Cheap and Chic? Yes . . . but It’s No Old Navy

Savvy New York shoppers are flocking to Hennes & Mauritz, a Stockholm-based clothing retailer that opened last week on Fifth Avenue.

Renowned in Europe for cheap chic, H&M; has been mobbed, with lines of would-be customers snaking around the corner of 51st Street, at times waiting nearly half an hour to get inside. (The New York Times reported the three-story store had to restock hourly.)

On a recent trip to Manhattan, I stopped in to see how H&M; stacks up to my favorite inexpensive stores: Old Navy, Contempo Casuals and Rampage.

It was just after 5 p.m. when I arrived (big mistake) and the place was teeming with tourists, students and professionals just off work, who were all grabbing at $126 fuchsia leather pants, $16 gingham-print peasant shirts and $11 zebra-print tees like they were going out of style--which they most definitely were not.

All manners--if there are any in New York--were abandoned in the push-and-shove game, where the winner took all. I held my own, amassing a pile that included a terry-cloth hooded sweatshirt, a snakeskin-print tunic and a white shirt with blue embroidery.

Everywhere I looked, clothing was strewn and women were standing in various stages of undress. I spotted the ghastly long line to check out, looked down at my pile and reconsidered. The clothes were cute, and the designs decidedly more hip and urban than those at Old Navy or Contempo, but the fabrics were not good quality. I’d wear these things maybe three times, total. I ditched my pile behind a rack and took off. Perhaps when the frenzy dies down, I’ll try again.

Additional H&M; stores will open later this year on the East Coast, and the company hopes to expand to the West Coast in the next few years. Check out the goods online at https://www.hm.com.

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The May-June issue of Glue magazine, style mag for the Silver Lake set, will include a flexi-disc 45 featuring a previously unreleased song by Steve Bean with Beck. (Flexi-discs, for those who don’t remember, are super-thin vinyl records that have been included in everything from cereal boxes to Happy Meals.)

The song, “American Car,” was recorded in 1989 as part of a car-themed compilation titled “A Hot Wild Drive in the City,” which is slated for release later this year. (Sounds like perfect listening for L.A. freeways.)

Glue will host a release party for the track May 4 at Al’s Bar, which will be open to the public after 9 p.m.

Although the May-June issue of the magazine will not be sold on newsstands, it will be available at hip Los Feliz haunts like Uncle Jer’s and Aero & Co., in downtown L.A. at the Museum of Contemporary Art, at NYSE on Beverly Boulevard and several other locations. Or, download the song at https://www.launch.com.

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Who doesn’t love a lively discussion about porn? In what promises to be a hot and heavy evening, Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine, and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, bestselling author of “Kosher Sex,” will debate issues surrounding sex and the Internet Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the Wilshire Theater in Beverly Hills. Info: (310) 441-9361.

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Booth Moore can be reached at booth.moore@latimes.com.