THE GOODS : ECONOTES : Shedding Light on Sunshine

The sunniest spot in Los Angeles this month is cavernous Union Station, which has been converted to an environmental art exhibit and activist statement by Venice artist Peter Erskine.

“Secrets of the Sun” is a mammoth undertaking, designed to increase awareness of the sun’s potential for both beauty and destruction.

Erskine’s installation, which has been seen in both Rome and Berlin, dramatizes our relationship with the sun. Using tracking mirrors and prisms, the artist has used sunlight to convert a public space to a work of art, in Christo fashion, directing refracted sunlight into rooms and onto visitors.

Part of the exhibit is free: In the Union Station waiting room, a dazzling rainbow beam over the portico entrance to trains and subways constantly changes colors as the sun shifts. And on the south patio, a massive solar exhibit includes photovoltaic panels producing electricity, a solar oven, solar ice maker and a giant sundial.

The exhibit continues (admission is $5, or $3.50 for children and seniors) in a series of darkened rooms, where color, sound and music combine to teach lessons about photosynthesis, the industrial age, runaway technology and the extinction of species.

“Peter is trying to take art and public spaces to teach people about the environment,” said Andy Goodman, president of Environmental Media Assn., which sponsored a preview of the show. “He’s got 20,000 square feet of space, a light source 93 million miles away, a bunch of mirrors and a vision. The results, I think, are quite striking.”

In connection with the exhibit, which runs through Oct. 29, the L.A. Cultural Affairs Department is offering free children’s art workshops on Sundays at 1 and 2 p.m. in Union Station.

Union Station, 800 N. Alameda St., “Secrets of the Sun,” Tuesday through Sunday. Information: (310) 252-9992. Workshop information: (213) 485-9548.

*

Sorting It All Out: The luncheon invitation was delivered in a recyclable plastic bottle: The City of Los Angeles was unveiling its new West Los Angeles materials-sorting facility with a preview luncheon.

The Thursday event attracted press, politicians, environmentalists and Bureau of Sanitation staffers to Bestway Recycling Co.’s sorting facility at 6001 Jefferson Blvd. It’s a new convenience stop for the city’s curbside recycling trucks, says Enrique R. Teves, spokesman for the L.A. Resource Program. “It means our trucks don’t have to drive all the way Downtown or to Reseda to deliver their recyclables.”

The new facility can handle an estimated 100 tons of recyclables per eight-hour day, Teves said. “It makes the whole operation more cost-effective.” And for sanitation officials, it ends a long search. They kept running into a “not-in-my-back-yard attitude” as they surveyed the Westside.

*

Puff Piece: A new guide to smoke-free entertainment in the Los Angeles area is a hit, says Helen Bean of the local American Lung Assn. chapter, which published the booklet this summer. “Breathing Easy” lists more than 100 restaurants, coffeehouses and clubs that have implemented no-smoking policies. “We’re getting ready to update it.”

Although the California Legislature has passed the most comprehensive workplace smoking ban in the country, it will not be fully implemented until Jan. 1, 1997. “Lots of people don’t realize that and are surprised to find smokers in many bars and restaurants,” Bean said. The free brochure may be ordered by calling her at (213) 935-5864.