Rockefeller Center

Oh, that's right. Cafe Hon is a restaurant. It would have been easy, last year, to mistake Denise Whiting's Hampden establishment for almost anything else. It was only in November, when Whiting announced she was rescinding her controversial "hon" trademark, that the municipal emergency surrounding Cafe Hon subsided. Two months after the TV show "Kitchen Nightmares" gave it a wholesale makeover, Cafe Hon has settled back nicely into its primary business of serving food to customers — lots of them, too. On recent visits spanning several weeks, the Hampden restaurant was full of patrons, many but by no means all of them families with young children.

`Garden in Lights' Enter a lighted winter wonderland at Annmarie Garden in Solomons. Drive through the annual "Garden in Lights," and you'll venture into a winter garden of lighted holiday decorations. On view nightly through Jan. 1, the holiday display features themed areas, including "A Trip to the Zoo" with elephants, giraffes and other creatures in lights, "Rockefeller Center" with brightly lit skaters, fountains and a city skyline, and "Fantasyland" with lighted fairies, gnomes and dragons.

It may not have the height or celebrity of the Rockefeller Center tree in New York City, but the National Christmas Tree in Washington has something that the New York spruce doesn't. It's got the Washington Monument to its south, the White House to its north and a festive "Pathway of Peace" encircling it. Visitors can see the National Christmas Tree up-close now through Jan. 1 at the Ellipse during the annual "Christmas Pageant of Peace," which also features nightly live music or dance, except Dec. 24-25.

Mary Rahikka, an artist who won awards for her watercolors and oils who had earlier been a statistician, died of pneumonia Thursday at St. Agnes Hospital. The former Ellicott City resident was 90. Born Mary Alice Schlorek in New York City, she earned a bachelor's degree from Adelphi College in Garden City, N.Y., and a master's degree in mathematics from Columbia University. She took painting classes at the Art Students League in New York. As a young woman, she worked at Standard and Poor's as a research assistant and was a statistician at the Ethyl Gasoline Corp.

Christianity and capitalism working hand in hand to shape the face of 19th and 20th century America. That's the story of the Rockefeller family that "American Experience" tells this week as it launches its 13th season with "The Rockefellers," a two-night, four-hour film on the dynasty that Standard Oil built. While the documentary pulls some fairly serious punches (it makes no mention of the anti-Semitism of John D. Rockefeller Sr.), this is a great American saga. The filmmakers are keenly in touch with the larger patterns of American history and the ways in which this prominent family both shaped and reacted to its ebb and flow.

TOKYO -- After months of optimistic statements, Sony Corp. yesterday became the latest Japanese company to acknowledge serious problems with a landmark U.S. investment, announcing that it was taking $3.2 billion in losses on the value of the Hollywood studios that it acquired only five years ago.In a surprise announcement, Sony said that because of poor box office results, a wave of executive resignations and rising costs, it could never hope to recover its...

Auto show, swap meet set Sunday in WestminsterAuto-Motion Promotions Inc. of Hampstead will sponsor its third annual Father's Day Jamboree Auto Show and Swap Meet on Sunday at Carroll County Agricultural Center, Smith Avenue, Westminster.Gates open at 7 a.m., with registration for the car show taken until 11: 30 a.m. Judging will begin at noon and prizes totaling $1,400 will be awarded.Last year's show drew more than 400 show cars from surrounding states and as far away as California. Sunday's show will be videotaped and the tapes available for purchase.

Here are last week's top TV shows, according to A. C. Nielsen Co. figures: ........................................ .....................................................Rating 1 Carol Burnett Show: Show Stoppers..............CBS 18.9 2 Everybody Loves Raymond...............................CBS 15.2 3 Law & Order................................... .........................NBC 13.7 3 (tie) The West Wing...............................................NBC 13.7 5 Friends.................

One deer a-sleighing, two skaters skating, three lumpy camels, two mighty organs and one Santa Claus. Not to mention 60 years' tradition, 72 legs a-kicking, 100 cast members and a horde of happy fans. Yes, "The Christmas Spectacular" is back, off on a 179-performance run that is expected to pull a million people into New York City's Radio City Music Hall before it ends Jan. 6.Driven by energy and verve, the 90-minute "Spectacular" is a mad -- through the season, tossing to gether everything from a Reader's Digest enactment of Dickens' "Christmas Carol" to an abbreviated version of Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" performed by humans costumed as various species of bears, to the hard-working, always welcome Rockettes giving new meaning to the word precision with a show-stopping march through "The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers."

These days, one of the hardest reservations to make in Baltimore is a table at Ouzo Bay, the eye-catching Greek restaurant that opened in Harbor East in September. Boosted by reviews from critics and devoted Yelpers, Ouzo Bay has quickly become a new favorite among Baltimore foodies. Talk to people who've dined at Ouzo Bay and they'll quickly list their favorite aspects - the South Beach-like decor, the attractive outdoor patio, the attentive servers, the wild-caught fish. Even the intricate work of pastry chef Akis Anagnostou rightfully earns raves.