TRAVELING in style

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist/novelist Jimmy Breslin has been described by acquaintances as profane, amiable and cantankerous: One moment he roars like a flea-bitten St. Bernard and occasionally he purrs (admittedly not often) like a kitten. In this issue of Traveling in Style he comes off as a pussycat, regaling us with anecdotes about a trip he took to Central America, clutching, of all things, an expired passport. This street-wise newsman, who turns out three columns a week for Newsday, has been described as “restless and enthusiastic.” Fiercely independent, frequently unpredictable, he once planted a huge sign on the front lawn of his former Long Island home listing all the neighbors he hated. On another occasion, suffering from an awesome hangover, he hired an ambulance and crew to deliver him to his Manhattan office on a stretcher. While Breslin loves New York, he barely tolerates Los Angeles. A close acquaintance says of Breslin: “He thinks of Los Angeles as a place where people watch the sun bouncing off the water in their swimming pools.”

David Westheimer, on the other hand, finds Los Angeles a joy. Best known for his immensely successful novel, “Von Ryan’s Express,” Westheimer takes us on a once-in-a-lifetime spending splurge through Europe and a visit to a camp where he was a prisoner during World War II. Other authors in this issue include astrologer Sydney Omarr, novelist Mary Higgins Clark, New York psychiatrist Dr. Harvey L. Ruben and Times staff photographer Iris Schneider. Also, Jennifer Merin describes a number of the world’s smartest shops, and we struggle up Mt. Kilimanjaro with adventuress Susan Klein.

EDITOR: Jerry Hulse

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Betty Hughes

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR: Jefferson G. Stillwell

DESIGN DIRECTOR: Donald Burgess

COPY CHIEF: David N. Blume

ART PRODUCTION: Robert Stone

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: WALLACE GUENTHER