Going Into Details

Travelers take note: There is night life outside of L. A. and N. Y., and it often comes with an emphasis on fun instead of celebrities. Should you find yourself in Kansas City or Portland with an itch to mingle or the urge to merge, the July issue of Details magazine contains a guide to the club scenes in 27 North American cities. Among the recommendations are hot tips on venues like the 40 Watt (Athens, Ga.), Club Charles (Baltimore) and the DNA Lounge (San Francisco). For the Los Angeles listings, the Buzz gives Details credit for not choosing the obvious mainstream clubs these surveys usually go for. Recommended are Bordello (catering to a heavy metal/biker or biker wannabe crowd) and a certain very hot Silver Lake club whose name can’t be mentioned in a family newspaper.

I Love L.A.

And speaking of the New York-based Details, Buzz heard that Annie Flanders, the magazine’s former editor, moved to L. A. about a week ago. We caught up with her at her West Hollywood apartment where she was roughing it urban-style, waiting for the electricity and gas to be turned on. “Even when I was at Details I was falling more and more in love with L. A. and I wanted an excuse to come here all the time,” she explained. Although Flanders wouldn’t disclose plans, she did say she’s talking to a lot of people in publishing and television. “I’m so happy here,” she added enthusiastically, “even though nothing in my apartment works.”

Essentials

What you need to maneuver the L. A. scene: Paranoid car owners used to tote their removable stereos and CD players by hand when they’d park their cars or leave them with valets. Now they’re stuffing them into unattractive boxy nylon shoulder cases and showing up at restaurants and parties with the bags strapped across their chests. One observer noticed a man with one of those and a fanny pack and said, “Why not just wear a utility belt?”