The Region - News from July 28, 1985

The Los Angeles Herald Examiner failed in its court attempt to block a Santa Monica city ordinance banning advertising placards on news racks and requiring that racks be wood grain. Newspaper officials stated in court documents that “no form of advertising is nearly as important to the Herald as rack cards.” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John L. Cole said he found the argument “absolutely, totally unconvincing.” He said California case law clearly permits a city to regulate news racks for cleanliness, neatness and aesthetics and that Santa Monica’s ordinance appeared proper. The Herald Examiner can take the case to full trial in about five years, but meanwhile it must provide wood-grain racks without placards.