ART/SNEAK PEEK : SETTING THE STAGE FOR STAGING WALTON'S SETS.

Bedazzled by magic chandeliers and feline-haunted junkyards, we sometimes forget that Broadway set designers are, well, artists. At least the best ones, such as Tony Walton, are.

During the past three decades, Walton has created some of the most strikingly memorable environments ever seen on Broadway and in Hollywood. The list of his design credits extends from avant-garde drama (``Waiting for Godot'') to classic children's fare (``Mary Poppins'') to opera, and most everything in between (``Death of a Salesman,'' ``Grand Hotel,'' ``The Wiz,'' etc). Walton's ability to render a three-dimensional cartoon version of ancient Rome, or a stylized, Damon Runyonesque knockoff of Manhattan, makes his sets as important characters as the actors themselves.

Of course, most of those original sets have long since been dismantled and packed away. But Walton's handiwork survives in sketches, location boards and miniature scale models. This summer, at the Carole & Barry Kaye Museum of Miniatures, you'll find samples from about 40 of Walton's stage and screen shows, including a miniature model of his design for the just-opened Kander and Ebb musical ``Steel Pier.''

The museum is on Museum Row, at 5900 Wilshire Blvd., directly across from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For information, call [phone].

Happy hour?

Considering that some of its best-known residents literally drank themselves to death, what better place than Los Angeles for an exhibition titled ``Bar People''?

Mark Lee Goldberg explores L.A.'s dark, satirical and occasionally violent drinking subculture in a new series of paintings on view through July 11 at Cobalt Cantina in Hollywood.

Working in a mostly noirish palette, Goldberg conveys the raw emotions and tortured lives he has glimpsed through the bottom of a glass. But his images aren't entirely bleak. Some capture the weary panache of male and female bartenders, extending scary-looking drinks to us, the viewer. Others display

the casual silliness of people who've accidentally had one too many.

The Cobalt Cantina is at 616 N. Robertson Blvd., just north of Melrose Avenue, in West Hollywood. For information, call [phone].

Artists in residence

It's a simple concept: Get 30 local artists, stage a one-day exhibition and sale of their works and invite the neighbors in for a look.

That's all it took to create this Sunday's free, daylong multimedia art exhibition at E.R.A. Castle Realty, 2315 Foothill Blvd., La Canada Flintridge. Among those displaying are Tarzana water colorist Darleen Harris; Andy Dagosta, a Glendale-based painter of western historical scenes; Burbank painter Anja Rohlmann; and Tom Roide of La Crescenta, a ceramic sculptor.

The event starts at 10 a.m. and will wrap at 6 p.m. For information, call [phone].