THE HYPE FORTY WINKS MAGAZINE'S HOMAGE TO THE CITY'S ELITE ... OR SOMETHING FROM ANOTHER ASTRAL PLANE?

For its 40th-anniversary issue, Los Angeles magazine chose ``40 figures who embody the Los Angeles of the last 40 years.''

We're sure they probably had a lot of time to think about it, but you have to wonder about the ``figures.''

No. 40 on the list is ``The Glove,'' referring to the infamous piece of evidence in the O.J. Simpson murder trial.

Hmmm.

If you want to include inanimate objects, why not the videotape of the Rodney King beating. It was, after ll, the spark that eventually ignited the L.A. riots. (Maybe a videotape is boring to draw.)

Looking over the list, we wonder if the magazine could have saved a few spaces. There's E.T. (No. 2) and Steven Spielberg (No. 10). No, we're not suggesting that they are the same person. But without Spielberg, there is no ``E.T.'' so what's the point?

There are also the Williams sisters - Serena (18) and Venus (19). We're not saying the pair haven't electrified the tennis world and shouldn't be on the list, but they are basically covering the same ground (or court, in this case). Wouldn't 18a and 18b have been better?

There's also the positioning. Eccentric rocker Brian Wilson (13) and mass murderer Charlie Manson (15) - who hung out with Brian's late brother Dennis - flank famed architect Frank Gehry. Manson is also above two longtime L.A. city figures - former Mayor Tom Bradley (8) and Police Chief Daryl Gates (9) - and next to Johnny Carson (16). (In Carson's case, L.A. means ``beautiful downtown Burbank.'')

Come on, does Charlie Manson really ``embody'' L.A.? Considering that the list includes Rat Fink (5), the cartoon character that adorns hot rods (not to mention a glove), it makes perfect sense.

-Rob Lowman

IN A GLASS BY ITSELF: If this whole Election 2000 debaclehas gotten you down and you feel as though you need a drink, why not try a Hanging Chad Martini?

In honor of those little paper divots we've all come to know and love in the past few days, a popular watering hole in Cambridge, Mass., the Charles Hotel's Tini Bar, has created ``The Hanging Chad.'' The concoction is a citrus-flavored martini - ``citrus,'' evidently, as a tribute to Florida and its crack staff of voters and vote counters.

``Everyone is talking about chads, chads, chads,'' says Charles Hotel public relations manager Hannah Lefkowitz. ``But does anyone really understand what happened in Florida? Maybe by drinking enough 'Hanging Chads,' the situation will begin to make some sense.''

Truer words ...

The Hanging Chad consists of orange- and lemon-flavored vodka, Grand Marnier and lime juice, and is garnished with floating confectioners' confetti ``chads.'' The Tini Bar also serves a ``Florida-sized'' version of the the Hanging Chad in a 50-ounce cocktail glass with a ladle and four glasses.

And the ``ladle and four glasses'' would be for what reason?

- Rodney Richey

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no caption (Los Angeles Magazine 40th Anniversary Issue)