everywhere and, for a few months, the whole place "will feel much more like a small, boutique-style hotel," in the words of the hotel's managing director. The large-scale renovation, which several people involved in the project estimate will cost almost $100 million, will transport the lobby decor "from the 1980's to the 1880's," according to Richard J. Cotter, the managing director, who declined to discuss the costs.

In his 40 years as a commercial fisherman on the Hudson River, George Kucera has seen a lot of stomach-turning things, not least the diseased striped bass he would find in his nets 30 years ago. A repulsive crust resembling cottage cheese covered many fish. "You didn't want to touch 'em," he said. The river, he recalled, was simply "disgusting."