5 DAYS THAT SHOOK THE CITY.

Byline: Erik Nelson and Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

For one week, Los Angeles became the center of presidential politics, the focal point of political dissent, the party capital of the world and a testing ground for police restraint.

Here, in chronological order, are some of the week's memorable events surrounding the Democratic National Convention:

It started with a weekend of parties punctuated by sightings of President Clinton and his U.S. Senate candidate wife, Hillary. The first couple so captivated the Tinseltown party circuit they threatened to put Vice President Al Gore, the convention headliner, on the B list.

< On Sunday afternoon, 4,000 protesters converged on Pershing Square to demand freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted and sentenced to death in the murder of a police officer in Philadelphia. As the city's much-prepared police in riot gear watched closely, the march to Staples Center started and ended peacefully.

< Trouble was in the air in Santa Monica on Sunday night, as protesters linked arms to block Democrats from entering a party thrown by corporate sponsors such as tobacco company Philip Morris and defense contractor Raytheon for centrist members of the House of Representatives.

A Santa Monica police horse nuzzled the human chain apart, and the party, and protest, went on.

< Clinton owned the town on Monday, winning the loudest cheers from the 4,339 convention delegates - louder even than those for Gore during a video clip of former, present and would-be Democratic presidents. Clinton took credit for the nation's economic recovery and continued prosperity, for lower taxes, crime and pollution.

< Just outside Staples Center during Clinton's speech, the protest rock band Rage Against the Machine, known for its CD ``The Battle of Los Angeles,'' drew a crowd of 10,000. At dusk, a few concert-goers began climbing the convention's 12-foot security fence and others began hurling things at the police, like parking signs with concrete bases and whatever else they could detach from the ground.

Police ordered the crowd to leave, and 20 minutes later they moved in with overwhelming force, firing rubber bullets, bean-bag shot and pepper spray at concertgoers, demonstrators and news photographers alike.

< The commander in chief took charge of the Monday night party circuit, winning the Oscar for Best President (unsanctioned by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, they pointed out later) from Gov. Gray Davis.

As the evening wore down, however, the president who had beaten his enemies and survived scandal and impeachment, retreated from the Democratic Party's Los Angeles sound stage with a nod to his would-be successor.

< With Clinton out of town, it was time to bring order to the Democratic Party.

Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Garden Grove, had moved her fund-raising party out of the Playboy Mansion, as dictated by party leaders. But on Monday she also declined to speak at the convention, saying she didn't want people to think she changed the party venue to Universal CityWalk just to save her slot at the podium.

<Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, said she wasn't sure she could support Gore because of running-mate Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. The No. 2 man on the ticket may not share her views on key issues, especially considering that he expressed support for Proposition 209, which outlawed affirmative action in California.

Lieberman leaped into the breach on Tuesday, however, telling Waters and members of the Congressional Black Caucus that he supported affirmative action - just not racial quotas - and leading the group in singing ``Happy Birthday'' to Waters.

< Tuesday night was Camelot 2000, with Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, daughter of former President John F. Kennedy; Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; and Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., invoking the Democrats' one brief shining moment, as the song goes.

All spoke warmly of Al Gore, comparing his beliefs to those of the slain president and his brother, Robert Kennedy, who was assassinated in Los Angeles at the Ambassador Hotel.

< Wednesday night, Lieberman introduced himself to the nation. He marveled that ``Only in America'' could someone like him - an Orthodox Jew whose grandmother was harassed for her religion in Europe, and whose in-laws are Holocaust survivors - run for the nation's second-highest office.

He also took on the Republicans in a humorous vein, joking that ``We may be near Hollywood, but not since Tom Hanks won an Oscar has there been that much acting in Philadelphia.''

< Following Lieberman was actor Tommy Lee Jones, who nominated Gore - his college roommate at Harvard University - with a speech not about his politics, but his personal side. Gore's daughter, Karenna Gore Schiff, seconded the nomination with a speech also about his human side, saying ``Dad is a man of faith in the most gutsy, practical sense.'' Gore himself made a surprise walk-on appearance after her speech, giving her a bear hug and waving to the crowd.

< Outside Staples Center on Wednesday, the protests - and clashes with police - continued. During one march from MacArthur Park to the Rampart Division station protesting alleged police brutality and the Rampart scandal, 38 people were arrested on suspicion of blocking the building.

At another protest outside Staples, about 2,000 activists flooded the streets, also protesting the LAPD. Some threw sticks and bottles that contained various liquids like urine or gasoline. Police responded with pepper spray and rubber bullets.

Critics said the LAPD was overzealous and brutal in its response, while defenders like Mayor Richard Riordan and District Attorney Gil Garcetti called it an appropriate, measured response.

< Thursday, the concluding day of the convention, Gore accepted the nomination with a 51-minute speech that was detail-oriented, outlining numerous positions on policy issues, including passing a hate-crimes law, supporting abortion rights, adding 50,000 police nationwide and mandatory background checks for guns.

OVERHEARD AT THE DNC 

``If all the protests are like this one, it will be a good week.''

- Joe Sarkis, owner of Joe's Place convenience store along route of peaceful first protest on Sunday

<``To those who say ... the progress of these eight years was just some sort of accident, that we just coasted along, let me be clear: America's success was not a matter of chance.''

- Bill Clinton, in his farewell address to the convention Monday night

< ``They're doing a good job, but they're still cops.''

- Jeremiah (who did not give his last name) of Canoga Park after witnessing police firing rubber bullets and pepper spray at Rage Against the Machine concert-goers Monday night

< ``The LAPD definitely created an atmosphere of fear.''

-Dan Tokaji, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union 

< ``Twenty minutes is ample time for people to remove themselves. ... We believe we used a great amount of restraint.''

- LAPD Cmdr. David Kalish at post-melee press conference Monday night

< ``You should have been in Chicago. This is nothing.''

- Delegate to young woman describing the melee

< ``I'd like to thank Rage Against the Machine for not playing in our parking lot.''

- Mike Green, president of the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences, at the Grammy party

< ``You were right. They were wrong.''

- Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., consoling Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Garden Grove, after she was pressured into moving her fundraising party out of the Playboy Mansion

< ``There have only been three times in my life when I have supported candidates as early and as enthusiastically as I support Al Gore. Two of them were my brothers.''

- Sen. Edward Kennedy, to the convention Tuesday night

< ``We met Mayor Dick (Riordan) for breakfast at a restaurant he owns in downtown Los Angeles called The Pantry, which produces an estimated two-thirds of the world's cholesterol. Mayor Dick is a plainspoken type of person who enjoys a good joke and would not mind seeing the Los Angeles Times destroyed with tactical nuclear weapons.''

- Humor columnist Dave Barry

<``Is America a great country or what?''

- Sen. Joseph Lieberman, during his convention speech Wednesday night

< ``In every generation, we have to make the hard choices between one direction or another, between going back to the past or forward to the future. Let others argue the case for the old guard. We're the new guard.''

- Vice President Al Gore, at Burbank Airport Wednesday.

``And so, here tonight, in the name of all the working families who are the strength and soul of America, I accept your nomination for president of the United States of America.''

- Vice President Al Gore, to the delegates Thursday.

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Box: OVERHEARD AT THE DNC (See text)