Getting the News About Hot Style

At Los Angeles’ outdoor newsstands, you can get a quick read on more than what’s hot in cars, music and the entertainment biz. Simply by the way they’re dressed, browsers at the stands tell you something about the local street styles.

At the Santa Monica Mail House, near the beach, the look is eclectic ethnic: multicolored Guatemalan jackets over acid green trousers, black suede flats and a silver necklace from Kenya. But the manager, April Haynes, has another style entirely. She stands out in her red denim miniskirt, white T-shirt and black suspenders.

At World Book and News in Hollywood, the clientele includes lots of starlet browsers who stop by to check out their pictures in the magazines. There, the fashion look leans towards torn jeans and tousled hair.

Ralph Davila’s Melrose News, on the corner of Martel and Melrose, could be a kiosk on the Via Veneto. It’s a place to drop by late in the evening (Madonna and Warren Beatty do). With the radio playing hip-hop and the long-haired manager swaying to the beat, tie-dye clothes, ‘80s style, look right at home. Emily Miera was a portrait in pink tie-dye when she wore her tube skirt and T-shirt to the stand. She had them on over blue bicycle shorts made for her at Mardiah, a shop next door.

Another popular look on the browsers at Davila’s is the leather biker jacket over feminine chiffon pants. For original menswear, the recent outfit of choice belongs to 20-year-old Harvey Arizmendi of Monterey Park, whose white cotton shorts were topped by a white T-shirt with a huge V cut out of the back.